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diff --git a/1633.txt b/1633.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..90fd14a --- /dev/null +++ b/1633.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11006 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Brick Moon, et. al., by Hale + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Left {greek}, @ for degree and ^ for +superscript + + + + + +This etext was prepared with the use of Calera WordScan Plus 2.0 + + + + + +The Brick Moon +and Other Stories + +by EDWARD EVERETT HALE +Short Story Index Reprint Series + + + + +Preface + + +To read these stories again, thirty and more years after +they were written, is to recall many memories, sad or +glad, with which this reader need not be interrupted. +But I have to make sure that they are intelligible to +readers of a generation later than that for which they +were written. + +The story of The Brick Moon was begun in my dear +brother Nathan's working-room in Union College, +Schenectady, in the year 1870, when he was professor of +the English language there. The account of the first +plan of the moon is a sketch, as accurate as was needed, +of the old chat and dreams, plans and jokes, of our +college days, before he left Cambridge in 1838. As I +learned almost everything I know through his care and +love and help, directly or indirectly, it is a pleasure +to say this here. The story was published in the +"Atlantic Monthly," in 1870 and 1871. It was the last +story I wrote for that magazine, before assuming the +charge of "Old and New," a magazine which I edited from +1870 to 1876, and for which I wrote "Ten Times One is +Ten," which has been printed in the third volume of this +series. + +Among the kind references to "The Brick Moon" which +I have received from sympathetic friends, I now recall +with the greatest pleasure one sent me by Mr. Asaph Hall, +the distinguished astronomer of the National Observatory. +In sending me the ephemeris of the two moons of Mars, +which he revealed to this world of ours, he wrote, "The +smaller of these moons is the veritable Brick Moon." +That, in the moment of triumph for the greatest +astronomical discovery of a generation, Dr. Hall should +have time or thought to give to my little parable,--this +was praise indeed. + +Writing in 1870, I said, as the reader will see on +page 66, that George Orcutt did not tell how he used a +magnifying power of 700. Nor did I choose to tell then, +hoping that in some fortunate winter I might be able +myself to repeat his process, greatly to the convenience +of astronomers who have not Alvan Clark's resources at +hand, or who have to satisfy themselves with glass lenses +of fifteen inches, or even thirty, in diameter. But no +such winter has come round to me, and I will now give +Orcutt's invention to the world. He had unlimited +freezing power. So have we now, as we had not then. +With this power he made an ice lens, ten feet in +diameter, which was easily rubbed, by the delicate hands +of the careful women around him, to precisely the +surface which he needed. Let me hope that before next +winter passes some countryman or countrywoman of mine +will have equalled his success, and with an ice lens will +surpass all the successes of the glasses of our time. + +The plan of "Crusoe in New York" was made when I was +enjoying the princely hospitality of Henry Whitney +Bellows in New York. The parsonage in that city +commanded a view of a "lot" not built on, which would +have given for many years a happy home to any disciple of +Mayor Pingree, if a somewhat complicated social order had +permitted. The story was first published in Frank +Leslie's illustrated paper. In reading it in 1899, I am +afraid that the readers of a hard, money generation may +not know that "scrip" was in the sixties the name for +small change. + +I regard a knowledge of every detail of the original +Robinson Crusoe as well-nigh a necessity in education. +Girls may occasionally be excused, but never boys. It +ought to be unnecessary, therefore, to say that some of +the narrative passages of Crusoe in New York are taken, +word for word, from the text of Defoe. If I do state +this for the benefit of a few unfortunate ladies who are +not familiar with that text, it is because I think no one +among many courteous critics has observed it. + +"The Survivor's Story" is one of eight short stories +which were published in the first Christmas number of +"Old and New." + +Of the other stories I think no explanation is +needed, but such as was given at the time of their +publication and is reprinted with each of them here. + +EDWARD E. HALE. +ROXBURY, July 6, 1899. + + + +CONTENTS + + + +THE BRICK MOON +CRUSOE IN NEW YORK +BREAD ON THE WATERS +THE LOST PALACE +99 LINWOOD STREET +IDEALS +THANKSGIVING AT THE POLLS +THE SURVIVOR'S STORY + + + +THE BRICK MOON + +[From the papers of Captain FREDERIC INGHAM.] + +I + +PREPARATION + +I have no sort of objection now to telling the whole +story. The subscribers, of course, have a right to +know what became of their money. The astronomers may +as well know all about it, before they announce any +more asteroids with an enormous movement in +declination. And experimenters on the longitude may as +well know, so that they may act advisedly in attempting +another brick moon or in refusing to do so. + +It all began more than thirty years ago, when we were +in college; as most good things begin. We were studying +in the book which has gray sides and a green back, and is +called "Cambridge Astronomy" because it is translated +from the French. We came across this business of the +longitude, and, as we talked, in the gloom and glamour of +the old South Middle dining-hall, we had going the usual +number of students' stories about rewards offered by the +Board of Longitude for discoveries in that matter,-- +stories, all of which, so far as I know, are lies. Like +all boys, we had tried our hands at perpetual motion. +For me, I was sure I could square the circle, if they +would give me chalk enough. But as to this business of +the longitude, it was reserved for Q.[1] to make the +happy hit and to explain it to the rest of us. + + +[1] Wherever Q. is referred to in these pages my +brother Nathan is meant. One of his noms de plume +was Gnat Q. Hale, because G and Q may be silent letters. + + +I wonder if I can explain it to an unlearned world, +which has not studied the book with gray sides and a +green cambric back. Let us try. + +You know then, dear world, that when you look at the +North Star, it always appears to you at just the same +height above the horizon or what is between you and the +horizon: say the Dwight School-house, or the houses in +Concord Street; or to me, just now, North College. You +know also that, if you were to travel to the North Pole, +the North Star would be just over your head. And, if you +were to travel to the equator, it would be just on your +horizon, if you could see it at all through the red, +dusty, hazy mist in the north, as you could not. If you +were just half-way between pole and equator, on the line +between us and Canada, the North Star would be half-way +up, or 45@ from the horizon. So you would know there +that you were 45@ from the equator. Then in Boston, you +would find it was 42@ 20' from the horizon. So you know +there that you are 42@ 20' from the equator. At Seattle +again you would find it was 47@ 40' high, so our friends +at Seattle know that they are at 47@ 40' from the +equator. The latitude of a place, in other words, is +found very easily by any observation which shows how high +the North Star is; if you do not want to measure the +North Star, you may take any star when it is just to +north of you, and measure its height; wait twelve hours, +and if you can find it, measure its height again. Split +the difference, and that is the altitude of the pole, or +the latitude of you, the observer. + +"Of course we know this," says the graduating world. +"Do you suppose that is what we borrow your book for, to +have you spell out your miserable elementary astronomy?" +At which rebuff I should shrink distressed, but that a +chorus of voices an octave higher comes up with, "Dear +Mr. Ingham, we are ever so much obliged to you; we did +not know it at all before, and you make it perfectly +clear." + +Thank you, my dear, and you, and you. We will not +care what the others say. If you do understand it, or do +know it, it is more than Mr. Charles Reade knew, or he +would not have made his two lovers on the island guess at +their latitude, as they did. If they had either of them +been educated at a respectable academy for the Middle +Classes, they would have fared better. + +Now about the longitude. + +The latitude, which you have found, measures your +distance north or south from the equator or the pole. To +find your longitude, you want to find your distance +east or west from the meridian of Greenwich. Now, if any +one would build a good tall tower at Greenwich, straight +into the sky,--say a hundred miles into the sky,--of +course if you and I were east or west of it, and could +see it, we could tell how far east or west we were by +measuring the apparent height of the tower above our +horizon. If we could see so far, when the lantern with +a Drummond's light, "ever so bright," on the very top of +the tower, appeared to be on our horizon, we should know +we were eight hundred and seventy-three miles away from +it. The top of the tower would answer for us as the North +Star does when we are measuring the latitude. If we were +nearer, our horizon would make a longer angle with the +line from the top to our place of vision. If we were +farther away, we should need a higher tower. + +But nobody will build any such tower at Greenwich, or +elsewhere on that meridian, or on any meridian. You see +that to be of use to the half the world nearest to it, it +would have to be so high that the diameter of the world +would seem nothing in proportion. And then, for the +other half of the world you would have to erect another +tower as high on the other side. It was this difficulty +that made Q. suggest the expedient of the Brick Moon. + +For you see that if, by good luck, there were a ring +like Saturn's which stretched round the world, above +Greenwich and the meridian of Greenwich, and if it would +stay above Greenwich, turning with the world, any one +who wanted to measure his longitude or distance from +Greenwich would look out of window and see how high this +ring was above his horizon. At Greenwich it would be +over his head exactly. At New Orleans, which is quarter +round the world from Greenwich, it would be just in his +horizon. A little west of New Orleans you would begin to +look for the other half of the ring on the west instead +of the east; and if you went a little west of the Feejee +Islands the ring would be over your head again. So if we +only had a ring like that, not round the equator of the +world,--as Saturn's ring is around Saturn,--but vertical +to the plane of the equator, as the brass ring of an +artificial globe goes, only far higher in proportion,-- +"from that ring," said Q., pensively, "we could calculate +the longitude." + +Failing that, after various propositions, he +suggested the Brick Moon. The plan was this: If from +the surface of the earth, by a gigantic peashooter, you +could shoot a pea upward from Greenwich, aimed northward +as well as upward; if you drove it so fast and far that +when its power of ascent was exhausted, and it began to +fall, it should clear the earth, and pass outside the +North Pole; if you had given it sufficient power to get +it half round the earth without touching, that pea would +clear the earth forever. It would continue to rotate +above the North Pole, above the Feejee Island place, +above the South Pole and Greenwich, forever, with the +impulse with which it had first cleared our atmosphere +and attraction. If only we could see that pea as it +revolved in that convenient orbit, then we could measure +the longitude from that, as soon as we knew how high the +orbit was, as well as if it were the ring of Saturn. + +"But a pea is so small!" + +"Yes," said Q., "but we must make a large pea." Then +we fell to work on plans for making the pea very large +and very light. Large,--that it might be seen far away +by storm-tossed navigators: light,--that it might be the +easier blown four thousand and odd miles into the air; +lest it should fall on the heads of the Greenlanders or +the Patagonians; lest they should be injured and the +world lose its new moon. But, of course, all this lath- +and-plaster had to be given up. For the motion through +the air would set fire to this moon just as it does to +other aerolites, and all your lath-and-plaster would +gather into a few white drops, which no Rosse telescope +even could discern. "No," said Q. bravely, "at the least +it must be very substantial. It must stand fire well, +very well. Iron will not answer. It must be brick; we +must have a Brick Moon." + +Then we had to calculate its size. You can see, on +the old moon, an edifice two hundred feet long with any +of the fine refractors of our day. But no such +refractors as those can be carried by the poor little +fishermen whom we wanted to befriend, the bones of whose +ships lie white on so many cliffs, their names +unreported at any Lloyd's or by any Ross, + +Themselves the owners and their sons the crew. + +On the other hand, we did not want our moon two hundred +and fifty thousand miles away, as the old moon is, which +I will call the Thornbush moon, for distinction. We did +not care how near it was, indeed, if it were only far +enough away to be seen, in practice, from almost the +whole world. There must be a little strip where they +could not see it from the surface, unless we threw it +infinitely high. "But they need not look from the +surface," said Q.; "they might climb to the mast-head. +And if they did not see it at all, they would know that +they were ninety degrees from the meridian." + +This difficulty about what we call "the strip," +however, led to an improvement in the plan, which made it +better in every way. It was clear that even if "the +strip" were quite wide, the moon would have to be a good +way off, and, in proportion, hard to see. If, however, +we would satisfy ourselves with a moon four thousand +miles away, THAT could be seen on the earth's surface +for three or four thousand miles on each side; and twice +three thousand, or six thousand, is one fourth of the +largest circumference of the earth. We did not dare have +it nearer than four thousand miles, since even at that +distance it would be eclipsed three hours out of every +night; and we wanted it bright and distinct, and not of +that lurid, copper, eclipse color. But at four +thousand miles' distance the moon could be seen by a belt +of observers six or eight thousand miles in diameter. +"Start, then, two moons,"--this was my contribution to +the plan. "Suppose one over the meridian of Greenwich, +and the other over that of New Orleans. Take care that +there is a little difference in the radii of their +orbits, lest they `collide' some foul day. Then, in most +places, one or other, perhaps two will come in sight. So +much the less risk of clouds: and everywhere there may be +one, except when it is cloudy. Neither need be more than +four thousand miles off; so much the larger and more +beautiful will they be. If on the old Thornbush moon old +Herschel with his reflector could see a town-house two +hundred feet long, on the Brick Moon young Herschel will +be able to see a dab of mortar a foot and a half long, if +he wants to. And people without the reflector, with +their opera-glasses, will be able to see sufficiently +well." And to this they agreed: that eventually there +must be two Brick Moons. Indeed, it were better that +there should be four, as each must be below the horizon +half the time. That is only as many as Jupiter has. But +it was also agreed that we might begin with one. + +Why we settled on two hundred feet of diameter I +hardly know. I think it was from the statement of dear +John Farrar's about the impossibility of there being a +state house two hundred feet long not yet discovered, on +the sunny side of old Thornbush. That, somehow, made +two hundred our fixed point. Besides, a moon of two +hundred feet diameter did not seem quite unmanageable. +Yet it was evident that a smaller moon would be of no +use, unless we meant to have them near the world, when +there would be so many that they would be confusing, and +eclipsed most of the time. And four thousand miles is a +good way off to see a moon even two hundred feet in +diameter. + +Small though we made them on paper, these two- +hundred-foot moons were still too much for us. Of course +we meant to build them hollow. But even if hollow there +must be some thickness, and the quantity of brick would +at best be enormous. Then, to get them up! The pea- +shooter, of course, was only an illustration. It was +long after that time that Rodman and other guns sent iron +balls five or six miles in distance,--say two miles, more +or less, in height. + +Iron is much heavier than hollow brick, but you can +build no gun with a bore of two hundred feet now,--far +less could you then. No. + +Q. again suggested the method of shooting oft the +moon. It was not to be by any of your sudden explosions. +It was to be done as all great things are done,--by the +gradual and silent accumulation of power. You all know +that a flywheel--heavy, very heavy on the circumference, +light, very light within it--was made to save up power, +from the time when it was produced to the time when it +was wanted. Yes? Then, before we began even to +build the moon, before we even began to make the brick, +we would build two gigantic fly-wheels, the diameter of +each should be "ever so great," the circumference heavy +beyond all precedent, and thundering strong, so that no +temptation might burst it. They should revolve, their +edges nearly touching, in opposite directions, for years, +if it were necessary, to accumulate power, driven by some +waterfall now wasted to the world. One should be a +little heavier than the other. When the Brick Moon was +finished, and all was ready, IT should be gently rolled +down a gigantic groove provided for it, till it lighted +on the edge of both wheels at the same instant. Of +course it would not rest there, not the ten-thousandth +part of a second. It would be snapped upward, as a drop +of water from a grindstone. Upward and upward; but the +heavier wheel would have deflected it a little from the +vertical. Upward and northward it would rise, therefore, +till it had passed the axis of the world. It would, of +course, feel the world's attraction all the time, which +would bend its flight gently, but still it would leave +the world more and more behind. Upward still, but now +southward, till it had traversed more than one hundred +and eighty degrees of a circle. Little resistance, +indeed, after it had cleared the forty or fifty miles of +visible atmosphere. "Now let it fall," said Q., inspired +with the vision. "Let it fall, and the sooner the +better! The curve it is now on will forever clear +the world; and over the meridian of that lonely +waterfall,--if only we have rightly adjusted the gigantic +flies,--will forever revolve, in its obedient orbit, +the-- + +BRICK MOON, + +the blessing of all seamen,--as constant in all change +as its older sister has been fickle, and the second +cynosure of all lovers upon the waves, and of all girls +left behind them." "Amen," we cried, and then we sat in +silence till the clock struck ten; then shook each other +gravely by the hand, and left the South Middle dining- +hall. + +Of waterfalls there were plenty that we knew. + +Fly-wheels could be built of oak and pine, and hooped +with iron. Fly-wheels did not discourage us. + +But brick? One brick is, say, sixty-four cubic +inches only. This moon,--though we made it hollow,-- +see,--it must take twelve million brick. + +The brick alone will cost sixty thousand dollars! + + +The brick alone would cost sixty thousand dollars. +There the scheme of the Brick Moon hung, an airy vision, +for seventeen years,--the years that changed us from +young men into men. The brick alone, sixty thousand +dollars! For, to boys who have still left a few of their +college bills unpaid, who cannot think of buying that +lovely little Elzevir which Smith has for sale at +auction, of which Smith does not dream of the value, +sixty thousand dollars seems as intangible as sixty +million sestertia. Clarke, second, how much are sixty +million sestertia stated in cowries? How much in +currency, gold being at 1.37 1/4/? Right; go up. Stop, +I forget myself! + +So, to resume, the project of the Brick Moon hung in +the ideal, an airy vision, a vision as lovely and as +distant as the Brick Moon itself, at this calm moment of +midnight when I write, as it poises itself over the +shoulder of Orion, in my southern horizon. Stop! I +anticipate. Let me keep--as we say in Beadle's Dime +Series--to the even current of my story. + +Seventeen years passed by, we were no longer boys, +though we felt so. For myself, to this hour, I never +enter board meeting, committee meeting, or synod, without +the queer question, what would happen should any one +discover that this bearded man was only a big boy +disguised? that the frockcoat and the round hat are none +of mine, and that, if I should be spurned from the +assembly, as an interloper, a judicious public, learning +all the facts, would give a verdict, "Served him right." +This consideration helps me through many bored meetings +which would be else so dismal. What did my old copy +say?-- + +"Boards are made of wood, they are long and narrow." + +But we do not get on! + +Seventeen years after, I say, or should have said, +dear Orcutt entered my room at Naguadavick again. I had +not seen him since the Commencement day when we +parted at Cambridge. He looked the same, and yet not the +same. His smile was the same, his voice, his tender look +of sympathy when I spoke to him of a great sorrow, his +childlike love of fun. His waistband was different, his +pantaloons were different, his smooth chin was buried in +a full beard, and he weighed two hundred pounds if he +weighed a gramme. O, the good time we had, so like the +times of old! Those were happy days for me in +Naguadavick. At that moment my double was at work for me +at a meeting of the publishing committee of the +Sandemanian Review, so I called Orcutt up to my own +snuggery, and we talked over old times; talked till tea +was ready. Polly came up through the orchard and made +tea for us herself there. We talked on and on, till +nine, ten at night, and then it was that dear Orcutt +asked me if I remembered the Brick Moon. Remember it? of +course I did. And without leaving my chair I opened the +drawer of my writing-desk, and handed him a portfolio +full of working-drawings on which I had engaged myself +for my "third"[1] all that winter. Orcutt was delighted. +He turned them over hastily but intelligently, and said: +"I am so glad. I could not think you had forgotten. And +I have seen Brannan, and Brannan has not forgotten." +"Now do you know," said he, "in all this railroading of +mine, I have not forgotten. When I built the great +tunnel for the Cattawissa and Opelousas, by which we +got rid of the old inclined planes, there was never a +stone bigger than a peach-stone within two hundred miles +of us. I baked the brick of that tunnel on the line with +my own kilns. Ingham, I have made more brick, I believe, +than any man living in the world!" + + +[1] "Every man," says Dr. Peabody, "should have a +vocation and an avocation." To which I add,"A third." + + +"You are the providential man," said I. + +"Am I not, Fred? More than that," said he; "I have +succeeded in things the world counts worth more than +brick. I have made brick, and I have made money!" + +"One of us make money?" asked I, amazed. + +"Even so," said dear Orcutt; "one of us has, made +money." And he proceeded to tell me how. It was not in +building tunnels, nor in making brick. No! It was by +buying up the original stock of the Cattawissa and +Opelousas, at a moment when that stock had hardly a +nominal price in the market. There were the first +mortgage bonds, and the second mortgage bonds, and the +third, and I know not how much floating debt; and worse +than all, the reputation of the road lost, and deservedly +lost. Every locomotive it had was asthmatic. Every car +it had bore the marks of unprecedented accidents, for +which no one was to blame. Rival lines, I know not how +many, were cutting each other's throats for its +legitimate business. At this juncture dear George +invested all his earnings as a contractor, in the +despised original stock,--he actually bought it for 3 1/4 +per cent,--good shares that had cost a round hundred +to every wretch who had subscribed. Six thousand eight +hundred dollars--every cent he had--did George thus +invest. Then he went himself to the trustees of the +first mortgage, to the trustees of the second, and to the +trustees of the third, and told them what he had done. + +Now it is personal presence that moves the world. +Dear Orcutt has found that out since, if he did not know +it before. The trustees who would have sniffed had +George written to them, turned round from their desks, +and begged him to take a chair, when he came to talk with +them. Had he put every penny he was worth into that +stock? Then it was worth something which they did not +know of, for George Orcutt was no fool about railroads. +The man who bridged the Lower Rapidan when a freshet was +running was no fool. + +"What were his plans?" + +George did not tell--no, not to lordly trustees--what +his plans were. He had plans, but he kept them to +himself. All he told them was that he had plans. On +those plans he had staked his all. Now, would they or +would they not agree to put him in charge of the running +of that road, for twelve months, on a nominal salary? +The superintendent they had had was a rascal. He had +proved that by running away. They knew that George was +not a rascal. He knew that he could make this road pay +expenses, pay bond-holders, and pay a dividend,--a thing +no one else had dreamed of for twenty years. Could +they do better than try him? + +Of course they could not, and they knew they could +not. Of course they sniffed and talked, and waited, and +pretended they did not know, and that they must consult, +and so forth and so on. But of course they all did try +him, on his own terms. He was put in charge of the +running of that road. + +In one week he showed he should redeem it. In three +months he did redeem it! + +He advertised boldly the first day: "Infant +children at treble price." + +The novelty attracted instant remark. And it showed +many things. First, it showed he was a humane man, who +wished to save human life. He would leave these +innocents in their cradles, where they belonged. + +Second, and chiefly, the world of travellers saw that +the Crichton, the Amadis, the perfect chevalier of the +future, had arisen,--a railroad manager caring for the +comfort of his passengers! + +The first week the number of the C. and O.'s +passengers was doubled: in a week or two more freight +began to come in, in driblets, on the line which its +owners had gone over. As soon as the shops could turn +them out, some cars were put on, with arms on which +travellers could rest their elbows, with head-rests where +they could take naps if they were weary. These excited +so much curiosity that one was exhibited in the museum +at Cattawissa and another at Opelousas. It may not +be generally known that the received car of the American +roads was devised to secure a premium offered by the +Pawtucket and Podunk Company. Their receipts were +growing so large that they feared they should forfeit +their charter. They advertised, therefore, for a car in +which no man could sleep at night or rest by day,--in +which the backs should be straight, the heads of +passengers unsupported, the feet entangled in a vice, the +elbows always knocked by the passing conductor. The +pattern was produced which immediately came into use on +all the American roads. But on the Cattawissa and +Opelousas this time-honored pattern was set aside. + +Of course you see the result. Men went hundreds of +miles out of their way to ride on the C. and O. The +third mortgage was paid off; a reserve fund was piled up +for the second; the trustees of the first lived in dread +of being paid; and George's stock, which he bought at 3 +1/4, rose to 147 before two years had gone by! So was it +that, as we sat together in the snuggery, George was +worth well-nigh three hundred thousand dollars. Some of +his eggs were in the basket where they were laid; some he +had taken out and placed in other baskets; some in nests +where various hens were brooding over them. Sound eggs +they were, wherever placed; and such was the victory of +which George had come to tell. + +One of us had made money! + +On his way he had seen Brannan. Brannan, the pure- +minded, right-minded, shifty man of tact, man of brain, +man of heart, and man of word, who held New Altona in the +hollow of his hand. Brannan had made no money. Not he, +nor ever will. But Brannan could do much what he pleased +in this world, without money. For whenever Brannan +studied the rights and the wrongs of any enterprise, all +men knew that what Brannan decided about it was well-nigh +the eternal truth; and therefore all men of sense were +accustomed to place great confidence in his prophecies. +But, more than this, and better, Brannan was an +unconscious dog, who believed in the people. So, when he +knew what was the right and what was the wrong, he could +stand up before two or three thousand people and tell +them what was right and what was wrong, and tell them +with the same simplicity and freshness with which he +would talk to little Horace on his knee. Of the +thousands who heard him there would not be one in a +hundred who knew that this was eloquence. They were fain +to say, as they sat in their shops, talking, that Brannan +was not eloquent. Nay, they went so far as to regret +that Brannan was not eloquent! If he were only as +eloquent as Carker was or as Barker was, how excellent he +would be! But when, a month after, it was necessary for +them to do anything about the thing he had been speaking +of, they did what Brannan had told them to do; +forgetting, most likely, that he had ever told them, +and fancying that these were their own ideas, which, in +fact, had, from his liquid, ponderous, transparent, and +invisible common sense, distilled unconsciously into +their being. I wonder whether Brannan ever knew that he +was eloquent. What I knew, and what dear George knew, +was, that he was one of the leaders of men! + +Courage, my friends, we are steadily advancing to the +Brick Moon! + +For George had stopped, and seen Brannan; and Brannan +had not forgotten. Seventeen years Brannan had +remembered, and not a ship had been lost on a lee-shore +because her longitude was wrong,--not a baby had wailed +its last as it was ground between wrecked spar and cruel +rock,--not a swollen corpse unknown had been flung up +upon the sand and been buried with a nameless epitaph,-- +but Brannan had recollected the Brick Moon, and had, in +the memory-chamber which rejected nothing, stored away +the story of the horror. And now George was ready to +consecrate a round hundred thousand to the building of +the Moon; and Brannan was ready, in the thousand ways in +which wise men move the people to and fro, to persuade +them to give to us a hundred thousand more; and George +had come to ask me if I were not ready to undertake with +them the final great effort, of which our old +calculations were the embryo. For this I was now to +contribute the mathematical certainty and the lore +borrowed from naval science, which should blossom and +bear fruit when the Brick Moon was snapped like a cherry +from the ways on which it was built, was launched into +the air by power gathered from a thousand freshets, and, +poised at last in its own pre-calculated region of the +ether, should begin its course of eternal blessings in +one unchanging meridian! + +Vision of Beneficence and Wonder! Of course I +consented. + +Oh that you were not so eager for the end! Oh that +I might tell you, what now you will never know,--of the +great campaign which we then and there inaugurated! How +the horrible loss of the Royal Martyr, whose longitude +was three degrees awry, startled the whole world, and +gave us a point to start from. How I explained to George +that he must not subscribe the one hundred thousand +dollars in a moment. It must come in bits, when "the +cause" needed a stimulus, or the public needed +encouragement. How we caught neophyte editors, and +explained to them enough to make them think the Moon was +well-nigh their own invention and their own thunder. +How, beginning in Boston, we sent round to all the men of +science, all those of philanthropy, and all those of +commerce, three thousand circulars, inviting them to a +private meeting at George's parlors at the Revere. How, +besides ourselves, and some nice, respectable-looking old +gentlemen Brannan had brought over from Podunk with him, +paying their fares both ways, there were present only +three men,--all adventurers whose projects had failed,-- +besides the representatives of the press. How, of these +representatives, some understood the whole, and some +understood nothing. How, the next day, all gave us +"first-rate notices." How, a few days after, in the +lower Horticultural Hall, we had our first public +meeting. How Haliburton brought us fifty people who +loved him,--his Bible class, most of them,--to help fill +up; how, besides these, there were not three persons whom +we had not asked personally, or one who could invent an +excuse to stay away. How we had hung the walls with +intelligible and unintelligible diagrams. How I opened +the meeting. Of that meeting, indeed, I must tell +something. + +First, I spoke. I did not pretend to unfold the +scheme. I did not attempt any rhetoric. But I did not +make any apologies. I told them simply of the dangers of +lee-shores. I told them when they were most dangerous,-- +when seamen came upon them unawares. I explained to them +that, though the costly chronometer, frequently adjusted, +made a delusive guide to the voyager who often made a +harbor, still the adjustment was treacherous, the +instrument beyond the use of the poor, and that, once +astray, its error increased forever. I said that we +believed we had a method which, if the means were +supplied for the experiment, would give the humblest +fisherman the very certainty of sunrise and of sunset in +his calculations of his place upon the world. And I said +that whenever a man knew his place in this world, it +was always likely all would go well. Then I sat down. + +Then dear George spoke,--simply, but very briefly. +He said he was a stranger to the Boston people, and that +those who knew him at all knew he was not a talking man. +He was a civil engineer, and his business was to +calculate and to build, and not to talk. But he had come +here to say that he had studied this new plan for the +longitude from the Top to the Bottom, and that he +believed in it through and through. There was his +opinion, if that was worth anything to anybody. If that +meeting resolved to go forward with the enterprise, or if +anybody proposed to, he should offer his services in any +capacity, and without any pay, for its success. If he +might only work as a bricklayer, he would work as a +bricklayer. For he believed, on his soul, that the +success of this enterprise promised more for mankind than +any enterprise which was ever likely to call for the +devotion of his life. "And to the good of mankind," he +said, very simply, "my life is devoted." Then he sat +down. + +Then Brannan got up. Up to this time, excepting that +George had dropped this hint about bricklaying, nobody +had said a word about the Moon, far less hinted what it +was to be made of. So Ben had the whole to open. He did +it as if he had been talking to a bright boy of ten years +old. He made those people think that he respected +them as his equals. But, in fact, he chose every +word, as if not one of them knew anything. He explained, +as if it were rather more simple to explain than to take +for granted. But he explained as if, were they talking, +they might be explaining to him. He led them from point +to point,--oh! so much more clearly than I have been +leading you,--till, as their mouths dropped a little open +in their eager interest, and their lids forgot to wink in +their gaze upon his face, and so their eyebrows seemed a +little lifted in curiosity,--till, I say, each man felt +as if he were himself the inventor, who had bridged +difficulty after difficulty; as if, indeed, the whole +were too simple to be called difficult or complicated. +The only wonder was that the Board of Longitude, or the +Emperor Napoleon, or the Smithsonian, or somebody, had +not sent this little planet on its voyage of blessing +long before. Not a syllable that you would have called +rhetoric, not a word that you would have thought +prepared; and then Brannan sat down. + +That was Ben Brannan's way. For my part, I like it +better than eloquence. + +Then I got up again. We would answer any questions, +I said. We represented people who were eager to go +forward with this work. (Alas! except Q., all of those +represented were on the stage.) We could not go forward +without the general assistance of the community. It was +not an enterprise which the government could be asked to +favor. It was not an enterprise which would yield +one penny of profit to any human being. We had +therefore, purely on the ground of its benefit to +mankind, brought it before an assembly of Boston men and +women. + +Then there was a pause, and we could hear our watches +tick, and our hearts beat. Dear George asked me in a +whisper if he should say anything more, but I thought +not. The pause became painful, and then Tom Coram, +prince of merchants, rose. Had any calculation been made +of the probable cost of the experiment of one moon? + +I said the calculations were on the table. The brick +alone would cost $60,000. Mr. Orcutt had computed that +$214,729 would complete two flywheels and one moon. This +made no allowance for whitewashing the moon, which was +not strictly necessary. The fly-wheels and water-power +would be equally valuable for the succeeding moons, it +any were attempted, and therefore the second moon could +be turned off, it was hoped, for $159,732. + +Thomas Coram had been standing all the time I spoke, +and in an instant he said: "I am no mathematician. But +I have had a ship ground to pieces under me on the +Laccadives because our chronometer was wrong. You need +$250,000 to build your first moon. I will be one of +twenty men to furnish the money; or I will pay $10,000 +to-morrow for this purpose, to any person who may be +named as treasurer, to be repaid to me if the moon is not +finished this day twenty years." + +That was as long a speech as Tom Coram ever made. +But it was pointed. The small audience tapped applause. + +Orcutt looked at me, and I nodded. "I will be +another, of the twenty men," cried he. "And I another," +said an old bluff Englishman, whom nobody had invited; +who proved to be a Mr. Robert Boll, a Sheffield man, who +came in from curiosity. He stopped after the meeting; +said he should leave the country the next week, and I +have never seen him since. But his bill of exchange came +all the same. + +That was all the public subscribing. Enough more +than we had hoped for. We tried to make Coram treasurer, +but he refused. We had to make Haliburton treasurer, +though we should have liked a man better known than he +then was. Then we adjourned. Some nice ladies then came +up, and gave, one a dollar, and one five dollars, and one +fifty, and so on,--and some men who have stuck by ever +since. I always, in my own mind, call each of those +women Damaris, and each of those men Dionysius. But +those are not their real names. + +How I am wasting time on an old story! Then some of +these ladies came the next day and proposed a fair; and +out of that, six months after, grew the great Longitude +Fair, that you will all remember, if you went to it, I am +sure. And the papers the next day gave us first-rate +reports; and then, two by two, with our subscription- +books, we went at it. But I must not tell the details of +that subscription. There were two or three men who +subscribed $5,000 each, because they were perfectly +certain the amount would never be raised. They wanted, +for once, to get the credit of liberality for nothing. +There were many men and many women who subscribed from +one dollar up to one thousand, not because they cared a +straw for the longitude, nor because they believed in the +least in the project; but because they believed in +Brannan, in Orcutt, in Q., or in me. Love goes far in +this world of ours. Some few men subscribed because +others had done it: it was the thing to do, and they must +not be out of fashion. And three or four, at least, +subscribed because each hour of their lives there came up +the memory of the day when the news came that the---- was +lost, George, or Harry, or John, in the----, and they +knew that George, or Harry, or John might have been at +home, had it been easier than it is to read the courses +of the stars! + +Fair, subscriptions, and Orcutt's reserve,--we +counted up $162,000, or nearly so. There would be a +little more when all was paid in. + +But we could not use a cent, except Orcutt's and our +own little subscriptions, till we had got the whole. And +at this point it seemed as if the whole world was sick of +us, and that we had gathered every penny that was in +store for us. The orange was squeezed dry! + + + +II + +HOW WE BUILT IT + +The orange was squeezed dry! And how little any of us +knew,--skilful George Orcutt, thoughtful Ben Brannan, +loyal Haliburton, ingenious Q., or poor painstaking +I,--how little we knew, or any of us, where was another +orange, or how we could mix malic acid and tartaric +acid, and citric acid and auric acid and sugar and +water so as to imitate orange-juice, and fill up the +bank-account enough to draw in the conditioned +subscriptions, and so begin to build the MOON. How +often, as I lay awake at night, have I added up the +different subscriptions in some new order, as if that +would help the matter: and how steadily they have come +out one hundred and sixty-two thousand dollars, or even +less, when I must needs, in my sleepiness, forget +somebody's name! So Haliburton put into railroad +stocks all the money he collected, and the rest of us +ground on at our mills, or flew up on our own wings +towards Heaven. Thus Orcutt built more tunnels, Q. +prepared for more commencements, Haliburton calculated +more policies, Ben Brannan created more civilization, +and I, as I could, healed the hurt of my people of +Naguadavick for the months there were left to me of my +stay in that thriving town. + +None of us had the wit to see how the problem was to +be wrought out further. No. The best things come to us +when we have faithfully and well made all the +preparation and done our best; but they come in some way +that is none of ours. So was it now, that to build the +BRICK MOON it was necessary that I should be turned out +of Naguadavick ignominiously, and that Jeff. Davis and +some seven or eight other bad men should create the Great +Rebellion. Hear how it happened. + +Dennis Shea, my Double,--otherwise, indeed, called by +my name and legally so,--undid me, as my friends +supposed, one evening at a public meeting called by poor +Isaacs in Naguadavick. Of that transaction I have no +occasion here to tell the story. But of that transaction +one consequence is that the BRICK MOON now moves in +ether. I stop writing, to rest my eye upon it, through +a little telescope of Alvan Clark's here, which is always +trained near it. It is moving on as placidly as ever. + +It came about thus. The morning after poor Dennis, +whom I have long since forgiven, made his extraordinary +speeches, without any authority from me, in the Town Hall +at Naguadavick, I thought, and my wife agreed with me, +that we had better both leave town with the children. +Auchmuty, our dear friend, thought so too. We left in +the seven o'clock Accommodation for Skowhegan, and so +came to Township No. 9 in the 3d Range, and there for +years we resided. That whole range of townships was set +off under a provision admirable in its character, that +the first settled minister in each town should receive +one hundred acres of land as the "minister's grant," +and the first settled schoolmaster eighty. To No. 9, +therefore, I came. I constituted a little Sandemanian +church. Auchmuty and Delafield came up and installed me, +and with these hands I built the cabin in which, with +Polly and the little ones, I have since spent many happy +nights and days. This is not the place for me to publish +a map, which I have by me, of No. 9, nor an account of +its many advantages for settlers. Should I ever print my +papers called "Stay-at-home Robinsons," it will be easy +with them to explain its topography and geography. +Suffice it now to say, that, with Alice and Bertha and +Polly, I took tramps up and down through the lumbermen's +roads, and soon knew the general features of the lay of +the land. Nor was it long, of course, before we came out +one day upon the curious land-slides, which have more +than once averted the flow of the Little Carrotook River, +where it has washed the rocks away so far as to let down +one section more of the overlying yielding yellow clay. + +Think how my eyes flashed, and my wife's, as, +struggling though a wilderness of moosewood, we came out +one afternoon on this front of yellow clay! Yellow clay +of course, when properly treated by fire, is brick! Here +we were surrounded by forests, only waiting to be burned; +yonder was clay, only waiting to be baked. Polly looked +at me, and I looked at her, and with one voice, we cried +out, "The MOON!" + +For here was this shouting river at our feet, whose +power had been running to waste since the day when the +Laurentian hills first heaved themselves above the hot +Atlantic; and that day, I am informed by Mr. Agassiz, was +the first day in the history of this solid world. Here +was water-power enough for forty fly-wheels, were it +necessary to send heavenward twenty moons. Here was +solid timber enough for a hundred dams, yet only one was +necessary to give motion to the fly-wheels. Here was +retirement,--freedom from criticism, an escape from the +journalists, who would not embarrass us by telling of +every cracked brick which had to be rejected from the +structure. We had lived in No. 9 now for six weeks, and +not an "own correspondent" of them all had yet told what +Rev. Mr. Ingham had for dinner. + +Of course I wrote to George Orcutt at once of our +great discovery, and he came up at once to examine the +situation. On the whole, it pleased him. He could not +take the site I proposed for the dam, because this very +clay there made the channel treacherous, and there was +danger that the stream would work out a new career. But +lower down we found a stony gorge with which George was +satisfied; he traced out a line for a railway by which, +of their own weight, the brick-cars could run to the +centrings; he showed us where, with some excavations, the +fly-wheels could be placed exactly above the great mill- +wheels, that no power might be wasted, and explained to +us how, when the gigantic structure was finished, the +BRICK MOON would gently roll down its ways upon the rapid +wheels, to be launched instant into the sky! + +Shall I ever forget that happy October day of +anticipation? + +We spent many of those October days in tentative +surveys. Alice and Bertha were our chain-men, +intelligent and obedient. I drove for George his stakes, +or I cut away his brush, or I raised and lowered the +shield at which he sighted and at noon Polly appeared +with her baskets, and we would dine al fresco, on a +pretty point which, not many months after, was wholly +covered by the eastern end of the dam. When the field- +work was finished we retired to the cabin for days, and +calculated and drew, and drew and calculated. Estimates +for feeding Irishmen, estimates of hay for mules,--George +was sure he could work mules better than oxen,--estimates +for cement, estimates for the preliminary saw-mills, +estimates for rail for the little brick-road, for wheels, +for spikes, and for cutting ties; what did we not +estimate for--on a basis almost wholly new, you will +observe. For here the brick would cost us less than our +old conceptions,--our water-power cost us almost +nothing,--but our stores and our wages would cost us much +more. + +These estimates are now to me very curious,--a +monument, indeed, to dear George's memory, that in the +result they proved so accurate. I would gladly print +them here at length, with some illustrative cuts, but +that I know the impatience of the public, and its +indifference to detail. If we are ever able to print a +proper memorial of George, that, perhaps, will be the +fitter place for them. Suffice it to say that with the +subtractions thus made from the original estimates,--even +with the additions forced upon us by working in a +wilderness,--George was satisfied that a money charge of +$197,327 would build and start THE MOON. As soon as we +had determined the site, we marked off eighty acres, +which contained all the essential localities, up and down +the little Carrotook River,--I engaged George for the +first schoolmaster in No. 9, and he took these eighty +acres for the schoolmaster's reservation. Alice and +Bertha went to school to him the next day, taking lessons +in civil engineering; and I wrote to the Bingham trustees +to notify them that I had engaged a teacher, and that he +had selected his land. + +Of course we remembered, still, that we were near +forty thousand dollars short of the new estimates, and +also that much of our money would not be paid us but on +condition that two hundred and fifty thousand were +raised. But George said that his own subscription was +wholly unhampered: with that we would go to work on the +preliminary work of the dam, and on the flies. Then, if +the flies would hold together,--and they should hold if +mortise and iron could hold them,--they might be at +work summers and winters, days and nights, storing up +Power for us. This would encourage the subscribers, it +would encourage us; and all this preliminary work would +be out of the way when we were really ready to begin upon +the MOON. + +Brannan, Haliburton, and Q. readily agreed to this +when they were consulted. They were the other trustees +under an instrument which we had got St. Leger[1] to draw +up. George gave up, as soon as he might, his other +appointments; and taught me, meanwhile, where and how I +was to rig a little saw-mill, to cut some necessary +lumber. I engaged a gang of men to cut the timber for +the dam, and to have it ready; and, with the next spring, +we were well at work on the dam and on the flies! These +needed, of course, the most solid foundation. The least +irregularity of their movement might send the MOON awry. + + +[1] The St. Leger of these stories was Francis Brown +Hayes, H. C. 1839. + + +Ah me! would I not gladly tell the history of every +bar of iron which was bent into the tires of those flies, +and of every log which was mortised into its place in the +dam, nay, of every curling mass of foam which played in +the eddies beneath, when the dam was finished, and the +waste water ran so smoothly over? Alas! that one drop +should be wasted of water that might move a world, +although a small one! I almost dare say that I remember +each and all these,--with such hope and happiness did I +lend myself, as I could, each day to the great +enterprise; lending to dear George, who was here and +there and everywhere, and was this and that and +everybody,--lending to him, I say, such poor help as I +could lend, in whatever way. We waked, in the two cabins +in those happy days, just before the sun came up, when +the birds were in their loudest clamor of morning joy. +Wrapped each in a blanket, George and I stepped out from +our doors, each trying to call the other, and often +meeting on the grass between. We ran to the river and +plunged in,--oh, how cold it was!--laughed and screamed +like boys, rubbed ourselves aglow, and ran home to build +Polly's fire beneath the open chimney which stood beside +my cabin. The bread had risen in the night. The water +soon boiled above the logs. The children came laughing +out upon the grass, barefoot, and fearless of the dew. +Then Polly appeared with her gridiron and bear-steak, or +with her griddle and eggs, and, in fewer minutes than +this page has cost me, the breakfast was ready for Alice +to carry, dish by dish, to the white-clad table on the +piazza. Not Raphael and Adam more enjoyed their +watermelons, fox-grapes, and late blueberries! And, in +the long croon of the breakfast, we revenged ourselves +for the haste with which it had been prepared. + +When we were well at table, a horn from the cabins +below sounded the reveille for the drowsier workmen. +Soon above the larches rose the blue of their smokes; and +when we were at last nodding to the children, to say +that they might leave the table, and Polly was folding +her napkin as to say she wished we were gone, we would +see tall Asaph Langdon, then foreman of the carpenters, +sauntering up the valley with a roll of paper, or an +adze, or a shingle with some calculations on it,--with +something on which he wanted Mr. Orcutt's directions for +the day. + +An hour of nothings set the carnal machinery of the +day agoing. We fed the horses, the cows, the pigs, and +the hens. We collected the eggs and cleaned the hen- +houses and the barns. We brought in wood enough for the +day's fire, and water enough for the day's cooking and +cleanliness. These heads describe what I and the +children did. Polly's life during that hour was more +mysterious. That great first hour of the day is devoted +with women to the deepest arcana of the Eleusinian +mysteries of the divine science of housekeeping. She who +can meet the requisitions of that hour wisely and bravely +conquers in the Day's Battle. But what she does in it, +let no man try to say! It can be named, but not +described, in the comprehensive formula, "Just stepping +round." + +That hour well given to chores and to digestion, the +children went to Mr. Orcutt's open-air school, and I to +my rustic study,--a separate cabin, with a rough square +table in it, and some book-boxes equally rude. No man +entered it, excepting George and me. Here for two hours +I worked undisturbed,--how happy the world, had it +neither postman nor door-bell!--worked upon my Traces of +Sandemanianism in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries, and +then was ready to render such service to The Cause and to +George as the day might demand. Thus I rode to Lincoln +or to Foxcroft to order supplies; I took my gun and lay +in wait on Chairback for a bear; I transferred to the +hewn lumber the angles or bevels from the careful +drawings: as best I could, I filled an apostle's part, +and became all things to all these men around me. Happy +those days!