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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18820-8.txt b/18820-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af0b7c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/18820-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8102 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: July 13, 2006 [EBook #18820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + + + + + + + +THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY: + +DEVOTED TO + +LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY. + +VOL. V.--APRIL, 1864.--No. IV. + + + + +SIR CHARLES LYELL ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.[1] + + +When Thomas Chalmers, sixty years ago, lecturing at St. Andrews, +ventured to announce his conviction that 'the writings of Moses do not +fix the antiquity of the globe,' he startled and alarmed, to no small +degree, the orthodoxy of the day. It was a statement far in advance of +the religious thinking of the time. That massive breadth and +comprehensiveness of intellect which soon placed him, _facile princeps_, +at the head of the clergy of Scotland, joined with a candor, and +ingenuous honesty, which made him admired and beloved by all, could not +fail to perceive, and would not hesitate to acknowledge, the force of +the evidence then for some time slowly but steadily and surely +accumulating from the investigations and discoveries of geological +science, which has forced back the origin of the earth to a vast and +undated antiquity. But nothing could have been farther from the +imagination of the great majority of evangelical, unscientific clergymen +of his day. They held that the writings of Moses fixed the antiquity of +the globe as surely as they fixed anything else. And it required no +little boldness in the lecturer to announce a doctrine which was likely +to raise about his ears the hue and cry of heresy. But fortunately for +the rising Boanerges of the Scottish pulpit, whatever questions might +arise in philology and criticism as to the meaning of the writings of +Moses, the evidence adduced in behalf of _the fact_ of the earth's +antiquity was of such a nature that it could not be resisted, and he not +only escaped a prosecution for heresy, but lived to see the doctrine he +had broached almost universally accepted by the religious world. + +If now some divine of acknowledged power and position in any branch of +the Christian Church were to put forth the statement that 'the writings +of Moses do not fix the antiquity of man,' he would startle the ear of +orthodoxy quite as much, but no more than did Chalmers in the early +years of the present century. And if he would fare more hardly than the +Scottish divine, and fall under the ban of church censure, which is not +unlikely, it would be because the evidence for the fact is still +inchoate and resistible by the force of established opinion. But it is +quite within the range of possible things that before the close of the +present century two things may happen: first, that the evidence for a +high antiquity of the human race may accumulate to such an extent as to +carry with it involuntarily the consent of mankind; and second, that the +sacred writings may be found to adjust themselves as easily to this new +finding in the sphere of induction, as they have already done, in the +general mind of the Church, to the doctrine of the great age of the +earth. The two statements are indeed very much akin in several respects. +They both traverse the accepted meaning of the sacred writings at the +time of their announcement. Both are considered, when first promulged, +as irreconcilable with the plain teaching and consequent inspiration of +the Scriptures. Both rest solely, as to their evidence, in the sphere of +inductive science, and are determinable wholly by the finding of facts +accumulated and compared by the processes of inductive reasoning. And +both, if thus established, are destined to be accepted by the general +mind of the age, without actual harm to the real interests of +civilization and religion. No _fact_, which is a fact and not an +illusion, can do harm to any of the vital interests of mankind. No truth +can stand in hopeless antagonism to any other truth. To suppose +otherwise would be to resolve the moral government of God into a +hopeless enigma, or enthrone a perpetual and hostile dualism, resigning +the universe to the rival and contending sway of Ormuzd and Ahriman. + +Before proceeding to the merits of Sir Charles Lyell's discussion, we +wish to glance at some preliminary matters touching the great debate now +pending between science and theology. We wish to review the posture and +temper of the parties; and particularly to refer to the tone and spirit +of the religious press and the pulpit, respecting the alleged +discoveries and claims of science, and their bearing upon the religious +opinion of the time. + +Moreover, in passing, the present writer begs permission to say that he +speaks from the orthodox side of this question; he hails from the +orthodox camp; he wears the clerical vesture of the Scottish worthies; +and is affiliated theologically with Knox and Chalmers, with Edwards and +Alexander, with the New York _Observer_ and the Princeton _Review_. This +much we beg to say, that what follows in these pages may be fully +understood. + +No one who has been attending to the subject with any degree of interest +can have failed to observe that science, in her investigations upon the +grand and momentous themes which have absorbed her attention in these +latter years, has exhibited, and does still exhibit, a steady and +well-defined purpose, and has pursued it with a singularly calm, sober, +unimpassioned, yet resolute temper. Its posture is firm, steady, +self-poised, conscious of rectitude, and anticipative of veritable and +valuable results. Its spirit, though eager, is quiet; though +enthusiastic, is cautious; though ardent, is sceptical; though flushed +with success, is trained to the discipline of disappointment. Its object +is to interrogate nature. It stands at the shrine and awaits the +response of