--and thus the dam was built; in such Arcadian +simplicity was reared the mighty wheel; thus grew on each +side the towers which were to support the flies; and +thus, to our delight not unmixed with wonder, at last we +saw those mighty flies begin to turn. Not in one day, +nor in ten; but in a year or two of happy life,--full of +the joy of joys,--the "joy of eventful living." + +Yet, for all this, $162,000 was not $197,000, far +less was it $250,000; and but for Jeff. Davis and his +crew the BRICK MOON would not have been born. + +But at last Jeff. Davis was ready. "My preparations +being completed," wrote General Beauregard, "I opened +fire on Fort Sumter." Little did he know it,--but in +that explosion the BRICK MOON also was lifted into the +sky! + +Little did we know it, when, four weeks after, George +came up from the settlements, all excited with the +news! The wheels had been turning now for four days, +faster of course and faster. George had gone down for +money to pay off the men, and he brought us up the news +that the Rebellion had begun. + +"The last of this happy life," he said; "the last, +alas, of our dear MOON." How little he knew and we! + +But he paid off the men, and they packed their traps +and disappeared, and, before two months were over, were +in the lines before the enemy. George packed up, bade us +sadly good-by, and before a week had offered his service +to Governor Fenton in Albany. For us, it took rather +longer; but we were soon packed; Polly took the children +to her sister's, and I went on to the Department to offer +my service there. No sign of life left in No. 9, but the +two gigantic Fly-Wheels, moving faster and faster by day +and by night, and accumulating Power till it was needed. +If only they would hold together till the moment came! + +So we all ground through the first slow year of the +war. George in his place, I in mine, Brannan in his,--we +lifted as we could. But how heavy the weight seemed! It +was in the second year, when the second large loan was +placed, that Haliburton wrote to me,--I got the letter, +I think, at Hilton Head,--that he had sold out every +penny of our railroad stocks, at the high prices which +railroad stocks then bore, and had invested the whole +fifty-nine thousand in the new Governments. "I could +not call a board meeting," said Haliburton, "for I am +here only on leave of absence, and the rest are all away. +But the case is clear enough. If the government goes up, +the MOON will never go up; and, for one, I do not look +beyond the veil." So he wrote to us all, and of course +we all approved. + +So it was that Jeff. Davis also served. Deep must +that man go into the Pit who does not serve, though +unconscious. For thus it was that, in the fourth year of +the war, when gold was at 290, Haliburton was receiving +on his fifty-nine thousand dollars seventeen per cent +interest in currency; thus was it that, before the war +was over, he had piled up, compounding his interest, more +than fifty per cent addition to his capital; thus was it +that, as soon as peace came, all his stocks were at a +handsome percentage; thus was it that, before I returned +from South America, he reported to all the subscribers +that the full quarter-million was secured: thus was it +that, when I returned after that long cruise of mine in +the Florida, I found Polly and the children again at No. +9, George there also, directing a working party of nearly +eighty bricklayers and hodmen, the lower centrings well- +nigh filled to their diameter, and the BRICK MOON, to the +eye, seeming almost half completed. + +Here it is that I regret most of all that I cannot +print the working-drawings with this paper. If you will +cut open the seed-vessel of Spergularia Rubra, or any +other carpel that has a free central placenta, and +observe how the circular seeds cling around the circular +centre, you will have some idea of the arrangement of a +transverse horizontal section of the completed MOON. Lay +three croquet-balls on the piazza, and call one or two of +the children to help you poise seven in one plane above +the three; then let another child place three more above +the seven, and you have the CORE of the MOON +completely. If you want a more poetical illustration, it +was what Mr. Wordsworth calls a mass + +"Of conglobated bubbles undissolved." + + +Any section through any diameter looked like an +immense rose-window, of six circles grouped round a +seventh. In truth, each of these sections would reveal +the existence of seven chambers in the moon,--each a +sphere itself,--whose arches gave solidity to the whole; +while yet, of the whole moon, the greater part was air. +In all there were thirteen of these moonlets, if I am so +to call them; though no one section, of course, would +reveal so many. Sustained on each side by their groined +arches, the surface of the whole moon was built over +them and under them,--simply two domes connected at the +bases. The chambers themselves were made lighter by +leaving large, round windows or open circles in the parts +of their vaults farthest from their points of contact, so +that each of them looked not unlike the outer sphere of +a Japanese ivory nest of concentric balls. You see +the object was to make a moon, which, when left to its +own gravity, should be fitly supported or braced within. +Dear George was sure that, by this constant repetition of +arches, we should with the least weight unite the +greatest strength. I believe it still, and experience +has proved that there is strength enough. + +When I went up to No. 9, on my return from South +America, I found the lower centring up, and half full of +the working-bees,--who were really Keltic laborers,--all +busy in bringing up the lower half-dome of the shell. +This lower centring was of wood, in form exactly like a +Roman amphitheatre if the seats of it be circular; on +this the lower or inverted brick dome was laid. The +whole fabric was on one of the terraces which were heaved +up in some old geological cataclysm, when some lake gave +way, and the Carrotook River was born. The level was +higher than that of the top of the fly-wheels, which, +with an awful velocity now, were circling in their wild +career in the ravine below. Three of the lowest +moonlets, as I have called them,--separate croquet-balls, +if you take my other illustration,--had been completed; +their centrings had been taken to pieces and drawn out +through the holes, and were now set up again with other +new centrings for the second story of cells. + +I was received with wonder and delight. I had +telegraphed my arrival, but the despatches had never +been forwarded from Skowhegan. Of course, we all had a +deal to tell; and, for me, there was no end to inquiries +which I had to make in turn. I was never tired of +exploring the various spheres, and the nameless spaces +between them. I was never tired of talking with the +laborers. All of us, indeed, became skilful bricklayers; +and on a pleasant afternoon you might see Alice and +Bertha, and George and me, all laying brick together,-- +Polly sitting in the shade of some wall which had been +built high enough, and reading to us from Jean Ingelow or +Monte-Cristo or Jane Austen, while little Clara brought +to us our mortar. Happily and lightly went by that +summer. Haliburton and his wife made us a visit; Ben +Brannan brought up his wife and children; Mrs. Haliburton +herself put in the keystone to the central chamber, which +had always been named G on the plans; and at her +suggestion, it was named Grace now, because her mother's +name was Hannah. Before winter we had passed the +diameter of I, J, and K, the three uppermost cells of +all; and the surrounding shell was closing in upon them. +On the whole, the funds had held out amazingly well. +The wages had been rather higher than we meant; but the +men had no chances at liquor or dissipation, and had +worked faster than we expected; and, with our new brick- +machines, we made brick inconceivably fast, while their +quality was so good that dear George said there was never +so little waste. We celebrated Thanksgiving of that year +together,--my family and his family. We had paid +off all the laborers; and there were left, of that busy +village, only Asaph Langdon and his family, Levi Jordan +and Levi Ross, Horace Leonard and Seth Whitman with +theirs. "Theirs," I say, but Ross had no family. He was +a nice young fellow who was there as Haliburton's +representative, to take care of the accounts and the pay- +roll; Jordan was the head of the brick-kilns; Leonard, of +the carpenters; and Whitman, of the commissariat,--and a +good commissary Whitman was. + +We celebrated Thanksgiving together! Ah me! what a +cheerful, pleasant time we had; how happy the children +were together! Polly and I and our bairns were to go to +Boston the next day. I was to spend the winter in one +final effort to get twenty-five thousand dollars more if +I could, with which we might paint the MOON, or put on +some ground felspathic granite dust, in a sort of paste, +which in its hot flight through the air might fuse into +a white enamel. All of us who saw the MOON were so +delighted with its success that we felt sure "the +friends" would not pause about this trifle. The rest of +them were to stay there to watch the winter, and to be +ready to begin work the moment the snow had gone. +Thanksgiving afternoon, how well I remember it,--that +good fellow, Whitman, came and asked Polly and me to +visit his family in their new quarters. They had moved +for the winter into cells B and E, so lofty, spacious, +and warm, and so much drier than their log cabins. +Mrs. Whitman, I remember, was very cheerful and +jolly; made my children eat another piece of pie, and +stuffed their pockets with raisins; and then with great +ceremony and fun we christened room B by the name of +Bertha, and E, Ellen, which was Mrs. Whitman's name. And +the next day we bade them all good-by, little thinking +what we said, and with endless promises of what we would +send and bring them in the spring. + +Here are the scraps of letters from Orcutt, dear +fellow, which tell what more there is left to tell:-- + +"December 10th. +". . . After you left we were a little blue, and hung +round loose for a day or two. Sunday we missed you +especially, but Asaph made a good substitute, and Mrs. +Leonard led the singing. The next day we moved the +Leonards into L and M, which we christened Leonard and +Mary (Mary is for your wife). They are pretty dark, but +very dry. Leonard has swung hammocks, as Whitman did. + +"Asaph came to me Tuesday and said he thought they +had better turn to and put a shed over the unfinished +circle, and so take occasion of warm days for dry work +there. This we have done, and the occupation is good for +us. . . ." + +"December 25th. +I have had no chance to write for a fortnight. The +truth is, that the weather has been so open that I let +Asaph go down to No. 7 and to Wilder's, and engage five- +and-twenty of the best of the men, who, we knew, were +hanging round there. We have all been at work most of +the time since, with very good success. H is now wholly +covered in, and the centring is out. The men have named +it Haliburton. I is well advanced. J is as you left it. +The work has been good for us all, morally." + +"February 11th. +". . . We got your mail unexpectedly by some +lumbermen on their way to the 9th Range. One of them has +cut himself, and takes this down. + +"You will be amazed to hear that I and K are both +done. We have had splendid weather, and have worked half +the time. We had a great jollification when K was closed +in,--called it Kilpatrick, for Seth's old general. I +wish you could just run up and see us. You must be +quick, if you want to put in any of the last licks. + +"March 12th. +"DEAR FRED,--I have but an instant. By all means +make your preparations to be here by the end of the month +or early in next month. The weather has been faultless, +you know. Asaph got in a dozen more men, and we have +brought up the surface farther than you could dream. The +ways are well forward, and I cannot see why, if the +freshet hold off a little, we should not launch her by +the 10th or 12th. I do not think it worth while to wait +for paint or enamel. Telegraph Brannan that he must be +here. You will be amused by our quarters. We, who were +the last outsiders, move into A and D to-morrow, for a +few weeks. It is much warmer there. +"Ever yours, +G. O." + +I telegraphed Brannan, and in reply he came with his +wife and his children to Boston. I told him that he +could not possibly get up there, as the roads then were; +but Ben said he would go to Skowhegan, and take his +chance there. He would, of course, communicate with me +as soon as he got there. Accordingly I got a note from +him at Skowhegan, saying he had hired a sleigh to go over +to No. 9; and in four days more I got this letter:-- + +March 27th. +DEAR FRED,--I am most glad I came, and I beg you to +bring your wife as soon as possible. The river is very +full, the wheels, to which Leonard has added two +auxiliaries, are moving as if they could not hold out +long, the ways are all but ready, and we think we must +not wait. Start with all hands as soon as you can. I +had no difficulty in coming over from Skowhegan. We did +it in two days. + +This note I sent at once to Haliburton; and we got +all the children ready for a winter journey, as the +spectacle of the launch of the MOON was one to be +remembered their life long. But it was clearly +impossible to attempt, at that season, to get the +subscribers together. Just as we started, this despatch +from Skowhegan was brought me,--the last word I got from +them:-- + +Stop for nothing. There is a jam below us in the +stream, and we fear back-water. +ORCUTT. + +Of course we could not go faster than we could. We +missed no connection. At Skowhegan, Haliburton and I +took a cutter, leaving the ladies and children to follow +at once in larger sleighs. We drove all night, changed +horses at Prospect, and kept on all the next day. At No. +7 we had to wait over night. We started early in the +morning, and came down the Spoonwood Hill at four in the +afternoon, in full sight of our little village. + +It was quiet as the grave! Not a smoke, not a man, +not an adze-blow, nor the tick of a trowel. Only the +gigantic fly-wheels were whirling as I saw them last. + +There was the lower Coliseum-like centring, somewhat +as I first saw it. + +But where was the Brick Dome of the MOON? + +"Good Heavens! has it fallen on them all?" cried I. + +Haliburton lashed the beast till he fairly ran down +that steep hill. We turned a little point, and came out +in front of the centring. There was no MOON there! An +empty amphitheatre, with not a brick nor a splinter +within! + +We were speechless. We left the cutter. We ran up +the stairways to the terrace. We ran by the familiar +paths into the centring. We came out upon the ways, +which we had never seen before. These told the story too +well! The ground and crushed surface of the timbers, +scorched by the rapidity with which the MOON had slid +down, told that they had done the duty for which they +were built. + +It was too clear that in some wild rush of the waters +the ground had yielded a trifle. We could not find that +the foundations had sunk more than six inches, but that +was enough. In that fatal six inches' decline of the +centring, the MOON had been launched upon the ways just +as George had intended that it should be when he was +ready. But it had slid, not rolled, down upon these +angry fly-wheels, and in an instant, with all our +friends, it had been hurled into the sky! + +"They have gone up!" said Haliburton; "She has gone +up!" said I;--both in one breath. And with a common +instinct, we looked up into the blue. + +But of course she was not there. + +-------- + +Not a shred of letter or any other tidings could we +find in any of the shanties. It was indeed six weeks +since George and Fanny and their children had moved into +Annie and Diamond,--two unoccupied cells of the MOON,--so +much more comfortable had the cells proved than the +cabins, for winter life. Returning to No. 7, we found +there many of the laborers, who were astonished at what +we told them. They had been paid off on the 30th, and +told to come up again on the 15th of April, to see the +launch. One of them, a man named Rob Shea, told me that +George kept his cousin Peter to help him move back into +his house the beginning of the next week. + +And that was the last I knew of any of them for +more than a year. At first I expected, each hour, to +hear that they had fallen somewhere. But time passed by, +and of such a fall, where man knows the world's surface, +there was no tale. I answered, as best I could, the +letters of their friends; by saying I did not know where +they were, and had not heard from them. My real thought +was, that if this fatal MOON did indeed pass our +atmosphere, all in it must have been burned to death in +the transit. But this I whispered to no one save to +Polly and Annie and Haliburton. In this terrible doubt +I remained, till I noticed one day in the "Astronomical +Record" the memorandum, which you perhaps remember, of +the observation, by Dr. Zitta, of a new asteroid, with an +enormous movement in declination. + + + +III + +FULFILMENT + +Looking back upon it now, it seems inconceivable that +we said as little to each other as we did, of this +horrible catastrophe. That night we did not pretend to +sleep. We sat in one of the deserted cabins, now +talking fast, now sitting and brooding, without +speaking, perhaps, for hours. Riding back the next day +to meet the women and children, we still brooded, or we +discussed this "if," that "if," and yet others. But +after we had once opened it all to them,--and when we +had once answered the children's horribly naive +questions as best we could,--we very seldom spoke to +each other of it again. It was too hateful, all of it, +to talk about. I went round to Tom Coram's office one +day, and told him all I knew. He saw it was dreadful +to me, and, with his eyes full, just squeezed my hand, +and never said one word more. We lay awake nights, +pondering and wondering, but hardly ever did I to +Haliburton or he to me explain our respective notions +as they came and went. I believe my general impression +was that of which I have spoken, that they were all +burned to death on the instant, as the little aerolite +fused in its passage through our atmosphere. I believe +Haliburton's thought more often was that they were +conscious of what had happened, and gasped out their +lives in one or two breathless minutes,--so horribly +long!--as they shot outside of our atmosphere. But it +was all too terrible for words. And that which we could +not but think upon, in those dreadful waking nights, we +scarcely whispered even to our wives. + +Of course I looked and he looked for the miserable +thing. But we looked in vain. I returned to the few +subscribers the money which I had scraped together +towards whitewashing the moon,--"shrouding its guilty +face with innocent white" indeed! But we agreed to spend +the wretched trifle of the other money, left in the +treasury after paying the last bills, for the largest +Alvan Clark telescope that we could buy; and we were +fortunate in obtaining cheap a second-hand one which +came to the hammer when the property of the Shubael +Academy was sold by the mortgagees. But we had, of +course, scarce a hint whatever as to where the miserable +object was to be found. All we could do was to carry the +glass to No. 9, to train it there on the meridian of No. +9, and take turns every night in watching the field, in +the hope that this child of sorrow might drift across it +in its path of ruin. But, though everything else seemed +to drift by, from east to west, nothing came from south +to north, as we expected. For a whole month of spring, +another of autumn, another of summer, and another of +winter, did Haliburton and his wife and Polly and I glue +our eyes to that eye-glass, from the twilight of evening +to the twilight of morning, and the dead hulk never hove +in sight. Wherever else it was, it seemed not to be on +that meridian, which was where it ought to be and was +made to be! Had ever any dead mass of matter wrought +such ruin to its makers, and, of its own stupid inertia, +so falsified all the prophecies of its birth! Oh, the +total depravity of things! + +It was more than a year after the fatal night,--if it +all happened in the night, as I suppose,--that, as I +dreamily read through the "Astronomical Record" in the +new reading-room of the College Library at Cambridge, I +lighted on this scrap:-- + +"Professor Karl Zitta of Breslau writes to the +Astronomische Nachrichten to claim the discovery +of a new asteroid observed by him on the night of +March 31st. + + + App. A. R. App. Decl. +Bresl. M. T. h. m. s. h. m. s. @ ' " Size. +March 31 12 53 51.9 15 39 52.32 -23 50 26.1 12.9 +April 1 1 3 2.1 15 39 52.32 -23 9 1.9 12.9 + +He proposes for the asteroid the name of Phoebe. Dr. +Zitta states that in the short period which he had for +observing Phoebe, for an hour after midnight, her motion +in R. A. seemed slight and her motion in declination very +rapid." + +After this, however, for months, nay even to this +moment, nothing more was heard of Dr. Zitta of Breslau. + +But, one morning, before I was up, Haliburton came +banging at my door on D Street. The mood had taken him, +as he returned from some private theatricals at +Cambridge, to take the comfort of the new reading-room at +night, and thus express in practice his gratitude to the +overseers of the college for keeping it open through all +the twenty-four hours. Poor Haliburton, he did not sleep +well in those times! Well, as he read away on the +Astronomische Nachrichten itself, what should he find +but this in German, which he copied for me, and then, all +on foot in the rain and darkness, tramped over with, to +South Boston:-- + +"The most enlightened head professor Dr. Gmelin +writes to the director of the Porpol Astronomik at +St. Petersburg, to claim the discovery of an asteroid in +a very high southern latitude, of a wider inclination of +the orbit, as will be noticed, than any asteroid yet +observed. + +"Planet's apparent {alpha} 21^h. 20^m. 51^s.40. +Planet's apparent {delta}-39@ 31' 11".9. Comparison star +{alpha}. + +"Dr. Gmelin publishes no separate second observation, +but is confident that the declination is diminishing. +Dr. Gmelin suggests for the name of this extra-zodiacal +planet `Io,' as appropriate to its wanderings from the +accustomed ways of planetary life, and trusts that the +very distinguished Herr Peters, the godfather of so many +planets, will relinquish this name, already claimed for +the asteroid (85) observed by him, September 15, 1865." + +I had run down stairs almost as I was, slippers and +dressing-gown being the only claims I had on society. +But to me, as to Haliburton, this stuff about "extra- +zodiacal wandering" blazed out upon the page, and though +there was no evidence that the "most enlightened" Gmelin +found anything the next night, yet, if his "diminishing" +meant anything, there was, with Zitta's observation,-- +whoever Zitta might be,--something to start upon. We +rushed upon some old bound volumes of the Record and +spotted the "enlightened Gmelin." He was chief of a +college at Taganrog, where perhaps they had a spyglass. +This gave us the parallax of his observation. Breslau, +of course, we knew, and so we could place Zitta's, +and with these poor data I went to work to construct, +if I could, an orbit for this Io-Phoebe mass of brick and +mortar. Haliburton, not strong in spherical +trigonometry, looked out logarithms for me till +breakfast, and, as soon as it would do, went over to Mrs. +Bowdoin, to borrow her telescope, ours being left at No. +9. + +Mrs. Bowdoin was kind, as she always was, and at noon +Haliburton appeared in triumph with the boxes on P. +Nolan's job-wagon. We always employ P., in memory of +dear old Phil. We got the telescope rigged, and waited +for night, only, alas! to be disappointed again. Io had +wandered somewhere else, and, with all our sweeping back +and forth on the tentative curve I had laid out, Io would +not appear. We spent that night in vain. + +But we were not going to give it up so. Phoebe might +have gone round the world twice before she became Io; +might have gone three times, four, five, six,--nay, six +hundred,--who knew? Nay, who knew how far off Phoebe- +Io was or Io-Phoebe? We sent over for Annie, and +she and Polly and George and I went to work again. We +calculated in the next week sixty-seven orbits on the +supposition of so many different distances from our +surface. I laid out on a paper, which we stuck up on the +wall opposite, the formula, and then one woman and one +man attacked each set of elements, each having the +Logarithmic Tables, and so in a week's working-time the +sixty-seven orbits were completed. Seventy-seven +possible places for Io-Phoebe to be in on the +forthcoming Friday evening. Of these sixty-seven, forty- +one were observable above our horizon that night. + +She was not in one of the forty-one, nor near it. + +But Despair, if Giotto be correct, is the chief of +sins. So has he depicted her in the fresco of the Arena +in Padua. No sin, that, of ours! After searching all +that Friday night, we slept all Saturday (sleeping after +sweeping). We all came to the Chapel, Sunday, kept awake +there, and taught our Sunday classes special lessons on +Perseverance. On Monday we began again, and that week we +calculated sixty-seven more orbits. I am sure I do not +know why we stopped at sixty-seven. All of these were on +the supposition that the revolution of the Brick Moon, or +Io-Phoebe, was so fast that it would require either +fifteen days to complete its orbit, or sixteen days, or +seventeen days, and so on up to eighty-one days. And, +with these orbits, on the next Friday we waited for the +darkness. As we sat at tea, I asked if I should begin +observing at the smallest or at the largest orbit. And +there was a great clamor of diverse opinions. But little +Bertha said, "Begin in the middle." + +"And what is the middle?" said George, chaffing the +little girl. + +But she was not to be dismayed. She had been in and +out all the week, and knew that the first orbit was of +fifteen days and the last of eighty-one; and, with true +Lincoln School precision, she said, "The mean of the +smallest orbit and the largest orbit is forty-eight +days." + +"Amen!" said I, as we all laughed. "On forty-eight +days we will begin." + +Alice ran to the sheets, turned up that number, and +read, "R. A. 27@ 11'. South declination 34@ 49'." + +"Convenient place," said George; "good omen, Bertha, +my darling! If we find her there, Alice and Bertha and +Clara shall all have new dolls." + +It was the first word of pleasantry that had been +spoken about the horrid thing since Spoonwood Hill! + +Night came at last. We trained the glass on the +fated spot. I bade Polly take the eye-glass. She did +so, shook her head uneasily, screwed the tube northward +herself a moment, and then screamed, "It is there! it is +there,--a clear disk,--gibbous shape,--and very sharp on +the upper edge. Look! look! as big again as Jupiter!" + +Polly was right! The Brick Moon was found! + +Now we had found it, we never lost it. Zitta and +Gmelin, I suppose, had had foggy nights and stormy +weather often. But we had some one at the eye-glass all +that night, and before morning had very respectable +elements, good measurements of angular distance when we +got one, from another star in the field of our lowest +power. For we could see her even with a good French +opera-glass I had, and with a night-glass which I used to +carry on the South Atlantic Station. It certainly +was an extraordinary illustration of Orcutt's engineering +ability, that, flying off as she did, without leave or +license, she should have gained so nearly the orbit of +our original plan,--nine thousand miles from the earth's +centre, five thousand from the surface. He had always +stuck to the hope of this, and on his very last tests of +the Flies he had said they, were almost up to it. But +for this accuracy of his, I can hardly suppose we should +have found her to this hour, since she had failed, by +what cause I then did not know, to take her intended +place on the meridian of No. 9. At five thousand miles +the MOON appeared as large as the largest satellite of +Jupiter appears. And Polly was right in that first +observation, when she said she got a good disk with that +admirable glass of Mrs. Bowdoin. + +The orbit was not on the meridian of No. 9, nor did +it remain on any meridian. But it was very nearly South +and North,--an enormous motion in declination with a very +slight RETROGRADE motion in Right Ascension. At five +thousand miles the MOON showed as large as a circle two +miles and a third in diameter would have shown on old +Thornbush, as we always called her older sister. We +longed for an eclipse of Thornbush by B. M., but no such +lucky chance is on the cards in any place accessible to +us for many years. Of course, with a MOON so near us the +terrestrial parallax is enormous. + +Now, you know, dear reader, that the gigantic +reflector of Lord Rosse, and the exquisite fifteen- +inch refractors of the modern observatories, eliminate +from the chaotic rubbish-heap of the surface of old +Thornbush much smaller objects than such a circle as I +have named. If you have read Mr. Locke's amusing Moon +Hoax as often as I have, you have those details fresh in +your memory. As John Farrar taught us when all this +began,--and as I have said already,--if there were a +State House in Thornbush two hundred feet long, the first +Herschel would have seen it. His magnifying power was +6450; that would have brought this deaf and dumb State +House within some forty miles. Go up on Mt. Washington +and see white sails eighty miles away, beyond Portland, +with your naked eye, and you will find how well he would +have seen that State House with his reflector. Lord +Rosse's statement is, that with his reflector he can see +objects on old Thornbush two hundred and fifty-two feet +long. If he can do that he can see on our B. M. objects +which are five feet long; and, of course, we were beside +ourselves to get control of some instrument which had +some approach to such power. Haliburton was for at once +building a reflector at No. 9; and perhaps he will do it +yet, for Haliburton has been successful in his paper- +making and lumbering. But I went to work more promptly. + +I remembered, not an apothecary, but an observatory, +which had been dormant, as we say of volcanoes, now for +ten or a dozen years,--no matter why! The trustees +had quarrelled with the director, or the funds had given +out, or the director had been shot at the head of his +division,--one of those accidents had happened which will +happen even in observatories which have fifteen-inch +equatorials; and so the equatorial here had been left as +useless as a cannon whose metal has been strained or its +reputation stained in an experiment. The observatory at +Tamworth, dedicated with such enthusiasm,--"another +light-house in the skies," had been, so long as I have +said, worthless to the world. To Tamworth, therefore, I +travelled. In the neighborhood of the observatory I took +lodgings. To the church where worshipped the family +which lived in the observatory buildings I repaired; +after two Sundays I established acquaintance with John +Donald, the head of this family. On the evening of the +third, I made acquaintance with his wife in a visit to +them. Before three Sundays more he had recommended me to +the surviving trustees as his successor as janitor to the +buildings. He himself had accepted promotion, and gone, +with his household, to keep a store for Haliburton in +North Ovid. I sent for Polly and the children, to +establish them in the janitor's rooms; and, after writing +to her, with trembling eye I waited for the Brick Moon to +pass over the field of the fifteen-inch equatorial. + +Night came. I was "sole alone"! B. M. came, more +than filled the field of vision, of course! but for that +I was ready. Heavens! how changed. Red no longer, +but green as a meadow in the spring. Still I could see-- +black on the green--the large twenty-foot circles which +I remembered so well, which broke the concave of the +dome; and, on the upper edge--were these palm-trees? +They were. No, they were hemlocks, by their shape, and +among them were moving to and fro---------- flies? Of +course, I cannot see flies! But something is moving,-- +coming, going. One, two, three, ten; there are more than +thirty in all! They are men and women and their +children! + +Could it be possible? It was possible! Orcutt and +Brannan and the rest of them had survived that giddy +flight through the ether, and were going and coming on +the surface of their own little world, bound to it by its +own attraction and living by its own laws! + +As I watched, I saw one of them leap from that +surface. He passed wholly out of my field of vision, but +in a minute, more or less, returned. Why not! Of course +the attraction of his world must be very small, while he +retained the same power of muscle he had when he was +here. They must be horribly crowded, I thought. No. +They had three acres of surface, and there were but +thirty-seven of them. Not so much crowded as people are +in Roxbury, not nearly so much as in Boston; and, +besides, these people are living underground, and have +the whole of their surface for their exercise. + +I watched their every movement as they approached the +edge and as they left it. Often they passed beyond it, +so that I could see them no more. Often they sheltered +themselves from that tropical sun beneath the trees. +Think of living on a world where from the vertical heat +of the hottest noon of the equator to the twilight of the +poles is a walk of only fifty paces! What atmosphere +they had, to temper and diffuse those rays, I could not +then conjecture. + +I knew that at half-past ten they would pass into the +inevitable eclipse which struck them every night at this +period of their orbit, and must, I thought, be a luxury +to them, as recalling old memories of night when they +were on this world. As they approached the line of +shadow, some fifteen minutes before it was due, I counted +on the edge thirty-seven specks arranged evidently in +order; and, at one moment, as by one signal, all thirty- +seven jumped into the air,--high jumps. Again they did +it, and again. Then a low jump; then a high one. I +caught the idea in a moment. They were telegraphing to +our world, in the hope of an observer. Long leaps and +short leaps,--the long and short of Morse's Telegraph +Alphabet,--were communicating ideas. My paper and pencil +had been of course before me. I jotted down the +despatch, whose language I knew perfectly:-- + +"Show `I understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." +"Show `I understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." +"Show `I understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." + +By "I understand" they meant the responsive signal +given, in all telegraphy, by an operator who has received +and understood a message. + +As soon as this exercise had been three times +repeated, they proceeded in a solid body--much the most +apparent object I had had until now--to Circle No. 3, and +then evidently descended into the MOON. + +The eclipse soon began, but I knew the MOON'S path +now, and followed the dusky, coppery spot without +difficulty. At 1.33 it emerged, and in a very few +moments I saw the solid column pass from Circle No. 3 +again, deploy on the edge again, and repeat three times +the signal:-- + +"Show `I understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." +"Show `I understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." +"Show `I understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." + +It was clear that Orcutt had known that the edge of +his little world would be most easy of observation, and +that he had guessed that the moments of obscuration and +of emersion were the moments when observers would be most +careful. After this signal they broke up again, and I +could not follow them. With daylight I sent off a +despatch to Haliburton, and, grateful and happy in +comparison, sank into the first sleep not haunted by +horrid dreams, which I had known for years. + + +Haliburton knew that George Orcutt had taken with him +a good Dolland's refractor, which he had bought in +London, of a two-inch glass. He knew that this would +give Orcutt a very considerable power, if he could only +adjust it accurately enough to find No. 9 in the 3d +Range. Orcutt had chosen well in selecting the "Saw-Mill +Flat," a large meadow, easily distinguished by the +peculiar shape of the mill-pond which we had made. Eager +though Haliburton was to join me, he loyally took moneys, +caught the first train to Skowhegan, and, travelling +thence, in thirty-six hours more was again descending +Spoonwood Hill, for the first time since our futile +observations. The snow lay white upon the Flat. With +Rob. Shea's help, he rapidly unrolled a piece of black +cambric twenty yards long, and pinned it to the crust +upon the snow; another by its side, and another. Much +cambric had he left. They had carried down with them +enough for the funerals of two Presidents. Haliburton +showed the symbols for "I understand," but he could not +resist also displaying ..-- .--, which are the dots and +lines to represent O. K., which, he says, is the +shortest message of comfort. And not having exhausted +the space on the Flat, he and Robert, before night closed +in, made a gigantic O. K., fifteen yards from top to +bottom, and in marks that were fifteen feet through. +I had telegraphed my great news to Haliburton on +Monday night. Tuesday night he was at Skowhegan. +Thursday night he was at No. 9. Friday he and Rob. +stretched their cambric. Meanwhile, every day I slept. +Every night I was glued to the eye-piece. Fifteen +minutes before the eclipse every night this weird dance +of leaps two hundred feet high, followed by hops of +twenty feet high, mingled always in the steady order I +have described, spelt out the ghastly message: "Show `I +understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." + +And every morning, as the eclipse ended, I saw the +column creep along to the horizon, and again, as the duty +of opening day, spell out the same:-- + +"Show `I understand' on the Saw-Mill Flat." + +They had done this twice in every twenty-four hours +for nearly two years. For three nights steadily I read +these signals twice each night; only these, and nothing +more. + +But Friday night all was changed. After "Attention," +that dreadful "Show" did not come, but this cheerful +signal:-- + +"Hurrah. All well. Air, food, and friends! what +more can man require? Hurrah." + +How like George! How like Ben Brannan! How like +George's wife! How like them all! And they were all +well! Yet poor _I_ could not answer. Nay, I could +only guess what Haliburton had done. But I have never, +I believe, been so grateful since I was born. + +After a pause, the united line of leapers resumed +their jumps and hops. Long and short spelled out:-- + +"Your O. K. is twice as large as it need be." + +Of the meaning of this, lonely _I_ had, of course, +no idea. + +"I have a power of seven hundred," continued George. +How did he get that? He has never told us. But this I +can see, that all our analogies deceive us,--of views of +the sea from Mt. Washington, or of the Boston State House +from Wachusett. For in these views we look through forty +or eighty miles of dense terrestrial atmosphere. But +Orcutt was looking nearly vertically through an +atmosphere which was, most of it, rare indeed, and pure +indeed, compared with its lowest stratum. + +In the record-book of my observations these +despatches are entered as 12 and 13. Of course it was +impossible for me to reply. All I could do was to +telegraph these in the morning to Skowhegan, sending them +to the care of the Moores, that they might forward them. +But the next night showed that this had not been +necessary. + +Friday night George and the others went on for a +quarter of an hour. Then they would rest, saying, "two," +"three," or whatever their next signal time would be. +Before morning I had these despatches:-- + +14. "Write to all hands that we are doing well. +Langdon's baby is named Io, and Leonard's is named +Phoebe." + +How queer that was! What a coincidence! And they +had some humor there. + +15 was: "Our atmosphere stuck to us. It weighs +three tenths of an inch--our weight." + +16. "Our rain-fall is regular as the clock. We have +made a cistern of Kilpatrick." + +This meant the spherical chamber of that name. + +17. "Write to Darwin that he is all right. We began +with lichens and have come as far as palms and hemlocks." + +These were the first night's messages. I had +scarcely covered the eye-glasses and adjusted the +equatorial for the day, when the bell announced the +carriage in which Polly and the children came from the +station to relieve me in my solitary service as janitor. +I had the joy of showing her the good news. This night's +work seemed to fill our cup. For all the day before, +when I was awake, I had been haunted by the fear of +famine for them. True, I knew that they had stored away +in chambers H, I, and J the pork and flour which we had +sent up for the workmen through the summer, and the corn +and oats for the horses. But this could not last +forever. + +Now, however, that it proved that in a tropical +climate they were forming their own soil, developing +their own palms, and eventually even their bread-fruit +and bananas, planting their own oats and maize, and +developing rice, wheat, and all other cereals, harvesting +these six, eight, or ten times--for aught I could see--in +one of our years,--why, then, there was no danger of +famine for them. If, as I thought, they carried up with +them heavy drifts of ice and snow in the two chambers +which were not covered in when they started, why, they +had waters in their firmament quite sufficient for all +purposes of thirst and of ablution. And what I had seen +of their exercise showed that they were in strength +sufficient for the proper development of their little +world. + +Polly had the messages by heart before an hour was +over, and the little girls, of course, knew them sooner +than she. + +Haliburton, meanwhile, had brought out the Shubael +refractor (Alvan Clark), and by night of Friday was in +readiness to see what he could see. Shubael of course +gave him no such luxury of detail as did my fifteen-inch +equatorial. But still he had no difficulty in making out +groves of hemlock, and the circular openings. And +although he could not make out my thirty-seven flies, +still when 10.15 came he saw distinctly the black square +crossing from hole Mary to the edge, and beginning its +Dervish dances. They were on his edge more precisely +than on mine. For Orcutt knew nothing of Tamworth, and +had thought his best chance was to display for No. 9. So +was it that, at the same moment with me, Haliburton also +was spelling out Orcutt & Co.'s joyous "Hurrah!" + +"Thtephen," lisps Celia, "promith that you will look +at yon moon [old Thombush] at the inthtant I do." So was +it with me and Haliburton. + +He was of course informed long before the Moores' +messenger came, that, in Orcutt's judgment, twenty feet +of length were sufficient for his signals. Orcutt's +atmosphere, of course, must be exquisitely clear. + +So, on Saturday, Rob. and Haliburton pulled up all +their cambric and arranged it on the Flat again, in +letters of twenty feet, in this legend:-- + +RAH. AL WEL. + + +Haliburton said he could not waste flat or cambric on +spelling. + +He had had all night since half-past ten to consider +what next was most important for them to know; and a very +difficult question it was, you will observe. They had +been gone nearly two years, and much had happened. Which +thing was, on the whole, the most interesting and +important? He had said we were all well. What then? + +Did you never find yourself in the same difficulty? +When your husband had come home from sea, and kissed you +and the children, and wondered at their size, did you +never sit silent and have to think what you should say? +Were you never fairly relieved when little Phil said, +blustering, "I got three eggs to-day." The truth is, +that silence is very satisfactory intercourse, if we only +know all is well. When De Sauty got his original cable +going, he had not much to tell after all; only that +consols were a quarter per cent higher than they were +the day before. "Send me news," lisped he--poor lonely +myth!--from Bull's Bay to Valentia,--"send me news; they +are mad for news." But how if there be no news worth +sending? What do I read in my cable despatch to-day? +Only that the Harvard crew pulled at Putney yesterday, +which I knew before I opened the paper, and that there +had been a riot in Spain, which I also knew. Here is a +letter just brought me by the mail from Moreau, Tazewell +County, Iowa. It is written by Follansbee, in a good +cheerful hand. How glad I am to hear from Follansbee! +Yes; but do I care one straw whether Follansbee planted +spring wheat or winter wheat? Not I. All I care for is +Follansbee's way of telling it. All these are the +remarks by which Haliburton explains the character of the +messages he sent in reply to George Orcutt's autographs, +which were so thoroughly satisfactory. + +Should he say Mr. Borie had left the Navy Department +and Mr. Robeson come in? Should he say the Lords had +backed down on the Disendowment Bill? Should he say the +telegraph had been landed at Duxbury? Should he say +Ingham had removed to Tamworth? What did they care for +this? What does anybody ever care for facts? Should he +say that the State Constable was enforcing the liquor law +on whiskey, but was winking at lager? All this would +take him a week, in the most severe condensation,-- +and for what good? as Haliburton asked. Yet these were +the things that the newspapers told, and they told +nothing else. There was a nice little poem of Jean +Ingelow's in a Transcript Haliburton had with him. He +said he was really tempted to spell that out. It was +better worth it than all the rest of the newspaper stuff, +and would be remembered a thousand years after that was +forgotten. "What they wanted," says Haliburton, "was +sentiment. That is all that survives and is eternal." +So he and Rob. laid out their cambric thus:-- + +RAW. AL WEL. SO GLAD. + +Haliburton hesitated whether he would not add, "Power +5000," to indicate the full power I was using at +Tamworth. But he determined not to, and, I think, +wisely. The convenience was so great, of receiving the +signal at the spot where it could be answered, that for +the present he thought it best that they should go on +as they did. That night, however, to his dismay, +clouds gathered and a grim snow-storm began. He got no +observations; and the next day it stormed so heavily +that he could not lay his signals out. For me at +Tamworth, I had a heavy storm all day, but at midnight +it was clear; and as soon as the regular eclipse was +past, George began with what we saw was an account of +the great anaclysm which sent them there. You observe +that Orcutt had far greater power of communicating with +us than we had with him. He knew this. And it was +fortunate he had. For he had, on his little world, +much more of interest to tell than we had on our large +one. + +18. "It stormed hard. We were all asleep, and knew +nothing till morning; the hammocks turned so slowly." + +Here was another revelation and relief. I had always +supposed that if they knew anything before they were +roasted to death, they had had one wild moment of horror. +Instead of this, the gentle slide of the MOON had not +wakened them, the flight upward had been as easy as it +was rapid, the change from one centre of gravity to +another had of course been slow,--and they had actually +slept through the whole. After the dancers had rested +once, Orcutt continued:-- + +19. "We cleared E. A. in two seconds, I think. Our +outer surface fused and cracked somewhat. So much the +better for us." + +They moved so fast that the heat of their friction +through the air could not propagate itself through the +whole brick surface. Indeed, there could have been but +little friction after the first five or ten miles. By E. +A. he means earth's atmosphere. + +His 20th despatch is: "I have no observations of +ascent. But by theory our positive ascent ceased in two +minutes five seconds, when we fell into our proper orbit, +which, as I calculate, is 5,109 miles from your mean +surface." + +In all this, observe, George dropped no word of +regret through these five thousand miles. + +His 21st despatch is: "Our rotation on our axis is +made once in seven hours, our axis being exactly vertical +to the plane of our own orbit. But in each of your daily +rotations we get sunned all round." + +Of course, they never had lost their identity with +us, so far as our rotation and revolution went: our +inertia was theirs; all the fatal, Fly-Wheels had given +them was an additional motion in space of their own. + +This was the last despatch before daylight of Sunday +morning; and the terrible snow-storm of March, sweeping +our hemisphere, cut off our communication with them, both +at Tamworth and No. 9, for several days. + +But here was ample food for reflection. Our friends +were in a world of their own, all thirty-seven of them +well, and it seemed they had two more little girls added +to their number since they started. They had plenty of +vegetables to eat, with prospect of new tropical +varieties according to Dr. Darwin. Rob. Shea was sure +that they carried up hens; he said he knew Mrs. Whitman +had several Middlesexes and Mrs. Leonard two or three +Black Spanish fowls, which had been given her by some +friends in Foxcroft. Even if they had not yet had time +enough for these to develop into Alderneys and venison, +they would not be without animal food. + + +When at last it cleared off, Haliburton had to +telegraph: "Repeat from 21"; and this took all his +cambric, though he had doubled his stock. Orcutt replied +the next night: + +22. "I can see your storms. We have none. When we +want to change climate we can walk in less than a minute +from midsummer to the depth of winter. But in the inside +we have eleven different temperatures, which do not +change." + +On the whole there is a certain convenience in such +an arrangement. With No. 23 he went back to his story:-- + +It took us many days, one or two of our months, to +adjust ourselves to our new condition. Our greatest +grief is that we are not on the meridian. Do you know +why?" + +Loyal George! He was willing to exile himself and +his race from the most of mankind, if only the great +purpose of his life could be fulfilled. But his great +regret was that it was not fulfilled. He was not on the +meridian. I did not know why. But Haliburton, with +infinite labor, spelt out on the Flat, + +CYC. PROJECT. AD FIN., + +by which he meant, "See article Projectiles in the +Cyclopaedia at the end"; and there indeed is the only +explanation to be given. When you fire a shot, why +does it ever go to the right or left of the plane in +which it is projected? Dr. Hutton ascribes it to a +whirling motion acquired by the bullet by friction +with the gun. Euler thinks it due chiefly to the +irregularity of the shape of the ball. In our case the +B. M. was regular enough. But on one side, being +wholly unprepared for flight, she was heavily stored +with pork and corn, while her other chambers had in +some of them heavy drifts of snow, and some only a few +men and women and hens. + +Before Orcutt saw Haliburton's advice, he had sent us +24 and 25. + +24. "We have established a Sandemanian church, and +Brannan preaches. My son Edward and Alice Whitman are to +be married this evening." + +This despatch unfortunately did not reach Haliburton, +though I got it. So, all the happy pair received for our +wedding-present was the advice to look in the Cyclopaedia +at article Projectiles near the end. + +25 was:-- + +"We shall act `As You Like It' after the wedding. +Dead-head tickets for all of the old set who will come." + +Actually, in one week's reunion we had come to +joking. + +The next night we got 26: + +"Alice says she will not read the Cyclopaedia in the +honeymoon, but is much obliged to Mr. Haliburton for his +advice." + +"How did she ever know it was I?" wrote the matter- +of-fact Haliburton to me. + +27. "Alice wants to know if Mr. Haliburton will not +send here for some rags; says we have plenty, with little +need for clothes." + +And then despatches began to be more serious again. +Brannan and Orcutt had failed in the great scheme for the +longitude, to which they had sacrificed their lives,--if, +indeed, it were a sacrifice to retire with those they +love best to a world of their own. But none the less did +they devote themselves, with the rare power of +observation they had, to the benefit of our world. Thus, +in 28: + +"Your North Pole is an open ocean. It was black, +which we think means water, from August 1st to September +29th. Your South Pole is on an island bigger than New +Holland. Your Antarctic Continent is a great cluster of +islands." + +29. "Your Nyanzas are only two of a large group of +African lakes. The green of Africa, where there is no +water, is wonderful at our distance." + +30. "We have not the last numbers of `Foul Play.' +Tell us, in a word or two, how they got home. We can see +what we suppose their island was." + +31. "We should like to know who proved Right in `He +Knew He was Right.'" + +This was a good night's work, as they were then +telegraphing. As soon as it cleared, Haliburton +displayed,-- + +BEST HOPES. CARRIER DUCKS. + + +This was Haliburton's masterpiece. He had no room +for more, however, and was obliged to reserve for the +next day his answer to No. 31, which was simply, + +SHE. + +A real equinoctial now parted us for nearly a week, +and at the end of that time they were so low in our +northern horizon that we could not make out their +signals; we and they were obliged to wait till they had +passed through two-thirds of their month before we could +communicate again. I used the time in speeding to No. 9. +We got a few carpenters together, and arranged on the +Flat two long movable black platforms, which ran in and +out on railroad-wheels on tracks, from under green +platforms; so that we could display one or both as we +chose, and then withdraw them. With this apparatus we +could give forty-five signals in a minute, corresponding +to the line and dot of the telegraph; and thus could +compass some twenty letters in that time, and make out +perhaps two hundred and fifty words in an hour. +Haliburton thought that, with some improvements, he could +send one of Mr. Buchanan's messages up in thirty-seven +working-nights. + + +IV + +INDEPENDENCE + +I own to a certain mortification in confessing that +after this interregnum, forced upon us by so long a +period of non-intercourse, we never resumed precisely +the same constancy of communication as that which I +have tried to describe at the beginning. The apology +for this benumbment, if I may so call it, will suggest +itself to the thoughtful reader. + +It is indeed astonishing to think that we so readily +accept a position when we once understand it. You buy a +new house. You are fool enough to take out a staircase +that you may put in a bathing-room. This will be done in +a fortnight, everybody tells you, and then everybody +begins. Plumbers, masons, carpenters, plasterers, +skimmers, bell-hangers, speaking-tube men, men who make +furnace-pipe, paper-hangers, men who scrape off the old +paper, and other men who take off the old paint with +alkali, gas men, city-water men, and painters begin. To +them are joined a considerable number of furnace-men's +assistants, stovepipe-men's assistants, mason's +assistants, and hodmen who assist the assistants of the +masons, the furnace-men, and the pipe-men. For a day or +two these all take possession of the house and reduce it +to chaos. In the language of Scripture, they enter +in and dwell there. Compare, for the details, Matt. xii. +45. Then you revisit it at the end of the fortnight, and +find it in chaos, with the woman whom you employed to +wash the attics the only person on the scene. You ask +her where the paper-hanger is; and she says he can do +nothing because the plaster is not dry. You ask why the +plaster is not dry, and are told it is because the +furnace-man has not come. You send for him, and he says +he did come, but the stove-pipe man was away. You send +for him, and he says he lost a day in coming, but that +the mason had not cut the right hole in the chimney. You +go and find the mason, and he says they are all fools, +and that there is nothing in the house that need take two +days to finish. + +Then you curse, not the day in which you were born, +but the day in which bath-rooms were invented. You say, +truly, that your father and mother, from whom you inherit +every moral and physical faculty you prize, never had a +bath-room till they were past sixty, yet they thrived, +and their children. You sneak through back streets, +fearful lest your friends shall ask you when your house +will be finished. You are sunk in wretchedness, unable +even to read your proofs accurately, far less able to +attend the primary meetings of the party with which you +vote, or to discharge any of the duties of a good +citizen. Life is wholly embittered to you. + +Yet, six weeks after, you sit before a soft-coal fire +in your new house, with the feeling that you have always +lived there. You are not even grateful that you are +there. You have forgotten the plumber's name; and if you +met in the street that nice carpenter that drove things +through, you would just nod to him, and would not think +of kissing him or embracing him. + +Thus completely have you accepted the situation. + +Let me confess that the same experience is that with +which, at this writing, I regard the BRICK MOON. It is +there in ether. I cannot keep it. I cannot get it down. +I cannot well go to it,--though possibly that might be +done, as you will see. They are all very happy there,-- +much happier, as far as I can see, than if they lived in +sixth floors in Paris, in lodgings in London, or even in +tenement-houses in Phoenix Place, Boston. There are +disadvantages attached to their position; but there are +also advantages. And what most of all tends to our +accepting the situation is, that there is "nothing that +we can do about it," as Q. says, but to keep up our +correspondence with them, and to express our sympathies. + +For them, their responsibilities are reduced in +somewhat the same proportion as the gravitation which +binds them down,--I had almost said to earth,--which +binds them down to brick, I mean. This decrease of +responsibility must make them as light-hearted as the +loss of gravitation makes them light-bodied. + +On which point I ask for a moment's attention. And +as these sheets leave my hand, an illustration turns up +which well serves me. It is the 23d of October. +Yesterday morning all wakeful women in New England were +sure there was some one under the bed. This is a certain +sign of an earthquake. And when we read the evening +newspapers, we were made sure there had been an +earthquake. What blessings the newspapers are,--and how +much information they give us! Well, they said it was +not very severe, here, but perhaps it was more severe +elsewhere; hopes really arising in the editorial mind +that in some Caraccas or Lisbon all churches and the +cathedral might have fallen. I did not hope for that. +But I did have just the faintest feeling that IF--if +if--it should prove that the world had blown up into six +or eight pieces, and they had gone off into separate +orbits, life would be vastly easier for all of us, on +whichever bit we happened to be. + +That thing has happened, they say, once. Whenever +the big planet between Mars and Jupiter blew up, and +divided himself into one hundred and two or more +asteroids, the people on each one only knew there had +been an earthquake when and after they read their morning +journals. And then, all that they knew at first was that +telegraphic communication had ceased beyond--say two +hundred miles. Gradually people and despatches came in, +who said that they had parted company with some of the +other islands and continents. But, as I say, on each +piece the people not only weighed much less, but were +much lighter-hearted, had less responsibility. + +Now will you imagine the enthusiasm here, at Miss +Hale's school, when it should be announced that +geography, in future, would be confined to the study of +the region east of the Mississippi and west of the +Atlantic,--the earth having parted at the seams so named. +No more study of Italian, German, French, or Sclavonic,-- +the people speaking those languages being now in +different orbits or other worlds. Imagine also the +superior ease of the office-work of the A. B. C. F. M. +and kindred societies, the duties of instruction and +civilizing, of evangelizing in general, being reduced +within so much narrower bounds. For you and me also, who +cannot decide what Mr. Gladstone ought to do with the +land tenure in Ireland, and who distress ourselves so +much about it in conversation, what a satisfaction to +know that Great Britain is flung off with one rate of +movement, Ireland with another, and the Isle of Man with +another, into space, with no more chance of meeting again +than there is that you shall have the same hand at whist +to-night that you had last night! Even Victoria would +sleep easier, and I am sure Mr. Gladstone would. + +Thus, I say, were Orcutt's and Brannan's +responsibilities so diminished, that after the first I +began to see that their contracted position had its +decided compensating ameliorations. + +In these views, I need not say, the women of our +little circle never shared. After we got the new +telegraph arrangement in good running-order, I observed +that Polly and Annie Haliburton had many private +conversations, and the secret came out one morning, when, +rising early in the cabins, we men found they had +deserted us; and then, going in search of them, found +them running the signal boards in and out as rapidly as +they could, to tell Mrs. Brannan and the bride, Alice +Orcutt, that flounces were worn an inch and a half +deeper, and that people trimmed now with harmonizing +colors and not with contrasts. I did not say that I +believed they wore fig-leaves in B. M., but that was my +private impression. + +After all, it was hard to laugh at the girls, as +these ladies will be called, should they live to be as +old as Helen was when she charmed the Trojan senate (that +was ninety-three, if Heyne be right in his calculations). +It was hard to laugh at them because this was simple +benevolence, and the same benevolence led to a much more +practical suggestion when Polly came to me and told me +she had been putting up some baby things for little Io +and Phoebe, and some playthings for the older children, +and she thought we might "send up a bundle." + +Of course we could. There