the oracle. It would fain interpret and make intelligible +the wondrous hieroglyphics of this universe, and specially the mystic +characters traced by the long-revolving ages upon the stony tablets of +this planet Earth. It has in the first instance no creed to support, no +dogmas to verify, no meaning to foist upon nature; its sole and single +query is, What does nature teach? What _is_ fact? What _is_ truth? What +_has_ occurred in the past annals of this planet? What _is_ the actual +and true history of its bygone ages, and of the dwellers therein? These +are its questions, addressed to nature by such methods as experience has +taught will reach her ear, and it does not hesitate to take nature's +answer. It does not shrink, and quake, and grow pale lest the response +should overturn some ancient notion. It does not dread to hear the +response, lest morals or religion should be thereby imperilled. It +boldly and resolutely takes the teaching of nature, whatever it may be. +Its conviction is that truth never can be anything else than truth; that +fact can never be anything else than fact; and that no two truths or two +facts in God's universe can be in hopeless and irreconcilable +contradiction. + +In this spirit the genuine sons of science have exhibited, what has +seemed to some, a heartless indifference whether their discoveries or +theories harmonized with the Scriptures or not, or affected the received +opinions of Christendom on subjects pertaining to religion or morals. +They have been sublimely unconcerned as to results in any such +direction. They have investigated, examined, compared, collated, with +long-continued and patient toil, to gather from the buried past the +actual story of its departed cycles; they have not been troubled lest +they should impinge on the creeds of the religious world, or compel +important modifications in the lectures of learned Professors. This was +no care of theirs. They discovered facts, they did not make them. + +Now with all due respect for the opinions and feelings of religious +people, we hesitate not to affirm that this spirit is the only true one +in scientific men. Conceding, as we must, the supremacy of facts in +their own sphere, and granting that, as mundane and human affairs now +stand, the evidence of the senses, purged from fraud and illusion, must +be held to be conclusive, we cheerfully award to scientific men the +largest liberty to pursue their inquiries in matters of fact, utterly +regardless of the havoc which may be thereby wrought among the +traditional, beliefs of men. In no other way can science be true to +herself. She is the child of induction. She can acknowledge no authority +but what has been enthroned by inductive reasoning; and were she to +adjust her conclusions, and garble her facts, to suit the faiths, +beliefs, prejudices, or traditions of men, she would thereby falsify her +inmost life, and stultify herself before the world. And in this +connection we may premise that we regard as worthy of all commendation +the straightforward and unembarrassed manner in which Sir Charles Lyell +pursues his inquiries into the geological evidences of the antiquity of +man. He could not have been unaware that he was striking a ponderous +blow at one of the main traditions of Christendom; nay, that if +successful in establishing his conclusions, he must revolutionize, to a +large extent, the religious thinking of the civilization amid which he +moves; and yet he moves steadily and quietly forward, calm as Marius +amid the ruins of Carthage, not stopping to consider what Biblical men +will do with his facts; never more than touching upon their religious +bearings; intent only on ascertaining what the facts are, and what they +teach. This, we say, is the spirit and temper of the true +philosopher--this betokens the genuine son of science. As well might we +demand of Watt, or Fulton, or Davy, or Brewster, or Faraday, in pursuing +their inquiries into the nature and laws of steam, electricity, +galvanism, or light, to be careful that their discoveries impinge not on +the teachings of religion or the creed of orthodoxy, as to demand of +Lyell to investigate the antiquity of man in humble deference to the +well-established belief of the whole Christian world that he has no such +antiquity. Not a bitter thing is said in the whole book against any +traditional belief; the Scriptures are scarcely more than alluded to; he +seems scarcely conscious that he is attempting to establish conclusions +at variance with the cherished creeds of vast multitudes of men. To some +this may seem the callousness of infidelity; to us it seems the sublime +composure of science. To him, the fact in the case is everything; and he +is content to leave it to work its own results. + +What now, on the other hand, have been the spirit and temper of the +religious press and the pulpit touching the progress of science, and +especially its encroachments upon the ancient landmarks of traditional +belief? We are sorry to be compelled to say that, with some honorable +exceptions, the spirit manifested by religious journals and clergymen +generally, has not been worthy of unqualified admiration. In many +instances they have shown a dogged determination to hear nothing on the +subject. Assuming, with absolute confidence, not only that the +Scriptures are what the Church claims them to be, but that their +interpretation of them is infallible, they have affected to ignore all +the findings of science, and to treat them, in their bearing on Biblical +interpretation, as profane intermeddling with divine things. They seem +to imagine that their safety consists in not seeing danger, like the +ostrich hiding its head in the sand, and supposing that thereby its +whole body is protected. In other instances, while professing a +willingness to hear--to seek truth--to not be afraid of the light--to +boast of science even as the handmaid of religion--they have shown a +disposition to decry the alleged discoveries of science, to ridicule its +supposed facts, to make light of a whole concatenation of evidence, to +prate of the uncertainties and vacillations of science, to sneer