were the Flies still +moving! or we might go ourselves! + +[And here the reader must indulge me in a long +parenthesis. I beg him to bear me witness that I never +made one before. This parenthesis is on the tense that +I am obliged to use in sending to the press these +minutes. The reader observes that the last transactions +mentioned happen in April and May, 1871. Those to be +narrated are the sequence of those already told. +Speaking of them in 1870 with the coarse tenses of the +English language is very difficult. One needs, for +accuracy, a sure future, a second future, a paulo-post +future, and a paulum-ante future, none of which does this +language have. Failing this, one would be glad of an a- +orist,--tense without time,--if the grammarians will not +swoon at hearing such language. But the English tongue +hath not that, either. Doth the learned reader remember +that the Hebrew--language of history and prophecy--hath +only a past and a future tense, but hath no present? Yet +that language succeeded tolerably in expressing the +present griefs or joys of David and of Solomon. Bear +with me, then, O critic! if even in 1870 I use the so- +called past tenses in narrating what remaineth of this +history up to the summer of 1872. End of the +parenthesis.] + +On careful consideration, however, no one volunteers +to go. To go, if you observe, would require that a man +envelop himself thickly in asbestos or some similar non- +conducting substance, leap boldly on the rapid Flies, and +so be shot through the earth's atmosphere in two seconds +and a fraction, carrying with him all the time in a non- +conducting receiver the condensed air he needed, and +landing quietly on B. M. by a precalculated orbit. At +the bottom of our hearts I think we were all afraid. +Some of us confessed to fear; others said, and said +truly, that the population of the Moon was already dense, +and that it did not seem reasonable or worth while, on +any account, to make it denser. Nor has any movement +been renewed for going. But the plan of the bundle of +"things" seemed more feasible, as the things would not +require oxygen. The only precaution seemed to be that +which was necessary for protecting the parcel against +combustion as it shot through the earth's atmosphere. We +had not asbestos enough. It was at first proposed to +pack them all in one of Professor Horsford's safes. But +when I telegraphed this plan to Orcutt, he demurred. +Their atmosphere was but shallow, and with a little too +much force the corner of the safe might knock a very bad +hole in the surface of his world. He said if we would +send up first a collection of things of no great weight, +but of considerable bulk, he would risk that, but he +would rather have no compact metals. + +I satisfied myself, therefore, with a plan which I +still think good. Making the parcel up in heavy old +woollen carpets, and cording it with worsted cords, we +would case it in a carpet-bag larger than itself and fill +in the interstice with dry sand, as our best non- +conductor; cording this tightly again, we would renew the +same casing with more sand; and so continually offer +surfaces of sand and woollen, till we had five separate +layers between the parcel and the air. Our calculation +was that a perceptible time would be necessary for +the burning and disintegrating of each sand-bag. If each +one, on the average, would stand two-fifths of a second, +the inner parcel would get through the earth's atmosphere +unconsumed. If, on the other hand, they lasted a little +longer, the bag, as it fell on B. M., would not be unduly +heavy. Of course we could take their night for the +experiment, so that we might be sure they should all be +in bed and out of the way. + +We had very funny and very merry times in selecting +things important enough and at the same time bulky and +light enough to be safe. Alice and Bertha at once +insisted that there must be room for the children's +playthings. They wanted to send the most approved of the +old ones, and to add some new presents. There was a +woolly sheep in particular, and a watering-pot that Rose +had given Fanny, about which there was some sentiment; +boxes of dominos, packs of cards, magnetic fishes, bows +and arrows, checker-boards and croquet sets. Polly and +Annie were more considerate. Down to Coleman and Company +they sent an order for pins, needles, hooks and eyes, +buttons, tapes, and I know not what essentials. India- +rubber shoes for the children Mrs. Haliburton insisted on +sending. Haliburton himself bought open-eye-shut-eye +dolls, though I felt that wax had been, since Icarus's +days, the worst article in such an adventure. For the +babies he had india-rubber rings: he had tin cows and +carved wooden lions for the bigger children, drawing- +tools for those older yet, and a box of crochet tools for +the ladies. For my part I piled in literature,--a set of +my own works, the Legislative Reports of the State of +Maine, Jean Ingelow, as I said or intimated, and both +volumes of the "Earthly Paradise." All these were packed +in sand, bagged and corded,--bagged, sanded and corded +again,--yet again and again,--five times. Then the whole +awaited Orcutt's orders and our calculations. + +At last the moment came. We had, at Orcutt's order, +reduced the revolutions of the Flies to 7230, which was, +as nearly as he knew, the speed on the fatal night. We +had soaked the bag for near twelve hours, and, at the +moment agreed upon, rolled it on the Flies and saw it +shot into the air. It was so small that it went out of +sight too soon for us to see it take fire. + +Of course we watched eagerly for signal time. They +were all in bed on B. M. when we let fly. But the +despatch was a sad disappointment. + +107. "Nothing has come through but two croquet balls +and a china horse. But we shall send the boys hunting in +the bushes, and we may find more." + +108. "Two Harpers and an Atlantic, badly singed. But +we can read all but the parts which were most dry." + +109. "We see many small articles revolving round us +which may perhaps fall in." + +They never did fall in, however. The truth was that +all the bags had burned through. The sand, I suppose, +went to its place, wherever that was. And all the other +things in our bundle became little asteroids or aerolites +in orbits of their own, except a well-disposed score or +two, which persevered far enough to get within the +attraction of Brick Moon and to take to revolving there, +not having hit quite square, as the croquet balls did. +They had five volumes of the "Congressional Globe" +whirling round like bats within a hundred feet of their +heads. Another body, which I am afraid was "The Ingham +Papers," flew a little higher, not quite so heavy. Then +there was an absurd procession of the woolly sheep, a +china cow, a pair of india-rubbers, a lobster Haliburton +had chosen to send, a wooden lion, the wax doll, a +Salter's balance, the "New York Observer," the bow and +arrows, a Nuremberg nanny-goat, Rose's watering-pot, and +the magnetic fishes, which gravely circled round and +round them slowly and made the petty zodiac of their +petty world. + +We have never sent another parcel since, but we +probably shall at Christmas, gauging the Flies perhaps to +one revolution more. The truth is, that although we have +never stated to each other in words our difference of +opinion or feeling, there is a difference of habit of +thought in our little circle as to the position which the +B. M. holds. Somewhat similar is the difference of +habit of thought in which different statesmen of +England regard their colonies. + +Is B. M. a part of our world, or is it not? Should +its inhabitants be encouraged to maintain their +connections with us, or is it better for them to "accept +the situation" and gradually wean themselves from us and +from our affairs? It would be idle to determine this +question in the abstract: it is perhaps idle to decide +any question of casuistry in the abstract. But, in +practice, there are constantly arising questions which +really require some decision of this abstract problem for +their solution. + +For instance, when that terrible breach occurred in +the Sandemanian church, which parted it into the Old +School and New School parties, Haliburton thought it very +important that Brannan and Orcutt and the church in B. M. +under Brannan's ministry should give in their adhesion to +our side. Their church would count one more in our +registry, and the weight of its influence would not be +lost. He therefore spent eight or nine days in +telegraphing, from the early proofs, a copy of the +address of the Chautauqua Synod to Brannan, and asked +Brannan if he were not willing to have his name signed to +it when it was printed. And the only thing which +Haliburton takes sorely in the whole experience of the +Brick Moon, from the beginning, is that neither Orcutt +nor Brannan has ever sent one word of acknowledgment of +the despatch. Once, when Haliburton was very low- +spirited, I heard him even say that he believed they had +never read a word of it, and that he thought he and Rob. +Shea had had their labor for their pains in running the +signals out and in. + +Then he felt quite sure that they would have to +establish civil government there. So he made up an +excellent collection of books,--De Lolme on the British +Constitution; Montesquieu on Laws; Story, Kent, John +Adams, and all the authorities here; with ten copies of +his own address delivered before the Young Men's Mutual +Improvement Society of Podunk, on the "Abnormal Truths of +Social Order." He telegraphed to know what night he +should send them, and Orcutt replied:-- + +129. "Go to thunder with your old law-books. We have +not had a primary meeting nor a justice court since we +have been here, and, D. V., we never will have." + +Haliburton says this is as bad as the state of things +in Kansas, when, because Frank Pierce would not give them +any judges or laws to their mind, they lived a year or so +without any. Orcutt added in his next despatch:-- + +130. "Have not you any new novels? Send up Scribe +and the `Arabian Nights' and `Robinson Crusoe' and the +`Three Guardsmen,' and Mrs. Whitney's books. We have +Thackeray and Miss Austen." + +When he read this, Haliburton felt as if they +were not only light-footed but light-headed. And he +consulted me quite seriously as to telegraphing to them +"Pycroft's Course of Reading." I coaxed him out of that, +and he satisfied himself with a serious expostulation +with George as to the way in which their young folks +would grow up. George replied by telegraphing Brannan's +last sermon, I Thessalonians iv. II. The sermon had +four heads, must have occupied an hour and a half in +delivery, and took five nights to telegraph. I had +another engagement, so that Haliburton had to sit it all +out with his eye to Shubael, and he has never entered on +that line of discussion again. It was as well, perhaps, +that he got enough of it. + +The women have never had any misunderstandings. When +we had received two or three hundred despatches from B. +M., Annie Haliburton came to me and said, in that pretty +way of hers, that she thought they had a right to their +turn again. She said this lore about the Albert Nyanza +and the North Pole was all very well, but, for her part, +she wanted to know how they lived, what they did, and +what they talked about, whether they took summer +journeys, and how and what was the form of society where +thirty-seven people lived in such close quarters. This +about "the form of society" was merely wool pulled over +my eyes. So she said she thought her husband and I had +better go off to the Biennial Convention at Assampink, as +she knew we wanted to do, and she and Bridget and +Polly and Cordelia would watch for the signals, and would +make the replies. She thought they would get on better +if we were out of the way. + +So we went to the convention, as she called it, which +was really not properly a convention, but the Forty-fifth +Biennial General Synod, and we left the girls to their +own sweet way. + +Shall I confess that they kept no record of their own +signals, and did not remember very accurately what they +were? "I was not going to keep a string of `says I's' +and `says she's,'" said Polly, boldly. "it shall not be +written on my tomb that I have left more annals for +people to file or study or bind or dust or catalogue." +But they told us that they had begun by asking the +"bricks" if they remembered what Maria Theresa said to +her ladies-in-waiting.[1] Quicker than any signal had +ever been answered, George Orcutt's party replied from +the Moon, "We hear, and we obey." Then the women-kind +had it all to themselves. The brick-women explained at +once to our girls that they had sent their men round to +the other side to cut ice, and that they were manning the +telescope, and running the signals for themselves, and +that they could have a nice talk without any bother about +the law-books or the magnetic pole. As I say, I do +not know what questions Polly and Annie put; but--to give +them their due--they had put on paper a coherent record +of the results arrived at in the answers; though, what +were the numbers of the despatches, or in what order they +came, I do not know; for the session of the synod kept us +at Assampink for two or three weeks + + +[1] Maria Theresa's husband, Francis, Duke of +Tuscany, was hanging about loose one day, and the +Empress, who had got a little tired, said to the maids of +honor, "Girls, whenever you marry, take care and choose +a husband who has something to do outside of the house." + + +Mrs. Brannan was the spokesman. "We tried a good +many experiments about day and night. It was very funny +at first not to know when it would be light and when +dark, for really the names day and night do not express +a great deal for us. Of course the pendulum clocks all +went wrong till the men got them overhauled, and I think +watches and clocks both will soon go out of fashion. But +we have settled down on much the old hours, getting up, +without reference to daylight, by our great gong, at your +eight o'clock. But when the eclipse season comes, we +vary from that for signalling. + +"We still make separate families, and Alice's is the +seventh. We tried hotel life and we liked it, for there +has never been the first quarrel here. You can't quarrel +here, where you are never sick, never tired, and need not +be ever hungry. But we were satisfied that it was nicer +for the children and for all round to live separately and +come together at parties, to church, at signal time, and +so on. We had something to say then, something to teach, +and something to learn. + +"Since the carices developed so nicely into flax, we +have had one great comfort, which we had lost before, in +being able to make and use paper. We have had great fun, +and we think the children have made great improvement in +writing novels for the Union. The Union is the old Union +for Christian work that we had in dear old No. 9. We +have two serial novels going on, one called `Diana of +Carrotook,' and the other called `Ups and Downs'; the +first by Levi Ross, and the other by my Blanche. They +are really very good, and I wish we could send them to +you. But they would not be worth despatching. + +"We get up at eight; dress, and fix up at home; a +sniff of air, as people choose; breakfast; and then we +meet for prayers outside. Where we meet depends on the +temperature; for we can choose any temperature we want, +from boiling water down, which is convenient. After +prayers an hour's talk, lounging, walking, and so on; no +flirting, but a favorite time with the young folks. + +"Then comes work. Three hours' head-work is the +maximum in that line. Of women's work, as in all worlds, +there are twenty-four in one of your days, but for my +part I like it. Farmers and carpenters have their own +laws, as the light serves and the seasons. Dinner is +seven hours after breakfast began; always an hour long, +as breakfast was. Then every human being sleeps for an +hour. Big gong again, and we ride, walk, swim, +telegraph, or what not, as the case may be. We have +no horses yet, but the Shanghaes are coming up into very +good dodos and ostriches, quite big enough for a trot for +the children. + +"Only two persons of a family take tea at home. The +rest always go out to tea without invitation. At 8 P. M. +big gong again, and we meet in `Grace,' which is the +prettiest hall, church, concert-room, that you ever saw. +We have singing, lectures, theatre, dancing, talk, or +what the mistress of the night determines, till the +curfew sounds at ten, and then we all go home. Evening +prayers are in the separate households, and every one is +in bed by midnight. The only law on the statute-book is +that every one shall sleep nine hours out of every +twenty-four. + +"Only one thing interrupts this general order. Three +taps on the gong means `telegraph,' and then, I tell you, +we are all on hand. + +"You cannot think how quickly the days and years go +by!" + +Of course, however, as I said, this could not last. +We could not subdue our world and be spending all our +time in telegraphing our dear B. M. Could it be +possible--perhaps it was possible--that they there had +something else to think of and to do besides attending to +our affairs? Certainly their indifference to Grant's +fourth Proclamation, and to Mr. Fish's celebrated +protocol in the Tahiti business, looked that way. Could +it be that that little witch of a Belle Brannan really +cared more for their performance of "Midsummer +Night's Dream," or her father's birthday, than she cared +for that pleasant little account I telegraphed up to all +the children, of the way we went to muster when we were +boys together? Ah well! I ought not to have supposed +that all worlds were like this old world. Indeed, I +often say this is the queerest world I ever knew. +Perhaps theirs is not so queer, and it is I who am the +oddity. + +Of course it could not last. We just arranged +correspondence days, when we would send to them, and they +to us. I was meanwhile turned out from my place at +Tamworth Observatory. Not but I did my work well, and +Polly hers. The observer's room was a miracle of +neatness. The children were kept in the basement. +Visitors were received with great courtesy; and all the +fees were sent to the treasurer; he got three dollars and +eleven cents one summer,--that was the year General Grant +came there; and that was the largest amount that they +ever received from any source but begging. I was not +unfaithful to my trust. Nor was it for such infidelity +that I was removed. No! But it was discovered that I +was a Sandemanian; a Glassite, as in derision I was +called. The annual meeting of the trustees came round. +There was a large Mechanics' Fair in Tamworth at the +time, and an Agricultural Convention. There was no +horse-race at the convention, but there were two +competitive examinations in which running horses +competed with each other, and trotting horses +competed with each other, and five thousand dollars was +given to the best runner and the best trotter. These +causes drew all the trustees together. The Rev. Cephas +Philpotts presided. His doctrines with regard to free +agency were considered much more sound than mine. He +took the chair,--in that pretty observatory parlor, which +Polly had made so bright with smilax and ivy. Of course +I took no chair; I waited, as a janitor should, at the +door. Then a brief address. Dr. Philpotts trusted that +the observatory might always be administered in the +interests of science, of true science; of that science +which rightly distinguishes between unlicensed liberty +and true freedom; between the unrestrained volition and +the freedom of the will. He became eloquent, he became +noisy. He sat down. Then three other men spoke, on +similar subjects. Then the executive committee which had +appointed me was dismissed with thanks. Then a new +executive committee was chosen, with Dr. Philpotts at the +head. The next day I was discharged. And the next week +the Philpotts family moved into the observatory, and +their second girl now takes care of the instruments. + +I returned to the cure of souls and to healing the +hurt of my people. On observation days somebody runs +down to No. 9, and by means of Shubael communicates with +B. M. We love them, and they love us all the same. + +Nor do we grieve for them as we did. Coming home +from Pigeon Cove in October with those nice Wadsworth +people, we fell to talking as to the why and wherefore of +the summer life we had led. How was it that it was so +charming? And why were we a little loath to come back to +more comfortable surroundings? "I hate the school," said +George Wadsworth. "I hate the making calls," said his +mother. "I hate the office hour," said her poor husband; +"if there were only a dozen I would not mind, but +seventeen hundred thousand in sixty minutes is too many." +So that led to asking how many of us there had been at +Pigeon Cove. The children counted up all the six +families,--the Haliburtons, the Wadsworths, the +Pontefracts, the Midges, the Hayeses, and the Inghams, +and the two good-natured girls, thirty-seven in all,--and +the two babies born this summer. "Really," said Mrs. +Wadsworth, "I have not spoken to a human being besides +these since June; and what is more, Mrs. Ingham, I have +not wanted to. We have really lived in a little world of +our own." + +"World of our own!" Polly fairly jumped from her +seat, to Mrs. Wadsworth's wonder. So we had--lived in a +world of our own. Polly reads no newspaper since the +"Sandemanian" was merged. She has a letter or two tumble +in sometimes, but not many; and the truth was that she +had been more secluded from General Grant and Mr. +Gladstone and the Khedive, and the rest of the +important people, than had Brannan or Ross or any of +them! + +And it had been the happiest summer she had ever +known. + +Can it be possible that all human sympathies can +thrive, and all human powers be exercised, and all human +joys increase, if we live with all our might with the +thirty or forty people next to us, telegraphing kindly to +all other people, to be sure? Can it be possible that +our passion for large cities, and large parties, and +large theatres, and large churches, develops no faith nor +hope nor love which would not find aliment and exercise +in a little "world of our own"? + + + +CRUSOE IN NEW YORK + +PART I + +I was born in the year 1842, in the city of New York, +of a good family, though not of that country, my father +being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first in +England. He got a good estate by merchandise, and +afterward lived at New York. But first he had married +my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very +good family in her country--and from them I was named. + +My father died before I can remember--at least, I +believe so. For, although I sometimes figure to myself +a grave, elderly man, thickset and wearing a broad- +brimmed hat, holding me between his knees and advising me +seriously, I cannot say really whether this were my +father or no; or, rather, whether this is really some one +I remember or no. For my mother, with whom I have lived +alone much of my life, as the reader will see, has talked +to me of my father so much, and has described him to me +so faithfully, that I cannot tell but it is her +description of him that I recollect so easily. And +so, as I say, I cannot tell whether I remember him or no. + +He never lost his German notions, and perhaps they +gained in England some new force as to the way in which +boys should be bred. At least, for myself, I know that +he left to my mother strict charge that I should be bound +'prentice to a carpenter as soon as I was turned of +fourteen. I have often heard her say that this was the +last thing he spoke to her of when he was dying; and with +the tears in her eyes, she promised him it should be so. +And though it cost her a world of trouble--so changed +were times and customs--to find an old-fashioned master +who would take me for an apprentice, she was as good as +her word. + +I should like to tell the story of my apprenticeship, +if I supposed the reader cared as much about it as I do; +but I must rather come to that part of my life which is +remarkable, than hold to that which is more like the life +of many other boys. My father's property was lost or was +wasted, I know not how, so that my poor mother had but a +hard time of it; and when I was just turned of twenty-one +and was free of my apprenticeship, she had but little to +live upon but what I could bring home, and what she could +earn by her needle. This was no grief to me, for I was +fond of my trade, and I had learned it well. My old +master was fond of me, and would trust me with work of a +good deal of responsibility. I neither drank nor +smoked, nor was I over-fond of the amusements which took +up a good deal of the time of my fellow-workmen. I was +most pleased when, on pay-day, I could carry home to my +mother ten, fifteen, or even twenty dollars--could throw +it into her lap, and kiss her and make her kiss me. + +"Here is the oil for the lamp, my darling," I would +say; or, "Here is the grease for the wheels"; or, "Now +you must give me white sugar twice a day." She was a +good manager, and she made both ends meet very well. + +I had no thought of leaving my master when my +apprenticeship was over, nor had he any thought of +letting me go. We understood each other well, he liked +me and I liked him. He knew that he had in me one man +who was not afraid of work, as he would say, and who +would not shirk it. And so, indeed, he would often put +me in charge of parties of workmen who were much older +than I was. + +So it was that it happened, perhaps some months after +I had become a journeyman, that he told me to take a gang +of men, whom he named, and to go quite up-town in the +city, to put a close wooden fence around a vacant lot of +land there. One of his regular employers had come to +him, to say that this lot of land was to be enclosed, and +the work was to be done by him. He had sent round the +lumber, and he told me that I would find it on the +ground. He gave me, in writing, the general +directions by which the fence was ordered, and told me to +use my best judgment in carrying them out. "Only take +care," said he, "that you do it as well as if I was there +myself. Do not be in a hurry, and be sure your work +stands." + +I was well pleased to be left thus to my own +judgment. I had no fear of failing to do the job well, +or of displeasing my old master or his employer. If I +had any doubts, they were about the men who were to work +under my lead, whom I did not rate at all equally; and, +if I could have had my pick, I should have thrown out +some of the more sulky and lazy of them, and should have +chosen from the other hands. But youngsters must not be +choosers when they are on their first commissions. + +I had my party well at work, with some laborers whom +we had hired to dig our post-holes, when a white-haired +old man, with gold spectacles and a broad-brimmed hat, +alighted from a cab upon the sidewalk, watched the men +for a minute at their work, and then accosted me. I knew +him perfectly, though of course he did not remember me. +He was, in fact, my employer in this very job, for he was +old Mark Henry, a Quaker gentleman of Philadelphia, who +was guardian of the infant heirs who owned this block of +land which we were enclosing. My master did all the +carpenter's work in the New York houses which Mark Henry +or any of his wards owned, and I had often seen him +at the shop in consultation. I turned to him and +explained to him the plans for the work. We had already +some of the joists cut, which were to make the posts to +our fence. The old man measured them with his cane, and +said he thought they would not be long enough. + +I explained to him that the fence was to be eight +feet high, and that these were quite long enough for +that. + +"I know," he said, "I know, my young friend, that my +order was for a fence eight feet high, but I do not think +that will do." + +With some surprise I showed him, by a "ten-foot +pole," how high the fence would come. + +"Yes, my young friend, I see, I see. But I tell +thee, every beggar's brat in the ward will be over thy +fence before it has been built a week, and there will be +I know not what devices of Satan carried on in the +inside. All the junk from the North River will be hidden +there, and I shall be in luck if some stolen trunk, nay, +some dead man's body, is not stowed away there. Ah, my +young friend, if thee is ever unhappy enough to own a +vacant lot in the city, thee will know much that thee +does not know now of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. +Thee will know of trials of the spirit and of the temper +that thee has never yet experienced." + +I said I thought this was probable, but I thought +inwardly that I would gladly be tried that way. The old +man went on:-- + +"I said eight feet to friend Silas, but thee may say +to him that I have thought better of it, and that I have +ordered thee to make the fence ten feet high. Thee may +say that I am now going to Philadelphia, but that I will +write to him my order when I arrive. Meanwhile thee will +go on with the fence as I bid thee." + +And so the old man entered his cab again and rode +away. + +I amused myself at his notion, for I knew very well +that the street-boys and other loafers would storm his +ten-foot wall as readily as they would have stormed the +Malakoff or the Redan, had they supposed there was +anything to gain by doing it. I had, of course, to +condemn some of my posts, which were already cut, or to +work them in to other parts of the fence. My order for +spruce boards was to be enlarged by twenty per cent by +the old man's direction, and this, as it happened, led to +a new arrangement of my piles of lumber on my vacant +land. + +And all this it was which set me to thinking that +night, as I looked on the work, that I might attempt +another enterprise, which, as it proved, lasted me for +years, and which I am now going to describe. + +I had worked diligently with the men to set up some +fifty feet of the fence where it parted us from an alley- +way, for I wanted a chance to dry some of the boards, +which had just been hauled from a raft in the North +River. The truckmen had delivered them helter- +skelter, and they lay, still soaking, above each other on +our vacant lot. + +We turned all our force on this first piece of fence, +and had so much of it done that, by calling off the men +just before sundown, I was able to set up all the wet +boards, each with one end resting on the fence and the +other on the ground, so that they took the air on both +sides, and would dry more quickly. Of course this left +a long, dark tunnel underneath. + +As the other hands gathered up their tools and made +ready to go, a fellow named McLoughlin, who had gone out +with one of the three months' regiments not long before, +said:-- + +"I would not be sorry to sleep there. I have slept +in many a worse place than that in Dixie"; and on that he +went away, leaving me to make some measurements which I +needed the next day. But what he said rested in my mind, +and, as it happened, directed the next twelve years of my +life. + +Why should not I live here? How often my mother had +said that if she had only a house of her own she should +be perfectly happy! Why should not we have a house of +our own here, just as comfortable as if we had gone a +thousand miles out on the prairie to build it, and a +great deal nearer to the book-stores, to the good music, +to her old friends, and to my good wages? We had talked +a thousand times of moving together to Kansas, where I +was to build a little hut for her, and we were to be +very happy together. But why not do as the minister had +bidden us only the last Sunday--seize on to-day, and take +what Providence offered now? + +I must acknowledge that the thought of paying any +ground rent to old Mr. Henry did not occur to me then-- +no, nor for years afterward. On the other hand, all that +I thought of was this,--that here was as good a chance as +there was in Kansas to live without rent, and that rent +had been, was still, and was likely to be my bugbear, +unless I hit on some such scheme as this for abating it. + +The plan, to be short, filled my mind. There was +nothing in the way of house-building which I shrank from +now, for, in learning my trade, I had won my Aladdin's +lamp, and I could build my mother a palace, if she had +needed one. Pleased with my fancy, before it was dark I +had explored my principality from every corner, and +learned all its capabilities. + +The lot was an oblong, nearly three times as long as +it was wide. On the west side, which was one of the +short sides, it faced what I will call the Ninety-ninth +Avenue, and on the south side, what I will call Fernando +Street, though really it was one of the cross-streets +with numbers. Running to the east it came to a narrow +passage-way which had been reserved for the accommodation +of the rear of a church which fronted on the street just +north of us. Our back line was also the back line of the +yards of the houses on the same street, but on our +northeast corner the church ran back as far as the back +line of both houses and yards, and its high brick wall-- +nearly fifty feet high--took the place there of the ten- +foot brick wall, surmounted by bottle-glass, which made +their rear defence. + +The moment my mind was turned to the matter, I saw +that in the rear of the church there was a corner which +lay warmly and pleasantly to the southern and western +sun, which was still out of eye-shot from the street, +pleasantly removed from the avenue passing, and only +liable to inspection, indeed, from the dwelling-houses on +the opposite side of our street,--houses which, at this +moment, were not quite finished, though they would be +occupied soon. + +If, therefore, I could hit on some way of screening +my mother's castle from them--for a castle I called it +from the first moment, though it was to be much more like +a cottage--I need fear no observation from other +quarters; for the avenue was broad, and on the other side +from us there was a range of low, rambling buildings--an +engine-house and a long liquor-saloon were two--which had +but one story. Most of them bad been built, I suppose, +only to earn something for the land while it was growing +valuable. The church had no windows in the rear, and +that protected my castle--which was, indeed, still in the +air--from all observation on that side. + +I told my mother nothing of all this when I went +home. But I did tell her that I had some calculations to +make for my work, and that was enough. She went on, +sweet soul! without speaking a word, with her knitting +and her sewing at her end of the table, only getting up +to throw a cloth over her parrot's cage when he was +noisy; and I sat at my end of the table, at work over my +figures, as silent as if I had been on a desert island. + +Before bedtime I had quite satisfied myself with the +plan of a very pretty little house which would come quite +within our space, our means, and our shelter. There was +a little passage which ran quite across from east to +west. On the church side of this there was my mother's +kitchen, which was to be what I fondly marked the +"common-room." This was quite long from east to west, +and not more than half as long the other way. But on the +east side, where I could have no windows, I cut off, on +its whole width, a deep closet; and this proved a very +fortunate thing afterward, as you shall see. On the west +side I made one large square window, and there was, of +course, a door into the passage. + +On the south side of the passage I made three rooms, +each narrow and long. The two outside rooms I meant to +light from the top. Whether I would put any skylight +into the room between them, I was not quite so certain; +I did not expect visitors in my new house, so I did not +mark it a "guest-room " in the plan. But I thought +of it as a store-room, and as such, indeed, for many +years we used it; though at last I found it more +convenient to cut a sky-light in the roof there also. +But I am getting before my story. + +Before I had gone to bed that night I had made a +careful estimate as to how much lumber I should need, of +different kinds, for my little house; for I had, of +course, no right to use my master's lumber nor Mr. +Henry's; nor had I any thought of doing so. I made out +an estimate that would be quite full, for shingles, for +clapboards, white pine for my floors and finish,--for I +meant to make a good job of it if I made any,--and for +laths for the inside work. I made another list of the +locks, hinges, window furniture and other hardware I +should need; but for this I cared less, as I need not +order them so soon. I could scarcely refrain from +showing my plan to my mother, so snug and comfortable did +it look already; but I had already determined that the +"city house" should be a present to her on her next +birthday, and that till then I would keep it a secret +from her, as from all the world; so I refrained. + +The next morning I told my master what the old Quaker +had directed about the fence, and I took his order for +the new lumber we should need to raise the height as was +proposed. At the same time I told him that we were all +annoyed at the need of carrying our tools back and forth, +and because we could only take the nails for one +day's use; and that, if he were willing, I had a mind to +risk an old chest I had with the nails in it and a few +tools, which I thought I could so hide that the wharf- +rats and other loafers should not discover it. He told +me to do as I pleased, that he would risk the nails if I +would risk my tools; and so, by borrowing what we call a +hand-cart for a few days, I was able to take up my own +little things to the lot without his asking any other +questions, or without exciting the curiosity of +McLoughlin or any other of the men. Of course, he would +have sent up in the shop-wagon anything we needed; but it +was far out of the way, and nobody wanted to drive the +team back at night if we could do without. And so, as +night came on, I left the men at their work, and having +loaded my hand-cart with a small chest I had, I took that +into the alley-way of which I told you before, carried my +box of tools into the corner between the church and our +fence, under the boards which we had set up that day, and +covered it heavily, with McLoughlin's help, with joists +and boards, so that no light work would remove them, if, +indeed, any wanderer of the night suspected that the box +was there. I took the hand-cart out into the alley-way +and chained it, first by the wheel and then by the +handle, in two staples which I drove there. I had +another purpose in this, as you shall see; but most of +all, I wanted to test both the police and the +knavishness of the neighborhood by seeing if the +hand-cart were there in the morning. + +To my great joy it was, and to my greater joy it +remained there unmolested all the rest of the week in +which we worked there. For my master, who never came +near us himself, increased our force for us on the third +day, so that at the end of the week, or Saturday night, +the job was nearly done, and well done, too. + +On the third day I had taken the precaution to throw +out in the inside of our enclosure a sort of open fence, +on which I could put the wet boards to dry, which at +first I had placed on our side fence. I told McLoughlin, +what was true enough, that the south sun was better for +them than the sun from the west. So I ran out what I may +call a screen thirty-five feet from the church, and +parallel with it, on which I set up these boards to dry, +and to my great joy I saw that they would wholly protect +the roof of my little house from any observation from the +houses the other side of the way while the workmen were +at work, or even after they were inhabited. + +There was not one of the workmen with me who had +forethought enough or care for our master's interest to +ask whose boards those were which we left there, or why +we left them there. Indeed, they knew the next Monday +that I went up with the Swede, to bring back such lumber +was we did not use, and none of them knew or cared how +much we left there. + +For me, I was only eager to get to work, and that day +seemed very long to me. But that Monday afternoon I +asked my master if I might have the team again for my own +use for an hour or so, to move some stuff of mine and my +mother's, and he gave it to me readily. + +I had then only to drive up-town to a friendly +lumberman's, where my own stuff was already lying waiting +for me to load up, with the assistance of the workmen +there, and to drive as quickly as I could into the church +alley. Here I looked around, and seeing a German who +looked as if he were only a day from Bremen, I made signs +to him that if he would help me I would give him a piece +of scrip which I showed him. The man had been long +enough in the country to know that the scrip was good for +lager. He took hold manfully with me, and carried my +timbers and boards into the enclosure through a gap I +made in the fence for the purpose. I gave him his money +and he went away. As he went to Minnesota the next day, +he never mentioned to anybody the business he had been +engaged in. + +Meanwhile, I had bought my hand-cart of the man who +owned it. I left a little pile of heavy cedar logs on +the outside, spiking them to each other indeed, that they +should not be easily moved. And to them and to my posts +I padlocked the hand-cart; nor was it ever disturbed +during my reign in those regions. So I had easy method +enough when I wanted a bundle or two of laths, or a +bunch of shingles, or anything else for my castle, to +bring them up in the cool of the evening, and to +discharge my load without special observation. My pile +of logs, indeed, grew eventually into a blind or screen, +which quite protected that corner of the church alley +from the view of any passer-by in Fernando Street. + +Of that whole summer, happy and bright as it all was, +I look back most often on the first morning when I got +fairly to work on my new home. I told my mother that for +some weeks I should have to start early, and that she +must not think of getting up for my breakfast. I told +her that there was extra work on a job up-town, and that +I had promised to be there at five every day while the +summer lasted. She left for me a pot of coffee, which I +promised her I would warm when the time for breakfast and +dinner came; and for the rest, she always had my dinner +ready in my tin dinner-pail. Little did she know then, +sweet saint! that I was often at Fernando Street by half- +past three in the first sweet gray of those summer days. + +On that particular day, it was really scarcely light +enough for me to find the nail I drew from the plank +which I left for my entrance. When I was fairly within +and the plank was replaced, I felt that I was indeed +"monarch of all I surveyed." What did I survey? The +church wall on the north; on the south, my own screen of +spruce boards, now well dry; on the east and west, the +ten-foot fences which I had built myself; and over +that on the west, God's deep, transparent sky, in which +I could still see a planet whose name I did not know. It +was a heaven, indeed, which He had said was as much mine +as his! + +The first thing, of course, was to get out my frame. +This was a work of weeks. The next thing was to raise +it. And here the first step was the only hard one, nor +was this so hard as it would seem. The highest wall of +my house was no higher than the ten-foot fence we had +already built on the church alley. The western wall, if, +indeed, a frame house has any walls, was only eight feet +high. For foundations and sills, I dug deep post-holes, +in which I set substantial cedar posts which I knew would +outlast my day, and I framed my sills into these. I made +the frame of the western wall lie out upon the ground in +one piece; and I only needed a purchase high enough, and +a block with repeating pulleys strong enough, to be able +to haul up the whole frame by my own strength, +unassisted. The high purchase I got readily enough by +making what we called a "three-leg," near twenty feet +high, just where my castle was to stand. I had no +difficulty in hauling this into its place by a solid +staple and ring, which for this purpose I drove high in +the church wall. My multiplying pulley did the rest; and +after it was done, I took out the staple and mended the +hole it had made, so the wall was as good as ever. + +You see it was nobody's business what shanty or what +tower old Mark Henry or the Fordyce heirs might or might +not put on the vacant corner lot. The Fordyce heirs were +all in nurseries and kindergartens in Geneva, and indeed +would have known nothing of corner lots had they been +living in their palace in Fourteenth Street. As for Mark +Henry, that one great achievement by which he rode up to +Fernando Street was one of the rare victories of his +life, of which ninety-nine hundredths were spent in +counting-houses. Indeed, if he had gone there, all he +would have seen was his ten-foot fence, and he would have +taken pride to himself that he had it built so high. + +When the day of the first raising came, and the frame +slipped into the mortises so nicely, as I had +foreordained that it should do, I was so happy that I +could scarcely keep my secret from my mother. Indeed, +that day I did run back to dinner. And when she asked me +what pleased me so, I longed to let her know; but I only +smoothed her cheeks with my hands and kissed her on both +of them, and told her it was because she was so handsome +that I was so pleased. She said she knew I had a secret +from her, and I owned that I had, but she said she would +not try to guess, but would wait for the time for me to +tell her. + +And so the summer sped by. Of course I saw my +sweetheart, as I then called my mother, less and +less. For I worked till it was pitch-dark at the castle; +and after it was closed in, so I could work inside, I +often worked till ten o'clock by candlelight. I do not +know how I lived with so little sleep; I am afraid I +slept pretty late on Sundays. But the castle grew and +grew, and the common-room, which I was most eager to +finish wholly before cold weather, was in complete order +three full weeks before my mother's birthday came. + +Then came the joy of furnishing it. To this I had +looked forward all the summer, and I had measured with my +eye many a bit of furniture, and priced, in an unaffected +way, many an impossible second-hand finery, so that I +knew just what I could do and what I could not do. + +My mother had always wanted a Banner stove. I knew +this, and it was a great grief to me that she had none, +though she would never say anything about it. + +To my great joy, I found a second-hand Banner stove, +No. 2, at a sort of old junk-shop, which was, in fact, an +old curiosity shop not three blocks away from Ninety- +ninth Avenue. Some one had sold this to them while it +was really as good as new, and yet the keeper offered it +to me at half-price. + +I hung round the place a good deal, and when the man +found I really had money and meant something, he took me +into all sorts of alleys and hiding-places, where he +stored his old things away. I made fabulous +bargains there, for either the old Jew liked me +particularly, or I liked things that nobody else wanted. +In the days when his principal customers were wharf-rats, +and his principal business the traffic in old cordage and +copper, he had hung out as a sign an old tavern-sign of +a ship that had come to him. His place still went by the +name of "The Ship," though it was really, as I say, a +mere wreck, a rambling, third-rate old furniture shop of +the old-curiosity kind. + +But after I had safely carried the Banner to my new +house, and was sure the funnel drew well, and that the +escape of smoke and sparks was carefully guarded, many a +visit did I make to The Ship at early morning or late in +the evening, to bring away one or another treasure which +I had discovered there. +Under the pretence of new-varnishing some of my +mother's most precious tables and her bureau, I got them +away from her also. I knocked up, with my own hatchet +and saw, a sitting-table which I meant to have permanent +in the middle of the room, which was much more convenient +than anything I could buy or carry. + +And so, on the 12th of October, the eve of my +mother's birthday, the common-room was all ready for her. +In her own room I had a new carpet and a new set of +painted chamber furniture, which I had bought at the +maker's, and brought up piece by piece. It cost me +nineteen dollars and a half, for which I paid him in +cash, which indeed he wanted sadly. + +So, on the morning of the 13th of October, I kissed +my mother forty times, because that day she was forty +years old. I told her that before midnight she should +know what the great surprise was, and I asked her if she +could hold out till then. + +She let me poke as much fun at her as I chose, +because she said she was so glad to have me at breakfast; +and I stayed long after breakfast, for I had told my +mother that it was her birthday, and that I should be +late. And such a thing as my asking for an hour or two +was so rare that I took it quite of course when I did +ask. I came home early at night, too. Then I said,-- + +"Now, sweetheart, the surprise requires that you +spend the night away from home with me. Perhaps, if you +like the place, we will spend tomorrow there. So I will +take Poll in her cage, and you must put up your night- +things and take them in your hand." + +She was surprised now, for such a thing as an outing +over night had never been spoken of before by either of +us. + +"Why, Rob," she said, "you are taking too much pains +for your old sweetheart, and spending too much money for +her birthday. Now, don't you think that you should +really have as good a time, say, if we went visiting +together, and then came back here?" + +For, you see, she never thought of herself at all; it +was only what I should like most. + +"No, sweetheart dear," said I. "It is not for me, +this 13th of October, it is all for you. And to-night's +outing is not for me, it is for you; and I think you will +like it and I think Poll will like it, and I have leave +for to-morrow, and we will stay away all to-morrow." + +As for Tom-puss, I said, we would leave some milk +where he could find it, and I would leave a bone or two +for him. But I whistled Rip, my dog, after me. I took +Poll's cage, my mother took her bag, and locked and left +her door, unconscious that she was never to enter it +again. + +A Ninety-ninth Avenue car took us up to Fernando +Street. It was just the close of twilight when we came +there. I took my mother to Church Alley, muttered +something about some friends, which she did not +understand more than I did, and led her up the alley in +her confused surprise. Then I pushed aside my movable +board, and, while she was still surprised, led her in +after me and slid it back again. + +"What is it, dear Rob? Tell me--tell me!" + +"This way, sweetheart, this way!" This was all I +would say. + +I drew her after me through the long passage, led her +into the common-room, which was just lighted up by the +late evening twilight coming in between the curtains of +the great square window. Then I fairly pushed her to the +great, roomy easy-chair which I had brought from The +Ship, and placed it where she could look out on the +evening glow, and I said,-- + +"Mother, dear, this is the surprise; this is your new +home; and, mother dear, your own boy has made it with his +own hands, all for you." + +"But, Rob, I do not understand--I do not understand +at all. I am so stupid. I know I am awake. But it is +as sudden as a dream!" + +So I had to begin and to explain it all,--how here +was a vacant lot that Mark Henry had the care of, and how +I had built this house for her upon it. And long before +I had explained it all, it was quite dark. And I lighted +up the pretty student's-lamp, and I made the fire in the +new Banner with my own hands. + +And that night I would not let her lift a kettle, nor +so much as cut a loaf of bread. It was my feast, I said, +and I had everything ready, round to a loaf of birthday- +cake, which I had ordered at Taylor's, which I had myself +frosted and dressed, and decorated with the initials of +my mother's name. + +And when the feast was over, I had the best surprise +of all. Unknown to my mother, I had begged from my Aunt +Betsy my own father's portrait, and I had hung that +opposite the window, and now I drew the curtain that hid +it, and told my sweetheart that this and the house were +her birthday presents for this year! +. . . . . . . . + +And this was the beginning of a happy life, which +lasted nearly twelve years. I could make a long story of +it, for there was an adventure in everything,--in the way +we bought our milk, and the way we took in our coals. +But there is no room for me to tell all that, and it +might not interest other people as it does me. I am sure +my mother was never sorry for the bold step she took when +we moved there from our tenement. True, she saw little +or no society, but she had not seen much before. The +conditions of our life were such that she did not like to +be seen coming out of Church Alley, lest people should +ask how she got in, and excepting in the evening, I did +not care to have her go. In the evening I could go with +her. She did not make many calls, because she could not +ask people to return them. But she would go with me to +concerts, and to the church parlor meetings, and +sometimes to exhibitions; and at such places, and on +Sundays, she would meet, perhaps, one or another of the +few friends she had in New York. But we cared for them +less and less, I will own, and we cared more and more for +each other. + +As soon as the first spring came, I made an immense +effort, and spaded over nearly half of the lot. It was +ninety feet wide and over two hundred and sixty long--more +than half an acre. So I knew we could have our own fresh +vegetables, even if we never went to market. My mother +was a good gardener, and she was not afraid even to +hoe the corn when I was out of the way. I dare say that +the people whom the summer left in the street above us +often saw her from their back windows, but they did not +know--as how should they?--who had the charge of this +lot, and there was no reason why they should be surprised +to see a cornfield there. We only raised green corn. I +am fond of Indian cake, but I did not care to grind my +own corn, and I could buy sweet meal without trouble. I +settled the milk question, after the first winter, by +keeping our own goats. I fenced in, with a wire fence, +the northwest corner of our little empire, and put there +a milch goat and her two kids. The kids were pretty +little things, and would come and feed from my mother's +hand. We soon weaned them, so that we could milk their +mother; and after that our flock grew and multiplied, and +we were never again troubled for such little milk as we +used. + +Some old proprietor, in the old Dutch days, must have +had an orchard in these parts. There were still left two +venerable wrecks of ancient pear-trees; and although they +bore little fruit, and what they bore was good for +nothing, they still gave a compact and grateful shade. +I sodded the ground around them and made a seat beneath, +where my mother would sit with her knitting all the +afternoon. Indeed, after the sods grew firm, I planted +hoops there, and many a good game of croquet have she and +I had together there, playing so late that we longed +for the chance they have in Sybaris, where, in the +evening, they use balls of colored glass, with fireflies +shut up inside. + +On the 11th of February, in the year 1867, my old +master died, to my great regret, and I truly believe to +that of his widow and her children. His death broke up +the establishment, and I, who was always more of a +cabinet-maker or joiner than carpenter or builder, opened +a little shop of my own, where I took orders for +cupboards, drawers, stairs, and other finishing work, and +where I employed two or three German journeymen, and was +thus much more master of my own time. In particular, I +had two faithful fellows, natives of my own father's town +of Bremen. While they were with me I could leave them a +whole afternoon at a time, while I took any little job +there might be, and worked at it at my own house at home. +Where my house was, except that it was far uptown, they +never asked, nor ever, so far as I know, cared. This +gave me the chance for many a pleasant afternoon with my +mother, such as we had dreamed of in the old days when we +talked of Kansas. I would work at the lathe or the bench +and she would read to me. Or we would put off the bench +till the evening, and we would both go out into the +cornfield together. + +And so we lived year after year. I am afraid that we +worshipped each other too much. We were in the +heart of a crowded city, but there was that in our lives +which tended a little to habits of loneliness, and I +suppose a moralist would say that our dangers lay in that +direction. + +On the other hand, I am almost ashamed to say that, +as I sat in a seat I had made for myself in old Van der +Tromp's pear-tree, I would look upon my corn and peas and +squashes and tomatoes with a satisfaction which I believe +many a nobleman in England does not enjoy. + +Till the youngest of the Fordyce heirs was of age, +and that would not be till 1880, this was all my own. I +was, by right of possession and my own labors, lord of +all this region. How else did the writers on political +economy teach me that any property existed! + +I surveyed it with a secret kind of pleasure. I had +not abundance of pears; what I had were poor and few. +But I had abundance of sweet corn, of tomatoes, of peas, +and of beans. The tomatoes were as wholesome as they +were plentiful, and as I sat I could see the long shelves +of them which my mother had spread in the sun to ripen, +that we might have enough of them canned when winter +should close in upon us. I knew I should have potatoes +enough of my own raising also to begin the winter with. +I should have been glad of more. But as by any good +day's work I could buy two barrels of potatoes, I did not +fret myself that my stock was but small. + +Meanwhile my stock in bank grew fast. Neither my +mother nor I had much occasion to buy new clothes. We +were at no charge for house-rent, insurance, or taxes. +I remember that a Spanish gentleman, who was fond of me, +for whom I had made a cabinet with secret drawers, paid +me in moidores and pieces-of-eight, which in those times +of paper were a sight to behold. + +I carried home the little bag and told my mother that +this was a birthday present for her; indeed, that she was +to put it all in her bed that night, that she might say +she had rolled in gold and silver. She played with the +pieces, and we used them to count with as we played our +game of cribbage. + +"But really, Robin, boy," said she, "it is as the +dirt under our feet. I would give it all for three or +four pairs of shoes and stockings, such as we used to buy +in York, but such as these Lynn-built shoes and steam- +knit stockings have driven out of the market." + +Indeed, we wanted very little in our desert home. + +And so for many years we led a happy life, and we +found more in life than would have been possible had we +been all tangled up with the cords of artificial society. +I say "we," for I am sure I did, and I think my dear +mother did. + +But it was in the seventh year of our residence in +the hut that of a sudden I had a terrible shock or +fright, and this I must now describe to you. It +comes in about the middle of this history, and it may end +this chapter. + +It was one Sunday afternoon, when I had taken the +fancy, as I often did of Sundays, to inspect my empire. +Of course, in a certain way, I did this every time I +climbed old Van der Tromp's pear-tree, and sat in my +hawk's-nest there. But a tour of inspection was a +different thing. I walked close round the path which I +had made next the fence of the enclosure. I went in +among my goats,--even entered the goat-house and played +with my kids. I tried the boards of the fence and the +timber-stays, to be sure they all were sound. I had +paths enough between the rows of corn and potatoes to +make a journey of three miles and half a furlong, with +two rods more, if I went through the whole of them. So +at half-past four on this fatal afternoon I bade my +mother good-by, and kissed her. I told her I should not +be back for two hours, because I was going to inspect my +empire, and I set out happily. + +But in less than an hour--I can see the face of the +clock now: it was twenty-two minutes after five--I flung +myself in my chair, panting for breath, and, as my mother +said, as pale as if I had seen a ghost. But I told her +it was worse than that. + +I had come out from between two high rows of corn, +which wholly covered me, upon a little patch which lay +warm to the south and west, where I had some melons +a-ripening, and was just lifting one of the melons, to be +sure that the under surface did not rot, when close +behind it I saw the print of a man's foot, which was very +plain to be seen in the soft soil. + +I stood like one thunderstruck, or as if I had seen +an apparition. I listened; I looked round me. I could +hear nothing but the roar of the omnibuses, nor could I +see anything. I went up and down the path, but it was +all one. I could see no other impression but that one. +I went to it again, to see if there were any more, and to +observe if it might not be my fancy. But there was no +room for that, for there was exactly the print of an +Englishman's hobnailed shoe,--the heavy heel, the prints +of the heads of the nails. There was even a piece of +patch which had been put on it, though it had never been +half-soled. + +How it came there I knew not; neither could I in the +least imagine. But, as I say, like a man perfectly +confused and out of myself, I rushed home into my hut, +not feeling the ground I went upon. I fled into it like +one pursued, and, as my mother said, when I fell into my +chair, panting, I looked as if I had seen a ghost. + +It was worse than that, as I said to her. + + + + +PART II + +I cannot well tell you how much dismay this sight of a +footprint in the ground gave me, nor how many sleepless +nights it cost me. All the time I was trying to make +my mother think that there was no ground for anxiety, +and yet all the time I was showing her that I was very +anxious. The more I pretended that I was not troubled, +the more absent-minded, and so the more troubled, I +appeared to her. And yet, if I made no pretence, and +told her what I really feared, I should have driven her +almost wild by the story of my terrors. To have our +pretty home broken up, perhaps to be put in the +newspapers--which was a lot that, so far, we had always +escaped in our quiet and modest life--all this was more +than she or I could bear to think of. + +In the midst of these cogitations, apprehensions, and +reflections, it came into my thoughts one day, as I was +working at my shop down-town with my men, that all this +might be a chimera of my own, and that the foot might be +the print of my own boot as I had left it in the soil +some days before when I was looking at my melons. This +cheered me up a little, too. I considered that I could +by no means tell for certain where I had trod and where +I had not, and that if at last this was the print of my +own boot, I had played the part of those fools who strive +to make stories of spectres, and then are themselves +frightened at them more than anybody else. + +So I returned home that day in very good spirits. I +carried to my mother a copy of Frank Leslie's Illustrated +Newspaper, which had in it some pictures that I knew +would please her, and I talked with her in as light- +hearted a way as I could, to try to make her think that +I had forgotten my alarm. And afterward we played two or +three games of Egyptian solitaire at the table, and I +went to bed unusually early. But, at the first break of +day, when I fancied or hoped that she was still asleep, +I rose quickly, and half-dressing myself, crept out to +the melon-patch to examine again the imprint of the foot +and to make sure that it was mine. + +Alas! it was no more mine than it was Queen +Victoria's. If it had only been cloven, I could easily +have persuaded myself whose it was, so much grief and +trouble had it cost me. When I came to measure the mark +with my own boot, I found, just as I had seen before, +that mine was not nearly so large as this mark was. +Also, this was, as I have said, the mark of a heavy +brogan--such as I never wore--and there was the mark of +a strange patch near the toe, such as I had never seen, +nor, indeed, have seen since, from that hour to this +hour. All these things renewed my terrors. I went home +like a whipped dog, wholly certain now that some one had +found the secret of our home: we might be surprised in it +before I was aware; and what course to take for my +security I knew not. + +As we breakfasted, I opened my whole heart to my +mother. If she said so, I would carry all our little +property, piece by piece, back to old Thunberg, the junk- +dealer, and with her parrot and my umbrella we would go +out to Kansas, as we used to propose. We would give up +the game. Or, if she thought best, we would stand on the +defensive. I would put bottle-glass on the upper edges +of the fences all the way round. + +There were four or five odd revolvers at The Ship, +and I would buy them all, with powder and buck-shot +enough for a long siege. I would teach her how to load, +and while she loaded I would fire, till they had quite +enough of attacking us in our home. Now it has all gone +by, I should be ashamed to set down in writing the +frightful contrivances I hatched for destroying these +"creatures," as I called them, or, at least, frightening +them, so as to prevent their coming thither any more. + +"Robin, my boy," said my mother to me, when I gave +her a chance at last, "if they came in here to-night-- +whoever `they' may be--very little is the harm that they +could do us. But if Mr. Kennedy and twenty of his police +should come in here over the bodies of--five times five +are twenty-five, twenty-five times eleven are--two +hundred and seventy-five people whom you will have killed +by that time, if I load as fast as thee tells me I +can, why, Robin, my boy, it will go hard for thee and me +when the day of the assizes comes. They will put +handcuffs on thy poor old mother and on thee, and if they +do not send thee to Jack Ketch, they will send thee to +Bloomingdale." + +I could not but see that there was sense in what she +said. Anyway, it cooled me down for the time, and I +kissed her and went to my work less eager, and, indeed, +less anxious, than I had been the night before. As I +went down-town in the car, I had a chance to ask myself +what right I had to take away the lives of these poor +savages of the neighborhood merely because they entered +on my possessions. Was it their fault that they had not +been apprenticed to carpenters? Could they help +themselves in the arrangements which had left them +savages? Had any one ever given them a chance to fence +in an up-town lot? Was it, in a word, I said to myself-- +was it my merit or my good luck which made me as good as +a landed proprietor, while the Fordyce heirs had their +education? Such thoughts, before I came to my shop, had +quite tamed me down, and when I arrived there I was quite +off my design, and I concluded that I had taken a wrong +measure in my resolution to attack the savages, as I had +begun to call men who might be merely harmless loafers. + +It was clearly not my business to meddle with them +unless they first attacked me. This it was my +business to prevent; if I were discovered and attacked, +then I knew my duty. + +With these thoughts I went into my shop that day, and +with such thoughts as these, and with my mother's good +sense in keeping me employed in pleasanter things than +hunting for traces of savages, I got into a healthier way +of thinking. + +The crop of melons came in well, and many a good +feast we had from them. Once and again I was able to +carry a nice fresh melon to an old lady my mother was +fond of, who now lay sick with a tertian ague. + +Then we had the best sweet corn for dinner every day +that any man had in New York. For at Delmonico's itself, +the corn the grandees had had been picked the night +before, and had started at two o'clock in the morning on +its long journey to town. But my mother picked my corn +just at the minute when she knew I was leaving my shop. +She husked it and put it in the pot, and by the time I +had come home, had slipped up the board in the fence that +served me for a door, and had washed my face and hands in +my own room, she would have dished her dinner, would have +put her fresh corn upon the table, covered with a pretty +napkin; and so, as I say, I had a feast which no nabob in +New York had. No indeed, nor any king that I know of, +unless it were the King of the Sandwich Islands, and I +doubt if he were as well served as I. + +So I became more calm and less careworn, though +I will not say but sometimes I did look carefully to see +if I could find the traces of a man's foot; but I never +saw another. + +Unless we went out somewhere during the evening, we +went to bed early. We rose early as well, for I never +lost the habits of my apprenticeship. And so we were +both sound asleep in bed one night when a strange thing +happened, and a sudden fright came to us, of which I must +tell quite at length, for it made, indeed, a very sudden +change in the current of our lives. + +I was sound asleep, as I said, and so, I found, was +my mother also. But I must have been partly waked by +some sudden noise in the street, for I knew I was sitting +up in my bed in the darkness when I heard a woman +scream,--a terrible cry,--and while I was yet startled, +I heard her scream again, as if she were in deadly fear. +My window was shaded by a heavy green curtain, but in an +instant I had pulled it up, and by the light of the moon +I seized my trousers and put them on. + +I was well awake by this time, and when I flung open +the door of my house, so as to run into my garden, I +could hear many wild voices, some in English, some in +German, some in Irish, and some with terrible cries, +which I will not pretend I could understand. + +There was no cry of a woman now, but only the howling +of angry or drunken men, when they are in a rage with +some one or with each other. What startled me was +that, whereas the woman's cry came from the street south +of me, which I have called Fernando Street, the whole +crowd of men, as they howled and swore, were passing +along that street rapidly, and then stopped for an +instant, as if they were coming up what I called Church +Alley. There must have been seven or eight of them. + +Now, it was by Church Alley that my mother and I +always came into our house, and so into our garden. In +the eight years, or nearly so, that I had lived there, I +had by degrees accumulated more and more rubbish near the +furthest end of the alley as a screen, so to speak, that +when my mother or I came in or out, no one in the street +might notice us. I had even made a little wing-fence out +from my own, to which my hand-cart was chained. Next +this I had piled broken brickbats and paving-stones, and +other heavy things, that would not be stolen. There was +the stump and the root of an old pear-tree there, too +heavy to steal, and too crooked and hard to clean or saw. +There was a bit of curbstone from the street, and other +such trash, which quite masked the fence and the hand- +cart. + +On the other side--that is, the church side, or the +side furthest from the street--was the sliding-board in +the fence, where my mother and I came in. So soon as it +was slid back, no man could see that the fence was not +solid. + +At this moment in the night, however, when I +found that this riotous, drunken crew were pausing +at the entrance of Church Alley, as doubting if they +would not come down, I ran back through the passage, +knocking loudly for my mother as I passed, and coming to +my coal-bin, put my eye at the little hole through which +I always reconnoitred before I slid the door. I could +see nothing, nor at night ought I to have expected to do +so. + +But I could hear, and I heard what I did not expect. +I could hear the heavy panting of one who had been +running, and as I listened I heard a gentle, low voice +sob out, "Ach, ach, mein Gott! Ach, mein Gott!" or words +that I thought were these, and I was conscious, when I +tried to move the door, that some one was resting close +upon it. + +All the same, I put my shoulder stoutly to the cross- +bar, to which the boards of the door were nailed; I slid +it quickly in its grooves, and as it slid, a woman fell +into the passage. + +She was wholly surprised by the motion, so that she +could not but fall. I seized her and dragged her in, +saying, "Hush, hush, hush!" as I did so. But not so +quick was I but that she screamed once more as I drew to +the sliding-door and thrust in the heavy bolt which held +it. + +In an instant my mother was in the passage with a +light in her hand. In another instant I had seized the +light and put it out. But that instant was enough for +her and me to see that here was a lovely girl, with +no hat or bonnet on, with her hair floating wildly, both +her arms bleeding, and her clothes all stained with +blood. She could see my mother's face of amazement, and +she could see my finger on my mouth, as with the other I +dashed out the candle. We all thought quickly, and we +all knew that we must keep still. + +But that unfortunate scream of hers was enough. +Though no one of us all uttered another sound, this was +like a "view-halloo," to bring all those dogs down upon +us. The passage was dark, and, to my delight, I heard +some of them breaking their shins over the curbstone and +old pear-tree of my defences. But they were not such +hounds as were easily thrown off the scent, and there +were enough to persevere while the leaders picked +themselves up again. + +Then how they swore and cursed and asked questions! +And we three stood as still as so many frightened +rabbits. In an instant more one of them, who spoke in +English, said he would be hanged if he thought she had +gone into the church, that he believed she had got +through the fence; and then, with his fist, or something +harder, he began trying the boards on our side, and +others of them we could hear striking those on the other +side of the alley-way. + +When it came to this, I whispered to my mother that +she must never fear, only keep perfectly still. She +dragged the frightened girl into our kitchen, which +was our sitting-room, and they both fell, I know not how, +into the great easy-chair. + +For my part, I seized the light ladder, which always +hung ready at the door, and ran with it at my full speed +to the corner of Fernando Street and the alley. I +planted the ladder, and was on the top of the fence in an +instant + +Then I sprang my watchman's rattle, which had hung by +the ladder, and I whirled it round well. It wholly +silenced the sound of the swearing fellows up the +passage, and their pounding. When I found they were +still, I cried out:-- + +"This way, 24! this way, 47! I have them all penned +up here! Signal the office, 42, and bid them send us a +sergeant. This way, fellows--up Church Alley!" + +With this I was down my ladder again. But my gang of +savages needed no more. I could hear them rushing out of +the alley as fast as they might, not one of them waiting +for 24 or 47. This was lucky for me, for as it happened +I was ten minutes older before I heard two patrolmen on +the outside, wondering what frightened old cove had been +at the pains to spring a rattle. + +The moonlight shone in at the western window of the +kitchen, so that as I came in I could just make out the +figure of my mother and of the girl, lying, rather than +sitting, in her lap and her arms. I was not afraid to +speak now, and I told my mother we were quite safe again, +and she told the poor girl so. I struck a match and +lighted the lamp as soon as I could. The poor, +frightened creature started as I did so, and then fell on +her knees at my mother's feet, took both her hands in her +own, and seemed like one who begs for mercy, or, indeed, +for life. + +My poor, dear mother was all amazed, and her eyes +were running with tears at the sight of the poor thing's +terror. She kissed her again and again; she stroked her +beautiful golden hair with her soft hands; she said in +every word that she could think of that she was quite +safe now, and must not think of being frightened any +more. + +But it was clear in a moment that the girl could not +understand any language that we could speak. My mother +tried her with a few words of German, and she smiled +then; but she shook her head prettily, as if to say that +she thanked her, but could not speak to her in that way +either. Then she spoke eagerly in some language that we +could not understand. But had it been the language of +Hottentots, we should have known that she was begging my +mother not to forsake her, so full of entreaty was every +word and every gesture. + +My dear, sweet mother lifted her at last into the +easy-chair and made her lie there while she dipped some +hot water from her boiler and filled a large basin in her +sink. Then she led the pretty creature to it, and washed +from her arms, hands, and face the blood that had +hardened upon them, and looked carefully to find what her +wounds were. None of them were deep, though there +were ugly scratches on her beautiful arms; they were cut +by glass, as I guessed then, and as we learned from her +afterward. My mother was wholly prepared for all such +surgery as was needed here; she put on two bandages where +she thought they were needed, she plastered up the other +scratches with court-plaster, and then, as if the girl +understood her, she said to her, "And now, my dear child, +you must come to bed; there is no danger for you more." + +The poor girl had grown somewhat reassured in the +comfortable little kitchen, but her terror seemed to come +back at any sign of removal; she started to her feet, +almost as if she were a wild creature. But I would defy +any one to be afraid of my dear mother, or indeed to +refuse to do what she bade, when she smiled so in her +inviting way and put out her hand; and so the girl went +with her, bowing to me, or dropping a sort of courtesy in +her foreign fashion, as she went out of the door, and I +was left to see what damage had been done to my castle by +the savages, as I called them. + +I had sprung the rattle none too soon; for one of +these rascals, as it proved--I suppose it was the same +who swore that she had not gone into the church--with +some tool or other he had in his hand, had split out a +bit of the fence and had pried out a part of a plank. I +had done my work too well for any large piece to give +way. But the moment I looked into my coal-bin I saw that +something was amiss. I did not like very well to go +to the outside, but I must risk something; so I took out +a dark lantern which I always kept ready. Sure enough, +as I say, the fellow had struck so hard and so well that +he had split out a piece of board, and a little coal even +had fallen upon the passage-way. I was not much +displeased at this, for if he thought no nearer the truth +than that he had broken into a coal-bin of the church, +why, he was far enough from his mark for me. After +finding this, however, I was anxious enough, lest any of +them should return, not to go to bed again that night; +but all was still as death, and, to tell the truth, I +fell asleep in my chair. I doubt whether my mother +slept, or her frightened charge. + +I was at work in the passage early the next morning +with some weather-stained boards I had, and before nine +o'clock I had doubled all that piece of fence, from my +wing where my hand-cart was to the church, and I had +spiked the new boards on, which looked like old boards, +as I said, with tenpenny nails; so that he would be a +stout burglar who would cut through them unless he had +tools for his purpose and daylight to work by. As I was +gathering up my tools to go in, a coarse, brutal-looking +Irishman came walking up the alley and looked round. My +work was so well done, and I had been so careful to leave +no chips, that even then he could not have guessed that +I had been building the fence anew, though I fancied +he looked at it. He seemed to want to excuse himself for +being there at all, and asked me, with an oath and in a +broad Irish brogue, if there were no other passage +through. I had the presence of mind to say in German, +"Wollen sie sprechen Deutsch?" and so made as if I +could not understand him; and then, kneeling on the +cellar-door of the church, pretended to put a key into +the lock, as if I were making sure that I had made it +firm. + +And with that, he turned round with another oath, as +if he had come out of his way, and went out of the alley, +closely followed by me. I watched him as long as I +dared, but as he showed no sign of going back to the +alley, I at last walked round a square with my tools, and +so came back to my mother and the pretty stranger. + +My mother had been trying to get at her story. She +made her understand a few words of German, but they +talked by signs and smiles and tears and kisses much more +than by words; and by this time they understood each +other so well that my mother had persuaded her not to go +away that day. + +Nor did she go out for many days after; I will go +before my story far enough to say that. She had, indeed, +been horribly frightened that night, and she was as loath +to go out again into the streets of New York as I should +be to plunge from a safe shore into some terrible, +howling ocean; or, indeed, as one who found himself safe +at home would be to trust himself to the tender +mercies of a tribe of cannibals. + +Two such loving women as they were were not long in +building up a language, especially as my mother had +learned from my father and his friends, in her early +life, some of the common words of German--what she called +a bread-and-butter German. For our new inmate was a +Swedish girl. Her story, in short, was this:-- + +She had been in New York but two days. On the voyage +over, they had had some terrible sickness on the vessel, +and the poor child's mother had died very suddenly and +had been buried in the sea. Her father had died long +before. + +This was, as you may think, a terrible shock to her. +But she had hoped and hoped for the voyage to come to an +end, because there was a certain brother of hers in +America whom they were to meet at their landing, and +though she was very lonely on the packet-ship, in which +she and her mother and a certain family of the name of +Hantsen--of whom she had much to say--were the only +Swedes, still she expected to find the brother almost as +soon, as I may say, as they saw the land. + +She felt badly enough that he did not come on board +with the quarantine officer. When the passengers were +brought to Castle Garden, and no brother came, she felt +worse. However, with the help of the clerks there, she +got off a letter to him, somewhere in Jersey, and +proposed to wait as long as they would let her, till he +should come. + +The second day there came a man to the Garden, who +said he was a Dane, but he spoke Swedish well enough. He +said her brother was sick, and had sent him to find her. +She was to come with her trunks, and her mother's, and +all their affairs, to his house, and the same afternoon +they should go to where the brother was. + +Without doubt or fear she went with this man, and +spent the day at a forlorn sort of hotel which she +described, but which I never could find again. Toward +night the man came again and bade her take a bag, with +her one change of dress, and come with him to her +brother. + +After a long ride through the city, they got out at +a house which, thank God! was only one block from +Fernando Street. And there this simple, innocent +creature, as she went in, asked where her brother was, to +meet only a burst of laughter from one or two coarse- +looking men, and from half-a-dozen brazen-faced girls +whom she hated, she said, the minute she saw them. + +Except that an old woman took off her shawl and cloak +and bonnet, and took away from her the travelling things +she had in her hand, nobody took any care of her but to +laugh at her, and mock her if she dared say anything. + +She tried to go out to the door to find even the +Dane who had brought her there, but she was given to +understand that he was coming again for her, and that she +must wait till he came. As for her brother, there was no +brother there, nor had been any. The poor girl had been +trapped, and saw that she had been trapped; she had been +spirited away from everybody who ever heard of her +mother, and was in the clutches, as she said to my mother +afterward, of a crew of devils who knew nothing of love +or of mercy. + +They did try to make her eat and drink,--tried to +make her drink champagne, or any other wine; but they had +no fool to deal with. The girl did not, I think, let her +captors know how desperate were her resolutions. But her +eyes were wide open, and she was not going to lose any +chance. She was all on the alert for her escape when, at +eleven o'clock, the Dane came at last whom she had been +expecting so anxiously. + +The girl asked him for her brother, only to be put +off by one excuse or another, and then to hear from him +the most loathsome talk of his admiration, not to say his +passion, for her. + +They were nearly alone by this time, and he led her +unresisting, as he thought, into another smaller room, +brilliantly lighted, and, as she saw in a glance, gaudily +furnished, with wine and fruit and cake on a side- +table,--a room where they would be quite alone. + +She walked simply across and looked at herself in the +great mirror. Then she made some foolish little +speech about her hair, and how pale she looked. Then she +crossed to the sofa, and sat upon it with as tired an air +as he might have expected of one who had lived through +such a day. Then she looked up at him and even smiled +upon him, she said, and asked him if he would not ask +them for some cold water. + +The fellow turned into the passage-way, well pleased +with her submission, and in the same instant the girl was +at the window as if she had flown across the room. + +Fool! The window was made fast, not by any moving +bolt, either. It was nailed down, and it did not give a +hairs-breadth to her hand. + +Little cared she for that. She sat on the window- +seat, which was broad enough to hold her; she braced her +feet against the foot of the bedstead, which stood just +near enough to her; she turned enough to bring her +shoulder against the window-sash, and then with her whole +force she heaved herself against the sash, and the entire +window, of course, gave way. + +The girl caught herself upon the blind, which swung +open before her. She pulled herself free from the sill +and window-seat, and dropped fearless into the street. + +The fall was not long. She lighted on her feet and +ran as only fear could teach her to run. Where to, she +knew not; but she thought she turned a corner before she +heard any voices from behind. + +Still she ran. And it was when she came to the +corner of the next street that she heard for the first +time the screams of pursuers. + +She turned again, like a poor hunted hare as she was. +But what was her running to theirs? She was passing our +long fence in Fernando Street, and then for the first +time she screamed for help. + +It was that scream which waked me. + +She saw the steeple of the church. She had a dim +feeling that a church would be an asylum. So was it that +she ran up our alley, to find that she was in a trap +there. + +And then it was that she fell against my door, that +she cried twice, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" and that the +good God, who had heard her, sent me to draw her in. + +We had to learn her language, in a fashion, and she +to learn ours, before we understood her story in this +way. But at the very first my mother made out that the +girl had fled from savages who meant worse than death for +her. So she understood why she was so frightened at +every sound, and why at first she was afraid to stay with +us, yet more afraid to go. + +But this passed off in a day or two. She took to my +mother with a sort of eager way which showed how she must +have loved her own mother, and how much she lost when she +lost her. And that was one of the parts of her sad story +that we understood. + +No one, I think, could help loving my mother; but +here was a poor, storm-tossed creature who, I might say, +had nothing else to love, seeing she had lost all trace +of this brother, and here was my mother, soothing her, +comforting her, dressing her wounds for her, trying to +make her feel that God's world was not all wickedness; +and the girl in return poured out her whole heart. + +When my mother explained to her that she should not +let her go away till her brother was found, then for the +first time she seemed perfectly happy. She was indeed +the loveliest creature I ever put my eyes on. + +She was then about nineteen years old, of a delicate +complexion naturally, which was now a little browned by +the sea-air. She was rather tall than otherwise, but her +figure was so graceful that I think you never thought her +tall. Her eyes were perhaps deep-set, and of that +strange gray which I have heard it said the goddesses in +the Greek poetry had. Still, when she was sad, one saw +the less of all this. It was not till she forgot her +grief for the instant in the certainty that she might +rest with my mother, so that her whole face blazed with +joy, that I first knew what the perfect beauty of a +perfect woman was. + +Her name, it seemed, was Frida,--a name made from the +name of one of the old goddesses among the Northmen, the +same from whom our day Friday is named. She is the half- +sister of Thor, from whom Thursday is named, and the +daughter of Wodin, from whom Wednesday is named. + +I knew little of all this then, but I did not wonder +when I read afterward that this northern goddess was the +Goddess of Love, the friend of song, the most beautiful +of all their divinities,--queen of spring and light and +everything lovely. + +But surely never any one took fewer of the airs of a +goddess than our Frida did while she was with us. She +would watch my mother, as if afraid that she should put +her hand to a gridiron or a tin dipper. She gave her to +understand, in a thousand pretty ways, that she should be +her faithful, loving, and sincere. servant. If she would +only show her what to do, she would work for her as a +child that loved her. And so indeed she did. My dear +mother would laugh and say she was quite a fine lady now, +for Frida would not let her touch broom nor mop, skimmer +nor dusting-cloth. + +The girl would do anything but go out upon an errand. +She could not bear to see the other side of the fence. +What she thought of it all I do not know. Whether she +thought it was the custom in America for young men to +live shut up with their mothers in enclosures of half an +acre square, or whether she thought we two made some +peculiar religious order, whose rules provided that one +woman and one man should live together in a convent or +monastery of their own, or whether she supposed half New +York was made up, as Marco Polo found Pekin, of +cottages or of gardens, I did not know, nor did I much +care. I could see that here was provided a companion for +my mother, who was else so lonely, and I very soon found +that she was as much a companion for me. + +So soon as we could understand her at all, I took the +name of her brother and his address. When he wrote last +he was tending a saw-mill at a place about seven miles +away from Tuckahoe, in Jersey. But he said he was going +to leave there at once, so that they need not write +there. He sent the money for their passage, and +promised, as I said, to meet them at New York. + +This was a poor clew at the best. But I put a good +face on it, and promised her I would find him if he could +be found. And I spared no pains. I wrote to the +postmaster at Tuckahoe, and to a minister I heard of +there. I inquired of the Swedish consuls in New York and +Philadelphia. Indeed, in the end, I went to Tuckahoe +myself, with her, to inquire. But this was long after. +However, I may say here, once for all, to use an old +phrase of my mother's, we never found "hide nor hair" of +him. And although this grieved Frida, of course, yet it +came on her gradually, and as she had never seen him to +remember him, it was not the same loss as if they had +grown up together. + +Meanwhile that first winter was, I thought, the +pleasantest I had ever known in my life. I did not have +to work very hard now, for my business was rather +the laying out work for my men, and sometimes a nice job +which needed my hand on my lathe at home, or in some +other delicate affair that I could bring home with me. + +We were teaching Frida English, my mother and I, and +she and I made a great frolic of her teaching me Swedish. +I would bring home Swedish newspapers and stories for +her, and we would puzzle them out together,--she as much +troubled to find the English word as I to find out the +Swedish. Then she sang like a bird when she was about +her household work, or when she sat sewing for my mother, +and she had not lived with us a fortnight before she +began to join us on Sunday evenings in the choruses of +the Methodist hymns which my mother and I sang together. +So then we made her sing Swedish hymns to us. And before +she knew it, the great tears would brim over her deep +eyes and would run down in pearls upon her cheek. +Nothing set her to thinking of her old home as those +Sunday evenings did. Of a Sunday evening we could make +her go out with us to church sometimes. Not but then she +would half cover her face with a veil, so afraid was she +that we might meet the Dane. But I told her that the +last place we should find him at would be at church on +Sunday evening. + +I have come far in advance of my story, that I might +make any one who reads this life of mine to understand +how naturally and simply this poor lost bird nestled down +into our quiet life, and how the house that was +built for two proved big enough for three. For I made +some new purchases now, and fitted up the little middle +chamber for Frida's own use. We had called it the "spare +chamber" before, in joke. But now my mother fitted +pretty curtains to it, and other hangings, without +Frida's knowledge. I had a square of carpet made up at +the warehouse for the middle of the floor, and by making +her do one errand and another in the corner of the garden +one pleasant afternoon in November, we had it all +prettily fitted up for her room before she knew it. And +a great gala we made of it when she came in from +gathering the seeds of the calystegia, which she had been +sent for. + +She looked like a northern Flora as she came in, with +her arms all festooned by the vines she had been pulling +down. And when my mother made her come out to the door +she had never seen opened before, and led her in, and +told her that this pretty chamber was all her own, the +pretty creature flushed crimson red at first, and then +her quick tears ran over, and she fell on my mother's +neck and kissed her as if she would never be done. And +then she timidly held her hand out to me, too, as I stood +in the doorway, and said, in her slow, careful English,-- + +"And you, too--and you, too. I must tank you both, +also, especially. You are so good--so good to de poor +lost girl!" That was a very happy evening. + +But, as I say, I have gone ahead of my story. For +before we had these quiet evenings we were fated to have +many anxious ones and one stormy one. + +The very first day that Frida was with us, I felt +sure that the savages would make another descent upon us. +They had heard her scream, that was certain. They knew +she had not passed them, that was certain. They knew +there was a coal-bin on the other side of our fence, that +was certain. They would have reason enough for being +afraid to have her at large, if, indeed, there were no +worse passion than fear driving some of them in pursuit +of her. I could not keep out of my mind the beastly look +of the Irishman who asked me, with such an ugly leer on +his face, if there were no passage through. Not that I +told either of the two women of my fears. But, all the +same, I did not undress myself for a week, and sat in the +great easy-chair in our kitchen through the whole of +every night, waiting for the least sound of alarm. + +Next to the savages, I had always lived in fear of +being discovered in my retreat by the police, who would +certainly think it strange to find a man and his mother +living in a shed, without any practicable outside door, +in what they called a vacant lot. + +But I have read of weak nations in history which were +fain to call upon one neighbor whom they did not like to +protect them against another whom they liked less. +I made up my mind, in like wise, to go round to the +police-station nearest me. + +And so, having dressed myself in my black coat, and +put on a round hat and gloves, I bought me a Malacca +walking-stick, such as was then in fashion, and called +upon the captain in style. I told him I lived next the +church, and that on such and such a night there was a +regular row among roughs, and that several of them went +storming up the alley in a crowd. I said, "Although your +men were there as quick as they could come, these fellows +had all gone before they came." But then I explained +that I had seen a fellow hanging about the alley in the +daytime, who seemed to be there for no good; that there +was a hand-cart kept there by a workman, who seemed to be +an honest fellow, and, perhaps, all they wanted was to +steal that; that, if I could, I would warn him. But +meanwhile, I said, I had come round to the station to +give the warning of my suspicions, that if my rattle was +heard again, the patrolmen might know what was in the +wind. + +The captain was a good deal impressed by my make-up +and by the ease of my manner. He affected to be +perfectly well acquainted with me, although we had never +happened to meet at the Century Club or at the Union +League. I confirmed the favorable impression I had made +by leaving my card, which I had had handsomely engraved: +"MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE." With my pencil I added my +down-town address, where, I said, a note or telegram +would find me. + +I was not a day too soon with my visit to this +gentleman. That very night, after my mother and Frida +had gone to bed, as I sat in my easychair, there came +over me one of those strange intimations which I have +never found it safe to disregard. Sometimes it is of +good, and sometimes of bad. This time it made me certain +that all was not well. To relieve my fears I lifted my +ladder over the wall and dropped it in the alley. I +swung myself down and carried it to the very end of the +alley, to the place where I had dragged poor Frida in. +The moon fell on the fence opposite ours. My wing-fence +and hand-cart were all in shade. But everything was safe +there. + +Again I chided myself for my fears, when, as I looked +up the alley to the street, I saw a group of four men +come in stealthily. They said not a word, but I could +make out their forms distinctly against the houses +opposite. + +I was caught in my own trap! + +Not quite! They had not seen me, for I was wholly in +shadow. I stepped quickly in at my own slide. I pushed +it back and bolted it securely, and with my heart in my +mouth, I waited at my hole of observation. In a minute +more they were close around me, though they did not +suspect I was so near. + +They also had a dark-lantern, and, I thought, +more than one. They spoke in low tones; but as they +had no thought they had a hearer quite so near, I could +hear all they said. + +"I tell you it was this side, and this is the side I +heard their deuced psalm-singing day before yesterday." + +"What if he did hear psalm-singing? Are you going to +break into a man's garden because he sings psalms? I +came here to find out where the girl went to; and now you +talk of psalm-singing and coal-bins." This from another, +whose English was poor, and in whom I fancied I heard the +Dane. It was clear enough that be spoke sense, and a +sort of doubt fell on the whole crew; but speaker No. 1, +with a heavy crowbar he had, smashed into my pine wall, +as I have a right to call it now, with a force which made +the splinters fly. + +"I should think we were all at Niblo's," said a man +of slighter build, "and that we were playing Humpty +Dumpty. Because a girl flew out of a window, you think +a fence opened to take her in. Why should she not go +through a door? and he kicked with his foot upon the +heavy sloping cellar-door of the church, which just rose +a little from the pavement. It was the doorway which +they used there when they took in their supply of coal. +The moon fell full on one side of it. To my surprise it +was loose and gave way. + +"Here is where the girl flew to, and here is +where Bully Bigg, the donkey, let her slip out of +his fingers. I knew he was a fool, but I did not know he +was such a fool," said the Dane (if he were the Dane). + +I will not pretend to write down the oaths and foul +words which came in between every two of the words I have +repeated. + +"Fool yourself!" replied the Bully; "and what sort of +a fool is the man who comes up a blind alley looking +after a girl that will not kiss him when he bids her?" + +"Anyway," put in another of the crew, who had just +now lifted the heavy cellar-door, "other people may find +it handy to hop down here when the `beaks' are too near +them. It's a handy place to know of in a dark night, if +the dear deacons do choose to keep it open for a poor +psalm-singing tramp, who has no chance at the station- +house. Here, Lopp, you are the tallest,--jump in and +tell us what is there;" and at this moment the Dane +caught sight of my unfortunate ladder, lying full in the +moonlight. I could see him seize it and run to the +doorway with it with a deep laugh and some phrase of his +own country talk, which I did not understand. + +"The deacons are very good," said the savage who had +lifted the cellar-door. "They make everything handy for +us poor fellows." + +And though he had not planted the ladder, he was the +first to run down, and called for the rest to follow. +The Dane was second, Lopp was third, and "The +Bully," as the big rascal seemed to be called by +distinction, was the fourth. + +I saw him disappear from my view with a mixture of +wonder and terror which I will not describe. I seized my +light overcoat, which always hung in the passage. I +flung open my sliding-door and shut it again behind me. +I looked into the black of the cellar to see the +reflections from their distant lanterns, and without a +sound I drew up my ladder. Then I ran to the head of the +alley and sounded my rattle as I would have sounded the +trumpet for a charge in battle. The officers joined me +in one moment. + +"I am the man who spoke to the captain about these +rowdies. Four of them are in the cellar of the church +yonder now." + +"Do you know who?" + +"One they called Lopp, and one they called Bully +Bigg," said I. "I do not know the others' names." + +The officers were enraptured. + +I led them, and two other patrolmen who joined us, to +the shelter of my wing-wall. In a few minutes the head +of the Dane appeared, as he was lifted from below. With +an effort and three or four oaths, he struggled out upon +the ground, to be seized and gagged the moment he stepped +back. With varying fortunes, Bigg and Lopp emerged, and +were seized and handcuffed in turn. The fourth +surrendered on being summoned. + +What followed comes into the line of daily life and +the morning newspaper so regularly that I need not +describe it. Against the Dane it proved that endless +warrants could be brought immediately. His lair of +stolen baggage and other property was unearthed, and +countless sufferers claimed their own. I was able to +recover Frida's and her mother's possessions--the locks +on the trunks still unbroken. The Dane himself would +have been sent to the Island on I know not how many +charges, but that the Danish minister asked for him that +he might be hanged in Denmark, and he was sent and hanged +accordingly. + +Lopp was sent to Sing-Sing for ten years, and has not +yet been pardoned. + +Bigg and Cordon were sent to Blackwell's Island for +three years each. And so the land had peace for that +time. + +That winter, as there came on one and another idle +alarm that Frida's brother might be heard from, my heart +sank with the lowest terror lest she should go away. And +in the spring I told her that if she went away I was sure +I should die. And the dear girl looked down, and looked +up, and said she thought--she thought she should, too. +And we told my mother that we had determined that Frida +should never go away while we stayed there. And she +approved. + +So I wrote a note to the minister of the church which +had protected us so long, and one night we slid the +board carefully, and all three walked round, fearless of +the Dane, and Frida and I were married. + +It was more than three years after, when I received +by one post three letters, which gave us great ground for +consultation. The first was from my old friend and +patron, the Spaniard. He wrote to me from Chicago, where +he, in his turn, had fallen in with a crew of savages, +who had stripped him of all he had, under the pretext of +a land-enterprise they engaged him in, and had left him +without a real, as he said. He wanted to know if I could +not find him some clerkship, or even some place as +janitor, in New York. + +The second letter was from old Mr. Henry in +Philadelphia, who had always employed me after my old +master's death. He said that the fence around the lot in +Ninety-ninth Avenue might need some repairs, and he +wished I would look at it. He was growing old, he said, +and he did not care to come to New York. But the Fordyce +heirs would spend ten years in Europe. + +The third letter was from Tom Grinnell. + +I wrote to Mr. Henry that I thought he had better let +me knock up a little office, where a keeper might sleep, +if necessary; that there was some stuff with which I +could put up such an office, and that I had an old +friend, a Spaniard, who was an honest fellow, and if he +might have his bed in the office, would take +gratefully whatever his services to the estate proved +worth. He wrote me by the next day's mail that I might +engage the Spaniard and finish the office. So I wrote to +the Spaniard and got a letter from him, accepting the +post provided for him. Then I wrote to Tom Grinnell. + +The last day we spent at our dear old home, I +occupied myself in finishing the office as Friend Henry +bade me. I made a "practicable door," which opened from +the passage on Church Alley. Then I loaded my hand-cart +with my own chest and took it myself, in my working +clothes, to the Vanderbilt Station, where I took a brass +check for it. + +I could not wait for the Spaniard, but I left a +letter for him, giving him a description of the way I +managed the goats, and directions to milk and fatten +them, and to make both butter and cheese. + +At half-past ten a "crystal," as those cabs were then +called, came to the corner of Fernando Street and Church +Alley, and so we drove to the station. I left the key of +the office, directed to the Spaniard, in the hands of the +baggage-master. + +When I took leave of my castle, as I called it, I +carried with me for relics the great straw hat I had +made, my umbrella, and one of my parrots; also I forgot +not to take the money I formerly mentioned, which had +lain by me so long useless that it was grown rusty +and tarnished, and could scarcely pass for money till it +had been a little rubbed and handled. With these relics +and with my wife's and mother's baggage and my own chest, +we arrived at our new home. + + + +BREAD ON THE WATERS +A WASHINGTON CHRISTMAS + +[No. This story also is "Invented Example." But it +is founded on facts. It is a pleasure to me, writing +fifty-four years after the commission intrusted to me by +the late Mrs. Fales, to say that that is a real name, and +that her benevolence at a distance is precisely +represented here. + +Perhaps the large history of the world would be +differently written but for that kindness of hers. + +I was a very young clergyman, and the remittance she +made to me was the first trust of the same kind which had +ever been confided to me.] + + +CHAPTER I + +MAKE READY + +"Only think, Matty, papa passed right by me when I was +sitting with my back to the fire and stitching away on +his book-mark without my once seeing him! But he was +so busy talking to mamma that he never saw what I was +doing, and I huddled it under a newspaper before he +came back again. Well, I have got papa's present done, +but I cannot keep out of mamma's way. Matty, dear, if +I will sit in the sun and keep a shawl on, may I not +sit in your room and work? It is not one bit cold +there. Really, Matty, it is a great deal warmer +than it was yesterday." + +"Dear child," said Matty, to whom everybody came so +readily for advice and help, "I can do better for you +than that. You shall come into the study; papa will be +away all the morning, and I will have the fire kept up +there,--and mamma shall never come near you." + +All this, and a thousand times more of plotting and +counterplotting, was going on among four children and +their elders in a comfortable, free-and-easy seeming +household in Washington, as the boys and girls, young men +and young women were in the last agonies of making ready +for Christmas. Matty is fully entitled to be called a +young woman, when we see her. She has just passed her +twenty-first birthday. But she looks as fresh and pretty +as when she was seventeen, and certainly she is a great +deal pleasanter though she be wiser. She is the oldest +of the troop. Tom, the next, is expected from Annapolis +this afternoon, and Beverly from Charlotte. Then come +four boys and girls whose ages and places the reader must +guess at as we go on. + +The youngest of the family were still young enough to +write the names of the presents which they would be glad +to receive, or to denote them by rude hieroglyphs, on +large sheets of paper. They were wont to pin up these +sheets on certain doors, which, by long usage in this +free-and-easy family, had come to be regarded as the +bulletin-boards of the establishment. Well-nigh +every range of created things had some representation on +these bulletins,--from an ambling pony round to a "boot- +buttenner," thus spelled out by poor Laura, who was +constantly in disgrace, because she always appeared +latest at the door when the children started for church, +to ride, or for school. The youngsters still held to the +theory of announcing thus their wants in advance. Horace +doubted whether he were not too old. But there was so +much danger that nobody would know how much he needed a +jig-saw, that he finally compromised with his dignity, +wrote on a virgin sheet of paper, "gig-saw," signed his +name, "Horace Molyneux, Dec. 21," and left his other +presents to conjecture. + +And of course at the very end, as Santa Claus and his +revels were close upon them, while the work done had been +wonderful, that which we ought to have done but which we +had left undone, was simply terrible. Here were pictures +that must be brought home from the frame-man, who had +never pretended he would send them; there were ferns and +lycopodiums in pots which must be brought home from the +greenhouse; here were presents for other homes, which +must not only be finished, but must be put up in paper +and sent before night, so as to appear on other trees. +Every one of these must be shown to mamma, an approved by +her and praised; and every one must be shown to dear +Matty, and praised and approved by her. And yet by +no accident must Matty see her own presents or dream that +any child has remembered her, or mamma see HERS or +think herself remembered. + +And Matty has all her own little list to see to, +while she keeps a heart at leisure from itself to soothe +and sympathize. She has to correct the mistakes, to +repair the failures, to respect the wonder, to refresh +the discouragement, of each and all the youngsters. Her +own Sunday scholars are to be provided with their +presents. The last orders are to be given for the +Christmas dinners of half-a-dozen families of vassals, +mostly black or of some shade of black, who never forgot +their vassalage as Christmas came round. Turkey, +cranberry, apples, tea, cheese, and butter must be sent +to each household of these vassals, as if every member +were paralyzed except in the muscles of the jaw. But, +all the same, Matty or her mother must be in readiness +all the morning and afternoon to receive the visits of +all the vassals,--who, so far as this form of homage +went, did not seem to be paralyzed at all. + +For herself, Matty took possession of the dining- +room, as soon as she could clear it of the breakfast +equipage, of the children and of the servants, and here, +with pen and ink, with wrapping-paper and twine, with +telegraph blanks and with the directory, and with Venty +as her Ariel messenger--not so airy and quick as Ariel, +but quite as willing--Matty worked her wonders, and +gave her audiences, whether to vassals from without or +puzzled children from within. + +Venty was short for Ventidius. But this name, given +in baptism, was one which Venty seldom heard. + +Matty corded up this parcel, and made Venty cord up +that; wrote this note of compliment, that of inquiry, +that of congratulation, and sent Venty on this, that, and +another errand with them; relieved Flossy's anxieties and +poor Laura's in ways which have been described; made sure +that the wagon should be at the station in ample time for +Beverly's arrival; and at last, at nearly one o'clock, +called Aunty Chloe (who was in waiting on everybody as a +superserviceable person, on the pretence that she was +needed), bade Aunty pick up the scraps, sweep the floor, +and bring the room to rights. And so, having attended to +everybody beside herself, to all their wishes and hopes +and fears, poor Matty--or shall I say, dear Matty--ran +off to her own room, to finish her own presents and make +her own last preparations. + +She had kept up her spirits as best she could all the +morning, but, at any moment when she was alone, her +spirits had fallen again. She knew it, and she knew why. +And now she could not hold out any longer. She and her +mother, thank God, never had any secrets. And as she ran +by her mother's door she could not help tapping, to be +sure if she had come home. + +Yes, she had come home. "Come in!" and Matty ran in. + +Her mother had not even taken off her hat or her +gloves. She had flung herself on the sofa, as if her +walk had been quite too much for her; her salts and her +handkerchief were in her hands, and when she saw it was +Matty, as she had hoped when she spoke, she would not +even pretend she had not been in tears. + +In a moment Matty was on her knees on the floor by +the sofa, and somehow had her left arm round about her +mother's neck. + +"Dear, dear mamma! What is it, what is the matter?" + +"My dear, dear Matty," replied her mother, just +succeeding in speaking without sobs, and speaking the +more easily because she stroked the girl's hair and +caressed her as she spoke, "do not ask, do not try to +know. You will know, if you do not guess, only too soon. +And now the children will be better, and papa will get +through Christmas better, if you do not know, my +darling." + +"No, dear mamma," said Matty, crossing her mother's +purpose almost for the first time that she remembered, +but wholly sure that she was right in doing so,--"No, +dear mamma, it is not best so. Indeed, it is not, mamma! +I feel in my bones that it is not!" This she said with +a wretched attempt to smile, which was the more ghastly +because the tears were running down from both their +faces. + +"You see I have tried, mamma. I knew all day +yesterday that something was wrong, and at breakfast this +morning I knew it. And I have had to hold up--with the +children and all these people--with the feeling that any +minute the hair might break and the sword fall. And I +know I shall do better if you tell me. You see the boys +will be here before dark, and of course they will see, +and what in the world shall I say to them?" + +"What, indeed?" said her poor mother. "Terrible it +is, dear child, because your father is so wretched. I +have just come from him. He would not let me stay, and +yet for the minute I was there, I saw that no one else +could come in to goad him. Dear, dear papa, he is so +resolute and brave, and yet any minute I was afraid that +he would break a blood-vessel and fall dead before me. +Oh, Matty, Matty, my darling, it is terrible!" + +And this time the poor woman could not control +herself longer, but gave way to her sobs, and her voice +fairly broke, so that she was inarticulate, as she laid +her cheek against her daughter's on the sofa. + +"What is terrible? Dear mamma, you must tell me!" + +"I think I must tell you, Matty, my darling. I +believe if I cannot tell some one, I shall die." + +Then Mrs. Molyneux told the whole horror to Matty. +Here was her husband charged with the grossest +plunder of the treasury, and now charged even in the +House of Representatives. It had been whispered about +before, and had been hinted at in some of the lower +newspapers, but now even a committee of Congress had +noticed it, and had "given him an opportunity to clear +himself." There was no less a sum than forty-seven +thousand dollars, in three separate payments, charged to +him at the Navy Department as long ago as the second and +third years of the Civil War. At the Navy they had his +receipts for it. Not that he had been in that department +then any more than he was now. He was then chief clerk +in the Bureau of Internal Improvement, as he was now +Commissioner there. But this was when the second Rio +Grande expedition was fitted out; and from Mr. Molyneux's +knowledge of Spanish, and his old connection with the +Santa Fe trade, this particular matter had been intrusted +to him. + +"Yes, dear mamma!" + +"Well, papa has it all down on his own cashbook; that +book he carries in his breast-pocket. There are the +three payments, and then all the transfers he made to the +different people. One, was that old white-haired +Spaniard with the harelip, who used to come here at the +back door, so that he should not be seen at the +Department. But it was before you remember. The others +were in smaller sums. But the whole thing was done in +three weeks, and then the expedition sailed, and papa had +enough else to think of, and has never thought of it +since, till ten or fifteen days ago, when somebody in the +Eleventh Auditor's office discovered this charge, and his +receipt for this money." + +"Well, dear mamma?" + +"Well, dear child, that is all, but that now the +newspapers have got hold of it, and the Committee on +Retrenchment, who are all new men, with their reputations +to make, have got hold of it, and some of them really +think, you know, that papa has stolen the money!" And +she broke down crying again. + +"But he can show his accounts, mamma!" What are his +accounts worth? He must show the vouchers, as they are +called. He must show these people's receipts, and what +has become of these people; what they did with the money. +He must show everything. Well, when the `Copperhead' +first spoke of it--that was a fortnight ago--papa was +really pleased. For he said it would be a good chance to +bring out a piece of war history. He said that in our +Bureau we had never had any credit for the Rio Grande +successes, that they were all our thunder; because +THEN he could laugh about this horrid thing. He said +the Navy had taken all the boners, while we deserved them +all. And he said if these horrid `Copperhead' and +`Argus' and `Scorpion' people would only publish the +vouchers half as freely as they published the charges, we +should get a little of the credit that was our due." + +"Well, mamma, and what is the trouble now?" + +"Why, papa was so sure that he would do nothing until +an official call came. But on Monday it got into +Congress. That hairy man from the Yellowstone brought in +a resolution or something, and the Committee was ordered +to inquire. And when the order came down, papa told Mr. +Waltsingham to bring him the papers, and, Matty, the +papers were not there!" + +"Stolen!" cried Matty, understanding the crisis for +the first time. + +"Yes--perhaps--or lost--hidden somewhere. You have +no idea of the work of those days night work and all +that. Many a time your father did not undress for a +week." + +"And now he must remember where he put a horrid pile +of papers, eleven, twelve years ago. Mamma, that pile is +stolen. That odious Greenhithe stole it. He lives in +Philadelphia now, and he has put up these newspapers to +this lie." + +Mr. Greenhithe was an underclerk in the Internal +Improvement Bureau, who had shown an amount of attention +to Miss Matty, which she had disliked and had refused to +receive. She had always said he was bad and would come +to a bad end, and when he was detected in a low trick, +selling stationery which he had stolen from the supply +room, and was discharged in disgrace, Matty had said it +was good enough for him. + +These were her reasons for pronouncing at once +that he had stolen the vouchers and had started the +rumors. + +"I do not know. Papa does not know. He hardly tries +to guess. He says either way it is bad. If the vouchers +are stolen, he is in fault, for he is responsible for the +archives; if he cannot produce the vouchers, then all the +country is down on him for stealing. I only hope," said +poor Mrs. Molyneux, "that they won't say our poor old +wagon is a coach and six;" and this time she tried to +smile. + +And now she had told her story. All last night, +while the children were asleep, Mr. Molyneux had been at +the office, even till four o'clock in the morning, taking +old dusty piles from their lairs and searching for those +wretched vouchers. And mamma had been waiting--shall one +not say, had been weeping?--here at home. That was the +reason poor papa had looked so haggard at breakfast this +morning. + +This was all mamma had to tell. She had been to the +office this morning, but papa would not let her stay. He +must see all comers, just as if nothing had happened, was +happening, or was going to happen. + +Well! Matty did make her mother take off her jacket +and her hat and her gloves. She even made her drink a +glass of wine and lie down. And then the poor girl +retired to her own room, with such appetite as she might +for taking the last stitches in worsted work, for +stippling in the lights into drawings, for writing +the presentation lines in books, and for doing the +thousand little niceties in the way of finishing touches +which she had promised the children to do for them. + +Her dominant feeling--yes, it was a dominant passion, +as she knew--was simply rage against this miserable +Greenhithe, this cowardly sneak who was thus taking his +revenge upon her, because she had been so cold to him. +Or was it that he made up to her because he was already +in trouble at the Office and hoped she would clear him +with her father? Either way he was a snake and a +scorpion, but he had worked out for himself a terrible +revenge. Poor Matty! She tried to think what she could +do, how she could help, for that was the habit of her +life. But this was now hard indeed. Her mind would not +now take that turn. All that it would turn to was to the +wretched and worse than worthless question, what +punishment might fall on him for such utter baseness and +wickedness. + +All the same the children must have their lunch, and +they must not know that anything was the matter. Oh +dear! this concealment was the worst of all! + +So they had their lunch. And poor Matty counselled +again, and helped again, and took the last stitches, and +mended the last breaks, and waited and wondered, and +tried to hope, till at five o'clock an office messenger +came up with this message. + +4.45 P.M. +DEAR MATTY,--I shall not come up to dinner. There is +pressing work here. Tell mamma not to sit up for me. I +have my key. +I have no chance to get my things for the children. +Will you see to it? Here is twenty dollars, and if you +need more let them send in the bill. I had only thought +of that jig-saw--was it?--that Horace wants. See that +the dear fellow has a good one. + +Love to all and ever yours, + +PAPA. + + +"Poor, dear papa," said Matty aloud, shedding tears +in spite of herself. "To be thinking of jig-saws and +children in all this horrid hunt! As if hunting for +anything was not the worst trial of all, always." And at +once the brave girl took down her wraps and put on her +walking-shoes, that her father's commissions might be met +before their six-o'clock dinner. And she determined that +first of all she would meet Tom at the station. + +At the station she met Tom; that was well. Matty had +not been charged to secrecy; that was well. She told him +all the story, not without adding her suspicions, and +giving him some notion of her rage. + +And Tom was angry enough,--there was a crumb of +comfort there. But Tom went off on another track. Tom +distrusted the Navy Department. He had been long enough +at Annapolis to doubt the red tape of the bureaus with +which his chiefs had to do. "If the navy had the +money, the navy had the vouchers," that was Tom's theory. +He knew a chief clerk in the navy, and Tom was going at +once round there. + +But Matty held him in check at least for the moment. +Whatever else he did, he must come home first; he must +see mamma and he must see the children, and he must have +dinner. She had not told him yet how well he looked, and +how handsome he was. + +But after Tom had seen them he slipped off, pretended +he had unfinished preparations to make, and went right to +the Department, forced his way in because he was Mr. +Molyneux's son, and found his poor father with Zeigler, +the chief clerk, still on this wretched and fruitless +overhaul of the old files. Tom stated frankly, in his +off-hand, business-like way, what his theory was. +Neither Zeigler nor Tom's father believed in it in the +least. Tom knew nothing, they said; the Navy paid the +money, but the Navy was satisfied with our receipt, and +should be. + +Tom continued to say, "If the Navy paid the money the +Navy must have the vouchers;" and at last, more to be rid +of him than with any hope of the result, Mr. Molyneux let +the eager fellow go round to his friend, Eben Ricketts, +and see if Eben would not give an hour or two of his +Christmas to looking up the thing. Mr. Molyneux even +went so far as to write a frank line to Mr. Ricketts, and +enclosed a letter which he had had that day from the +chairman of the House Committee,--a letter which was +smooth enough in the language, but horrible enough in the +thing. + +Ah me! Had not Ricketts read it all already in the +evening "Argus"? He was willing, if he could, to serve. +So he with Tom went round and found the Navy Department +messenger, and opened and lighted up the necessary rooms, +and they spent three hours of their Christmas there. +Meanwhile Beverly had arrived from Norfolk. He had a +frolic with the children, and then called his mother and +Matty away from them. + +"What in thunder is the matter?" said the poor boy. + +And they told him. How could they help telling him? +And so soon as the story was finished, the boy had his +coat on and was putting on his boots. He went right down +to his father's office, he made old Stratton admit him, +and told his father he too had reported for duty. + + + +CHAPTER II + +CHRISTMAS MORNING + +And at last Christmas morning dawned,--gray enough and +grim enough. + +In that house the general presenting was reserved for +evening after dinner,--when in olden days there had +always been a large Christmas-tree lighted and +dressed for the children and their little friends. As +the children had grown older, and the trees at the +Sunday-school and elsewhere had grown larger, the family +tree had grown smaller, and on this day was to be simply +atypical tree, a little suggestion of a tree, between the +front windows; while most of the presents of every sort +and kind were to be dispersed--where room could be made +for them--in any part of the front parlors. All the +grand ceremonial of present-giving was thus reserved to +the afternoon of Christmas, because then it was certain +papa would be at home, Tom and Beverly would both be +ready, and, indeed, as the little people confessed, they +themselves would have more chance to be quite prepared. + +But none the less was the myth of Santa Claus and the +stockings kept up, although that was a business of less +account, and one in which the children themselves had no +share, except to wonder, to enjoy, and to receive. You +will observe that there is a duality in most of the +enjoyments of life,--that if you have a long-expected +letter from your brother who is in Yokohama, by the same +mail or the next mail there comes a letter from your +sister who is in Cawnpore. And so it was of Christmas at +this Molyneux house. Besides the great wonders, like +those wrought out by Aladdin's slave of the lamp, there +were the wonders, less gigantic but not less exquisite, +of the morning hours, wrought out by the slave of +the ring. How this series of wonders came about, the +youngest of the children did not know, and were still +imaginative enough and truly wise enough not to inquire. + +While, then, the two young men and their father were +at one or the other Department, now on step-ladders, +handing down dusty old pasteboard boxes, now under +gaslights, running down long indexes with inquiring +fingers and unwinking eyes, Matty and her mother watched +and waited till eleven o'clock came, not saying much of +what was on the hearts of both, but sometimes just +recurring to it, as by some invisible influence,--an +influence which would overcome both of them at the same +moment. For the mother and daughter were as two sisters, +not parted far, even in age, and not parted at all in +sympathy. For occupation, they were wrapping up in thin +paper a hundred barley dogs, cats, eagles, locomotives, +suns, moons, and stars,--with little parcels of nuts, +raisins, and figs, large red apples, and bright Florida +oranges,--all of which were destined to be dragged out of +different stockings at daybreak. + +"And now, dear, dear mamma," said Matty, "you will go +to bed,--please do, dear mamma." This was said as she +compelled the last obstinate eagle to accept his fate and +stay in his wrapping-paper, from which he had more than +once struggled out, with the instincts of freedom. + +"Please do, dear mamma; I will sort these all +out, and will be quite sure that each has his own. +At least, let us come upstairs together. I will comb +your hair for you; that is one of the little comforts. +And you shall get into bed and see me arrange them, and +if I do it wrong you can tell me." + +Poor mamma, she yielded to her--as who does not +yield, and because it was easier to go upstairs than to +stay. And the girl led her up and made herself a toilet +woman indeed, and did put her worn-out mamma into bed, +and then hurried to the laundry, where she was sure she +could find what Diana had been bidden to reserve there--a +pair of clean stockings belonging to each member of the +family. The youngest children, alas, who would need the +most room for their spread-eagles and sugar locomotives, +had the smallest feet and legs. But nature compensates +for all things, and Matty did not fail to provide an +extra pair of her mother's longest stockings for each of +"the three," as the youngest were called in the councils +of their elders. So a name was printed by Santa Claus on +a large red card and pinned upon each receptacle, FLOSSY +or LAURA, while all were willing to accept of his +bounties contained within, even if they did not recognize +yarn or knitting as familiar. Matty hurried back with +their treasures. She brought from her own room the large +red tickets, already prepared, and then, on the floor by +her mother's bedside, assorted the innumerable parcels, +and filled each stocking full. + +Dear girl! she had not wrongly guessed. There was +just occupation enough, and just little enough, for the +poor mother's anxious, tired thought. Matty was wise. +She asked fewer and fewer questions; fewer and fewer she +made her journeys to the great high fender, where she +pinned all these stiff models of gouty legs. And when +the last hung there quietly, the girl had the exquisite +satisfaction of seeing that her mother was fast asleep. +She would not leave the room. She turned the gas-light +down to a tiny bead. She slipped off her own frock, put +on her mother's heavy dressing-gown, lay down quietly by +her side without rousing her, and in a little while--for +with those so young this resource is well-nigh sure--she +slept too. + +It was five o'clock when she was wakened by her +father's hand. He led her out into his own dressing- +room, and before she spoke she kissed him! + +She knew what his answer would be. She knew that +from his heavy face. But all the same she tried to +smile, and she said, + +"Found?" + +"Found? No, no, dear child, nor ever will be. How +is mamma?" + +And Matty told him, and begged him to come and sleep +in her own little room, because the children would come +in in a rout at daybreak. But no! he would not hear to +that. "Whatever else is left, dear Matty, we have each +other. And we will not begin--on what will be a new +life to all of us--we will not begin by 'bating a jot of +the dear children's joys. Matty, that is what I have +been thinking of all the way as I walked home. But maybe +I should not have said it, but that Beverly said it just +now to me. Dear fellow! I cannot tell you the comfort +it was to me to see him come in! I told him he should +not have come, but he knew that he made me almost happy. +He is a fine fellow, Matty, and all night long he has +shown the temper and the sense of a man." + +For a moment Matty could not say a word. Her eyes +were all running over with tears. She kissed her father +again, and then found out how to say, "I shall tell him +what you say, papa, and there will be two happy children +in this house, after all." + +So she ran to Beverly's room, found him before he was +undressed, and told him. And the boy who was just +becoming a man, and the girl who, without knowing it, had +become a woman, kissed each other; held each other for a +minute, each by both hands, looked each other so lovingly +in the eyes, comforted each other by the infinite comfort +of love, and then said good-night and were asleep. Tom +had stolen to bed without waking his mother or his +sister, some hours before. + +Yes! They all slept. The little ones slept, though +they had been so certain that they should not sleep one +wink from anxiety. This poor jaded man slept +because he must sleep. His poor wife slept because she +had not slept now for two nights before. And Matty and +Tom and Beverly slept because they were young and brave +and certain and pure, and because they were between +seventeen and twenty-two years of age. This is all to +say that they could seek God's help and find it. This is +to say that they were well-nigh omnipotent over earthly +ills,--so far, at the least, that sleep came when sleep +was needed. + +But not after seven o'clock! Venty and Diana had +been retained by Flossy and Laura to call them at five +minutes of seven, and Laura and Flossy had called the +others. And at seven o'clock, precisely, a bugle-horn +sounded in the children's quarters, and then four +grotesque riders, each with a soldier hat made of +newspaper, each with a bright sash girt round a dressing- +gown, each with bare feet stuck into stout shoes, came +storming down the stairs, and as soon as the lower floor +was reached, each mounted on a hobby-horse or stick, and +with riot not to be told came knocking at Matty's door, +at Beverly's, and at Tom's. And these all appeared, also +with paper soldier hats upon their heads, and girt in +some very spontaneous costume, and so the whole troop +proceeded with loud fanfaron and drumbeat to mamma's door +and knocked for admission, and heard her cheery "Come +in." And papa and mamma had heard the bugle-calls, and +had wrapped some sort of shawls around their +shoulders, and were sitting up in bed, they also with +paper soldier hats upon them; and one scream of "Merry +Christmas" resounded as the doors flew open,--and then a +wild rampage of kissing and of hugging as the little ones +rushed for the best places they could find on the bed-- +not to say in it. This was the Christmas custom. + +And Tom rolled up a lounge on one side of the bed, +which after a fashion widened it, and Beverly brought up +his mother's easy-chair, which had earned the name of +"Moses' seat," on the other side, and thus, in a minute, +the great broad bed was peopled with the whole family, as +jolly, if as absurd, a sight as the rising sun looked +upon. And then! Flossy and Beverly were deputed to go +to the fender, and to bring the crowded, stiff stockings, +whose crackle was so delicate and exquisite; and so, +youngest by youngest, they brought forth their treasures, +not indeed gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but what +answered the immediate purposes better, barley cats, +dogs, elephants and locomotives, figs, raisins, walnuts, +and pecans. + +Yes, and for one noisy half-hour not one person +thought of the cloud which hung over the house only the +night before! + +But such happy forgetfulness cannot last forever. +There was the Christmas breakfast. And Tom tried to tell +of Academy times, and Beverly tried to tell stories +of the University. But it was a hard pull. The lines +under papa's eyes were only too dark. And all of a +sudden he would start, and ask some question which showed +that he did not know what they were talking of. Matty +had taken care to have the newspapers out of the way; but +everybody knew why they were out of the way,--and perhaps +this made things worse. Poor blundering Laura must needs +say, "That is the good of Christmas, that there are no +horrid newspapers for people to bother with," when +everybody above Horace's age knew that there were papers +somewhere, and soon Horace was bright enough to see what +he had not been told in words,--that something was going +wrong. + +And as soon as breakfast was done, Flossy cried out, +"And now papa will tell us the story of the bear! Papa +always tells us that on Christmas morning. Laura, you +shall come; and, Horace, you shall sit there." And then +her poor papa had to take her up and kiss her, and say +that this morning he could not stop to tell stories, that +he had to go to the Department. And then Flossy and +Laura fairly cried. It was too bad. They hated the +Department. There never could be any fun but what that +horrid old Department came in. And when Horace found +that Tom was going to the Department too, and that Bev +meant to go with him, he was mad, and said he did not see +what was the use of having Christmas. Here he had tin- +foil and plaster upstairs, and little Watrous had +lent him a set of government medals, and they should have +such a real good time if Bev would only stay. He wished +the Department was at the bottom of the Potomac. Matty +fairly had to take the scolding boy out of the room. + +Mr. Molyneux, poor fellow, undertook the soothing of +Flossy. "Anyway, old girl, you shall meet me as you go +to church, and we will go through the avenue together, +and I will show you the new Topsy girl selling cigars at +Pierre's tobacco shop. She is as big as Flossy. She has +not got quite such golden hair, but she never says one +word to her papa, because she is never cross to him." + +"That's because he is never kind to her," said the +quick child, speaking wiser than she knew. + +For Matty, she got a word with Tom, and he too +promised that they would be away from the Department in +time to meet the home party, and that all of them should +go to church together. + + + +CHAPTER III + +CHURCH AND SERMON + +And, accordingly, as Mrs. Molyneux with her little troop +crossed F Street, they met the gentlemen all coming +toward them. They broke up into groups, and Tom and +Matty got their first real chance for talk since they had +parted the night before. No! Tom had found no clue +at the Navy Department. And although Eben Ricketts had +been good as gold, and had stayed and worked with Tom +till long after midnight, Eben had only worked to show +good-will, for Eben had not the least faith that there +was any clue there. Eben had said that if old Mr. +Whilthaugh, who knew the archive rooms through and +through, had not been turned out, they could do in +fifteen minutes what had cost them six hours, and that +old Mr. Whilthaugh, without looking, could tell whether +it was worth while to look. But old Mr. Whilthaugh had +been turned out, and Eben, even, did not know precisely +what had become of him. He thought he had gone back into +Pennsylvania, where his wife came from, but he did not +know. + +"But, Matty, if nothing turns up to-day, I go to +Pennsylvania to-morrow to find this old Mr. Whilthaugh. +For I shall die if I stay here; and all the Eben +Rickettses in the world will never persuade me that the +vouchers are not in that archive-room. If the Navy did +the work, the Navy must have the vouchers." + +Then Matty ventured to ask what she and her mother +had wondered about once and again,--why these particular +bits of paper were so necessary. Surely other vouchers, +or certified copies, or books of account could be found +somewhere! + +"Yes! I know; you would say so. And if it were all +yesterday, and was all in these lazy times of peace, +you would say true. But you see, in the first place, +this is ever so long ago. Then, in the second place, it +was in the heat of war, when everything was on a gigantic +scale, and things had to be done in unheard-of ways. +Then, chiefly, this particular business involved the +buying up of I do not know who among the Rebels there in +Texas, and among their allies on the other side the Rio +Grande. This old Spaniard, whom mamma remembers, and +whom I just remember, he was the chief captain among the +turncoats, and there were two or three others, F. F. men +in their places,--"First Family men," that means, you +know; but after they did this work they did not stay in +their places long. No! papa says he was mighty careful; +that he had three of the scoundrels sworn before +notaries, or rather before one notary, and had their +receipts and acknowledgments stamped with his notary's +seal. Still, it did not do to have a word said in public +then. And after everything succeeded so perfectly, after +the troops landed without a shot, and found all the base +ready for them, corn and pork just where they wanted +it,--why, then everybody was too gratified to think of +imagining, as they do now, that papa had stolen that +money that bought the pork and the corn." + +"I wish they were only half as grateful now," he +said, after a pause. + +"Tom," said Matty, eagerly, "who was that notary?" + +"I thought of that, too," said Tom. "There is no +doubt who it was. It was old Gilbert; you must remember +his sign, just below Faulkner's on the avenue. But in +the first place, Gilbert died just after our taking +Richmond. In the second place, he never knew what the +papers were--and he executed twenty such sets of papers +every day, very likely. All he could say, at the very +best, would be that at such a time father brought in an +old Spaniard and two or three other greasers, and that he +took their acknowledgments of something." + +"I do not know that, Tom," said the girl, without +flinching at his mannish information. "If notaries in +Washington are anything like notaries in novels, that man +kept a record or register of his work. If he was not +very unlike everybody else who lives and works here, he +left a very destitute widow when he died. Tom, I shall +go after church and hunt up the Widow Gilbert. I shall +ask her for her husband's books, and shall tell her why +I want them." + +The girl dropped her voice and said: "Tom, I shall +ask her IN HIS NAME." + +"God grant it does any good, dear girl," said he. +"Far be it from me to say that you shall not try--" + +But here he stopped speaking, for he felt Matty's arm +shake in his, and her whole frame trembled. Tom had only +to keep his eyes before him to see why. + +Mr. Greenhithe, Matty's old admirer, the clerk who +had been dismissed for stealing, was just entering the +church, and even touched his hat to her as she went by. + +Tom resisted his temptation to thrash him then and +there. He said,-- + +"Matty, I believe I will tackle that man!" + +"Oh, Tom!" + +"Yes, Matty, I can keep my temper, and he cannot keep +his. He has one advantage over most knaves, that he is +not only a knave of the first water, but he is sometimes +a fool, too. If it were only decent and right to take +him into Downing's saloon, and give him just one more +glass of whiskey than the blackguard would care to pay +for, I could get at his whole story." + +"But, Tom, I thought you were so sure the Navy had +the papers!" + +"Well! well!" said Tom, a little annoyed, as eager +people are when other eager people remember their words +against them. "I was sure--I was wholly sure--till I +left Eben Ricketts. But after that--well, of course, we +ought to pull every string." + +"Tom!" This with a terrible gulp. + +"Tom, you don't think I ought to speak with him!" + +"Matty!" + +"Why, Tom, yes; if he does know--if he is holding +this up in terror, Tom, I could make him do what I chose +once, Tom. You don't think I ought to try?" + +"Matty, if you ever speak to that snake again, I will +thrash him within an inch of his life, and I will never +say a word to you as long as you live." + +"That's my dear Tom!" And, hidden as they were, and +crying as she was under her veil, she flung her arms +around him and kissed him. + +"All the same," said Tom, after he had kissed her +again and again,--"all the same, I shall find out, after +church, where the snake is staying. I shall go to the +hotel and take a cigar. I shall offer him one, and he is +so mean and stingy that he will take it. Perhaps this +may be one of his fool days. Perhaps somebody else will +treat him to the whiskey. No, Matty! honor bright, _I_ +will not, though that ten cents might give us all a Merry +Christmas. Honor bright, I will not treat. But I am not +a saint, Matty! If anybody else treats, I must not be +expected to be far away." + +Then he wiped her eyes with his own handkerchief and +led her in to the service. Their own pew was already +full. He had to take her back into Dr. Metcalf's pew. + +So Matty was spared one annoyance which was prepared +for her. + +Directly in front of her father's pew, sitting in the +most conspicuous seat on the other side of the aisle, was +the hateful Mr. Greenhithe. + +Had he put himself there to watch Matty's face? + +If he did, he was disappointed. If he had +persuaded himself he was to see a pale cheek or +tearful eyes, or that he was going to compel her to drop +her veil, he had reckoned quite without his host. +Whenever he did look that way, all he saw was the face of +Master Horace. Horace was engaged in counting the large +tassels on his side of the pulpit curtains; in counting, +also, the number of small tassels between them, and from +the data thus obtained, in calculating how many tassels +there must be on all the curtains to the pulpit, and how +many on the curtains behind the rail to the chancel. Mr. +Greenhithe, therefore, had but little comfort in studying +Horace's face. + +Just as the Creed was finished, when the rest of the +church was still, the sexton led up the aisle a grim- +looking man, with a shaggy coat and a very dirty face, +and brought him close to the door of Mr. Molyneux's pew-- +as if he would fain bring him in. Mr. Molyneux was at +the end of the pew, but happened to be turning away from +the aisle, and the sexton actually touched him. He +turned round and looked at the stranger,--evidently did +not know him,--but with the instinct of hospitality, +stepped into the aisle and offered him his seat. The +stranger was embarrassed; hesitated as if he would speak, +then shook his head in refusal of the attention, and +crossing the aisle, took a seat offered him there, in +full sight of Mr. Molyneux, and, indeed, of Matty. + +Poor girl! The trifle--of course it was a trifle-- +upset her sadly. + +Was the man a marshal or a sheriff? Would they +really arrest her father on Christmas Day, in church? + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IS THIS CHRISTMAS? + +Yes; it was, as you have said, a very curious Christmas +service for all those people. + +What Horace turned his mind to, at intervals, has +been told. + +Of the elder members of our little company who sat +there near the head of the side aisle, it may be said, in +general, that they did their best to keep their hearts +and minds engaged in the service, and that sometimes they +succeeded. They succeeded better while they could really +join in the hymns and the prayers than they did when it +came to the sermon. Good Dr. Gill, overruled by one of +those lesser demons, whose work is so apparent though so +inexplicable in this finite world, had selected for the +text of his sermon of gladness the words, "Search and +look." And so it happened--it was what did not often +happen with him--he must needs repeat those words often, +at the beginning and end, indeed, of every leading +paragraph of the sermon. Now this duty of searching and +looking had been just what all the elder members of +the Molyneux family had been solidly doing--each in his +way or hers, directly or by sympathy--in the last forty- +eight hours. To get such relief as they might from it, +they had come to church, to look rather higher if they +could. So that it was to them more a misfortune than a +matter of immediate spiritual relief that their dear old +friend, who loved each one of them with an intimate and +peculiar love, happened to enlarge on his text just as he +did. + +If poor Mr. Molyneux, by dint of severe self-command, +had succeeded in abstracting his thoughts from disgrace +almost certain,--from thinking over, in horrible variety, +the several threads of inquiry and answer by which that +disgrace was to be avoided or precipitated,--how was it +possible to maintain such abstraction, while the worthy +preacher, wholly unconscious of the blood he drew with +every word, ground out his sentences in such words as +these:-- + +"Search and look, my brethren. Time passes faster +than we think. Our gray hairs gather apace above our +foreheads. And the treasure which we prized beyond price +in years bygone has perhaps, amid the cares of this +world, or in the deceitfulness of riches, been thrust on +one side, neglected, at last forgotten. How is it with +you, dear friends? Are you the man? Are you the woman? +Have you put on one side the very treasure of your +life,--as some careless housewife might lay aside on +a forgotten shelf this parcel or that, once so precious +to her? Dear friends, as the year draws to a close, +awaken from such neglect! Brush away the dust from these +forgotten caskets! Lift them from their hiding-places +and set them forth, even in your Christmas festivities. +Search and look!" + +Poor Mrs. Molyneux had never wished before so +earnestly that a sermon might be done. She dared not +look round to see her husband for a while, but after one +of these invocations--not quite so terrible as the rest, +perhaps--she stole a glance that way, to find--that she +might have spared her anxiety. Two nights of "searching +and looking" had done their duty by the poor man, and +though his head was firm braced against the column which +rose from the side of their pew, his eyes were closed, +and his wife was relieved by the certainty that he was +listening, as those happy members of the human family +listen who assure me that they hear when their lids are +tight pressed over their eyeballs. As for Beverly, he +was assuming the resolute aspect of a sailor under fire, +and was imagining himself taking the whole storm of Fort +Constantine as he led an American squadron into the Bay +of Sevastopol. Tom did not know what the preacher said, +but was devising the method of his interview with +Greenhithe. Matty did know. Dear girl! she knew very +well. And with every well-rounded sentence of the sermon +she was more determined as to the method of her +appeal to Mrs. Gilbert, the widow of the notary. She +would search and look there. + +Yes! and it was well for every one of them that they +went to that service. The sermon at the worst was but +twenty minutes. "Twenty minutes in length," said +Beverly, wickedly, "and no depth at all." But that was +not true nor fair; nor was that, either way, the thing +that was essential. By the time they had all sung + +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow," + +even before the good old Doctor had asked for Heaven's +blessing upon them, it had come. To Mr. Molyneux it +had come in an hour's rest of mind, body, and soul. To +Matty it had come in an hour's calm determination. To +Mrs. Molyneux it had come in the certainty that there +is One Eye which sees through all hiding-places and +behind all disguises. To the children it had come, +because the hour had called up to them a hundred memories +of Galilee and Nazareth, of Mary Mother, and of children +made happy, to supplement and help out their legends of +Santa Claus. Yes, and even Beverly the brave, and Tom +the outraged, as they stood to receive the benediction of +the preacher, were more of men and less of firebrands +than they were. They all stood with reverence; they +paused a moment, and then slowly walked down the aisle. + +"Where is your father, Horace?" said Mrs. Molyneux, +a little anxiously, as she came where she could +speak aloud. Horace was waiting for her. + +"Papa? He went away with the gentleman who came in +after service began; they crossed the street and took a +carriage together." + +"And did papa leave no message?" + +"Why, no; he did not turn round. The strange man-- +the man in the rough coat--just touched him and spoke to +him half-way down the aisle. Then papa whispered to him +and he whispered back. Then, as soon as they came into +the vestibule here, papa led him out at that side door, +and did not seem to remember me. They almost ran across +the street, and took George Gibb's hack. I knew the +horses." + +"That's too bad," said Laura; "I thought papa would +walk home with us and tell us the story of the bears." + +Poor Mrs. Molyneux thought it was too bad, too; but +she said nothing. + +And Matty, when she joined her mother, said,-- + +"I shall feel a thousand times happier, mamma, if I +go and see Mrs. Gilbert now." And she explained who Mrs. +Gilbert was. "Perhaps it may do some good. Anyway, I +shall feel as if I were doing something. I will be home +in time to finish the tree and things, for Horace will +like to help me." + +And the poor girl looked her entreaties so eagerly +that her mother could not but assent to her plan. +So she made Beverly go up the avenue with her,--Beverly, +who would have swum the Potomac and back for her, had she +asked him,--as he was on his way to join his father at +the Bureau. + +As they came out upon the broad sidewalk, that odious +Greenhithe, with some one whom Beverly called a +blackguard of his crew, pushed by them, and he had the +impudence to turn and touch his hat to Matty again. + +Matty's hand trembled on Beverly's arm, but she would +not speak for a minute, only she walked slower and +slower. + +Then she said: "I am so afraid, Bev, that Tom and he +will get into a quarrel. Tom declares he will go into +Willard's and find out whether he does know anything." + +But Beverly, very mannish, tried to reassure her and +make her believe that Tom would be very self-restrained +and perfectly careful. + +On Christmas Day the Jew's dry-goods store, which had +taken the place of old Mr. Gilbert's notary's office, was +closed--not perhaps so much from the Israelite's +enthusiasm about Christmas as in deference to what in New +England is called "the sense of the street." Matty, +however, acting from a precise knowledge of Washington +life, rang boldly at the green door adjacent, Beverly +still waiting to see what might turn up; and when a brisk +"colored girl" appeared, Matty inquired if Mrs. Munroe +was at home. + +Now all that Matty knew of Mrs. Munroe was that her +name was on a well-scoured brass plate on the door. + +Mrs. Munroe was in. Beverly said he would wait in +the passage. Mrs. Munroe proved to be a nice, motherly +sort of a person, who, as it need hardly be said, was +stone-deaf. It required some time for Matty to adjust +her speaking apparatus to the exigency, but when this was +done, Mrs. Munroe explained that Mr. Gilbert was dead,-- +that an effort had been made to continue the business +with the old sign and the old good will, under the +direction of a certain Mr. Bundy, who had sometimes been +called in as an assistant. But Mr. Bundy, after some +years, paid more attention to whiskey than he did to +notarying, and the law business had suffered. Finally, +Mr. Bundy was brought home by the police one night with +a broken head, and then Mrs. Gilbert had withdrawn the +signs, cancelled the lease, turned Mr. Bundy out-of- +doors, and retired to live with a step-sister of her +brother's wife's father near the Arsenal; good Mrs. +Munroe was not certain whether on Delaware Avenue, or +whether on T Street, U Street, or V Street. And, indeed, +whether the lady's name were Butman before she married +her second husband, and Lichtenfels afterward--or whether +his name were Butman and hers Lichtenfels, Mrs. Munroe +was not quite sure. Nor could she say whether Mr. +Gilbert took the account books and registers --there +were heaps on heaps of them, for Mr. Gilbert had been a +notary ever since General Jackson's day--or whether Bundy +did not take them, or whether they were not sold for old +paper, Mrs. Munroe was not sure. For all this happened-- +all the break-up and removal--while Mrs. Munroe was on a +visit to her sister not far from Brick Church above +Little Falls, on your way to Frederic. And Mrs. Munroe +offered this visit as a constant apology for her not +knowing more precisely every detail of her old friend's +business. + +This explanation took a good deal of time, through +all of which poor Beverly was fretting and fuming and +stamping his cold feet in the passage, hearing the +occasional questions of his sister, uttered with thunder +tone in the "setting-room" above, but hearing no word of +the placid widow's replies. + +When Matty returned and held a consultation with him, +the question was, whether to follow the books of account +to Georgetown, where Mr. Bundy was understood to be still +residing, or to the neighborhood of the Arsenal, in the +hope of finding Mrs. Gilbert, Mrs. Lichtenfels, or Mrs. +Butman, as the case might be. Readers should understand +that these two points, both unknown to the young people, +are some six miles asunder, the original notary's office +being about half-way between them. Beverly was more +disposed to advise following the man. He was of a mind +to attack some one of his own sex. But the +enterprise was, in truth, Matty's enterprise. Beverly +had but little faith in it from the beginning, and Matty +was minded to follow such clue as they had to Mrs. +Gilbert, quite sure that, woman with woman, she should +succeed better with her than, man with man, Beverly with +Bundy. Beverly assented to this view the more willingly, +because Matty was quite willing to undertake the quest +alone. She was very brave about it indeed. "Plenty of +nice people at the Arsenal," or near it, whom she could +fall back upon for counsel or information. So they +parted. Matty took a street car for the east and south, +and Beverly went his ways to the Bureau of Internal +Improvement to report for duty to his father. + +This story must not follow the details of Matty's +quest for the firm of "Gilbert, Lichtenfels, or Butman." +Certain it is that she would never have succeeded had she +rested simply on the directory or on such crude +information as Mrs. Munroe had so freely given. But +Matty had an English tongue in her head,--a courteous, +which is to say a confiding, address with strangers; she +seemed almost to be conferring a favor at the moment when +she asked one, and she knew, in this business, that there +was no such word as fail. After one or two false +starts--some very stupid answers, and some very blunt +refusals--she found her quarry at last, by as simple a +process as walking into a Sunday-school of colored +children, where she heard singing in the basement of +a little chapel. + +In a few words Matty explained her errand to the +Superintendent, and that it was necessary that she should +find Mrs. Gilbert before dark. + +"Ting!" one stroke of the bell called hundreds of +eager voices to silence. + +"Who knows where Mrs. Gilbert lives? Is it at Mrs. +Butman's house or Mrs. Lichtenfels'?" + +Twenty eager hands contended with each other for the +honor of giving the information, and in three minutes +more, Matty, all encouraged by her success, was on her +way. + +And Mrs. Gilbert was at home. Good fortune number +two! Matty's star was surely in the ascendant! Matty +sent in her card, and the nice old lady presented herself +at once, remembered who Matty was, remembered how much +business Mr. Molyneux used to bring to the office, and +how grateful Mr. Gilbert always was. She was so glad to +see Matty, and she hoped Mr. Molyneux was well, and Mrs. +Molyneux and all those little ones! She used to see them +every Sunday as they went to church, if they went on the +avenue. + +Thus encouraged, Matty opened on her sad story, and +was fairly helped from stage to stage by the wonder, +indignation, and exclamations of the kind old lady. When +Matty came to the end, and made her understand how much +depended on the day-book, register, and ledger of her +husband, it was a fair minute before she spoke. + +"We will see, my dear, we will see. I wish it may be +so, but I 'm all afeard. It would not be like him, my +dear. It would not be like any of them. But come with +me, my dear, we will see--we will see." + +Then, as Matty followed her, through devious ways, +out through the kitchen, across a queer bricked yard, +into a half stable, half woodshed, which the good woman +unlocked, she went on talking:-- + +"You see, my dear child, that though notaries are +called notaries, as if it were their business to give +notice, the most important part of their business is +keeping secrets. Now, when a man's note goes to protest, +the notary tells him what has happened, which he knew +very well before; and then he comes to the notary and +begs him not to tell anybody else, and of course he does +not. And the business of a notary's account books, as my +husband used to say, is to tell just enough, and not to +tell any more. + +"Why, my dear child, he would not use blotting-paper +in the office,--he would always use sand. `Blotting- +paper! Never!' he would say; 'Blotting-paper tells +secrets!'" + +With such chatter they came to the little chilly +room, which was shelved all around, and to Matty's glad +eyes presented rows of green and blue and blue and red +boxes,--and folio and quarto books of every date, from +1829 to 1869, forty years in which the late Mr. Gilbert +had been confirming history, keeping secret what he +knew, but making sure what, but for him, might have been +doubted by a sceptic world. + +Things were in good order. Mrs. Gilbert was proud to +show that they were in good order. The day-book for 1863 +was at hand. Matty knew the fatal dates only too well. +And the fatal entries were here! + +How her heart beat as she began to read! + + Cr. + To Thomas Molyneux Esq., (B. I. I.) official + authentication of signature of Felipe Gazza . . . $1.25 + Same, authentication of signature of Jose B. Du + Camara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25 + Same, authentication of signature of Jacob H. + Cole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25 + +And this was all! Poor Matty copied it all, but all the +time she begged Mrs. Gilbert to tell her if there was not +some note-book or journal that would tell more. And kind +Mrs. Gilbert looked eagerly for what she called the +"Diry." At the proper dates on the cash-book, at +intervals of a week or two, Matty found similar entries-- +the names of the two Spaniards appearing in all these-- +but other names in place of Cole's just as Tom had told +her already. By the time she had copied all of these, +Mrs. Gilbert had found the "Diry." Eager, and yet heart- +sick, Matty turned it over with her old friend. + +This was all:-- + +"Mr. Molyneux here. Very private. Papers in R. G. E." +And then followed a little burst of unintelligible +short-hand. + +Poor Matty! She could not but feel that here would +not be evidence good for anything, even in a novel. But +she copied every word carefully, as a chief clerk's +daughter should do. She thanked the kind old lady, and +even kissed her. She looked at her watch. Heavens! how +fast time had gone! and the afternoons were so short! + +"Yes, my dear Miss Molyneux; but they have turned, my +dear, the day is a little longer and a little lighter." + +Did the old lady mean it for an omen, or was it only +one of those chattering remarks on meteors and weather +change of which old age is so fond? Matty wondered, but +did not know. Fast as she could, she tripped bravely on +to the avenue for her street car. + +"The day is longer and lighter." + + +Meanwhile Tom was following his clue in the public +rooms at Willard's, to which, as he prophesied, Mr. +Greenhithe had returned after the unusual variation in +his life of a morning spent in the sanctuary. Tom bought +a copy of the Baltimore "The Sun," and went into one of +the larger rooms resorted to by travellers and loafers, +and sat down. But Mr. Greenhithe did not appear there. +Tom walked up and down through the passages a little +uneasily, for he was sure the ex-clerk had come into the +hotel. He went up and looked in at the ladies' +sitting-rooms, to see if perhaps some Duchess of +Devonshire, of high political circles, had found it worth +while to drag Mr. Greenhithe up there by a single hair. +No Mr. Greenhithe! Tom was forced to go down and drink +a glass of beer to see if Mr. Greenhithe was not thirsty. +But at that moment, though Mr. Greenhithe was generally +thirsty in the middle of the day, and although many men +were thirsty at the time Tom hung over his glass of +lager, Mr. Greenhithe was not thirsty there. It was only +as Tom passed the billiard-room that he saw Mr. +Greenhithe was playing a game of billiards, by way of +celebrating the new birth of a regenerated world. + +What to do now! Tom could not, in common decency, go +in to look on at the game of a man he wanted to choke. +Yet Tom would have given all his chances for rank in the +Academy to know what Greenhithe was talking about. Tom +slowly withdrew. + +As he withdrew, whom should be meet but one of his +kindest friends, Commodore Benbow? When the boys made +their "experimental cruise" the year before, they had +found Commodore Benbow's ship at Lisbon. The Commodore +had taken a particular fancy to Tom, because he had known +his mother when they were boy and girl. Tom had even +been invited personally to the flag-ship, and was to have +been presented at Court, but that they sailed too soon. + +To tell the whole truth, the Commodore was not +overpleased to see his protege hanging about the bar +and billiard-room on Christmas Day. For himself, his +whole family were living at Willard's, but he knew Tom's +father was not living there, and he thought Tom might be +better employed. + +Perhaps Tom guessed this. Perhaps he was in despair. +Anyway he knew "Old Benbow," as the boys called him, +would be a good counsellor. In point of statistics "Old +Benbow" was just turned forty, had not a gray hair in his +head, could have beaten any one of Tom's class, whether +in gunning or at billiards, could have demonstrated every +problem in Euclid while they were fiddling over the +forty-seventh proposition. He was at the very prime of +well-preserved power, but young nineteen called him "Old +Benbow," as young nineteen will, in such cases. + +Bold with despair, or with love for his father, Tom +stopped "Old Benbow" and asked him if he would come into +one of the sitting-rooms with him. Then he made this +venerable man his confidant. The Commodore had seen the +slurs in the "Scorpion" and the "Argus" and the "Evening +Journal." "A pity," said he, "that Newspaper Row, that +can do so much good, should do so much harm. What is +Newspaper Row? Three or four men of honor, three or four +dreamers, three or four schoolboys, three or four fools, +and three or four scamps. And the public, Molyneux,-- +which is to say you and I,--accept the trumpet blast +of one of these heralds precisely as we do that of +another. Practically," said he, pensively, "when we were +detached to serve with the 33d Corps in Mobile Bay, I +found I liked the talk of those light-infantry men who +had been in every scrimmage of the war, quite as much as +I did that of the bandmen who played the trumpets on +parade. But this is neither here nor there. I thought +of coming round to see your father, but I knew I should +bother him. What can I do, my boy?" + +Then Tom told him, rather doubtfully, that he had +reason to fear that Mr. Greenhithe was at the bottom of +the whole scandal. He said he wished he did not think +that Mr. Greenhithe had himself stolen the papers. "If +I am wrong, I want to know it," said he; "if I am right, +I want to know it. I do not want to be doing any man +injustice. But I do not want to keep old Eben Ricketts +down at the department hunting for a file of papers which +Greenhithe has hidden in his trunk or put into the fire." + +"No!--no!--no, indeed," said "old Benbow," musing. +"No!--No!--No!--" + +Then after a pause, "Tom," said he, "come round here +in an hour. I know that young fellow your friend is +playing with, and I wish he were in better company than +he is. I think I know enough of the usages of modern +society to `interview' him and his companion, though +times have changed since I was of your age in that +regard. Come here in an hour, or give me rather more, +come here at half-past two, and we will see what we +will see." + +So Tom went round to the Navy Department, and here he +found the faithful Eben--faithful to him, though utterly +faithless as to any success in the special quest which +was making the entertainment of the Christmas holiday. +Vainly did Tom repeat to him his formula,-- + +"If the Navy did the work, the Navy has the vouchers." + +"My dear boy," Eben Ricketts repeated a hundred +times, "though the Navy did the work, the Navy did not +provide the pork and beans; it did not arrange in advance +for the landing, least of all did it buy the greasers. +I will look where you like, for love of your father and +you; but that file of vouchers is not here, never was +here, and never will be found here." + +An assistant like this is not an encouraging +companion or adviser. + +And, in short, the vouchers were not found in the +Navy Department, in that particular midday search. At +twenty-five minutes past two Tom gave it up unwillingly, +bade Eben Ricketts good-by, washed from his hands the +accretions of coal-dust, which will gather even on +letter-boxes in Navy Departments, and ran across in front +of the President's House, to Willard's. He looked up at +the White House, and wondered how the people there were +spending their Christmas Day. + +Commodore Benbow was waiting for him. He took him up +into his own parlor. + +"Molyneux, your Mr. Greenhithe is either the most +ingenious liar and the best actor on God's earth, or he +knows no more of your lost papers than a child in heaven. + +"I went back to the billiard-room, after you left me. +I walked up to Millet--that was Lieutenant Millet playing +with Greenhithe--and I shook hands. He had to introduce +me to your friend. Then I asked them both to come here, +told Millet I had some papers from Montevideo that he +would be glad to see, and that I should be glad of a call +when they had done their game. Well, they came. I am +sorry to say your friend--" + +"Oh, don't, my dear Commodore Benbow, don't call him +my friend, even in a joke; it makes me feel awfully." + +"I am glad it does," said the Commodore, laughing. +"Well, I am very sorry to say that the black sheep had +been drinking more of the whisky downstairs than was good +for him; and, no fault of mine, he drank more of my +Madeira than he should have done, and, Tom, I do not +believe he was in any condition to keep secrets. Well, +first of all, it appeared that he had been in Bremen and +Vienna for six months. He only arrived in New York +yesterday morning." + +Tom's face fell. + +"And, next--you may take this for what it is worth-- +but I believe he spoke the truth for once; he +certainly did if there is any truth in liquor or in +swearing. For when I asked Millet what all this stuff +about your father meant, Greenhithe interrupted, very +unnecessarily and very rudely, and said, with more oaths +than I will trouble you with, that the whole was a damned +lie of the newspaper men; that they had lied about him +(Greenhithe) and now were lying about old Molyneux; that +Molyneux had been very hard on him and very unjust to +him, but he would say that he was honest as the clock-- +honest enough to be mean. And that he would say that to +the committee, if they would call on him, and so on and +so on." + +"Much good would he do before the committee," said +poor Tom. + +And thus ended Tom's branch of the investigation. +"Come to me, if I can help you, my boy," said Old Benbow. +"It is always the darkest, old fellow, the hour before +day." + +Tom was astronomer enough to know that this old saw +was as false as most old saws. But with this for his +only comfort, he returned to the bureau to seek Beverly +and his father. + +Neither Beverly nor his father was there! Tom went +directly home. His mother was eager to see him. + +She had come home alone, and, save Horace and Laura +and Flossy and Brick, she had seen nobody but a messenger +from the bureau. + +Brick was the family name for Robert, one of the +youngest of this household. + +Of Beverly's movements the story must be more briefly +told. They took more time than Tom's; as much indeed as +his sister's, after they parted. But they were conducted +by means of that marvel of marvels, the telegraph,--the +chief of whose marvels is that it compels even a long- +winded generation like ours to speak in very short metre. + +Beverly began with Mr. Bundy at Georgetown. +Georgetown is but a quiet place on the most active of +days. On Christmas Day Beverly found but little stirring +out of doors. + +Still, with the directory, with the advice of a +saloon-keeper and the information of a police officer, +Beverly tracked Mr. Bundy to his lair. + +It was not a notary's office, it was a liquor shop of +the lowest grade, with many badly painted signs, which +explained that this was "Our House," and that here Mr. +Bundy made and sold with proper license--let us be +grateful--Tom and Jerry, Smashes, Cocktails, and did +other "deeds without a name." On this occasion, however, +even the door of "Our House" was closed. Mr. Bundy had +gone to a turkey-shooting match at Fairfax Court House. +The period of his return was very doubtful. He had never +done anything but keep this drinking-room since old Mrs. +Gilbert turned him out of doors. + +With this information Master Beverly returned to +town. He then began on his own line of search. Relying +on Tom's news, he went to the office of the Western +Union Telegraph and concocted this despatch, which he +thought a masterpiece. + +GREENSBURG, Westmoreland Co., Pa. + +TO ROBERT JOHN WHILTHAUGH: + +When and where can I see you on important business? +Answer. + +BEVERLY MOLYNEUX, for THOMAS MOLYNEUX. + + +Then he took a walk, and after half an hour called at +the office again. The office was still engaged in +calling Greensburg. Greensburg was eating its Christmas +dinner. But at last Greensburg was called. Then Beverly +received this answer:-- + +Whilthaugh has been dead more than a year. +GREENSBURG. + +To which Beverly replied:-- + +Where does his wife live, or his administrator? + +To which Greensburg, having been called a second time +with difficulty, replied:-- + +His wife is crazy, and we never heard of any property. +GREENSBURG. + +With this result of his investment as a non-dividend +member of the great Western Union Mutual Information +Club, Beverly returned home, chewing the cud of sweet and +bitter fancies. + +"There is no speech nor language," sang the choir in +St. Matthews as he passed, "where their voice is not +heard. Their line is gone out through all the +earth--" And Tom heard no more, as he passed on. + +As he walked, almost unwillingly, up the street to +the high steps of his father's house, Matty, out of +breath, overtook him. + +"What have you found, Bev?" + +"Nothing," said the boy, moodily. And poor Matty had +to confess that she had hardly more to tell. + +They came into the house by the lower entrance, that +they need not attract their mother's attention. But she +was on the alert. Even Horace and the younger children +knew by this time that something was wrong. + +Horace's story about the strange man and papa was the +last news of papa. Papa had not been at the bureau. The +bureau people waited for him till two, and he did not +come. Then Stratton had come round to see if he was to +keep open any longer. Stratton had told Mrs. Molyneux +that her husband had not been there since church. + +Where in the world was he? + +Poor Mrs. Molyneux had not known where to send or to +go. She had just looked in at the Doctor's, but he was +not there. + +Tom had appeared first to her tedious waiting. Tom +would not tell her, but he even went and looked in on +Newspaper Row, which he had been abusing so. For Tom's +first thought was that a formal information had been +lodged somewhere, and that his father was arrested. + +But Newspaper Row evidently was unsuspicious of any +arrest. + +Tom even walked down to the old jail, and made an +absurd errand to see the Deputy-Marshal. But the Deputy- +Marshal was at his Christmas dinner. + +Tom told all this in the hall to Beverly and to +Matty. + +Everything had failed, and papa was gone. Who could +the man in the shaggy coat be? + +The three went together into the parlor. + +For a little, Matty and Horace and Tom and Beverly +then made a pretence of arranging the tree. But, in +truth, Mrs. Molyneux, in the midst of all her care, had +done that, while they were all away. + +Dinner was postponed half an hour, and they gathered, +all in the darkness, looking at the sickliest blaze that +ever rambled over half-burned Cumberland coal. + +The Brick came climbing up on Tom's knees and bade +him tell a story; but even Laura saw that something was +wrong, and hushed the child, and said she and Flossy +would sing one of their carols. And they sang it, and +were praised; and they sang another, and were praised. +But then it was quite dark, and nobody had any heart to +say one word. + +"Where is papa?" said the Brick. + +"Where indeed?" everybody wanted to say, and no one +did. + +But then the door-bell rang, and Chloe brought in a +note. + +"He's waiting for an answer, mum." + +And Tom lighted the gas. It popped up so bright that +little Flossy said,-- + +"The people that sat in darkness saw a great light--" + +This was just as Mrs. Molyneux tore open the note. +For the instant she could not speak. She handed it to +the three. + +"FOUND +"Home in half an hour! +"All right! thank God! +T. M." + +"Saw a great light, indeed!" said Horace, who, for +once, felt awed. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THIS IS CHRISTMAS + +For half a minute, as it seemed afterwards, no one +spoke. Then Matty flew to her mother, and flung her +arms around her neck, and kissed her again and again. + +Tom hardly knew what he was doing; but he recovered +self-command enough to know that he must try to be manly +and businesslike,--and so he rushed downstairs to find +the man who brought the note. It proved to be a man he +did not know. Not a messenger from the bureau, not one +from the Navy Department, least of all, an aid of +the Assistant Marshal's. He was an innocent waiter from +the Seaton House, who said a gentleman called him and +gave him the note, told him to lose no time, and gave him +half a dollar for coming. He had asked for an answer, +though the gentleman had not told him to do so. + +Tom wrote: "Hurrah! All's well! All at home.--T." +and gave this note to the man. + +They all talked at once, and then they sat still +without talking. The children--must it be confessed?-- +asked all sorts of inopportune questions. At last Tom +was even fain to tell the story of the bear himself, by +way of silencing the Brick and Laura; and with much +correction from Horace, had got the bear well advanced in +smelling at the almond-candy and the figs, when a +carriage was heard on the street, evidently coming +rapidly towards them. It stopped at the door. The bear +was forgotten, as all the elders in this free-and-easy +family rushed out of the parlor into the hall. + +Papa was there, and was as happy as they. With papa, +or just behind him, came in the man with the rough coat, +whose face at church had been so dirty, whose face now +was clean. To think that papa should have brought the +Deputy-Marshal with him! For by the name of "the Deputy- +Marshal" had this mysterious stranger been spoken of in +private by the two young men since the fatal theory had +been advanced that he had come into the church to arrest +Mr. Molyneux. + +The unknown, with great tact, managed to keep in the +background, while Mrs. Molyneux kissed her husband, and +while Matty kissed him, and while among them they pulled +off his coat. But Mr. Molyneux did not forget. He made +a chance in a moment for saying, "You must speak to our +friend who has brought me here; no one was ever so +welcome at a Christmas dinner. Mr. Kuypers, my dear, Mr. +Kuypers, Matty dear; these are my boys, Mr. Kuypers." + +Then the ladies welcomed the stranger, and the boys +shook hands with him. Mr. Molyneux added, what hardly +any one understood: "It is not every friend that travels +two thousand miles to jog a friend's memory." + +And they all huddled into the parlor. But in a +moment more, Mrs. Molyneux had invited Mr. Kuypers to go +upstairs to wash himself, and he, with good feeling, +which he showed all the evening, gladly took himself out +of the way, and so, as Tom returned from showing him to +his room, the parlor was filled with "those God made +there," as the little boy used to say, and with none +beside. + +"Now tell us all about it, dear papa," cried Tom. + +"I was trying to tell your mother. But there is not +much to tell. Poor Mr. Kuypers had travelled all the way +from Colorado, the minute he heard I was in trouble. +Yesterday he bought the `Scorpion' in the train, and +found the Committee was down on us. He drove here from +the station as soon as the train came in. He missed you +here, and drove by mistake to Trinity. That made +him late with us, and so, as the service had begun, he +waited till it was done." + +"Well!" said Bev, perhaps a little impatiently. + +"But so soon as we were going out he touched me, and +said he had come to find me, in the matter of the Rio +Grande vouchers. Do you know, Eliza, I can afford to +laugh at it now, but at the moment I thought he was a +deputy of the Sergeant-at-Arms?" + +"There!" screamed Tom, "I said he was a deputy-marshal!" + +"I said, `Certainly;' and I laughed, and said they +seemed to interest all my friends. Then he said, `Then +you have them? If I had known that, I would have spared +my journey.' This threw me off guard, and I said I +supposed I had them, but I could not find them. And he +said eagerly--this was just on the church steps--`But I +can.' + +"Then he said he had a carriage waiting, and he bade +me jump in. + +"So soon as we were in the carriage he explained, +what I ought to have remembered, but could not then +recollect for the life of me, that after General Trebou +returned from Texas, there was a Court of Inquiry, and +that there was some question about these very supplies, +the beans and the coffee particularly; they had nothing +to do with the landing nor with the Mexicans. And the +Court of Inquiry sent over one day from the War +Department, where they were sitting, to our office for an +account, because we were said to have it. Mr. +Kuypers was their messenger to us, and because we had +bound them all together, the whole file was sent as it +was. He took them, and as it happened, he looked them +over, and what was better, he remembered them. Where our +receipt is, Heaven knows! + +"Well, that Court of Inquiry was endless, as those +army inquiries always are. Mr. Kuypers was in attendance +all the time. He says he never shall forget it, if other +people do. + +"So, as soon as he saw that we were in trouble at the +bureau--that I was in trouble, I mean," said Mr. +Molyneux, stoutly, "he knew that he knew what nobody else +knew,--that the vouchers were in the papers of that Court +of Inquiry." + +"And he came all the way to tell? What a good +fellow!" + +"Yes, he came on purpose. He says he could not help +coming. He says he made two or three telegrams; but +every time he tried to telegraph, he felt as if he were +shirking. And I believe he was right. I believe we +should never have pulled through without him. `Personal +presence moves the world,' as Eli Thayer used to say." + +"And you found them?" asked Mrs. Molyneux, faintly +essaying to get back to the story. + +"Oh Yes, we found them; but not in one minute. You +see, first of all, I had to go to the chief clerk at the +War Department and get the department opened on a +holiday. Then we had no end of clerks to disturb at +their Christmas dinners, and at last we found a good +fellow named Breen who was willing to take hold with Mr. +Kuypers. And Mr. Kuypers himself," here he dropped his +voice, "why, we have not three men in all the departments +who know the history of this government or the system of +its records as he does. + +"Once in the office, he went to work like a master. +Breen was amazed. Why! We found those documents in less +than half an hour! + +"Then I sent Breen with a note to the Secretary. He +was good as gold; came down in his own carriage, +congratulated me as heartily--well almost as heartily as +you do, Tom--and took us both round, with the files, to +Mr. McDermot, the Chairman of the House Committee. He +was dining with his mess, at the Seaton House, but we +called him out, and I declare, I believe he was as much +pleased as we were. + +"I only stopped to make him give me a receipt for the +papers, because they all said it was idle to take copies, +and here we are!" + +On the hush that followed, the Brick made his way up +on his father's knee and said,-- + +"And now, papa, will you tell us the story of the +bear? Tom does not tell it very well." + +They all laughed,--they could afford to laugh now; +and Mr. Molyneux was just beginning upon the story of the +bear, when Mr. Kuypers reappeared. He had in this short +time revised his toilet, and looked, Mr. Molyneux said in +an aside, like the angel of light that he was. "Bears!" +said he, "are there any bears in Washington? Why, +it was only last Monday that I killed a bear, and I ate +him on Tuesday." + +"Did you eat him all?" asked the Brick, whose +reverence for Mr. Kuypers was much more increased by this +story than by any of the unintelligible conversation +which had gone before. But just as Mr. Kuypers began on +the story of the bear, Chloe appeared with beaming face, +and announced that dinner was ready. + +That dinner, which this morning every one who had any +sense had so dreaded, and which now seemed a festival +indeed! + +Well! there was great pretence in fun and form in +marshalling. And Mr. Kuypers gave his arm to Matty, and +Horace his to Laura, and Beverly his to Flossy, and Tom +brought up the rear with the Brick on his shoulders. And +Mr. Molyneux returned thanks and asked a blessing all +together. And then they fell to, on the turkey and on +the chicken pie. And they tried to talk about Colorado +and mining; about Gold Hill and Hale-and-Norcross, and +Uncle Sam and Overman and Yellow Jacket. But in spite of +them all, the talk would drift back to Bundy and his +various signs, "Our House" and Tom and Jerry; to the wife +of Mr. Whilthaugh; to Commodore Benbow; to old Mrs. +Gilbert and Delaware Avenue. And this was really quite +as much the fault of Mr. Kuypers as it was of any of the +Molyneux family. He seemed as much one of them as did +Tom himself. This anecdote of failure and that of +success kept cropping out. Walsingham's high-bred and +dignified enthusiasm for the triumph of the office, and +the satisfaction that Eben Ricketts would feel when he +was told that the Navy never had the vouchers,--all were +commented on. Then Mr. Molyneux would start and say, "We +are talking shop again. You say the autumn has been mild +in the mountains;" and then in two minutes they would be +on the trail of "Search and Look" again. + +It was in one of these false starts that Mr. Kuypers +explained why he came, which in Horace's mind and perhaps +in the minds of the others had been the question most +puzzling of all. + +"Why," said Horace, bluntly, "had you ever heard of +papa before!" + +"Had I heard of him? " said Mr. Kuypers. "I think +so. Why, my dear boy, your father is my oldest and +kindest friend!" At this exclamation even Mrs. Molyneux +showed amazement. Tom laid down his fork and looked to +see if the man was crazy, and Mr. Molyneux himself was +thrown off his balance. + +Mr. Kuypers was a well-bred man, but this time he +could not conceal his amazement. He laid down knife and +fork both, looked up and almost laughed, as he said with +wonder,-- + +"Don't you know who I am?" + +"We know you are our good angel to-day," said Mrs. +Molyneux, bravely; "and that is enough to know." + +"But don't you know why I am here, or what sent me?" + +Mr. Molyneux said that he understood very well that +his friend wanted to see justice done, and that he had +preferred to see to this in person. + +"I thought you looked queer," said Mr. Kuypers, +frankly; "but still, I did not know I was changed. Why, +don't you remember Bruce? You remember Mrs. Chappell, +surely." + +"Are you Bruce?" cried Mr. Molyneux; and he fairly +left his chair and went round the table to the young man. +"Why, I can see it now. But then--why, you were a boy, +you know, and this black beard--" + +"But pray explain, pray explain," cried Tom. "The +mysteries increase on us. Who is Mrs. Chappell, and, for +that matter, who is Bruce, if his real name be not +Kuypers?" + +And they all laughed heartily. People got back their +self-possession a little, and Mr. Kuypers explained. + +"I am Bruce Kuypers," said he, "though your father +does not seem to remember the Kuypers part." + +"No," said Mr. Molyneux, "I cannot remember the +Kuypers part, but the Bruce part I remember very well." + +"My mother was Mrs. Kuypers before she married Mr. +Chappell, and Mr. Chappell died when my brother Ben was +six years old, and little Lizzy was a baby." + +"Lizzy was my godchild," said Mrs. Molyneux, who now +remembered everything. + +"Certainly she was, Mrs. Molyneux, and last month +Lizzy was married to as good a fellow as ever presided +over the melting of ingots. We marry them earlier at the +West than you do here." + +"Where Lizzie would have been," he said more gravely, +addressing Tom again, "where my mother would have been, +or where I should have been but for your father and +mother here, it would be hard to tell. And all to-day I +have taken it for granted that to him, as to me, this has +been one part of that old Christmas! Surely you +remember?" he turned to Mrs. Molyneux. + +Yes, Mrs. Molyneux did remember, but her eyes were +all running over with tears and she did not say so. + +"Mr. Molyneux," said Bruce Kuypers, again addressing +Tom, "seventeen years ago this blessed day, there was a +Christmas morning in the poor old tenement above +Massachusetts Avenue such as you never saw, and such as +I hope you never may see. + +"There was fire in the stove because your father had +sent the coal. There was oatmeal mush on the table +because your father paid my mother's scot at your +father's grocer. + +"But there was not much jollity in that house, and +there were no Christmas presents, but what your mother +had sent to Bruce and Ben and Flora, and even to the +baby. Still we kept up such courage as we could. +It was a terribly cold day, and there was a wet storm. + +"All of a sudden a carriage stopped at the door, and +in came your father here. He came to say that that day's +mail had brought a letter from Dr. Wilder of the navy, +conveying the full certificate that William Chappell's +death was caused by exposure in the service. That +certificate was what my mother needed for her pension. +She never could get it, but your father here had sifted +and worried and worked. The `Macedonian' arrived +Thursday at New York, and had Dr. Wilder on board, and +Friday afternoon your father had Wilder's letter, and he +left his own Christmas dinner to make light my mother's +and mine. That was not all. Your father, as he came, +had stopped to see Mr. Birdsall, who was the Speaker of +the House. He had seen the Speaker before, and had said +kind things about me. And that day the Speaker told him +to tell me to come and see him at his room at the Capitol +next day. Oh! how my mother dressed me up! Was there +ever such a page seen before! What with your father's +kind words and my dear mother's extra buttons, the +Speaker made me his own page the next day, and there I +served for four years. It was then that I was big enough +to go into the War Department, and Mr. Goodsell--he was +the next Speaker, if you remember--recommended me there. + +"After that," said Bruce Kuypers, modestly, if I did +not see you so often, but I used to see you +sometimes, and I did not think"--this with a roguish +twinkling of the eye--"that you forgot your young friends +so soon." + +"I remember you," said Tom. "I used to think you +were the grandest man in Washington. You gave me the +first ride on a sled I ever had, when there was some +exceptional fall of snow." + +"I think we all remember Mr. Kuypers now," said +Matty, and she laughed while she blushed; "he always +bought things for our stockings. I have a Noah's Ark +upstairs now, that he gave me. In my youngest days I had +a queer mixture of the name Bruce and the name Santa +Claus. I believe I thought Santa Claus' name was +Nicholas Bruce. I am sure I did not know that Mr. Bruce +had any other name." + +"If you had said you were Mr. Chappell," said Mr. +Molyneux, "I should have known you in a minute." + +"But I was not," said the young man, laughing. + +"Well, if you had said you were `Bruce,' I should +have known." + +"Dear me, yes; but I have been a man so long, and at +Gem City nobody calls me Bruce, but my mother and Lizzy. +So I said `Mr. Kuypers,' forgetting that I had ever been +a boy. But now I am in Washington again, I shall +remember that things change here very fast in ten years. +And yet not so fast as they change at the mines." + +And now everybody was at ease. How well Mrs. +Molyneux recalled to herself what she would not +speak of that Christmas Day of which Mr. Kuypers told his +story! It was in their young married life. She had her +father and mother to dine with her, and the event was +really a trial in her young experience. And then, just +as the old folks were expected, her husband came dashing +in and had asked her to put dinner a little later because +he had had this good news for the poor Widow Chappell, +and she had to tell her father and mother, when they +came, that they must all wait for his return. + +The Widow Chappell was one of those waifs who seem +attracted to Washington by some fatal law. It had been +two or three months before that Mr. Molyneux had been +asked to hunt her up and help her. A letter had come, +asking him to do this, from Mrs. Fales, in Roxbury, and +Mrs. Fales had sent money for the Chappells. But the +money had gone in back rent, and shoes, and the rest, and +the wolf was very near the Chappells' door, when the +telegraph announced the "Macedonian." Mr. Molyneux had +telegraphed instanter to this Dr. Wilder. Dr. Wilder had +some sense of Christmas promptness. He remembered poor +Chappell perfectly, and mailed that night a thorough +certificate. This certificate it was which Mr. Molyneux +had carried to the poor old tenement of Massachusetts +Avenue, and this had made happy that Christmas Day--and +this. + +"Why," said Mr. Bruce Kuypers, almost as if he were +speaking aloud, "it seems so queer that Christmas +comes and goes with you, and you have forgotten all about +that stormy day, and your ride to Mrs. Chappell's! + +"Why, at our place, we drink Mr. Molyneux's health +every Christmas Day, and I am afraid the little ones used +to think that you had a red nose, a gray beard, and came +down the chimney!" + +"As, at another place," said Matty, "they thought of +Mr. Bruce--of Noah's Ark memory." + +"Anyway," said Mr. Molyneux, "any crumbs of comfort +we scattered that day were BREAD UPON THE WATERS." + +Of Mr. Kuypers's quick journey the main points have +been told. Six days before, by some good luck, which +could hardly have been expected, the "Gem City Medium's" +despatch from Washington was full enough to be +intelligible. It was headed, "ANOTHER SWINDLER NAILED." +It said that Mr. Molyneux, of the Internal Improvement +office, had feathered his nest with $500,000 during +the war, in a pretended expedition to the Rio Grande. It +had now been discovered that there never was any such +expedition, and the correspondent of the Associated Press +hoped that justice would be done. + +The moment Bruce Kuypers read this he was anxious. +Before an hour passed he had determined to cross to the +Pacific train eastward. Before night he was in a +sleeping-car. Day by day as he met Eastern papers, he +searched for news of the investigation. Day by day he +met it, but thanks to his promptness he had arrived in +time. It was pathetic to hear him describe his +anxiety from point to point, and they were all hushed to +silence when he told how glad he was when he found he +should certainly appear on Christmas Day. + +After the dinner, another procession, not wholly +unlike the rabble rout of the morning, moved from the +dining-room to the great front parlor, where the tree was +lighted, and parcels of gray and white and brown lay +round on mantel, on piano, on chairs, on tables, and on +the floor. + +No; this tale is too long already. We will not tell +what all the presents were to all the ten,--to Venty, +Chloe, Diana, and all of their color. Only let it tell +that all the ten had presents. To Mr. Kuypers's +surprise, and to every one's surprise, indeed, there were +careful presents for him as for the rest, but it must be +confessed that Horace and Laura had spelled Chipah a +little wildly. The truth was that each separate person +had feared that he would feel a little left on one +side,--he to whom so much was due on that day. And each +person, severally, down to the Brick himself, had gone +secretly, without consulting the others, to select from +his own possessions something very dear, and had wrapped +it up and marked it for the stranger. When Mr. Kuypers +opened a pretty paper, to find Matty's own illustrated +Browning, he was touched indeed. When in a rough brown +paper he found the Brick's jack-knife labelled "FOR THE +MAN," the tears stood in his eyes. + + +The next day the "Evening Lantern" contained this +editorial article:-- + +"The absurd fiasco regarding the accounts of Mr. +Molyneux, which has occupied the correspondents of the +periodical press for some days, and has even been +adverted to in New York journals claiming the title of +metropolitan, came to a fit end at the Capitol yesterday. +The wiseacre owls who started it did not see fit to put +in an appearance before the committee. Mr. Molyneux +himself sent to the Chairman a most interesting volume of +manuscript, which is, indeed, a valuable historical +memorial of times that tried men's souls. The committee +and other gentlemen present examined this curious record +with great interest. Not to speak of the minor details, +an autograph letter of the lamented Gen. Trebou gives +full credit to the Bureau of Internal Improvement for the +skill with which they executed the commission given them +in a department quite out of their line. Our brethren of +the `Argus' will be pleased to know that every grain of +oats and every spear of straw paid for by, the now famous +$47,000, are accounted for in detail. The authenticated +signatures of the somewhat celebrated Camara and Gazza +and the mythical Captain Cole appear. Very valuable +letters, throwing interesting light on our relations with +the Government of Mexico, from the pens of the lamented +Adams and Prigg, show what were the services of those +Spanish turncoats and their allies. + +"We cannot say that we regret the attention which has +thus been given to a very important piece of history, too +long neglected in the rush of more petty affairs. +We take the occasion, however, to enter our protest +once more against this preposterous system of +`Resolutions,' in which, as it were in echo to every +niaiserie of every hired pen in the country, the +House degrades itself to the work of the common +scavenger, orders at immense expense an investigation +into some subject where all well informed persons are +fully advised, and at a cost of the national treasure, +etc., etc., etc. to the end of that chapter.'" + +But I fear no one at the Molyneux mansion had "the +lantern." They had "found a man," and did not need a +lantern to look farther. + +It was as Mr. Molyneux had said: he had cast his +Bread upon the Waters, and he had found it after many +days. + + + +THE LOST PALACE + + +THE LOST PALACE + +[From the Ingham Papers.] + +"Passengers for Philadelphia and New York will change +cars." + +This annoying and astonishing cry was loudly made in +the palace-car "City of Thebes," at Pittsburg, just as +the babies were well asleep, and all the passengers +adapting themselves to a quiet evening. + +"Impossible!" said I, mildly, to the "gentlemanly +conductor," who beamed before me in the majesty of gilt +lace on his cap, and the embroidered letters P. P. C. +These letters do not mean, as in French, "to take leave," +for the peculiarity of this man is, that he does not +leave you till your journey's end: they mean, in +American, "Pullman's Palace Car." "Impossible!" said I; +"I bought my ticket at Chicago through to Philadelphia, +with the assurance that the palace-car would go through. +This lady has done the same for herself and her children. +Nay, if you remember, you told me yourself that the `City +of Thebes' was built for the Philadelphia service, and +that I need not move my hat, unless I wished, till we +were there." + +The man did not blush, but answered, in the well- +mannered tone of a subordinate used to obey, + +Here are my orders, sir; telegram just received here +from headquarters: `"City of Thebes" is to go to +Baltimore.' Another palace here, sir, waiting for you." +And so we were trans-shipped into such chairs and berths +as might have been left in this other palace, as not +wanted by anybody in the great law of natural selection; +and the "City of Thebes" went to Baltimore, I suppose. +The promises which had been made to us when we bought our +tickets went to their place, and the people who made them +went to theirs. + +Except for this little incident, of which all my +readers have probably experienced the like in these days +of travel, the story I am now to tell would have seemed +to me essentially improbable. But so soon as I +reflected, that, in truth, these palaces go hither, go +thither, controlled or not, as it may be, by some distant +bureau, the story recurred to me as having elements of +vraisemblance which I had not noticed before. Having +occasion, nearly at the same time, to inquire at the +Metropolitan station in Boston for a lost shawl which had +been left in a certain Brookline car, the gentlemanly +official told me that he did not know where that car was; +he had not heard of it for several days. This again +reminded me of "The Lost Palace." Why should not one +palace, more or less, go astray, when there are thousands +to care for? Indeed had not Mr. Firth told me, at +the Albany, that the worst difficulty in the +administration of a strong railway is, that they cannot +call their freight-cars home? They go astray on the line +of some weaker sister, which finds it convenient to use +them till they begin to show a need for paint or repairs. +If freight-cars disappear, why not palaces? So the story +seems to me of more worth, and I put it upon paper. + +It was on my second visit to Melbourne that I heard +it. It was late at night, in the coffee-room of the +Auckland Arms, rather an indifferent third-class house, +in a by-street in that city, to which, in truth, I should +not have gone had my finances been on a better scale than +they were. I laid down, at last, an old New York +"Herald," which the captain of the "Osprey" had given me +that morning, and which, in the hope of home-news, I had +read and read again to the last syllable of the +"Personals." I put down the paper as one always puts +down an American paper in a foreign land, saying to +myself, "Happy is that nation whose history is +unwritten." At that moment Sir Roger Tichborne, who had +been talking with an intelligent-looking American on the +other side of the table, stretched his giant form, and +said he believed he would play a game of billiards before +he went to bed. He left us alone; and the American +crossed the room, and addressed me. + +"You are from Massachusetts, are you not?" said he. +I said I had lived in that State. + +"Good State to come from," said he. "I was +there myself for three or four months,--four months +and ten days precisely. Did not like it very well; did +not like it. At least I liked it well enough: my wife +did not like it; she could not get acquainted." + +"Does she get acquainted here?" said I, acting on a +principle which I learned from Scipio Africanus at the +Latin School, and so carrying the war into the enemy's +regions promptly. That is to say, I saw I must talk with +this man, and I preferred to have him talk of his own +concerns rather than of mine. + +"O sir, I lost her,--I lost her ten years ago! Lived +in New Altoona then. I married this woman the next +autumn, in Vandalia. Yes, Mrs. Joslyn is very well +satisfied here. She sees a good deal of society, and +enjoys very good health." + +I said that most people did who were fortunate enough +to have it to enjoy. But Mr. Joslyn did not understand +this bitter sarcasm, far less resent it. He went on, +with sufficient volubility, to give to me his impressions +of the colony,--of the advantages it would derive from +declaring its independence, and then from annexing itself +to the United States. At the end of one of his periods, +goaded again to say something, I asked why he left his +own country for a "colony," if he so greatly preferred +the independent order of government. + +Mr. Joslyn looked round somewhat carefully, shut the +door of the room in which we were now alone,--and +were likely, at that hour of the night, to be alone,--and +answered my question at length, as the reader will see. + +"Did you ever hear of the lost palace?" said he a +little anxiously. + +I said, no; that, with every year or two, I heard +that Mr. Layard had found a palace at Nineveh, but that +I had never heard of one's being lost. + +"They don't tell of it, sir. Sometimes I think they +do not know themselves. Does not that seem possible?" +And the poor man repeated this question with such +eagerness, that, in spite of my anger at being bored by +him, my heart really warmed toward him. "I really think +they do not know. I have never seen one word in the +papers about it. Now, they would have put something in +the papers,--do you not think they would? If they knew +it themselves, they would." + +"Knew what?" said I, really startled out of my +determination to snub him. + +"Knew where the palace is,--knew how it was lost." + +By this time, of course, I supposed he was crazy. +But a minute more dispelled that notion; and I beg the +reader to relieve his mind from it. This man knew +perfectly well what he was talking about, and never, in +the whole narration, showed any symptom of mania,--a +matter on which I affect to speak with the intelligence +of the "experts" indeed. + +After a little of this fencing with each other, in +which he satisfied himself that my ignorance was not +affected, he took a sudden resolution, as if it were a +relief to him to tell me the whole story. + +"It was years on years ago," said he. "It was when +they first had palaces." + +Still thinking of Nimrod's palace and Priam's, I said +that must have been a great while ago. + +"Yes, indeed," said he. "You would not call them +palaces now, since you have seen Pullman's and Wagner's. +But we called them palaces then. So many looking- +glasses, you know, and tapestry carpets and gold spit- +boxes. Ours was the first line that run palaces." + +I asked myself, mentally, of what metal were the +spit-boxes in Semiramis's palace; but I said nothing. + +"Our line was the first line that had them. We were +running our lightning express on the `Great Alleghanian.' +We were in opposition to everybody, made close +connections, served supper on board, and our passengers +only were sure of the night-boat at St. Louis. Those +were the days of river-boats, you know. We introduced +the palace feature on the railroad; and very successful +it was. I was an engineer. I had a first-rate +character, and the best wages of any man on the line. +Never put me on a dirt-dragger or a lazy freight loafer, +I tell you. No, sir! I ran the expresses, and nothing +else, and lay off two days in the week, besides. I don't +think I should have thought of it but for Todhunter, +who was my palace conductor." + +Again this IT, which bad appeared so mysteriously in +what the man said before. I asked no question, but +listened, really interested now, in the hope I should +find out what IT was; and this the reader will learn. He +went on, in a hurried way:-- + +"Todhunter was my palace conductor. One night he was +full, and his palace was hot, and smelled bad of whale- +oil. We did not burn petroleum then. Well, it was a +splendid full moon in August; and we were coming down +grade, making up the time we had lost at the Brentford +junction. Seventy miles an hour she ran if she ran one. +Todhunter had brought his cigar out on the tender, and +was sitting by me. Good Lord! it seems like last week. + +"Todhunter says to me, `Joslyn,' says he, `what's the +use of crooking all round these valleys, when it would be +so easy to go across?' You see, we were just beginning +to crook round, so as to make that long bend there is at +Chamoguin; but right across the valley we could see the +stern lights of Fisher's train: it was not more than half +a mile away, but we should run eleven miles before we +came there." + +I knew what Mr. Joslyn meant. To cross the mountain +ranges by rail, the engineers are obliged to wind up one +side of a valley, and then, boldly crossing the head of +the ravine on a high arch, to wind up the other side +still, so that perhaps half an hour's journey is +consumed, while not a mile of real distance is made. +Joslyn took out his pencil, and on the back of an +envelope drew a little sketch of the country; which, as +it happened, I still preserve, and which, with his +comments, explains his whole story completely. "Here we +are," said he. "This black line is the Great +Alleghanian,--double track, seventy pounds to the yard; +no figuring off there, I tell you. This was a good +straight run, down grade a hundred and seventy-two feet +on the mile. There, where I make this X, we came on the +Chamoguin Valley, and turned short, nearly north. +So we ran wriggling about till Drums here, where we +stopped if they showed lanterns,--what we call a flag- +station. But there we got across the valley, and worked +south again to this other X, which was, as I say, not +five-eighths of a mile from this X above, though it had +taken us eleven miles to get there." + +He had said it was not more than half a mile; but +this half-mile grew to five-eighths as he became more +accurate and serious. + +"Well," said he, now resuming the thread of his +story, "it was Todhunter put it into my head. He owns he +did. Todhunter says, says he, `Joslyn, what's the use of +crooking round all these valleys, when it would be so +easy to go across?' + +"Well, sir, I saw it then, as clear as I see it now. +When that trip was done, I had two days to myself,--one +was Sunday,--and Todhunter had the same; and he came +round to my house. His wife knew mine, and we liked +them. Well, we fell talking about it; and I got down the +Cyclopaedia, and we found out there about the speed of +cannon-balls, and the direction they had to give them. +You know this was only talk then; we never thought what +would come of it; but very curious it all was." + +And here Mr. Joslyn went into a long mathematical +talk, with which I will not harass the reader, perfectly +sure, from other experiments which I have tried with +other readers, that this reader would skip it all if +it were written down. Stated very briefly, it amounted +to this: In the old-fashioned experiments of those days, +a cannon-ball travelled four thousand and one hundred +feet in nine seconds. Now, Joslyn was convinced, like +every other engineman I ever talked to, that on a steep +down-grade he could drive a train at the rate of a +hundred miles an hour. This is thirteen hundred and +fourteen feet in nine seconds,--almost exactly one-third +of the cannon-ball's velocity. At those rates, if the +valley at Chamoguin were really but five-eighths of a +mile wide, the cannon-ball would cross it in seven or +eight seconds, and the train in about twenty-three +seconds. Both Todhunter and Joslyn were good enough +mechanics and machinists to know that the rate for +thirty-three hundred feet, the width of the valley, was +not quite the same as that for four thousand feet; for +which, in their book, they had the calculations and +formulas; but they also knew that the difference was to +their advantage, or the advantage of the bold experiment +which had occurred to both of them when Todhunter had +made on the tender his very critical suggestion. + +The reader has already conceived the idea of this +experiment. These rash men were wondering already +whether it were not possible to leap an engine flying +over the Chamoguin ravine, as Eclipse or Flying Childers +might have leaped the brook at the bottom of it. Joslyn +believed implicitly, as I found in talk with him, +the received statement of conversation, that Eclipse, at +a single bound, sprang forty feet. "If Eclipse, who +weighed perhaps one thousand two hundred, would spring +forty feet, could not my train, weighing two hundred +tons, spring a hundred times as far?" asked he +triumphantly. At least, he said that he said this to +Todhunter. They went into more careful studies of +projectiles, to see if it could or could not. + +The article on "Gunnery" gave them just one of those +convenient tables which are the blessing of wise men and +learned men, and which lead half-trained men to their +ruin. They found that for their "range," which was, as +they supposed, eleven hundred yards, the elevation of a +forty-two pounder was one degree and a third; of a nine- +pounder, three degrees. The elevation for a railway +train, alas! no man had calculated. But this had +occurred to both of them from the beginning. In +descending the grade, at the spot where, on his little +map, Joslyn made the more westerly X, they were more than +eleven hundred feet above the spot where he had made his +second, or easterly X. All this descent was to the +advantage of the experiment. A gunner would have said +that the first X "commanded" the second X, and that a +battery there would inevitably silence a battery at the +point below. + +"We need not figure on it," said Todhunter, as Mrs. +Joslyn called them in to supper. "If we did, we +should make a mistake. Give me your papers. When I go +up, Monday night, I'll give them to my brother Bill. I +shall pass him at Faber's Mills. He has studied all +these things, of course; and he will like the fun of +making it out for us." So they sat down to Mrs. Joslyn's +waffles; and, but for Bill Todhunter, this story would +never have been told to me, nor would John Joslyn and +"this woman" ever have gone to Australia. + +But Bill Todhunter was one of those acute men of whom +the new civilization of this country is raising thousands +with every year; who, in the midst of hard hand-work, and +a daily duty which to collegians and to the ignorant men +among their professors seems repulsive, carry on careful +scientific study, read the best results of the latest +inquiry, manage to bring together a first-rate library of +reference, never spend a cent for liquor or tobacco, +never waste an hour at a circus or a ball, but make their +wives happy by sitting all the evening, "figuring," one +side of the table, while the wife is hemming napkins on +the other. All of a sudden, when such a man is wanted, +he steps out, and bridges the Gulf of Bothnia; and people +wonder, who forget that for two centuries and a half the +foresighted men and women of this country have been +building up, in the face of the Devil of Selfishness on +the one hand, and of the Pope of Rome on the other, a +system of popular education, improving every hour. + +At this moment Bill Todhunter was foreman of Repair +Section No. II on the "Great Alleghanian,"--a position +which needed a man of first-rate promptness, of great +resource, of good education in engineering. Such a man +had the "Great Alleghanian" found in him, by good luck; +and they had promoted him to their hardest-worked and +best-paid section,--the section on which, as it happened, +was this Chamoguin run, and the long bend which I have +described, by which the road "headed" that stream. + +The younger Todhunter did meet his brother at Faber's +Mills, where the repair-train had hauled out of the way +of the express, and where the express took wood. The +brothers always looked for each other on such occasions; +and Bill promised to examine the paper which Joslyn had +carefully written out, and which his brother brought to +him. + +I have never repeated in detail the mass of +calculations which Bill Todhunter made on the suggestion +thus given to him. If I had, I would not repeat them +here, for a reason which has been suggested already. He +became fascinated with the problem presented to him. +Stated in the language of the craft, it was this: + +Given a moving body, with a velocity eight thousand +eight hundred feet in a minute, what should be its +elevation that it may fall eleven hundred feet in the +transit of five-eighths of a mile?" He had not only +to work up the parabola, comparatively simple, but he had +to allow for the resistance of the air, on the +supposition of a calm, according to the really admirable +formulas of Robins and Coulomb, which were the best be +had access to. Joslyn brought me, one day, a letter from +Bill Todhunter, which shows how carefully he went into +this intricate inquiry. + +Unfortunately for them all, it took possession of +this spirited and accomplished young man. You see, he +not only had the mathematical ability for the calculation +of the fatal curve, but, as had been ordered without any +effort of his, he was in precisely the situation of the +whole world for trying in practice his own great +experiment. At each of the two X X of Joslyn's map, the +company had, as it happened, switches for repair-trains +or wood-trains. Had it not, Bill Todhunter had ample +power to make them. + +For the "experiment," all that was necessary was, +that under the pretext of re-adjusting these switches, he +should lay out that at the upper X so that it should run, +on the exact grade which he required, to the western edge +of the ravine, in a line which should be the direct +continuation of the long, straight run with which the +little map begins. + +An engine, then, running down that grade at the +immense rapidity practicable there, would take the switch +with its full speed, would fly the ravine at precisely +the proper slopes, and, if the switch had been +rightly aligned, would land on the similar switch at the +lower X. It would come down exactly right on the track, +as you sit precisely on a chair when you know exactly how +high it is. + +"If." And why should it not be rightly aligned, if +Bill Todhunter himself aligned it? This he was well +disposed to do. He also would align the lower switch, +that at the lower X, that it might receive into its +willing embrace the engine on its arrival. + +When the bold engineer had conceived this plan, it +was he who pushed the others on to it, not they who urged +him. They were at work on their daily duty, sometimes +did not meet each other for a day or two. Bill Todhunter +did not see them more than once in a fortnight. But +whenever they did meet, the thing seemed to be taken more +and more for granted. At last Joslyn observed one day, +as he ran down, that there was a large working-party at +the switch above Drums, and he could see Bill Todhunter, +in his broad sombrero, directing them all. Joslyn was +not surprised, somehow, when he came to the lower switch, +to find another working-party there. The next time they +all three met, Bill Todhunter told them that all was +ready if they were. He said that he had left a few +birches to screen the line of the upper switch, for fear +some nervous bungler, driving an engine down, might be +frightened, and "blow" about the switch. But he said +that any night when the others were ready to make +the fly, he was; that there would be a full moon the next +Wednesday, and, if there was no wind, he hoped they would +do it then. + +"You know," said poor Joslyn, describing it to me, "I +should never have done it alone; August would never have +done it alone; no, I do not think that Bill Todhunter +himself would have done it alone. But our heads were +full of it. We had thought of it and thought of it till +we did not think of much else; and here was everything +ready, and neither of us was afraid, and neither of us +chose to have the others think he was afraid. I did say, +what was the truth, that I had never meant to try it with +a train. I had only thought that we should apply to the +supe, and that he would get up a little excursion party +of gentlemen,--editors, you know, and stockholders,--who +would like to do it together, and that I should have the +pleasure and honor of taking them over. But Todhunter +poohed at that. He said all the calculations were made +for the inertia of a full train, that that was what the +switch was graded for, and that everything would have to +be altered if any part of the plan were altered. +Besides, he said the superintendent would never agree, +that he would insist on consulting the board and the +chief engineer, and that they would fiddle over it till +Christmas. + +"`No,' said Bill, `next Wednesday, or never! If you +will not do it then, I will put the tracks back +again.' August Todhunter said nothing; but I knew he +would do what we agreed to, and he did. + +"So at last I said I would jump it on Wednesday +night, if the night was fine. But I had just as lief own +to you that I hoped it would not be fine. Todhunter-- +Bill Todhunter, I mean--was to leave the switch open +after the freight had passed, and to drive up to the +Widow Jones's Cross Road. There he would have a lantern, +and I would stop and take him up. He had a right to stop +us, as chief of repairs. Then we should have seven miles +down-grade to get up our speed, and then--we should see! + +"Mr. Ingham, I might have spared myself the hoping +for foul weather. It was the finest moonlight night that +you ever knew in October. And if Bill Todhunter had +weighed that train himself, he could not have been better +pleased,--one baggage-car, one smoking-car, two regular +first-class, and two palaces: she run just as steady as +an old cow! We came to the Widow Jones's, square on +time; and there was Bill's lantern waving. I slowed the +train: he jumped on the tender without stopping it. I +`up brakes' again, and then I told Flanagan, my fireman, +to go back to the baggage-car, and see if they would lend +me some tobacco. You see, we wanted to talk, and we +didn't want him to see. `Mr. Todhunter and I will feed +her till you come back,' says I to Flanagan. In a +minute after he had gone, August Todhunter came forward +on the engine; and, I tell you, she did fly! + +"`Not too fast,' said Bill, `not too fast: too fast +is as bad as too slow.' + +"`Never you fear me,' says I. `I guess I know this +road and this engine. Take out your watch, and time the +mile-posts,' says I; and he timed them. `Thirty-eight +seconds,' says he; `thirty-seven and a half, thirty-six, +thirty-six, thirty-six,'--three times thirty-six, as we +passed the posts, just as regular as an old clock! And +then we came right on the mile-post you know at Old +Flander's. `Thirty-six,' says Bill again. And then she +took the switch,--I can hear that switch-rod ring under +us now Mr. Ingham,--and then--we were clear! + +"Wasn't it grand? The range was a little bit up, +you see, at first; but it seemed as if we were flying +just straight across. All the rattle of the rail +stopped, you know, though the pistons worked just as true +as ever; neither of us said one word, you know; and she +just flew--well, as you see a hawk fly sometimes, when he +pounces, you know, only she flew so straight and true! +I think you may have dreamed of such things. I have; and +now,--now I dream it very often. It was not half a +minute, you know, but it seemed a good long time. I said +nothing and they said nothing; only Bill just squeezed my +hand. And just as I knew we must be half over,--for I +could see by the star I was watching ahead that we +were not going up, but were falling again,--do you think +the rope by my side tightened quick, and the old bell on +the engine gave one savage bang, turned right over as far +as the catch would let it, and stuck where it turned! +Just that one sound, everything else was still; and then +she landed on the rails, perhaps seventy feet inside the +ravine, took the rails as true and sweet as you ever saw +a ship take the water, hardly touched them, you know, +skimmed--well, as I have seen a swallow skim on the sea; +the prettiest, well, the tenderest touch, Mr. Ingham, +that ever I did see! And I could just hear the +connecting rods tighten the least bit in the world behind +me, and we went right on. + +"We just looked at each other in the faces, and we +could not speak; no, I do not believe we spoke for three +quarters of a minute. Then August said, `Was not that +grand? Will they let us do it always, Bill?' But we +could not talk then. Flanagan came back with the +tobacco, and I had just the wit to ask him why he had +been gone so long. Poor fellow! he was frightened enough +when we pulled up at Clayville, and he thought it was +Drums. Drums, you see, was way up the bend, a dozen +miles above Clayville. Poor Flanagan thought we must +have passed there while he was skylarking in the baggage- +car, and that he had not minded it. We never stopped at +Drums unless we had passengers, or they. It was what +we call a flag-station. So I blew Flanagan up, and +told him he was gone too long. + +"Well, sir, at Clayville we did stop,--always stopped +there for wood. August Todhunter, he was the palace +conductor; he went back to look to his passengers. Bill +stayed with me. But in a minute August came running +back, and called me off the engine. He led me forward, +where it was dark; but I could see, as we went, that +something was to pay. The minute we were alone he +says,-- + +"`John, we've lost the rear palace.' + +"`Don't fool me, August,' says I. + +"`No fooling, John,' says he. `The shackle parted. +The cord parted, and is flying loose behind now. If you +want to see, come and count the cars. The "General +Fremont" is here all right; but I tell you the "James +Buchanan" is at the bottom of the Chamoguin Creek.' + +"I walked back to the other end of the platform, as +fast as I could go and not be minded. Todhunter was +there before me, tying up the loose end of the bell-cord. +There was a bit of the broken end of the shackle twisted +in with the bolt. I pulled the bolt and threw the iron +into the swamp far as I could fling her. Then I nodded +to Todhunter and walked forward just as that old goose at +Clayville had got his trousers on, so he could come out, +and ask me if we were not ahead of time. I tell you, +sir, I did not stop to talk with him. I just rang `All +aboard!' and started her again; and this time I run +slow enough to save the time before we came down to +Steuben. We were on time, all right, there." + +Here poor Joslyn stopped a while in his story; and I +could see that he was so wrought up with excitement that +I had better not interrupt, either with questions or with +sympathy. He rallied in a minute or two, and said,-- + +"I thought--we all thought--that there would be a +despatch somewhere waiting us. But no; all was as +regular as the clock. One palace more or less,--what did +they know, and what did they care? So daylight came. We +could not say a word, you know, with Flanagan there; and +we only stopped, you know, a minute or two every hour; +and just then was when August Todhunter had to be with +his passengers, you know. Was not I glad when we came +into Pemaquid,--our road ran from Pemaquid across the +mountains to Eden, you know,--when we came into Pemaquid, +and nobody had asked any questions? + +"I reported my time at the office of the master of +trains, and I went home. I tell you, Mr. Ingham, I have +never seen Pemaquid Station since that day. + +"I had done nothing wrong, of course. I had obeyed +every order, and minded every signal. But still I knew +public opinion might be against me when they heard of the +loss of the palace. I did not feel very well about it, +and I wrote a note to say I was not well enough to take +my train the next night; and I and Mrs. Joslyn went +to New York, and I went aboard a Collins steamer as +fireman; and Mrs. Joslyn, she went as stewardess; and I +wrote to Pemaquid, and gave up my place. It was a good +place, too; but I gave it up, and I left America. + +Bill Todhunter, he resigned his place too, that same +day, though that was a good place. He is in the Russian +service now. He is running their line from Archangel to +Astrachan; good pay, he says, but lonely. August would +not stay in America after his brother left; and he is now +captain's clerk on the Harkaway steamers between Bangkok +and Cochbang; good place he says, but hot. So we are all +parted. + +"And do you know, sir, never one of us ever heard of +the lost palace!" + +Sure enough, under that very curious system of +responsibility, by which one corporation owns the +carriages which another corporation uses, nobody in the +world has to this moment ever missed "The Lost Palace." +On each connecting line, everybody knew that "she" was +not there; but no one knew or asked where she was. The +descent into the rocky bottom of the Chamouin, more than +fifteen hundred feet below the line of flight, had of +course been rapid,--slow at first, but in the end rapid. +In the first second, the lost palace had fallen sixteen +feet; in the second, sixty-four; in the third, one +hundred and forty-four; in the fourth, two hundred and +fifty-six; in the fifth, four hundred feet; so that +it must have been near the end of the sixth second of its +fall, that, with a velocity now of more than six hundred +feet in a second, the falling palace, with its +unconscious passengers, fell upon the rocks at the bottom +of the Chamoguin ravine. In the dead of night, wholly +without jar or parting, those passengers must have been +sleeping soundly; and it is impossible, therefore, on any +calculation of human probability, that any one of them +can have been waked an instant before the complete +destruction of the palace, by the sudden shock of its +fall upon the bed of the stream. To them the accident, +if it is fair to call it so, must have been wholly free +from pain. + +The tangles of that ravine, and the swamp below it, +are such that I suppose that even the most adventurous +huntsman never finds his way there. On the only occasion +when I ever met Mr. Jules Verne he expressed a desire to +descend there from one of his balloons, to learn whether +the inhabitants of "The Lost Palace" might not still +survive, and be living in a happy republican colony +there,--a place without railroads, without telegrams, +without mails, and certainly without palaces. But at the +moment when these sheets go to press, no account of such +an adventure has appeared from his rapid pen. + + + +9 LINWOOD STREET + +A CHRISTMAS STORY + +A gray morning, the deck wet, the iron all beaded with +frost, all the longshoremen in heavy pea-jackets or +cardigans, the whole ship in a bustle, and the favored +first-class passengers just leaving. + +One sad-looking Irish girl stands with her knit hood +already spotted with the rime, and you cannot tell +whether those are tears which hang from her black +eyelashes or whether the fog is beginning to freeze +there. What you see is that the poor thing looks right +and left and up the pier and down the pier, and that in +the whole crowd--they all seem so selfish--she sees +nobody. Hundreds of people going and coming, pushing and +hauling, and Nora's big brother is not there, as he +promised to be and should be. + +Mrs. Ohstrom, the motherly Swedish woman, who has +four children and ten tin cups and a great bed and five +trunks and a fatuous, feckless husband makes time, +between cousins and uncles and custom-house men and +sharpers, to run up every now and then to say that Nora +must not cry, that she must be easy, that she has spoken +to the master and the master has said they are three +hours earlier than they were expected. And all this +was so kindly meant and so kindly said that poor Nora +brushed the tears away, if they were tears, and thanked +her, though she did not understand one word that dear +Mrs. Ohstrom said to her. What is language, or what are +words, after all? + +And the bright-buttoned, daintily dressed little +ship's doctor, whom poor Nora hardly knew in his shore +finery,--he made time to stop and tell her that the ship +was too early, and that she must not worry. Father, was +it, she was waiting for? "Oh, brother! Oh, he will be +sure to be here! Better sit down. Here is a chair. +Don't cry. I am afraid you had no breakfast. Take this +orange. It will cheer you up. I shall see you again." + +Alas! the little doctor was swept away and forgot +Nora for a week, and she "was left lamenting." + +For one hour went by, and two, and three. The +Swedish woman went, and the doctor went, and the girl +could see the captain go, and the mate that gave them +their orders every morning. The custom-house people +began to go. The cabs and other carriages for the gentry +had gone long before. + +And poor Nora was left lamenting. + +Then was it that that queer Salvation Army girl, with +a coal-scuttle for a bonnet, came up again. She had +smiled pleasantly two or three times before, and had +asked Nora to eat a bun. Poor Nora broke down and +cried heartily this time. But the other was patient and +kind, and said just what the others had said. Only she +did not go away. And she had the sense to ask if Nora +knew where the brother lived. + +"Why, of course I do, miss. See, here is the +paper." + +And the little soldier lass read it: "99 Linwood +Street, Boston." + +"My poor child, what a pity you did not let us see it +before!" + +Alas and alas! Nora's box was of the biggest. But +the army lass flinched at nothing. + +An immense wagon, with two giant horses, loaded with +the most extraordinary chests which have been seen since +the days of the Vikings. Piled on the top were many +feather-beds, and on the top of the feather-beds a +Scandinavian matron. With Mike, the good-natured +teamster, who was at once captain and pilot of this +craft, the army lass had easily made her treaty, when he +was told the story. He was to carry Nora and her outfit +to the Linwood Street house after he had taken these +Swedes to theirs. "And indade it will not be farr, miss. +There 's a shorrt cut behind Egan's, if indade he did not +put up a tinimint house since I was that way." And with +new explanations to Nora that all was right, that indeed +it was better this way than it would have been had her +brother been called from his work, she was lifted, +without much consent of her own, to the driver's seat, +and her precious "box" was so placed that she could +rest her little feet upon it. + +Nora had proudly confided to the friendly lass the +assurance that she had money, had even shown a crisp $2 +bill which had been sent to her for exigencies. + +But when the lass made the contract with Mike +Dermott, the good fellow said he should take Nora and her +box for the love of County Cork. "Indade, indade, I +don't take money from the like of her." + +And so they started, with the Swedish men walking on +one side of the cart with their rifles, keeping a good +lookout for buffaloes and red Indians and grizzly bears, +as men landing in a new country which they were to +civilize. More sailing for there was the ferry to cross +to old Boston. Much waiting, for there was a broken-down +coal-wagon in Salutation Alley. Long conference between +Nora and Mike, in which he did all the talking and she +all the listening, as to home rule and Mr. McCarthy, and +what O'Brien thought of this, and what Cunniff thought of +that. Then an occasional question came in Swedish from +the matron above their heads, and was followed by a reply +in Celtic English from Mike, each wholly ignorant of the +views or wishes of the others. And occasionally the +escort of riflemen, after some particular attack of +chaff, in words which they fortunately did not +understand, looked up to their matron, controller, and +director, exchanged words with her, and then studied +the pavement again for tracks of buffalo. A long hour of +all this, the stone and brick of the city giving way to +green trees between the houses as they come to +Dorchester. + +Poor Nora looks right and looks left, hoping to meet +her big brother. She begins to think she shall remember +him. Everybody else looks so different from Fermoy that +he must look like home. + +But there is no brother. + +There is at last a joyful cry as the Swedish matron +and the riflemen recognize familiar faces. And Mike +smiles gladly, and brings round the stout bays with a +twitch, so that the end of the cart comes square to the +sidewalk. Somebody produces a step-ladder, and the +Swedish matron, with her bird-cage in her hand, descends +in triumph. Much kissing, much shaking of hands, much +thanking of God, more or less reverent. Then the cords +are cut, beds flung down, the giant boxes lifted, the +sons of Anak only know how. The money covenanted for is +produced and paid, and Mike mounts lightly to Nora's +side. + +"And now, Nora, my child, wherr is the paper? For in +two minutes we 'll soon be therr, now that this rubbish +is landed." + +And he read on the precious paper, "John McLaughlin, +99 Linwood Street." + +Strange to say, the paper said just what it had said +two hours before. + +"And now, my dear child, we will be therr in ten +minutes, if only we can cross back of Egan's." + +And although they could not cross back of Egan's, for +Egan had put up a "tinimint" house since Mike had passed +that way, yet in ten minutes Linwood Street had been +found. No. 99 at last revealed itself, between Nos. 7 +and 2,--a great six-story wooden tinder-box, with +clothes-lines mysterious behind, open doors in front, +long passages running through, three doors on each side +of a passage, and the wondering heads of eleven women who +belonged to five different races and spoke in six +different languages appearing from their eleven windows, +as Mike and Nora and the two bays all stopped at one and +the same moment at the door. + +Mike was already anxious about his time, for he was +to be at the custom-house an hour away or more at eleven +sharp. But he selected a certain Widow Flynn from the +eleven white-capped women; he explained to her briefly +that John McLaughlin was to be found; he told Nora for +the thirty-seventh time that all was right and that she +must not cry; he looked at his watch again, rather +anxiously, mounted his box, and drove swiftly away. + +He was the one thread which bound Nora to this world. +And this thread broke before her eyes. + +Mrs. Flynn affected to be cheerful. But she was not +cheerful. Mrs. Flynn was a prominent person in her +sodality. And well she knew that if any John +McLaughlin in those parts were expecting any sister from +home, she should know him and where he lived. Well she +knew, also, that John McLaughlin, the mason, was born in +Glasgow; that John McLaughlin, who is on the city work, +had all his family around him, and, most distinct of all, +she knew that no McLaughlin, sisterless or many-sistered, +lived in this beehive which she lived in, though it were +99 Linwood Street. Into her own cell of that beehive, +however, she took poor, sad, desolate Nora. Into the +hallway she bade the loafing neighbor boys bring Nora's +trunk; in a language Nora could hardly understand she +explained to her that all would be well as soon as the +policeman passed by. She sent Mary Murphy, who happened +to be at home from school, for a pint of milk, and so +compelled Nora to drink a cup of tea and to eat a biscuit +and a dropped egg, while they waited for the policeman. + +Of course he knew of seven John McLaughlins. He even +went to the drug-store and looked in the Boston Directory +to find that there were there the names of sixty-one +more. But not one of them lived in Linwood Street, as +they all knew already. All the same Nora was charged not +to cry, to drink more tea and eat more bread and butter. +The "cop" said he would look in on three of the Johns +whom he knew, and intelligent boys now returning from +school were sent to the homes of the other four to +interrogate them as to any expected sister. Within an +hour, now nearly one o'clock, answers were received +from all the seven. No one of them expected chick or +child from Fermoy. + +But the "cop" had a suggestion to make. His pocket +list of names of streets revealed another Linwood +Street--in Roxbury; not this one in Dorchester. Be it +known to unlearned readers, who in snug shelter in +Montana follow along this little tale, that Roxbury and +Dorchester are both parts of that large municipality +called Boston. Though no John McLaughlin was in the +directory for 99 Linwood Street, Roxbury, was not that +the objective? Poor Nora was questioned as to Roxbury. +She was sure she never heard of it. + +But the clue was too good to be lost, and the +authority of the friendly "cop" was too great to be +resisted. He telephoned to the central office that Nora +McLaughlin, just from Ireland, had been found, in a +fashion, but that no one knew where to put her. Then he +stopped a milkman from Braintree, who delivered afternoon +milk for invalids. + +Was he not going through Roxbury? + +Of course he was. + +Would he not take this lost child to 99 Linwood Street? + +Of course he would. Milkmen, from their profession, +have hearts warm toward children. + +Well, if he were to take her, he had better take her +trunk too. + +To which illogical proposal the milkman +acceded--on the afternoon route there is so much +less milk to take than there is in the morning. + +So Nora was lifted into the milk-wagon. In tears she +kissed good Mrs. Flynn. The boys and girls assembled to +bid her good-by, and even she had a hope for a few +moments that her troubles were at an end. + +At 99 Linwood Street, Roxbury, they were preparing +for the Review Club. + +The Review Club met once a fortnight at half-past two +o'clock at the house of one or another of the members. +They first arranged the little details of the business. +Then the hostess read, or made some one read, the scraps +which seemed most worthy in the reviews and magazines of +the last issues, and at four the husbands and brothers +and neighbors generally dropped in, and there was +afternoon tea. + +"You are sure you have cream enough, Ellen?" + +"Oh, yes, mum." + +"All kinds of tea, you know, that which the Chinese +gentlemen sent, and be sure of the chocolate for Mrs. +Bunce." + +"Indeed yes, mum." + +"And let me know just before you bring up the hot +water." Doorbell rings. "There is Mrs. Walter now!" + +No, it wasn't Mrs. Walter. She came three minutes +after. But before she came, Howells, the milkman, had +lifted Nora from her seat. As the snow fell fast on the +doorsteps, he carried her carefully up to the door, +and even by the time Ellen answered the bell he had the +heavy chest, dragging it over the snow by the stout rope +at one end. + +Ellen was amazed to find this group instead of Mrs. +Walter. She called her mistress, who heard Howells's +realistic story with amazement, not to say amusement. + +"You poor dear child!" she cried at once. "Come in +where it is dry! John McLaughlin? No, indeed! Who can +John McLaughlin be? Ellen, what is Mike's last name?" + +Mike was the choreman, who made the furnace fire and +kept the sidewalk. + +"Mike's name, mum? I don't know, mum. Mary will +know, mum." + +And for the moment Ellen disappeared to find Mary. + +"Never mind, never mind. Come in, you poor child. +You are very good to bring her, Mr. Howells, very good +indeed. We will take care of her. Is it going to +storm?" + +Mr. Howells thought it was going to storm, and turned +to go away. At that moment Mrs. Walter arrived, the +first comer of the Review Club. And Nora's new hostess +had to turn to her guests, while Ellen in the last cares +for the afternoon table had to comfort Nora by spasms. +It was left for Margaret the chambermaid to pump out--or +to screw out, as you choose--the details of the story +from the poor frightened waif, who seemed more astray +than ever. + +John McLaughlin? No. Nobody knew anything about +him. The last choreman was named McManus, but he went to +Ottawa three years ago! + +And while the different facts and doubts were +canvassed in the kitchen, upstairs they settled the +Bulgarian question, the origin of the natives of +Tasmania, and the last questions about realism. + +Only the mind of the lady of the house returned again +and again to questions as to the present residence of +John McLaughlin. + +For in spite of the gathering snow and the prospect +of more, the members of the Review Club had followed fast +on Mrs. Walters and gathered in full force. + +The hostess, though somewhat preoccupied, was +courteous and ready. + +Only the functions of the club, as they went forward, +would be occasionally interrupted. Thus she would read +aloud "as in her private duty bound"-- + +"`The peasantry were excited, but were held in check +by promises from Stambuloff. The emissaries of the +Czar--' + +"Mrs. Goodspeed, would you mind reading on? Here is +the place. I see my postman pass the window." + +And so, moving quickly to the front door, she +interviewed the faithful Harrington, dressed, heaven +knows why, in Confederate uniform of gray. For +Harrington had served his four years on the loyal side. +Four times a day did Harrington with his letter-bag +renew the connection of this household with the world and +other worlds. + +"Dear Mr. Harrington, I thought you could tell us. +Here is a girl named Nora McLaughlin, and here is her +trunk, both left at the door by the milkman, and we do +not know anything about where she belongs." + +"Insufficient address?" asked Harrington, +professionally. + +"Exactly. All she knows is that her brother is named +John." + +"A great many of them are," said Harrington, already +writing on his memorandum book, and in his memory fixing +the fact that a large, two-legged living parcel, +insufficiently addressed, had been left at the wrong door +for John McLaughlin; also a trunk, too large for delivery +by the penny post. + +"I will tell the other men, and if I was you I would +send to the police." + +"Would you mind telling the first officer you meet? +I hate to send my girls out." And so she returned to +Bulgaria. + +But Bulgaria was ended, and Mrs. Conover handed her +an article on "Antarctic Discovery." She was again +reading:-- + +"Under these circumstances Captain Wilkes, who had +collected a boatload of stones from the front of the +glacier," when she gave back the "Forum" to Mrs. Conover. +"Would you mind going on just a minute? " she said, and +ran out to meet the icecream man. So soon as he had +left his tins she said,-- + +"Mr. Fridge, would you mind stopping at the Dudley +School as you go home and telling Miss Lougee that there +is a lost girl here?" etc. + +Good Mr. Fridge was most eager to help, and the +hostess returned, took the book again and read on with +"the temperature, as they observed it, was 99 degrees C.; +but, as the alcohol in their tins was frozen at the +moment, there seemed reason to suspect the correctness of +this observation." + +And a shiver passed over the Review Club. + +Thus far the powers of confusion and error seemed to +have been triumphant over poor Nora, or such was the +success of that power who uses these agencies, if the +reader prefer to personify him. + +But the time had come to turn his left flank and to +attack his forces in the rear, for the postman now took +the field,--that is to say, Harrington, good fellow, +finished his third delivery, four good miles and nine- +tenths of a furlong, snow two inches deep, three, four, +six, before he was done, and then returned to his branch +office to report. + +"Two-legged parcel; insufficient address; 99 Linwood +Street! Jim, what ever come to that letter that went to +99 Linwood Street with insufficient address six weeks +ago?" + +"Linwood Street? Insufficient address? Foreign +letter? Why, of course, you know, went back to the +central office." + +"I guess it did," said Harrington, grimly; "so I must +go there too." + +This meant that after Harrington had gone his rounds +again on delivery route No. 6, four more miles and nine- +tenths more of a furlong, 313 doorbells and only 73 slit +boxes, snow now ranging from 6 inches to 12 on the +sidewalks, and breast-deep where there was a chance for +drifting, when all this was well done, so that Harrington +had no more duties to Uncle Sam, he could take Nora +McLaughlin's work in hand, and thus defeat the prince of +evil. + +To the central office by a horse-car. Blocked once +or twice, but well at the office at 7.30 in the evening. + +Christmas work heavy, so the whole home staff is on +duty. That is well. Enemy of souls loses one point +there. + +Blind-letter clerks all here. Insufficient-delivery +men both here. Chief of returned bureau here. All +summoned to the foreign office as Harrington tells his +story. Indexes produced, ledgers, journals, day-books, +and private passbooks. John McLaughlin's biography +followed out on 67 of the different avatars in which his +personality has been manifested under that name. False +trail here--clue breaks there--scent fails here, but at +last--a joyful cry from Will Search:-- + +"Here you are! Insufficient address. November 1. +Queenstown letter--`Linwood, to John McLaughlin. Try +Dorchester. Try Roxbury. Try East Boston. Try +Somerville'-- and there it stops, and was not returned." + +"Try Somerville!" + +In these words great light fell over the eager +circle. Not because Somerville is the seat of an insane +hospital. No! But because it is not in the Boston +Directory. + +If you please, Somerville is an independent city, and +so, unless John McLaughlin worked in Boston, if he lived +in Somerville, he would not be in the Boston Directory. + +Not much! Somerville has its own seven John +McLaughlins besides those Boston ones. + +"I say, Harry, Tom, Dick--somebody fetch Somerville +Directory!" + +Dick flew and returned with the book. + +"Here you be! `John McLaughlin, laborer, 99 Linwood +Street! + +"Victory!" + +Satan's forces tremble, and as the different officers +return to their desks "even the ranks of Tuscany" in that +well-bred office "can scarce forbear to cheer." + +As for Harrington, he bids good-by, wraps his tartan +around him, and is out in the snow again. Where Linwood +Street is he "knows no more than the dead." But somebody +will know. + +Somerville car. Draw of bridge open. Man falls into +the river and has to be rescued. Draw closes. Snow- +drift at Margin Street. Shovels. Drift open. Centre of +Somerville. Apothecary's shop open. "Please, where is +Linwood Street?" + +"Take your second left, cross three or four streets, +turn to the right by the water-pipe, take the third +right, go down hill by the schoolhouse and take second +left, and you come out at 11 Linwood Street." + +All which Harrington does. He experiences one +continual burst of joy that his route does not take him +through these detours daily. But his professional +experience is good for him. We have no need to describe +his false turns. Even aniseed would have been useless in +that snow. At last, just as the Somerville bells ring +for nine o'clock, Harrington also rings triumphant at the +door of the little five-roomed cottage, where his lantern +has already revealed the magic number 99. + +Ring! as for a gilt-edged special delivery! Door +thrown open by a solid man with curly red hair, unshaven +since Sunday, in his shirtsleeves and with kerosene lamp +in his hand. + +"Are you John McLaughlin?" + +"Indade I am; the same." + +"And where's your sister Nora?" + +The good fellow, who had been stern before, broke +down. "And indade I was saying to Ellen it's an awful +night for 'em all in the gale off the coast in the ship. +The holy Virgin and the good God take care of 'em!" + +"They have taken care of them," said Harrington, +reverently. "The ship is safe in dock, and your sister +Nora is in Roxbury, at 99 Linwood Street!" + +And a broad grin lighted his face as he spoke the words. + +There was joy in every bed and at every door of the +five rooms. Then John hastily donned coat, cardigan, and +ulster. He persuaded Harrington to drink a cup of red- +hot tea which was brewing on the stove. While the good +fellow did so, and ate a St. Anne's bun, which Mrs. +McLaughlin produced in triumph, John was persuading +Hermann Gross, the expressman next door, to put the gray +into a light pung he had for special delivery. By the +time Harrington went to the door two lanterns were +flitting about in the snow-piled yard behind the two +houses. + +Harrington assisted in yoking the gray. In five +minutes he and John were defying the gale as they sped +across the silent bridge, bound south to Roxbury. Poor +little Nora was asleep in the parlor on the sofa. She +had begged and begged that she need not be put to bed, +and by her side her protector sat reading about the +antarctic. But of a sudden Harrington reappeared. + +Is it Santa Claus? + +Indeed it is! Beard, hat, coat, all white with snow! + +And Santa Claus has come for the best present he will +deliver that evening! + +Dear little Nora is wrapped in sealskins and other +skins, mauds and astrakhan rugs. She has a hot brick at +her feet, and Pompey, the dog, is made to lie over them, +so John McLaughlin No. 68 takes her in triumph to 99 +Linwood Street. + +That was a Christmas to be remembered! And Christmas +morning, after church, the Brothers of St. Patrick, which +was the men's society, and the Sodality of St. Anne's, +which was the women's, determined on a great Twelfth- +night feast to celebrate Nora's return. + +It was to show "how these brethren love one another." + +They proposed to take the rink. People didn't use +it for skating in winter as much as in summer. + +Nora was to receive, with John McLaughlin and his +wife to assist. The other 74 John McLaughlins were to +act as ushers. + +The Salvation Army came first, led by the lass who +found Michael. + +Procession No. 2 was Mike and the teamsters who +"don't take nothing for such as she." + +Third, in special horse-cars, which went through from +Dorchester to Somerville by a vermilion edict from the +West End Company, the eleven families of that No. 99. +They stopped in Roxbury to pick up Ellen and the hostess +of the Review Club. + +Fourth, all the patrolmen who had helped and all who +tried to help, led by "cop" No. 47. + +Fifth, all the school children who had told the story +and had made inquiries. + +Sixth, the man who made the Somerville Directory. + +Seventh and last, in two barouches, Harrington and +the chiefs of staff at the general post-office. And the +boys asked Father McElroy to make a speech to all just +before the dancing began. + +And he said: "The lost sheep was never lost. She +thought she was lost in the wilderness, but she was at +home, for she was met by the Christmas greeting of the +world into which the dear Lord was born!" + + +NOTE.--It may interest the reader to know that the +important part of this story is true. + + + +IDEALS + +CHAPTER I + +IN ACCOUNT + +I have a little circle of friends, among all my other +friends quite distinct, though of them. They are four +men and four women; the husbands more in love with +their wives than on the days when they married them, +and the wives with their husbands. These people live +for the good of the world, to a fair extent, but much, +very much, of their lives is passed together. Perhaps +the happiest period they ever knew was when, in +different subordinate capacities, they were all on the +staff of the same magazine. Then they met daily at the +office, lunched together perforce, and could make +arrangements for the evening. But, to say true, things +differ little with them now, though that magazine long +since took wings and went to a better world. + +Their names are Felix and Fausta Carter, Frederic and +Mary Ingham, George and Anna Haliburton, George and Julia +Hackmatack. + +I get the children's names wrong to their faces-- +except that in general their name is Legion, for they are +many--so I will not attempt them here. + +These people live in very different houses, with very +different "advantages," as the world says. Haliburton +has grown very rich in the rag and paper business, rich +enough to discard rag money and believe in gold. He even +spits at silver, which I am glad to get when I can. +Frederic Ingham will never be rich. His regular income +consists in his half-pay as a retired brevet officer in +the patriot service of Garibaldi of the year 1859. For +the rest, he invested his money in the Brick Moon, and, +as I need hardly add, insured his life in the late +Continental Insurance Company. But the Inghams find just +as much in life as the Haliburtons, and Anna Haliburton +consults Polly Ingham about the shade of a flounce just +as readily and as eagerly as Polly consults her about the +children's dentistry. They are all very fond of each +other. + +They get a great deal out of life, these eight, +partly because they are so closely allied together. Just +two whist-parties, you see; or, if they go to ride, they +just fill two carriages. Eight is such a good number-- +makes such a nice dinner-party. Perhaps they see a +little too much of each other. That we shall never know. + +They got a great deal of life, and yet they were not +satisfied. They found that out very queerly. They have +not many standards. Ingham does take the "Spectator;" +Hackmatack condescends to read the "Evening Post;" +Haliburton, who used to be in the insurance business, and +keeps his old extravagant habits, reads the "Advertiser" +and the "Transcript;" all of them have the +"Christian Union," and all of them buy "Harper's Weekly." +Every separate week of their lives they buy of the boys, +instead of subscribing; they think they may not want the +next number, but they always do. Not one of them has +read the "Nation" for five years, for they like to keep +good-natured. In fact, they do not take much stock in +the general organs of opinion, and the standard books you +find about are scandalously few. The Bible, Shakespeare, +John Milton; Polly has Dante; Julia has "Barclay's +Apology," with ever so many marks in it; one George has +"Owen Felltham," and the other is strong on Marcus +Aurelius. Well, no matter about these separate things; +the uniform books besides those I named, in different +editions but in every house, are the "Arabian Nights" and +"Robinson Crusoe." Hackmatack has the priceless first +edition. Haliburton has Grandville's (the English +Grandville). Ingham has a proof copy of the Stothard. +Carter has a good copy of the Cruikshank. + +If you ask me which of these four I should like best, +I should say as the Laureate did when they gave him his +choice of two kinds of cake, "Both's as good as one." + +Well, "Robinson Crusoe" being their lay gospel and +creed, not to say epistle and psalter, it was not queer +that one night, when the election had gone awfully, and +the men were as blue as that little porcelain Osiris of +mine yonder, who is so blue that he cannot stand on +his feet--it was not queer, I say, that they turned +instinctively to "Robinson Crusoe" for relief. + +Now, Robinson Crusoe was once in a very bad box +indeed, and to comfort himself as well as he could, and +to set the good against the evil, that he might have +something to distinguish his case from worse, he stated +impartially, like debtor and creditor, the comforts and +miseries, thus:-- + + + EVIL. GOOD. + +I am cast upon a horrible But I am alive, and not +desolate island, void of all drowned as all my hope of +recovery. ship's company were. + +I am singled out and separated, But I am singled out, +as it were, from all the world, to too, from the ship's crew +be miserable. to be spared from death. + + + +And so the debtor and creditor account goes on. + +Julia Hackmatack read this aloud to them--the whole +of it--and they agreed, as Robinson says, not so much for +their posterity as to keep their thoughts from daily +poring on their trials, that for each family they would +make such a balance. What might not come of it? Perhaps +a partial nay, perhaps a perfect cure! + +So they determined that on the instant they would go +to work, and two in the smoking-room, two in the dining- +room, two in George's study, and two in the parlor, they +should in the next halfhour make up their lists of good +and evil. Here are the results:-- + +FREDERIC AND MARY INGHAM. + + GOOD. EVIL. + +We have three nice boys But the door-bell rings all +and three nice girls. the time. + +We have enough to eat, But the coal bill is awful, +drink, and wear. and the Larrabee furnace has + given out. The firm that made + it has gone up, and no castings + can be got to mend it. + +We have more books than But our friends borrow our +we can read, and do not care books, and only return odd +to read many newspapers. volumes. + + +We have many very dear But we are behindhand 143 +friends--enough. names on our lists of calls. + +We have health in our But the children may be +family. sick. The Lowndes children are. + +We seem to be of some But Mrs. Hogarth has left +use in the world. Fred $200 for the poor, and he + is afraid he shall spend it wrong. + + The country has gone to the + dogs. + + + GEORGE AND ANNA HALIBURTON. + + GOOD. EVIL. + +We have a nice home in You cannot give a cup of +town, and one in Sharon, and coffee to a beggar but he sends +a sea-shore place at Little five hundred million tramps to +Gau, and we have friends the door. +enough to fill them. + +We have some of the nicest A great many people call +children in the world. whose names we have forgotten. + +We have enough to do, and We have to give a party to +not too much. all our acquaintance every year, + which is horrid. + +Business is good enough, We do not do anything we +though complaining. want to do, and we do a great + deal that we do not want to do. + George had added, "And there + is no health in us." But Anna + marked that out as wicked. + +The children are all well. People vote as if they were + possessed. + + + GEORGE AND JULIA HACKMATACK + + GOOD. EVIL. + +We have eight splendid The plumbers' work always +children. gives way at the wrong time, + and the plumbers' bills are awful. + +We have money enough, The furnace will not heat the +though we know what to do house unless the wind is at the +with more. southwest. None of the chimneys + draw well. + +George will not have to go We hate the Kydd School. +to Bahia next year. The master drinks and the first + assistant lies. But we live in + that district; so the boys have + to go there. + +Tom got through with scarlet Lucy said "commence" yesterday, +fever without being deaf. Jane said "gent," Walter said + "Bully for you," and Alice said + "nobby." And what is coming we + do not know. + +Dr. Witherspoon has accepted How long any man can live +the presidency of Tiberias under this government I do +College in Alaska. not know. + + + + FELIX AND FAUSTA CARTER + + GOOD. EVIL. + +Governments are stronger But as the children grow +every year. Money goes farther bigger, their clothes cost +than it did. more. + +All the boys are good and But the children get no +well. So are the girls. good at school, except +They are splendid children. measles, whooping-cough, and + scarlet fever. + +Old Mr. Porter died last But the gas-meter lies; +week, and Felix gets promotion and the gas company wants to +in the office. have it lie. + +The lost volume of Fichte But the Athenaeum is always +was left on the door-step last calling in its books to examine +night by some one who rang the them, and making us say where +bell and ran away. It is rather Mr. Fred Curtis's books are. +wet, but when it is bound will As if we cared. +look nicely. + +The mistress of the Arbella But our drains smell +School is dead. awfully, though the Board of + Health says they do not. + + We have to go to evening + parties among our friends, or + seem stuck up. We hate to go, + and wish there were none. We + had rather come here. + + The increasing + worthlessness of the franchise. + + +With these papers they gathered all in the study just +as the clock struck nine, and, in good old Boston +fashion, Silas was bringing in some hot oysters. They +ate the oysters, which were good--trust Anna for that-- +and then the women read the papers, while the smoking men +smoked and pondered. + +They all recognized the gravity of the situation. +Still, as Julia said, they felt better already. It was +like having the doctor come: you knew the worst, and +could make ready for it. + +They did not discuss the statements much. They had +discussed them too much in severalty. They did agree +that they should be left to Felix to report upon the next +evening. He was, so to speak, to post them, to strike +out from each side the quantities which could be +eliminated, and leave the equations so simplified that +the eight might determine what they should do about it-- +indeed, what they could do about it. + +The visitors put on their "things"--how strange that +that word should once have meant "parliaments!"--kissed +good-by so far as they were womanly, and went home. +George Haliburton screwed down the gas, and they went to bed. + + +CHAPTER II + +STRIKING THE BALANCE + +The next night they went to see Warren at the Museum. +That probably helped them. After the play they met by +appointment at the Carters'. Felix read his + +REPORT. + +1. NUMBER.--There are twenty-one reasons for +congratulation, twenty-four for regret. But of the +twenty-four, four are the same; namely, the cursed +political prospect of the country. Counting that as one +only, there are twenty-one on each side. + +2. EVIL.--The twenty-one evils may be classified +thus: political, 1; social, 12; physical, 5; terrors, 3. + +All the physical evils would be relieved by living in +a temperate climate, instead of this abomination, which +is not a climate, to which our ancestors were sold by the +cupidity of the Dutch. + +The political evil would be ended by leaving the +jurisdiction of the United States. + +The social evils, which are a majority of all, would +be reduced by residence in any place where there were not +so many people. + +The terrors properly belong to all the classes. In +a decent climate, in a country not governed by its vices, +and a community not crowded, the three terrors would be +materially abated, if not put to an end. + +Respectfully submitted, + +FELIX CARTER. + + +How they discussed it now! Talk? I think so! They +all talked awhile, and no one listened. But they had to +stop when Phenice brought in the Welsh rare-bit (good +before bed, but a little indigestible, unless your +conscience is stainless), and Felix then put in a word. + +"Now I tell you, this is not nonsense. Why not do +what Winslow and Standish and those fellows thought they +were doing when they sailed? Why not go to a climate +like France, with milder winters and cooler summers than +here? You want some winter, you want some summer." + +"I hate centipedes and scorpions," said Anna. + +"There's no need of them. There's a place in Mexico, +not a hundred miles from the sea, where you can have your +temperature just as you like." + +"Stuff!" + +"No, it is not stuff at all," said poor Felix, +eagerly. "I do not mean just one spot. But you live in +this valley, you know. If you find it is growing hot, +you move about a quarter of a mile to another place +higher up. If you find that hot, why you have another +house a little higher. Don't you see? Then, when winter +comes, you move down." + +"Are there many people there?" asked Haliburton; "and +do they make many calls?" + +"There are a good many people, but they are a gentle +set. They never quarrel. They are a little too high up +for the revolutions, and there is something +tranquillizing about the place; they seldom die, +none are sick, need no aguardiente, do what the head of +the village tells them to do--only he never has any +occasion to tell them. They never make calls." + +"I like that," said Ingham. That patriarchal system +is the true system of government." + +"Where is this place?" said Anna, incredulously. + +"I have been trying to remember all day, but I can't. +It is in Mexico, I know. It is on this side of Mexico. +It tells all about it in an old `Harper'--oh, a good many +years ago--but I never bound mine; there are always one +or two missing every year. I asked Fausta to look for +it, but she was busy. I thought," continued poor Felix, +a little crestfallen, "one of you might remember." + +No, nobody remembered; and nobody felt much like +going to the public library to look, on Carter's rather +vague indications. In fact, it was a suggestion of +Haliburton's that proved more popular. + +Haliburton said he had not laid in his coal. They +all said the same. "Now," said he, "the coal of this +crowd for this winter will cost a thousand dollars, if +you add in the kindling and the matches, and patching the +furnace pots and sweeping the chimneys." + +To this they agreed. + +"It is now Wednesday. Let us start Saturday for +Memphis, take a cheap boat to New Orleans, go thence to +Vera Cruz by steamer, explore the ground, buy the houses +if we like, and return by the time we can do without +fires next spring. Our board will cost less than it +would here, for it is there the beef comes from. And the +thousand dollars will pay the fares both ways." + +The women, with one voice, cried, "And the children?" + +"Oh yes," cried the eager adventurer. "I had +forgotten the children. Well, they are all well, are +they not?" + +Yes; all were well. + +"Then we will take them with us as far as Yellow +Springs, in Ohio, and leave them for the fall and winter +terms at Antioch College. They will be enough better +taught than they are at the Kydd School, and they will +get no scarlet fever. Nobody is ever sick there. They +will be better cared for than my children are when they +are left to me, and they will be seven hundred miles +nearer to us than if they were here. The little ones can +go to the Model School, the middling ones to the Academy, +and the oldest can go to college. How many are there, +Felix?" + +Felix said there were twenty-nine. + +"Well," said the arithmetical George, "it is the +cheapest place I ever knew. Why, their Seniors get along +for three hundred dollars a year, and squeeze more out of +life than I do out of twenty thousand. The little ones +won't cost at that rate. A hundred and fifty dollars for +twenty-nine children; how much is that, Polly?" + +"Forty-three hundred and fifty dollars, of course," +said she. + +"I thought so. Well, don't you see, we shall save +that in wages to these servants we are boarding here, of +whom there are eleven, who cost us, say, six dollars a +week; that is, sixty-six dollars for twenty weeks is +thirteen hundred and twenty dollars. We won't buy any +clothes, but live on the old ones, and make the children +wear their big brothers' and sisters'. There's a saving +of thirty-seven hundred dollars for thirty-seven of us. +Why, we shall make money! I tell you what, if you'll do +it, I'll pay all the bills till we come home. If you +like, you shall then each pay me three-quarters of your +last winter's accounts, and I'll charge any difference +to profit and loss. But I shall make by the bargain." + +The women doubted if they could be ready. But it +proved they could. Still they did not start Saturday; +they started Monday, in two palace-cars. They left the +children, all delighted with the change, at Antioch on +Wednesday--a little tempted to spend the winter there +themselves; but, this temptation well resisted, they sped +on to Mexico. + + + +CHAPTER III + +FULFILMENT + +Such a tranquil three days on the Mississippi, which +was as an autumn flood, and revealed himself as indeed +King of Waters! Such delightful three days in +hospitable New Orleans! Might it not be possible to +tarry even here? "No," cried the inexorable George. +"We have put our hand to the plough. Who will turn +back?" Two days of abject wretchedness on the Gulf of +Mexico. "Why were we born? Why did we not die before +we left solid land?" And then the light-house at Vera Cruz. + +"Lo, land! and all was well." + +What a splendid city! Why had nobody told them of +this queen on the sea-shore? Red and white towers, +cupolas, battlements! It was all like a story-book. +When they landed, to be sure, it was not quite so big a +place as they had fancied from all this show; but for +this they did not care. To land--that was enough. Had +they landed on a sand-spit, they would have been in +heaven. No more swaying to and fro as they lay in bed, +no more stumbling to and fro as they walked. They +refused the amazed Mexicans who wanted them to ride to +the hotel. To walk steadily was in itself a luxury. + +And then it was not long before the men had selected +the little caravan of horses and mules which were to +carry them on their expedition of discovery. Some valley +of paradise, where a man could change his climate from +midwinter to midsummer by a journey of a mile. Did the +consul happen to have heard of any such valley? + +Had he heard of them? He had heard of fifty. +He had not, indeed, heard of much else. How could +he help hearing of them? + +Could the consul, then, recommend one or two valleys +which might be for sale? Or was it, perhaps, impossible +to buy a foothold in such an Eden? + +For sale! There was nothing in the country, so far +as the friend knew to whom the consul presented them, +which was not for sale. Anywhere in Queretaro; or why +should they not go to the Baxio? No; that was too flat +and too far off. There were pretty places round Xalapa. +Oh, plenty of plantations for sale. But they need not go +so far. Anywhere on the rise of Chiquihiti. + +Was the friend quite sure that there were no plumbers +in the regions he named? + +"Never a plumber in Mexico." + +Any life-insurance men? + +"Not one." The prudent friend did not add, "Risk too high." + +Were the public schools graded schools or district schools? + +"Not a public school in six provinces." + +Would the neighbors be offended if we do not call? + +"Cut your throats if you did." + +Did the friend think there would be many tramps? + +The friend seemed more doubtful here, but suggested +that the occasional use of a six-shooter reduced the +number, and gave a certain reputation to the premises +where it was employed which diminished much tramping +afterward, and said that the law did not object to this +method. + +They returned to a dinner of fish, for which Vera +Cruz is celebrated. "If what the man says be true," said +Ingham, "we must be very near heaven." + +It was now in November. Oh, the glory of that ride, +as they left Vera Cruz and through a wilderness of color +jogged slowly on to their new paradise! + +"Through Eden four glad couples took their way." + +Higher and higher. This wonder and that. Not a blade +of grass such as they ever saw before, not a chirping +cricket such as they ever heard before; a hundred +bright-winged birds, and not one that they had ever +seen before. Higher and higher. Trees, skies, clouds, +flowers, beasts, birds, insects, all new and all +lovely. + +The final purchase was of one small plantation, with +a house large enough for a little army, yet without a +stair. Oranges, lemons, pomegranates, mangoes, bananas, +pine-apples, coffee, sugar--what did not ripen in those +perennial gardens? Half a mile above there were two +smaller houses belonging to the same estate; half a mile +above, another was purchased easily. This was too cold +to stay in in November, but in June and July and August +the temperature would be sixty-six, without change. + +They sent back the mules. A telegram from Vera Cruz +brought from Boston, in fifteen days, the best books +in the world, the best piano in the world, a few boxes of +colors for the artists, a few reams of paper, and a few +dozen of pencils for the men. And then began four months +of blessed life. Never a gas-bill nor a water-leak, +never a crack in the furnace nor a man to put in coal, +never a request to speak for the benefit of the Fenians, +never the necessity of attending at a primary meeting. +The ladies found in their walks these gentle Mexican +children, simple, happy, civil, and with the strange idea +that the object for which life is given is that men may +live. They came home with new wealth untold every day-- +of ipomoea, convolvulus, passion-flowers, and orchids. +The gentlemen brought back every day a new species, even +a new genus,--a new illustration of evolution, or a new +mystery to be accounted for by the law of natural +selection. Night was all sleep; day was all life. +Digestion waited upon appetite; appetite waited upon +exercise; exercise waited upon study; study waited upon +conversation; conversation waited upon love. Could it be +that November was over? Can life run by so fast? Can it +be that Christmas has come? Can we let life go by so +fast? Is it possible that it is the end of January? We +cannot let life go so fast. Really, is this St. +Valentine's Day! When ever did life go so fast? + +And with the 1st of March the mules were ordered, and +they moved to the next higher level. The men and women +walked. And there, on the grade of a new climate, +they began on a new botany, on new discoveries, and happy +life found new forms as they began again. + +So sped April and so sped May. Life had its +battles,--oh yes, because it was life. But they were not +the pettiest of battles. They were not the battles of +prisoners shut up, to keep out the weather, in cells +fifteen feet square. They fought, if they fought, with +God's air in their veins, and God's warm sunshine around +them, and God's blue sky above them. So they did what +they could, as they wrote and read and drew and painted, +as they walked and ran and swam and rode and drove, as +they encouraged this peon boy and taught that peon girl, +smoothed this old woman's pillow and listened to that old +man's story, as they analyzed these wonderful flowers, as +they tasted these wonderful fruits, as they climbed these +wonderful mountains, or, at night, as they pointed the +telescope through this cloudless and stainless sky. + +With all their might they lived. And they were so +many, and there were so many round them to whom their +coming was a new life, that they lived in love, and every +day drank in of the infinite elixir. + +But June came. The mules are sent for again. Again +they walked a quarter of a mile. And here in the little +whitewashed cottage, with only a selection from the books +below, with two guitars and a flute in place of the +piano,--here they made ready for three weeks of June. +Only three weeks; for on the 29th was the +Commencement at Antioch, and Jane and Walter and Florence +were to take their degrees. There would need five days +from Vera Cruz to reach them. And so this summer was to +be spent in the North with them, before October should +bring all the children and the parents to the land of the +open sky. Three busy weeks between the 1st and the 22d, +in which all the pictures must be finished, Ingham's +novel must be revised, Haliburton's articles completed, +the new invention for measuring power must be gauged and +tested, the dried flowers must be mounted and packed, the +preserved fruits must be divided for the Northern +friends. Three happy weeks of life eventful, but life +without crowding, and, above all, without interruption. +"Think of it," cried Felix, as they took their last walk +among the lava crags, the door-bell has not rung all this +last winter.'" + +"`This happy old king +On his gate he did swing, +Because there was never a door-bell to ring.'" + +This was Julia's impromptu reply. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HOME AGAIN + +So came one more journey. Why can we not go and come +without this musty steamer, these odious smells, this +food for dogs, and this surge--ah, how remorseless!--of +the cruel sea? + +But even this will end. Once more the Stars and +Stripes! A land of furnaces and of waterpipes, a land of +beggars and of caucuses, a land of gas-meters and of +liars, a land of pasteboard and of cards, a land of +etiquettes and of bad spelling, but still their country! +A land of telegraphs, which told in an instant, as they +landed on the levee, that all the twenty-nine were well, +and begged them to be at the college on Tuesday evening, +so as to see "Much Ado about Nothing." For at Antioch +they act a play the night before Commencement. A land of +Pullman's palace-cars. And lo! they secured sections 5 +and 6, 7 and 8, in the "Mayflower." Just time to kiss +the baby of one friend, and to give a basket of guavas to +another, and then whir for Cincinnati and Xenia and +Yellow Springs! + +How beautiful were the live-oaks and the magnolias! +How fresh the green of the cotton! How black the faces +of the little negroes, and how beyond dispute the perfume +of the baked peanuts at the stations where sometimes they +had to stop for wood and water! Even the heavy pile of +smoke above Cincinnati was golden with the hopes of a +new-born day as they rushed up to the Ohio River, and as +they crossed it. And then, the land of happy homes! It +was Kapnist who said to me that the most favored places +in the world were the larger villages in Ohio. He had +gone everywhere, too. Xenia, and a perfect breakfast at +the station, then the towers of Antioch, then the +twenty-nine children waving their handkerchiefs as +the train rushes in! + +How much there was to tell, to show, to ask for, and +to see! How much pleasure they gave with their +cochineal, their mangoes, their bananas, their hat-bands +for the boys, and their fans for the girls! Yes; and how +much more they took from nutbrown faces, from smiles +beaming from ear to ear, from the boy so tall that he +looked down upon his father, from the girl so womanly +that you asked if her mother were not masquerading. "You +rascal Ozro, you do not pretend that those trousers were +made for you? Why, my boy, you disgrace the family." "I +hope not, papa; I had ninety-eight in the botany +examination, passed with honors in Greek, and we beat the +Buckeye Club to nothing in the return match yesterday." +"You did, you little beggar?" the proud papa replied. +"You ran all the better, I suppose, because you had +nothing to trip you." And so on, and so on. The +children did not live in paradise, perhaps, but this +seems very like the kingdom come! + +And after commencements and the president's party, up +to the Yellow Springs platform came two unusual palaces, +specially engaged. And one was named the "Valparaiso," +and the other, as it happened, the "Bethlehem." And they +took all the children, and by good luck Mrs. Tucker was +going also, and three or four of the college girls, and +they took them. So there were forty-two in all. And +they sped and sped, without change of cars, save as +Bethlehem visited Paradise and Paradise visited +Bethlehem, till they came to New Salem, which is the +station men buy tickets for when they would go to the +beach below Quonochontaug, where the eight and the +twenty-nine were to make their summer home before the +final emigration. + +They do not live at Quonochontaug, but to that post- +office are their letters sent. They live in a hamlet of +their own, known to the neighbors as the Little Gau. +Four large houses, whitewashed without and within, with +deep piazzas all around, the roofs of which join the +roofs of the houses themselves, and run up on all sides +to one point above the centre. In each house a hall some +twenty feet by fifty, and in the hall,--what is not in +the hall?--maybe a piano, maybe a fish-rod, maybe a rifle +or a telescope, a volume of sermons or a volume of songs, +a spinning-wheel, or a guitar, or a battledore. You +might ask widely for what you needed, for study or for +play, and you would find it, though it were a deep divan +of Osiat or a chibouque from Stamboul--you would find it +in one of these simple whitewashed halls. + +Little Gau is so near the sea-shore that every day +they go down to the beach to bathe, and the beach is so +near the Gulf Stream that the swim is--well, perfection. +Still, the first day the ladies would not swim. They had +the trunks to open, they said, and the closets to +arrange. And the four men and the fourteen boys went to +that bath of baths alone. And as Felix, the cynic +grumbler, ran races naked on the beach with his boy +and the boy beat him, even Felix was heard to say, "How +little man needs here below to be perfectly happy!" + +And at the Little Gau they spent the months from the +Fourth of July to the 13th of October--two great days in +history--getting ready for Mexico. New sewing-machines +were bought, and the fall of the stream from the lake was +taught to run the treadles. No end of clothing was got +ready for a country which needs none; no end of memoranda +made for the last purchases; no end of lists of books +prepared, which they could read in that land of leisure. +And on the 14th of October, with a passing sigh, they +bade good-by to boats and dogs and cows and horses and +neighbors and beaches--almost to sun and moon, which had +smiled on so much happiness, and went back to Boston to +make the last bargains, to pay the last bills, and to say +the last good-byes. + +After one day of bill-paying and house-advertising +and farewelling, they met at Ingham's to "tell their +times." And Julia told of her farewell call on dear Mrs. +Blake. + +"The saint!" said she; "she does not see as well as +she did. But it was just lovely there. There was the +great bronze Japanese stork, which seemed so friendly, +and the great vases, and her flowers as fresh as ever, +and her books everywhere. She found something for Tom +and Maud to play with, just as she used to for Ben and +Horace. And we sat and talked of Mexico and Antioch and +everything. I asked her if her eyes troubled her, +and I was delighted because it seems they do not trouble +her at all. She told all about Swampscott and her +grandchildren. I asked her if the dust never troubled +them on Gladstone Street, but she says it does not at +all; and she told all about her son's family in Hong- +Kong. I asked her if the failure of Rupee & Lac annoyed +them, and she said not at all, and I was so glad, for I +had been so afraid for them; and then she told about how +much they were enjoying Macaulay. Then I asked her if +the new anvil factory on the other side of the street did +not trouble her, and she said not at all. And when I +said, `How can that be?' she said, `Why, Julia dear, we +do not let these things trouble us, don't you see. If I +were you, I would not let such things trouble me.'" + +George Haliburton laid down his knife as Julia told +the story. "Do you remember Rabia at Mecca? Yes, they +all remembered Rabia at Mecca:-- + +"Oh heart, weak follower of the weak, + That thou shouldst traverse land and sea; +In this far place that God to seek + Who long ago had come to thee!" + + +"Why should we not stay here, and not let these +things trouble us?" + +Why not, indeed? + +And they stayed. + + + +ONE CENT + +A CHRISTMAS STORY + +DOWN + +Mr. Starr rose very early that day. The sun was not +up. Yet, certainly, it was too light to strike a match. +Ah, Mr. Starr, a match may be an economy! + +So it was that when, as always, the keys jingled out +from his trousers pockets upon the floor, and the money +as well, one cent rolled under the bureau unseen by Mr. +Starr. He went down to his work now, after he had +gathered up the rest of the money and the keys, and +answered yesterday's letters. + +Then, of course, he could loiter over his breakfast. + +But not too long. Clara, his wife, was in good +spirits, and the boys were very jolly, but Mr. Starr, all +the same, did the duty next his hand. He "kissed her +good-by," and started down-town. Edgar stopped, him to +ask for fifty cents for his lunch; the postman wanted +fifteen for an underpaid parcel; Susan, the maid, asked +for ten for some extra milk; and then he kissed his hand +to the parlor window, and was off. + +No! He was not off. + +For Clara threw up the window and waved her lily +hand. Mr. Starr ran back to the door. She flung it +open. + +"My dear John, here is your best coat. That coat you +have on has a frayed button. I saw it yesterday, and I +cannot bear to have you wear it at the Board." + +"Dear Clara, what a saint you are!" One more kiss, +and Mr. Starr departed. + +And loyally he did the duty next his hand. He +stopped and signed the sewerage petition; he looked in on +poor Colt and said a cheerful word to him; he bade +Woolley, the fruit man, send a barrel of Nonesuches to +old Mrs. Cowen; he was on time at the Board meeting, took +the chair, and they changed the constitution. He looked +in at the office and told Mr. Freemantle he should be +late, but that he would look at the letters when he came +back, and then, ho! for East Boston! + +If only you knew, dear readers, that to East Boston +you must go by a ferry-boat, as if it were named +Greenbush, or Brooklyn, or Camden. + +As Mr. Starr took the street car after he had crossed +the ferry, to go into the unknown parts of East Boston, +he did notice that he gave the conductor his last ticket. +But what of that? "End of the route" came, and he girded +his loins, trudged over to the pottery he was in search +of, found it at last, found the foreman and gave his +orders, and then, through mud unspeakable, waded +back to the street car. He was the only passenger. +No wonder! The only wonder was that there was a car. + +"Ticket, sir," said the conductor, after half a mile. + +MR. STARR (SMILING). I have no ticket, but you +may sell me a dollar's worth. (FEELS FOR POCKETBOOK.) +Hello! I have not my pocketbook; changed my coat. + +CONDUCTOR (SAVAGELY). They generally has changed +their coats. + +MR. STARR (WITH DIGNITY, OFFERING A FIVE-CENT +NICKEL). There's your fare, man. + +CONDUCTOR. That won't do, mud-hopper. Fare's +six cents. + +MR. STARR (WELL REMEMBERING THE CENT, WHICH IS, +ALAS UNDER THE BUREAU, AND GROVELLING FOR IT IN BOTH +POCKETS). I have a cent somewhere. + +CONDUCTOR (STOPPING CAR AND RETURNING FIVE-CENT +PIECE). We've had enough of you tramps who change your +coats and cannot find your pennies. You step off--and +step off mighty quick. + +Mr. Starr declines; when they come to Maverick Square +he will report the man to the superintendent, who knows +him well. Slight scuffle. Mr. Starr resists. Conductor +calls driver. Mr. Starr is ejected. Coat torn badly and +hat thrown into mud. Car departs. + +TABLEAU. + + +SCENE II + + +UP + + +(MUDDY STREET IN EAST BOSTON. Mr. STARR, WIPING +HIS HAT WITH HIS HANDKERCHIEF, SOLUS.) + +MR. STARR. If only Clara had not been so anxious +about the Board meeting! (EYES FIVE-CENT PIECE.) +Where can that penny be? (SEARCHES IN POCKETS, IS +SEARCHING WHEN--) +(ENTER R. H. U. E. SPAN OF WILD HORSES, SWIFTLY +DRAGGING A CARRYALL. IN THE CARRYALL TWO CHILDREN +SCREAMING. SPEED OF HORSES, 2.41.) + +MR. STARR. Under the present circumstances life +is worthless, or nearly so. Let me bravely throw it +away! + +(RUSHES UPON THE SPAN. CATCHES EACH HORSE BY THE BIT, +AND BY SHEER WEIGHT CONTROLS THEM. HORSES ON THEIR +METTLE; Mr. Starr ON HIS. ENTER, RUNNING, JOHN +CRADOCK.) + +JOHN CRADOCK. Whoa, whoa! Ha! they stop. How +can I thank you, my man? You have saved my children's +lives. + +MR. STARR (STILL HOLDING BITS). You had better +take the reins. + +John Cradock mounts the seat, seizes reins, but is +eager to reward the poor, tattered wretch at their heads. +Passes reins to right hand, and with left feels for a +half eagle, which he throws, with grateful words, to Mr. +Starr. Mr. Starr leaves the plunging horses, and +they rush toward Prescott Street. (EXEUNT JOHN +CRADOCK, HORSES AND CHILDREN.) + +Half amused, half ashamed, Mr. Starr picks up the +coin, which he also supposes to be half an eagle. + +It proves to be a bright penny, just from the mint. + +Mr. Starr lays it with delight upon the five-cent +nickel. +(ENTER A STREET CAR, L. H. L. E. Mr. STARR WAVES +HIS HAND WITH DIGNITY, AND ENTERS CAR. PAYS HIS FARE, +SIX CENTS, AS HE PASSES CONDUCTOR.) + +In fifteen minutes they are at Maverick Square. Mr. +Starr stops the car at the office of Siemens & Bessemer, +and enters. Meets his friend Fothergill. + +FOTHERGILL. Bless me, Starr, you are covered +with mud! Pottery, eh? Runaway horse, eh? No matter; +we are just in time to see Wendell off. William, take +Mr. Starr's hat to be pressed. Put on this light +overcoat, Starr. Here is my tweed cap. Now, jump in, +and we will go to the "Samaria" to bid Wendell good-by. + +And indeed they both found Wendell. Mr. Starr bade +him good-by, and advised him a little about the man be +was to see in Dresden. He met Herr Birnebaum, and talked +with him a little about the chemistry of enamels. Oddly +enough, Fonseca was there, the attache, the same whom +Clara had taken to drive at Bethlehem. Mr. Starr talked +a little Spanish with him. Then they were all rung +onshore. + +TABLEAU: DEPARTING STEAMER. CROWD WAVES +HANDKERCHIEFS. + + + +SCENE III +CHRISTMAS--THE END + +At Mr. Starr's Christmas dinner, beside their cousins +from Harvard College and their second cousins from +Wellesley College and their third cousins from Bradford +Academy, they had young Clifford, the head book-keeper. +As he came in, joining the party on their way home from +church, he showed Mr. Starr a large parcel. + +"It's the `Alaska's' mail, and I thought you might +like to see it." + +"Ah, well!" said Mr. Starr, "it is Christmas, and I +think the letters can wait, at least till after dinner." + +And a jolly dinner it was. Turkey for those who +wished, and goose for those who chose goose. And when +the Washington pie and the Marlborough pudding came, the +squash, the mince, the cranberry-tart, and the blazing +plum-pudding, then the children were put through their +genealogical catechism. + +"Will, who is your mother's father's mother's father?" + +"Lucy Pico, sir!" and then great shouting. Then was +it that Mr. Starr told the story which the reader has +read in scene one,--of the perils which may come when a +man has not a penny. He did not speak hastily, nor cast +reproach on Clara for her care of the button. Over +that part of the story he threw a cautious veil. But to +boys and girls he pointed a terrible lesson of the value +of one penny. + +"How dangerous, papa, to drop it into a box for the +heathen!" + +But little Tom found this talk tiresome, and asked +leave to slip away, teasing Clifford as he went about +some postage-stamps Clifford had promised him. + +"Go bring the parcel I left on the hall table, and +your papa will give you some Spanish stamps." + +So the boy brought the mail. + +"What in the world is this?" cried Mr. Starr, as he +cut open the great envelope; and more and more amazed he +was as he ran down the lines:-- + +"`Much Esteemed and Respected Senor, Don JOHN STARR, +Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece: + +"`SENOR,--It is with true yet inexpressible +satisfaction that I write this private note, that I may +be the first of your friends in Madrid to say to you that +the order for your creation as a Knight Companion of the +much esteemed and truly venerable Order of the Golden +Fleece passed the seals of the Chancellerie yesterday. +His Majesty is pleased to say that your views on the +pacification of Porto Rico coincide precisely with his +own; that the hands of the government will be +strengthened as with the force of giants when he +communicates them to the very excellent and much +honored governor of the island, and that, as a mark of +his confidence, he has the pleasure of sending to you the +cordon of the order, and of asking your acceptance.' + +"My dear Lady Dulcinea del Toboso, that is what came +to you when that Cradock man threw a cent into the mud +for me." + +"But, papa, what are the other letters?" + +"Oh, yes, what are they? Here is English; it's from +Wendell. H'm--h'm--h'm. Shortpassage. Worcestershire-- +h'm--Wedgewood--h'm--Staffordshire--h'm. Why, Clara, +George, listen: + +"`I suppose you will not be surprised when I say that +your suggestion made on the deck of the `Samaria,' as to +oxalate of strontium, was received with surprise by Herr +Fernow and Herr Klee. But such is the respect in which +suggestions from America are now held, that they ordered +a trial at once in the Royal kilns, the result of which +are memoranda A and B, enclosed. They are so much +delighted with these results that they have formed a +syndicate with the Winkels, of Potsdam, and the +Schonhoffs, of Berlin, to undertake the manufacture in +Germany; and I am instructed to ask you whether you will +accept a round sum, say 150,000 marks, for the German +patent, or join them, say as a partner, with twenty per +cent of stock in their adventure.' + +"I think so," said Mr. Starr. "That is what the +bright penny comes to at compound interest. Let us try +Birnebaum's letter." + +"`GOTTFRIEED BIRNEBAUM to JOHN STARR: + +"`MY HONORED SIR,--I am at a loss to express to you +the satisfaction with which I write. The eminently +practical suggestions which you made to me so kindly and +freely, as we parted, have, indeed, also proved +themselves undoubtedly to be of even the first import. +It has to me been also, indeed, of the very first +pleasure to communicate them, as I said indeed, to the +first director in charge at the works at Sevres, as I +passed through Paris, and now yet again, with equal +precision also and readiness, to the Herr first fabricant +at Dresden. Your statement regarding the action of the +oxides of gold, in combination with the tungstate of +bdellium, has more than in practice verified itself. I +am requested by the authorities at Dresden to ask the +acceptance, by your accomplished and highly respected +lady, of a dinner-set of their recent manufacture, in +token small of their appreciation, renewed daily, of your +contribution so valuable to the resources of tint and +color in their rooms of design; and M. Foudroyant, of +Sevres, tells me also, by telegraph of to-day, that to +the same much esteemed and highly distinguished lady he +has shipped by the `San Laurent' a tea-service, made to +the order of the Empress of China, and delayed only by +the untoward state of hostilities, greatly to be +regretted, on the Annamite frontier.'" + +Mr. Starr read this long-winded letter with +astonishment. + +"Well, Dulcinea, you will be able to give a dinner- +party to the King of Spain when he comes to visit you at +Toboso. + + +"So much for Brother Cradock's penny." + +"Dear John, till I die I will never be afraid to call +you back when your buttons are tattered." + +"And for me," said little Jack, "I will go now and +look under the bureau for the lost cent, and will have it +for my own." + +(ENTER SERVANTS, R. H. L. E., I WITH THE DRESDEN +CHINA. + +THEY MEET OTHER SERVANTS, L. H. L. E., WITH THE +SEVRES CHINA.) + +TABLEAU. +CURTAIN. + + + +THANKSGIVING AT THE POLLS + +A THANKSGIVING STORY + + +I + +Frederick Dane was on his way towards what he called +his home. His home, alas, was but an indifferent attic +in one of the southern suburbs of Boston. He had been +walking; but he was now standing still, at the well-known +corner of Massachusetts and Columbus Avenues. + +As often happens, Frederick Dane had an opportunity +to wait at this corner a quarter of an hour. As he +looked around him on the silent houses, he could not but +observe the polling-booth, which a watchful city +government had placed in the street, a few days before, +in preparation for the election which was to take place +three weeks afterward. Dane is of an inquiring temper, +and seeing that the polling-booth had a door and the door +had a keyhole, he tried in the keyhole a steel key which +he had picked up in Dock Square the day before. Almost +to his surprise, the key governed the lock at once, and +he found himself able to walk in. + +He left the door wide open, and the gaslight +streaming in revealed to him the aspect of the cells +arranged for Australian voting. The rails were all in +their places, and the election might take place the very +next day. It instantly occurred to Dane that he might +save the five cents which otherwise he would have given +to his masters of the street railway, and be the next +morning three miles nearer his work, if he spent the +night in the polling-cabin. He looked around for a +minute or two, and found some large rolls of street +posters, which had been left there by some disappointed +canvasser the year before, and which had accompanied one +cell of the cabin in its travels. Dane is a prompt man, +and, in a minute more, he had locked the door behind him, +had struck a wax taper which he had in his cigar-box, had +rolled the paper roll out on the floor, to serve as a +pillow. In five minutes more, covered with his heavy +coat, he lay on the floor, sleeping as soundly as he had +slept the year before, when he found himself on the lee +side of an iceberg under Peary's command. + +This is perhaps unnecessary detail, by way of saying +that this is the beginning of the arrangement which a +city, not very intelligent, will make in the next century +for unsettled people, whose own houses are not agreeable +to them. There exist in Boston at this moment three or +four hundred of the polling-booths,--nice little houses, +enough better than most of the peasantry of most of +Europe ever lived in. They are, alas, generally packed +up in lavender and laid away for ten months of the +year. But in the twentieth century we shall send them +down to the shores of islands and other places where +people like to spend the summer, and we shall utilize +them, not for the few hours of an election only, but all +the year round. This will not then be called +"Nationalism," it will be called "Democracy;" and that is +a very good name when it is applied to a very good thing. + +Dane was an old soldier and an old seaman. He was +not troubled by disagreeable dreams, and in the morning, +when the street-cars began to travel, he was awaked a +little after sunrise, by their clatter on the corner. He +felt well satisfied with the success of his experiment, +and began on a forecast, which the reader shall follow +for a few weeks, which he thought, and thought rightly, +would tend to his own convenience, possibly to that of +his friends. + +Dane telegraphed down to the office that he should be +detained an hour that morning, went out to his home of +the day before at Ashmont, paid his landlady her scot, +brought in with him his little possessions in a valise to +the office, and did not appear at his new home until +after nightfall. + +He was then able to establish himself on the basis +which proved convenient afterwards, and which it is worth +while to explain to a world which is not too well housed. +The city had provided three or four chairs there, a +stove, and two tables. Dane had little literature, but, +as he was in the literary line himself, he did not +care for this so much; men who write books are not +commonly eager to read books which are worse than their +own. At a nine-cent window of a neighboring tinman's he +was able to buy himself the few little necessities which +he wanted for housekeeping. And not to detain the reader +too long upon merely fleshly arrangements, in the course +of a couple of hours of Tuesday evening and Wednesday +evening, he had fitted up his convenient if not pretty +bower with all that man requires. It was easy to buy a +mince pie or a cream cake, or a bit of boiled ham or +roast chicken, according as payday was near or distant. +One is glad to have a tablecloth. But if one have a +large poster warning people, a year before, that they +should vote the Prohibition ticket, one's conscience is +not wounded if this poster, ink down, takes the place +which a tablecloth would have taken under other +circumstances. If there is not much crockery to use, +there is but little to wash. And, in short, as well +trained a man of the world as Dane had made himself +thoroughly comfortable in his new quarters before the +week was over. + + + +II + +At the beginning Frederick's views were purely +personal, or, as the preachers say, selfish. Here was +an empty house, three miles nearer his work than his +hired attic was, and he had taken possession. But +conscience always asserts itself, and it was not long +before he felt that he ought to extend the benefits of +this new discovery of his somewhat further. It really +was a satisfaction to what the pulpits call a "felt +want" when as he came through Massachusetts Avenue on +Thursday evening, he met a boy and a girl, neither of +them more than ten years old, crying on the sidewalk. +Dane is sympathetic and fond of children. He stopped +the little brats, and satisfied himself that neither +had had any supper. He could not understand a word of +the language in which they spoke, nor could they +understand him. But kindness needs little spoken +language; and accordingly Frederick led them along to +his cabin, and after waiting, as he always did, a +minute or two, to be sure that no one was in sight, he +unlocked the door, and brought in his little +companions. + +It was clear enough that the children were such waifs +and strays that nothing surprised them, and they readily +accepted the modest hospitalities of the position. Like +all masculine housekeepers, Frederick had provided three +times as much food as he needed for his own physical +wants, so that it was not difficult to make these +children happy with the pieces of mince pie and lemon pie +and cream cake and eclairs which were left from his +unknown festivals of the day before. Poor little things, +they were both cold and tired, and, before half an hour +was over, they were snugly asleep on and under a pile of +Prohibition posters. + + +III + +Fortunately for Frederick Dane, for the nine years +before he joined Peary, he had lived in the city of +Bagdad. He had there served as the English interpreter +for the Caliph of that city. The Caliph did most of +his business at night, and was in the habit of taking +Mr. Dane with him on his evening excursions. In this +way Mr. Dane had made the somewhat intimate +acquaintance of Mr. Jaffrey, the private secretary of +the Caliph; and he had indeed in his own employment for +some time, a wide-awake black man, of the name of +Mezrour, who, for his "other place," was engaged as a +servant in the Caliph's household. Dane was thus not +unfamiliar with the methods of unexpected evening +visits; and it was fortunate for him that he was so. +The little children whom he had picked up, explained to +him, by pantomime which would have made the fortune of +a ballet-girl, that they were much more comfortable in +their new home than they had been in any other, and +that they had no wish to leave it. But by various +temptations addressed to them, in the form of barley +horses and dogs, and sticks of barber's candy, Dane, +who was of a romantic and enterprising disposition, +persuaded them to take him to some of their former +haunts. + +These were mostly at the North End of Boston, +and he soon found that he needed all his +recollections of Bagdad for the purpose of conducting any +conversation with any of the people they knew best. In +a way, however, with a little broken Arabic, a little +broken Hebrew, a great deal of broken China, and many +gesticulations, he made acquaintance with two of their +compatriots, who had, as it seemed, crossed the ocean +with them in the same steerage. That is to say, they +either had or had not; but for many months Mr. Dane was +unable to discover which. Such as they were, however, +they had been sleeping on the outside of the upper attic +of the house in Salutation Alley where these children had +lodged, or not lodged, as the case might be, during the +last few days. When Mr. Dane saw what were called their +lodgings, he did not wonder that they had accepted pot- +luck with him. + +It is necessary to explain all this, that the reader +may understand why, on the first night after the arrival +of these two children, the population of the polling- +booth was enlarged by the presence of these two Hebrew +compatriots. And, without further mystery, it may be as +well to state that all four were from a village about +nine hundred and twenty-three miles north of Odessa, in +the southern part of Russia. They had emigrated in a +compulsory manner from that province, first on account of +the utter failure of anything to eat there; second, on +account of a prejudice which the natives of that country +had contracted against the Hebrew race. + +The two North End friends of little Ezra and Sarah +readily accepted the invitation of the two children to +join in the College Settlement at the corner of the two +avenues. The rules of the institution proved attractive, +and before a second week was well advanced ten light +excelsior mattresses were regularly rolled up every +morning as the different inmates went to their duties; +while, as evening closed in, eight cheerful companions +told stories around the hospitable board. + + + +IV + +It is no part of this little tale to follow, with Mr. +Stevenson's magic, or with that of the Arabian Nights, +the fortunes from day to day of the little circle. +Enough that men of Hebrew race do not prove lazy +anywhere. Dane, certainly, gave them no bad example. +The children were at once entered in a neighboring +school, where they showed the quickness of their race. +They had the advantage, when the week closed and began, +that they could attend the Sabbath school provided for +them by the Hebrews on Saturday and the several Sunday- +schools of the Parker Memorial, the Berkeley Temple, +and the other churches of the neighborhood. The day +before the election, Frederick Dane asked Oleg and +Vladimir to help him in bringing up some short boards, +which they laid on the trusses in the roof above them. +On the little attic thus prepared, they stored +their mattresses and other personal effects before the +great election of that year began. They had no +intention of interfering, even by a cup of cold coffee, +with the great wave of righteous indignation which, on +that particular day of that particular year, "swept +away, as by a great cosmic tidal flood, the pretences +and ambitions, etc., etc., etc." These words are cited +from Frederick Dane's editorial of the next morning, and +were in fact used by him or by some of his friends, +without variations, in all the cosmic changes of the +elections of the next six years. + + + +V + +But so soon as this election was well over, the country +and the city settled down, with what Ransom used to +call "amazin'" readiness to the new order, such as it +was. Only the people who "take up the streets" +detached more men than ever to spoil the pavement. For +now a city election was approaching. And it might be +that the pavers and ditchers and shovellers and +curbstone men and asphalt makers should vote wrong. +Dane and his settlement were well aware that after this +election they would all have to move out from their +comfortable quarters. But, while they were in, they +determined to prepare for a fit Thanksgiving to God, +and the country which makes provision so generous for +those in need. It is not every country, indeed, +which provides four hundred empty houses, every autumn, +for the convenience of any unlodged night-editor with a +skeleton key, who comes along. + +He explained to his companions that a great festival +was near. They heard this with joy. He explained that +no work would be done that day,--not in any cigar-shop or +sweating-room. This also pleased them. He then, at some +length, explained the necessity of the sacrifice of +turkeys on the occasion. He told briefly how Josselyn +and the fathers shot them as they passed through the sky. +But he explained that now we shoot them, as one makes +money, not directly but indirectly. We shoot our +turkeys, say, at shooting-galleries. All this proved +intelligible, and Frederick had no fear for turkeys. + +As for Sarah and Ezra, he found that at Ezra's boys' +club and at Sarah's girls' club, and each of her Sabbath- +school classes and Sunday-school classes, and at each of +his, it had been explained that on the day before +Thanksgiving they must come with baskets to places named, +and carry home a Thanksgiving dinner. + +These announcements were hailed with satisfaction by +all to whom Dane addressed them. Everything in the +country was as strange to them as it would have been to +an old friend of mine, an inhabitant of the planet Mars. +And they accepted the custom of this holiday among the +rest. Oddly enough, it proved that one or two of them +were first-rate shots, and, by attendance at +different shooting-galleries, they brought in more than +a turkey apiece, as Governor Bradford's men did in 1621. +Many of them were at work in large factories, where it +was the custom of the house to give a roasted turkey and +a pan of cranberry sauce to each person who had been on +the pay-list for three months. One or two of them were +errand men in the market, and it was the practice of the +wholesale dealers there, who at this season become to a +certain extent retailers, to encourage these errand men +by presenting to each of them a turkey, which was +promised in advance. As for Dane himself, the +proprietors of his journal always presented a turkey to +each man on their staff. And in looking forward to his +Thanksgiving at the polls, he had expected to provide a +twenty-two pound gobbler which a friend in Vermont was +keeping for him. It may readily be imagined, then, that, +when the day before Thanksgiving came, he was more +oppressed by an embarrassment of riches than by any +difficulty on the debtor side of his account. He had +twelve people to feed, himself included. There were the +two children, their eight friends, and a young Frenchman +from Paris who, like all persons of that nationality who +are six months in this country, had found many enemies +here. Dane had invited him to dinner. He had arranged +that there should be plates or saucers enough for each +person to have two. And now there was to be a chicken- +pie from Obed Shalom, some mince pies and +Marlborough pies from the Union for Christian Work, a +turkey at each end of the board; and he found he should +have left over, after the largest computation for the +appetites of the visitors, twenty-three pies of different +structure, five dishes of cranberry sauce, three or four +boxes of raisins, two or three drums of figs, two roasted +geese and eleven turkeys. He counted all the turkeys as +roasted, because he had the promise of the keeper of the +Montgomery House that he would roast for him all the +birds that were brought in to him before nine o'clock on +Thanksgiving morning. + + + +VI + +Having stated all this on a list carefully written, +first in the English language and second in the +language of the Hebrews, Frederick called his fellow- +lodgers together earlier than usual on the evening +before Thanksgiving Day. He explained to them, in the +patois which they used together, that it would be +indecent for them to carry this supply of food farther +than next Monday for their own purposes. He told them +that the occasion was one of exuberant thanksgiving to +the God of heaven. He showed them that they all had +great reason for thanksgiving. And, in short, he made +three heads of a discourse which might have been +expanded by the most eloquent preacher in Boston +the next day, and would have well covered the twenty- +five minutes which the regulation would have required +for a sermon. He then said that, as they had been +favored with much more than they could use for their own +appetites, they must look up those who were not so well +off as themselves. + +He was well pleased by finding that he was +understood, and what he said was received with applause +in the various forms in which Southern Russia applauds on +such occasions. As for the two children, their eyes were +wide open, and their mouths, and they looked their +wonder. + +Frederick then proposed that two of their number +should volunteer to open a rival establishment at the +polling-booth at the corner of Gates Street and Burgoyne +Street, and that the company should on the next day +invite guests enough to make another table of twelve. He +proposed that the same course should be taken at the +corner of Shapleigh and Bowditch Streets, and yet again +at the booth which is at the corner of Curtis Avenue and +Quincy Street. And he said that, as time would press +upon them, they had better arrange to carry a part at +least of the stores to these places that evening. To +this there was a general assent. The company sat down to +a hasty tea, administered much as the Israelites took +their last meal in Egypt; for every man had on his long +frieze coat and his heavy boots, and they were eager for +the active work of Thanksgiving. For each the +stewards packed two turkeys in a basket, filled in +as far as they could with other stores, and Frederick +headed his procession. + +It was then that he was to learn, for the first time, +that he was not the only person in Boston. + +It was then that he found out that the revelation +made to one man is frequently made to many. + +He found out that he was as wise as the next fellow, +but was no wiser; was as good as the next fellow, but was +no better; and that, in short, he had no special patent +upon his own undertaking, + +The little procession soon arrived at the corner of +Shapleigh and Bowditch Streets. Whoever had made the +locks on the doors of the houses had been content to use +the same pattern for all. It proved, therefore, that the +key of No. 237 answered for No. 238, and it was not +necessary to open the door with the "Jimmy" which Simeon +had under his ulster. + +But on the other hand, to Frederick's amazement, as +he threw the door open, he found a lighted room and a +long table around which sat twelve men, guised or +disguised in much the same way as those whom he had +brought with him. A few moments showed that another +leader of the people had discovered this vacant home a +few weeks before, and had established there another +settlement of the un-homed. As it proved, this gentleman +was a Mashpee Indian. He was, in fact, the member of the +House of Representatives from the town of Mashpee for the +next winter. Arriving in Boston to look for +lodgings, he, not unnaturally, met with a Mohawk, two +Dacotahs, and a Cherokee, who, for various errands, had +come north and east. A similarity of color, not to say +of racial relations, had established a warm friendship +among the five, and they had brought together gradually +twelve gentlemen of copper color, who had been residing +in this polling-booth since the second day after the +general election. Their fortune had not been unlike that +of Frederick and his friends, and at this moment they +were discussing the methods by which they might +distribute several brace of ducks which had been sent up +from Mashpee, a haunch of venison which had come down +from above Machias, and some wild turkeys which had +arrived by express from the St. Regis Indians of Northern +New York. At the moment of the arrival of our friends, +they were sending out two of their number to find how +they might best distribute thus their extra provender. + +These two gladly joined in the little procession, and +all went together to the corner of Quincy Street and +Curtis Avenue. There a similar revelation was made, only +there was some difficulty at first in any real mutual +understanding. For here they met a dozen, more or less, +of French Canadians. These gentlemen had left their +wives and their children in the province of Quebec, and, +finding themselves in Boston, had taken possession of the +polling-booth, where they were living much more +comfortably than they would have lived at home. +They too had been well provided for Thanksgiving, both by +their friends at home and by their employers, and had +been questioning as to the distribution which they could +make of their supplies. Reinforced by four of their +number, the delegation in search of hungry people was +increased to fourteen in number, and with a certain +curiosity, it must be confessed, they went together to +try their respective keys on No. 311. + +Opening this without so much as knocking at the door +to know if here they might not provide the "annex" or +"tender" which they wished to establish, they found, it +must be confessed without any amazement or amusement, a +company of Italians under the charge of one Antonio Fero, +who had also worked out the problem of cheap lodgings, +and had established themselves for some weeks here. +These men also had been touched, either by some priest's +voice or other divine word, with a sense of the duties of +the occasion, and were just looking round to know where +they might spread their second table. Five of them +joined the fourteen, and the whole company, after a rapid +conversation, agreed that they would try No. 277 on the +other side of the Avenue. And here their fortunes +changed. + +For here it proved that the "cops" on that beat, +finding nights growing somewhat cold, and that there was +no provision made by the police commissioners for a club- +room for gentlemen of their profession, had themselves +arranged in the polling-booth a convenient place for +the reading of the evening newspapers and for conference +on their mutual affairs. These "cops" were unmarried +men, and did not much know where was the home in which +the governor requested them to spend their Thanksgiving. +They had therefore determined to spread their own table +in their club-room, and this evening had been making +preparations for a picnic feast there at midnight on +Thanksgiving Day, when they should be relieved from their +more pressing duties. They also had found the liberality +of each member of the force had brought in more than +would be requisite, and were considering the same subject +which had oppressed the consciences of the leaders of the +other bands. + +No one ever knew who made the great suggestion, but +it is probable that it was one of these officials, well +acquainted with the charter of the city of Boston and +with its constitution and by-laws, who offered the +proposal which was adopted. In the jealousy of the +fierce democracy of Boston in the year 1820, when the +present city charter was made, it reserved for itself +permission to open Faneuil Hall at any time for a public +meeting. It proves now that whenever fifty citizens +unite to ask for the use of the hall for such a meeting, +it must be given to them. At the time of which we are +reading the mayor had to preside at every such meeting. +At the "Cops'" club it was highly determined that the +names of fifty citizens should at once be obtained, +and that the Cradle of Liberty should be secured for the +general Thanksgiving. + +It was wisely resolved that no public notice should +be given of this in the journals. It was well known that +that many-eyed Argus called the press is very apt not to +interfere with that which is none of its business. + + + +VII + +And thus it happened that, when Thanksgiving Day came, +the worthy janitor of Faneuil Hall sent down his +assistant to open it, and that the assistant, who meant +to dine at home, found a good-natured friend from the +country who took the keys and lighted the gas in his +place. Before the sun had set, Frederick Dane and +Antonio Fero and Michael Chevalier and the Honorable +Mr. Walk-in-the-Water and Eben Kartschoff arrived with +an express-wagon driven by a stepson of P. Nolan. +There is no difficulty at Faneuil Hall in bringing out +a few trestles and as many boards as one wants for +tables, for Faneuil Hall is a place given to +hospitality. And so, before six o'clock, the hour +assigned for the extemporized dinner, the tables were +set with turkeys, with geese, with venison, with mallards +and plover, with quail and partridges, with cranberry and +squash, and with dishes of Russia and Italy and Greece +and Bohemia, such as have no names. The Greeks brought +fruits, the Indians brought venison, the Italians +brought red wine, the French brought walnuts and +chestnuts, and the good God sent a blessing. Almost +every man found up either a wife or a sweetheart or a +daughter or a niece to come with him, and the feast went +on to the small hours of Friday. The Mayor came down on +time, and being an accomplished man, addressed them in +English, in Latin, in Greek, in Hebrew, and in Tuscan. +And it is to be hoped that they understood him. + +But no record has ever been made of the feast in any +account-book on this side the line. Yet there are those +who have seen it, or something like it, with the eye of +faith. And when, a hundred years hence, some antiquary +reads this story in a number of the "Omaha +Intelligencer," which has escaped the detrition of the +thirty-six thousand days and nights, he will say,-- + +"Why, this was the beginning of what we do now! Only +these people seem to have taken care of strangers only +one month in the twelve. Why did they not welcome all +strangers in like manner, until they had made them feel +at home? These people, once a year, seem to have fed the +hungry. Would it not have been simpler for them to +provide that no man should ever be hungry? These people +certainly thanked God to some purpose once a year; how +happy is the nation which has learned to thank Him always!" + + + +THE SURVIVOR'S STORY + +Fortunately we were with our wives. + +It is in general an excellent custom, as I will +explain if opportunity is given. + +First, you are thus sure of good company. + +For four mortal hours we had ground along, and +stopped and waited and started again, in the drifts +between Westfield and Springfield. We had shrieked out +our woes by the voices of five engines. Brave men had +dug. Patient men had sat inside and waited for the +results of the digging. At last, in triumph, at eleven +and three quarters, as they say in "Cinderella," we +entered the Springfield station. + +It was Christmas Eve! + +Leaving the train to its devices, Blatchford and his +wife (her name was Sarah), and I with mine (her name was +Phebe), walked quickly with our little sacks out of the +station, ploughed and waded along the white street, not +to the Massasoit--no, but to the old Eagle and Star, +which was still standing, and was a favorite with us +youngsters. Good waffles, maple syrup ad lib., such +fixings of other sorts as we preferred, and some liberty. +The amount of liberty in absolutely first-class +hotels is but small. A drowsy boy waked, and turned up +the gas. Blatchford entered our names on the register, +and cried at once, "By George, Wolfgang is here, and +Dick! What luck!" for Dick and Wolfgang also travel with +their wives. The boy explained that they had come up the +river in the New Haven train, were only nine hours behind +time, had arrived at ten, and had just finished supper +and gone to bed. We ordered rare beefsteak, waffles, +dip-toast, omelettes with kidneys, and omelettes without; +we toasted our feet at the open fire in the parlor; we +ate the supper when it was ready; and we also went to +bed; rejoicing that we had home with us, having travelled +with our wives; and that we could keep our Merry +Christmas here. If only Wolfgang and Dick and their +wives would join us, all would be well. (Wolfgang's wife +was named Bertha, and Dick's was named Hosanna,--a name +I have never met with elsewhere.) + +Bed followed; and I am a graceless dog that I do not +write a sonnet here on the unbroken slumber that +followed. Breakfast, by arrangement of us four, at nine. +At 9.30, to us enter Bertha, Dick, Hosanna, and Wolfgang, +to name them in alphabetical order. Four chairs had been +turned down for them. Four chops, four omelettes, and +four small oval dishes of fried potatoes had been +ordered, and now appeared. Immense shouting, immense +kissing among those who had that privilege, general +wondering, and great congratulating that our wives were +there. Solid resolution that we would advance no +farther. Here, and here only, in Springfield itself, +would we celebrate our Christmas Day. + +It may be remarked in parenthesis that we had learned +already that no train had entered the town since eleven +and a quarter; and it was known by telegraph that none +was within thirty-four miles and a half of the spot, at +the moment the vow was made. + +We waded and ploughed our way through the snow to +church. I think Mr. Rumfry, if that is the gentleman's +name who preached an admirable Christmas sermon in a +beautiful church there, will remember the platoon of four +men and four women who made perhaps a fifth of his +congregation in that storm,--a storm which shut off most +church-going. Home again: a jolly fire in the parlor, +dry stockings, and dry slippers. Turkeys, and all things +fitting for the dinner; and then a general assembly, not +in a caravansary, not in a coffee-room, but in the +regular guests' parlor of a New England second-class +hotel, where, as it was ordered, there were no +"transients" but ourselves that day; and whence all the +"boarders" had gone either to their own rooms or to other +homes. + +For people who have their wives with them, it is not +difficult to provide entertainment on such an occasion. + +"Bertha," said Wolfgang, "could you not entertain us +with one of your native dances?" + +"Ho! slave," said Dick to Hosanna, "play upon the +virginals." And Hosanna played a lively Arab air on the +tavern piano, while the fair Bertha danced with a spirit +unusual. Was it indeed in memory of the Christmas of her +own dear home in Circassia? + +All that, from "Bertha" to "Circassia," is not so. +We did not do this at all. That was all a slip of the +pen. What we did was this. John Blatchford pulled the +bell-cord till it broke (they always break in novels, and +sometimes they do in taverns). This bell-cord broke. +The sleepy boy came; and John said, "Caitiff, is there +never a barber in the house?" The frightened boy said +there was; and John bade him send him. In a minute the +barber appeared--black, as was expected--with a shining +face, and white teeth, and in shirt-sleeves, and broad +inquiry. + +"Do you tell me, Caesar," said John, "that in your +country they do not wear their coats on Christmas Day?" + +"Sartin, they do, sah, when they go outdoors." + +"Do you tell me, Caesar," said Dick, "that they have +doors in your country?" + +"Sartin, they do," said poor Caesar, flurried. + +"Boy," said I, "the gentlemen are making fun of you. +They want to know if you ever keep Christmas in your +country without a dance." + +"Never, sah," said poor Caesar. + +"Do they dance without music?" + +"No, sah; never." + +"Go, then," I said, in my sternest accents,--"go +fetch a zithern, or a banjo, or a kit, or a hurdy-gurdy, +or a fiddle." + +The black boy went, and returned with his violin. +And as the light grew gray, and crept into the darkness, +and as the darkness gathered more thick and more, he +played for us, and he played for us, tune after tune; and +we danced--first with precision, then in sport, then in +wild holiday frenzy. We began with waltzes--so great is +the convenience of travelling with your wives--where +should we have been, had we been all sole alone, four +men? Probably playing whist or euchre. And now we began +with waltzes, which passed into polkas, which subsided +into other round dances; and then in very exhaustion we +fell back in a grave quadrille. I danced with Hosanna; +Wolfgang and Sarah were our vis-a-vis. We went +through the same set that Noah and his three boys danced +in the ark with their four wives, and which has been +danced ever since, in every moment, on one or another +spot of the dry earth, going round it with the sun, like +the drum-beat of England--right and left, first two +forward, right hand across, pastorale--the whole +series of them; we did them with as much spirit as if it +had been on a flat on the side of Ararat, ground yet too +muddy for croquet. Then Blatchford called for +"Virginia Reel," and we raced and chased through that. +Poor Caesar began to get exhausted, but a little flip +from downstairs helped him amazingly. And after the flip +Dick cried, "Can you not dance `Money-Musk'?" And in one +wild frenzy of delight we danced "Money-Musk" and "Hull's +Victory" and "Dusty Miller" and "Youth's Companion," and +"Irish jigs" on the closet-door lifted off for the +occasion, till the men lay on the floor screaming with +the fun, and the women fell back on the sofas, fairly +faint with laughing. + +All this last, since the sentence after "Circassia," +is a mistake. There was not any bell, nor any barber, +and we did not dance at all. This was all a slip of my +memory. + +What we really did was this: + +John Blatchford said, "Let us all tell stories." It +was growing dark and he put more logs on the fire. + +Bertha said,-- + + +"Heap on more wood, the wind is chill; +But let it whistle as it will, +We'll keep our merry Christmas still." + + +She said that because it was in "Bertha's Visit,"--a +very stupid book, which she remembered. + +Then Wolfgang told + + +THE PENNY-A-LINER'S STORY + +[Wolfgang is a reporter, or was then, on the staff of +the "Star."] + +When I was on the "Tribune" [he never was on the +"Tribune" an hour, unless he calls selling the "Tribune" +at Fort Plains being on the "Tribune." But I tell the +story as he told it. He said:] When I was on the +"Tribune," I was despatched to report Mr. Webster's great +reply to Hayne. This was in the days of stages. We had +to ride from Baltimore to Washington early in the morning +to get there in time. I found my boots were gone from my +room when the stage-man called me, and I reported that +speech in worsted slippers my wife had given me the week +before. As we came into Bladensburg, it grew light, and +I recognized my boots on the feet of my fellow- +passenger,--there was but one other man in the stage. I +turned to claim them, but stopped in a moment, for it was +Webster himself. How serene his face looked as he slept +there! He woke soon, passed the time of day, offered me +a part of a sandwich, for we were old friends,--I was +counsel against him in the Ogden case. Said Webster to +me, "Steele, I am bothered about this speech; I have a +paragraph in it which I cannot word up to my mind;" and +he repeated it to me. "How would this do?" said he. +"`Let us hope that the sense of unrestricted freedom may +be so intertwined with the desire to preserve a +connection of the several parts of the body politic, that +some arrangement, more or less lasting, may prove in a +measure satisfactory.' How would that do?" + +I said I liked the idea, but the expression seemed +involved. + +"And it is involved," said Webster; "but I can't +improve it." + +"How would this do?" said I. + +"`LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND +INSEPARABLE!'" + +"Capital!" he said, "capital! write that down for +me." At that moment we arrived at the Capitol steps. I +wrote down the words for him, and from my notes he read +them, when that place in the speech came along. + +All of us applauded the story. + +Phebe then told + + +THE SCHOOLMISTRESS'S STORY + +You remind me of the impression that very speech made +on me, as I heard Henry Chapin deliver it at an +exhibition at Leicester Academy. I resolved then that I +would free the slave, or perish in the attempt. But how? +I, a woman--disfranchised by the law? Ha! I saw! + +I went to Arkansas. I opened a "Normal College, or +Academy for Teachers." We had balls every second +night, to make it popular. Immense numbers came. Half +the teachers of the Southern States were trained there. +I had admirable instructors in oil painting and music-- +the most essential studies. The arithmetic I taught +myself. I taught it well. I achieved fame. I achieved +wealth; invested in Arkansas five per cents. Only one +secret device I persevered in. To all--old and young, +innocent girls and sturdy men--I so taught the +multiplication table that one fatal error was hidden in +its array of facts. The nine line is the difficult one. +I buried the error there. "Nine times six," I taught +them, "is fifty-six." The rhyme made it easy. The +gilded falsehood passed from lip to lip, from State to +State,--one little speck in a chain of golden verity. I +retired from teaching. Slowly I watched the growth of +the rebellion. At last the aloe blossom shot up--after +its hundred years of waiting. The Southern heart was +fired. I brooded over my revenge. I repaired to +Richmond. I opened a first-class boarding-house, where +all the Cabinet and most of the Senate came for their +meals; and I had eight permanents. Soon their brows +clouded. The first flush of victory passed away. Night +after night they sat over their calculations, which all +came wrong. I smiled--and was a villain! None of their +sums would prove. None of their estimates matched the +performance! Never a muster-roll that fitted as it +should do! And I--the despised boarding-mistress--I +alone knew why! Often and often, when Memminger has +said to me, with an oath, "Why this discordancy in our +totals?" have my lips burned to tell the secret! But no! +I hid it in my bosom. And when at last I saw a black +regiment march into Richmond, singing "John Brown," I +cried, for the first time in twenty years, "Six times +nine is fifty-four," and gloated in my sweet revenge. + +Then was hushed the harp of Phebe, and Dick told his story. + + + +THE INSPECTOR OF GAS-METERS' STORY + +Mine is a tale of the ingratitude of republics. It +is well-nigh thirty years since I was walking by the +Owego and Ithaca Railroad,--a crooked road, not then +adapted to high speed. Of a sudden I saw that a long +cross timber, on a trestle, high above a swamp, had +sprung up from its ties. I looked for a spike with which +to secure it. I found a stone with which to hammer the +spike. But at this moment a train approached, down hill. +I screamed. They heard! But the engine had no power to +stop the heavy train. With the presence of mind of a +poet, and the courage of a hero, I flung my own weight on +the fatal timber. I would hold it down, or perish. The +engine came. The elasticity of the pine timber whirled +me in the air! But I held on. The tender crossed. +Again I was flung in wild gyrations. But I held on. +"It is no bed of roses," I said; "but what act of +Parliament was there that I should be happy?" Three +passenger cars and ten freight cars, as was then the +vicious custom of that road, passed me. But I held on, +repeating to myself texts of Scripture to give me +courage. As the last car passed, I was whirled into the +air by the rebound of the rafter. "Heavens!" I said, "if +my orbit is a hyperbola, I shall never return to earth." +Hastily I estimated its ordinates, and calculated the +curve. What bliss! It was a parabola! After a flight +of a hundred and seventeen cubits, I landed, head down, +in a soft mud-hole! + +In that train was the young U. S. Grant, on his way +to West Point for examination. But for me the armies of +the Republic would have had no leader. + +I pressed my claim, when I asked to be appointed +Minister to England. Although no one else wished to go, +I alone was forgotten. Such is gratitude with republics! + +He ceased. Then Sarah Blatchford told + + +THE WHEELER AND WILSON'S OPERATIVE'S STORY + +My father had left the anchorage of Sorrento for a +short voyage, if voyage it may be called. Life was +young, and this world seemed heaven. The yacht bowled on +under tight-reefed staysails, and all was happy. +Suddenly the corsairs seized us; all were slain in my +defence; but I--this fatal gift of beauty bade them spare +my life! + +Why linger on my tale? In the Zenana of the Shah of +Persia I found my home. "How escape his eye?" I said; +and, fortunately, I remembered that in my reticule I +carried one box of F. Kidder's indelible ink. Instantly +I applied the liquid in the large bottle to one cheek. +Soon as it was dry, I applied that in the small bottle, +and sat in the sun one hour. My head ached with the +sunlight, but what of that? I was a fright, and I knew +all would be well. + +I was consigned, so soon as my hideous deficiencies +were known, to the sewing-room. Then how I sighed for my +machine! Alas! it was not there; but I constructed an +imitation from a cannon-wheel, a coffee-mill, and two +nut-crackers. And with this I made the underclothing for +the palace and the Zenana. + +I also vowed revenge. Nor did I doubt one instant +how; for in my youth I had read Lucretia Borgia's +memoirs, and I had a certain rule for slowly slaying a +tyrant at a distance. I was in charge of the Shah's own +linen. Every week I set back the buttons on his shirt +collars by the width of one thread; or, by arts known to +me, I shrunk the binding of the collar by a like +proportion. Tighter and tighter with each week did the +vice close around his larynx. Week by week, at the +high religious festivals, I could see his face was +blacker and blacker. At length the hated tyrant died. +The leeches called it apoplexy. I did not undeceive +them. His guards sacked the palace. I bagged the +diamonds, fled with them to Trebizond, and sailed thence +in a caique to South Boston. No more! such memories +oppress me. + +Her voice was hushed. I told my tale in turn. + + +THE CONDUCTOR'S STORY + +I was poor. Let this be my excuse, or rather my +apology. I entered a Third Avenue car at Thirty-sixth +Street, and saw the conductor sleeping. Satan tempted +me, and I took from him his badge, 213. I see the hated +figures now. When he woke, he knew not he had lost it. +The car started, and he walked to the rear. With the +badge on my coat I collected eight fares within, stepped +forward, and sprang into the street. Poverty is my only +apology for the crime. I concealed myself in a cellar +where men were playing with props. Fear is my only +excuse. Lest they should suspect me, I joined their +game, and my forty cents were soon three dollars and +seventy. With these ill-gotten gains I visited the gold +exchange, then open evenings. My superior intelligence +enabled me to place well my modest means, and at +midnight I had a competence. Let me be a warning to all +young men. Since that night I have never gambled more. + +I threw the hated badge into the river. I bought a +palace on Murray Hill, and led an upright and honorable +life. But since that night of terror the sound of the +horse-cars oppresses me. Always since, to go up town or +down, I order my own coupe, with George to drive me; and +never have I entered the cleanly, sweet, and airy +carriage provided for the public. I cannot; conscience +is too much for me. You see in me a monument of crime. + +I said no more. A moment's pause, a few natural +tears, and a single sigh hushed the assembly; then +Bertha, with her siren voice, told + + +THE WIFE OF BIDDEFORD'S STORY + +At the time you speak of I was the private governess +of two lovely boys, Julius and Pompey--Pompey the senior +of the two. The black-eyed darling! I see him now. I +also see, hanging to his neck, his blue-eyed brother, who +had given Pompey his black eye the day before. Pompey +was generous to a fault; Julius parsimonious beyond +virtue. I, therefore, instructed them in two different +rooms. To Pompey I read the story of "Waste not, want +not." To Julius, on the other hand, I spoke of the +All-love of his great Mother Nature, and her profuse +gifts to her children. Leaving him with grapes and +oranges, I stepped back to Pompey, and taught him how to +untie parcels so as to save the string. Leaving him +winding the string neatly, I went back to Julius, and +gave him ginger-cakes. The dear boys grew from year to +year. They outgrew their knickerbockers, and had +trousers. They outgrew their jackets, and became men; +and I felt that I had not lived in vain. I had conquered +nature. Pompey, the little spendthrift, was the honored +cashier of a savings-bank, till he ran away with the +capital. Julius, the miser, became the chief croupier at +the New Crockford's. One of those boys is now in Botany +Bay, and the other is in Sierra Leone! + +"I thought you were going to say in a hotter place," +said John Blatchford; and he told his story. + + +THE STOKER'S STORY + +We were crossing the Atlantic in a Cunarder. I was +second stoker on the starboard watch. In that horrible +gale we spoke of before dinner, the coal was exhausted, +and I, as the best-dressed man, was sent up to the +captain to ask him what we should do. I found him +himself at the wheel. He almost cursed me, and bade me +say nothing of coal, at a moment when he must keep +her head to the wind with her full power, or we were +lost. He bade me slide my hand into his pocket, and take +out the key of the after freight-room, open that, and use +the contents for fuel. I returned hastily to the engine- +room, and we did as we were bid. The room contained +nothing but old account books, which made a hot and +effective fire. + +On the third day the captain came down himself into +the engine-room, where I had never seen him before, +called me aside, and told me that by mistake he had given +me the wrong key; asking me if I had used it. I pointed +to him the empty room; not a leaf was left. He turned +pale with fright. As I saw his emotion, he confided to +me the truth. The books were the evidences or accounts +of the British national debt; of what is familiarly known +as the Consolidated Fund, or the "Consols." They had +been secretly sent to New York for the examination of +James Fiske, who had been asked to advance a few millions +on this security to the English Exchequer, and now all +evidence of indebtedness was gone! + +The captain was about to leap into the sea. But I +dissuaded him. I told him to say nothing; I would keep +his secret; no man else knew it. The government would +never utter it. It was safe in our hands. He +reconsidered his purpose. We came safe to port and did-- +nothing. + +Only on the first quarter-day which followed, I +obtained leave of absence, and visited the Bank of +England, to see what happened. At the door was this +placard, "Applicants for dividends will file a written +application, with name and amount, at desk A, and proceed +in turn to the Paying Teller's Office." I saw their +ingenuity. They were making out new books, certain that +none would apply but those who were accustomed to. So +skilfully do men of government study human nature. + +I stepped lightly to one of the public desks. I took +one of the blanks. I filled it out, "John Blatchford, +L1747 6s. 8d." and handed it in at the open trap. I +took my place in the queue in the teller's room. After +an agreeable hour, a pile, not thick, of Bank of England +notes was given to me; and since that day I have +quarterly drawn that amount from the maternal government +of that country. As I left the teller's room, I observed +the captain in the queue. He was the seventh man from +the window, and I have never seen him more. + +We then asked Hosanna for her story. + + +THE N. E. HISTORICAL GENEALOGIST'S STORY + +"My story," said she, "will take us far back into the +past. It will be necessary for me to dwell on some +incidents in the first settlement of this country, and I +propose that we first prepare and enjoy the Christmas +tree. After this, if your courage holds, you shall hear +an over-true tale." Pretty creature, how little she +knew what was before us! + +As we had sat listening to the stories, we had been +preparing for the tree. Shopping being out of the +question, we were fain from our own stores to make up our +presents, while the women were arranging nuts, and blown +egg-shells, and popcorn strings from the stores of the +Eagle and Star. The popping of corn in two corn-poppers +had gone on through the whole of the story-telling. All +being so nearly ready, I called the drowsy boy again, +and, showing him a very large stick in the wood-box, +asked him to bring me a hatchet. To my great joy he +brought the axe of the establishment, and I bade him +farewell. How little did he think what was before him! +So soon as he had gone I went stealthily down the stairs, +and stepping out into the deep snow, in front of the +hotel, looked up into the lovely night. The storm had +ceased, and I could see far back into the heavens. In +the still evening my strokes might have been heard far +and wide, as I cut down one of the two pretty Norways +that shaded Mr. Pynchon's front walk, next the hotel. I +dragged it over the snow. Blatchford and Steele lowered +sheets to me from the large parlor window, which I +attached to the larger end of the tree. With infinite +difficulty they hauled it in. I joined them in the +parlor, and soon we had as stately a tree growing there +as was in any home of joy that night in the river +counties. + +With swift fingers did our wives adorn it. I should +have said above, that we travelled with our wives, and +that I would recommend that custom to others. It was +impossible, under the circumstances, to maintain much +secrecy; but it had been agreed that all who wished to +turn their backs to the circle, in the preparation of +presents, might do so without offence to the others. As +the presents were wrapped, one by one, in paper of +different colors, they were marked with the names of +giver and receiver, and placed in a large clothes-basket. +At last all was done. I had wrapped up my knife, my +pencil-case, my lettercase, for Steele, Blatchford, and +Dick. To my wife I gave my gold watch-key, which +fortunately fits her watch; to Hosanna, a mere trifle, a +seal ring I wore; to Bertha, my gold chain; and to Sarah +Blatchford, the watch which generally hung from it. For +a few moments we retired to our rooms while the pretty +Hosanna arranged the forty-nine presents on the tree. +Then she clapped her hands, and we rushed in. What a +wondrous sight! What a shout of infantine laughter and +charming prattle! for in that happy moment were we not +all children again? + +I see my story hurries to its close. Dick, who is +the tallest, mounted a step-ladder, and called us by name +to receive our presents. I had a nice gold watch-key +from Hosanna, a knife from Steele, a letter-case from +Phebe, and a pretty pencil-case from Bertha. Dick had +given me his watch-chain, which he knew I fancied; +Sarah Blatchford, a little toy of a Geneva watch she +wore; and her husband, a handsome seal ring,--a present +to him from the Czar, I believe; Phebe, that is my +wife,--for we were travelling with our wives,--had a +pencil-case from Steele, a pretty little letter-case from +Dick, a watch-key from me, and a French repeater from +Blatchford; Sarah Blatchford gave her the knife she +carried, with some bright verses, saying that it was not +to cut love; Bertha, a watch-chain; and Hosanna, a ring +of turquoise and amethysts. The other presents were +similar articles, and were received, as they were given, +with much tender feeling. But at this moment, as Dick +was on the top of the flight of steps, handing down a red +apple from the tree, a slight catastrophe occurred. + +The first thing I was conscious of was the angry hiss +of steam. In a moment I perceived that the steam-boiler, +from which the tavern was warmed, had exploded. The +floor beneath us rose, and we were driven with it through +the ceiling and the rooms above,--through an opening in +the roof into the still night. Around us in the air were +flying all the other contents and occupants of the Star +and Eagle. How bitterly was I reminded of Dick's flight +from the railroad track of the Ithaca and Owego Railroad! +But I could not hope such an escape as his. Still my +flight was in a parabola; and, in a period not longer +than it has taken to describe it, I was thrown senseless, +at last, into a deep snow-bank near the United +States Arsenal. + +Tender hands lifted me and assuaged me. Tender teams +carried me to the City Hospital. Tender eyes brooded +over me. Tender science cared for me. It proved +necessary, before I recovered, to amputate my two legs at +the hips. My right arm was wholly removed, by a delicate +and curious operation, from the socket. We saved the +stump of my left arm, which was amputated just below the +shoulder. I am still in the hospital to recruit my +strength. The doctor does not like to have me occupy my +mind at all; but he says there is no harm in my compiling +my memoirs, or writing magazine stories. My faithful +nurse has laid me on my breast on a pillow, has put a +camel's-hair pencil in my mouth, and, feeling almost +personally acquainted with John Carter, the artist, I +have written out for you, in his method, the story of my +last Christmas. + +I am sorry to say that the others have never been found. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Brick Moon, et. al., by Hale + |