at +'sciolists,' or 'mere men of science,' to warn against the 'babblings of +science' and 'philosophy falsely so called,' and meantime they have +betrayed a nervous sensitiveness with regard to certain alleged +discoveries and facts coming to the popular ear. They affect to sneer at +the 'wise week' of the meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science, and to turn the proceedings of that body into +ridicule, by caricaturing the importance attached to some minor organ of +the human or animal frame, in the determination of specific identity or +difference. While absolutely ignorant of the true state of the case as +it stands in the scientific world, they thunder from the pulpit in the +ears of their people--a position where they are safe from +reply--crudities and monstrosities of science at which the humblest +member of the aforesaid Association would smile. In other instances, +with a most unfortunate or misguided zeal, they would fain compel +Christian faith to override and traverse all those great laws of +evidence which regulate human belief in other matters. They do not +dispute the facts of science when clearly established--they will concede +to them an existence as facts in their own sphere--but they hold the +Scriptures, as being inspired and infallible, to be transcendent and +paramount, and not to be affected by any possible combination of facts. +That is to say, if the Scriptures teach the unity of the race, or the +universality of the deluge, or the modern origin of man--and if they +understand them to teach these things, they do teach them for them--they +hold that no amount of evidence which science may adduce can be of any +avail, even though it might amount to absolute certainty, did not the +Scriptures stand in the way. You may believe the facts of science, if +you choose, but the Scriptures must be believed to the contrary +notwithstanding. If science does not agree with the Scriptures, so much +the worse for science--that is its own affair. This is the sentiment, +distinctly uttered not long since by a learned American Professor. +Consistently with this view, they maintain that the Scriptures are to be +held as an _authority_ in scientific matters; that science must order +its conclusions in accordance with them; and that any facts are to be +distrusted which conflict with the declarations of the Bible. They would +thus place the Scriptures and nature in a posture of antagonism; and +require Christian faith to trample upon and triumph over the evidence +of the senses, as it is required to triumph over the world, the flesh, +and the devil. What must be thought of an otherwise educated body of men +who would willingly reduce the faith of the Christian world to such a +posture as that? + +Furthermore, in the general spirit and temper of the religious press +with reference to science and scientific men, there is much to criticize +and condemn. It is often snappish, petulant, ill-humored, unfair, and +sometimes malicious in the extreme. Such opprobrious terms as +infidelity, irreligion, rationalizing tendencies, naturalism, contempt +for the Scriptures, etc., are freely used. Scientific men are called +infidel pretenders, and are charged with a secret conspiracy to +overthrow the faith of the Christian world. A respectable religious +weekly paper in this country, in noticing Sir Charles Lyell's work, +while carefully withholding from its readers the slightest notion of the +array of evidence adduced in the book, is prompt to inform them that the +learned author shows his want of respect for the Word of God. Another, +in noticing the account of the last hours of Mr. Buckle, is almost ready +to exult in the fact that in the wreck and prostration of his great +powers he whined out piteously: 'I am going mad!' and intimates that his +mental sufferings are to be attributed to the judicial visitation of +God, inflicted as a punishment for the employment of those powers in the +service of infidelity. An able, though generally absurd quarterly +journal, in reviewing Hugh Miller's 'Testimony of the Rocks,' finds in +some of his gorgeous speculations premonitions of that mental aberration +which ended his life, and does not hesitate to attribute the final +catastrophe to the overworking of his powers in the service of +pretentious and unsanctified science. Noble and true-hearted son of the +Church though he was, and though laboring with herculean strength to set +the Bible and science in harmony, he has not escaped the envenomed +shafts of a portion of the religious press. By some he has been openly +branded as a traitor in the camp. + +Now this unseemly heat and this unbecoming spirit and temper may be +cloaked under a zeal for religion. It may be said that we are to +'contend earnestly for the faith.' We answer, verily, but never with the +weapons of malice and wickedness. This mode of treating science, if +persisted in, must end only in chagrin and defeat to the parties +employing it, for the simple reason that it does violence to reason, +nature, and all the laws of man's being. Science cannot be turned aside +in her strenuous and ever-successful progress by any such impediments +thrown in her way. The clear, calm, cogent facts and inferences of the +philosopher cannot be met successfully by the half-suppressed shriek of +the mere Biblicist. And it must be at once perceived that any such +treatment of science, any such half-concealed fear of the progress of +science, any such unfair and spiteful bearing toward scientific men, +argues a secret distrust of the system or doctrine which is assumed to +be held and professedly defended. These petulant and much disturbed +editors and divines must be really afraid that the ground is being +undermined beneath their feet. If a man _really believes_ the +inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures, he may feel perfectly +at ease as to any facts present or past in the wide universe. But if he +is not so sure of them, and wishes, for some personal or interested +motive, to believe them, he will be easily disturbed by anything which +seems to militate against them. If the Scriptures are true, they can +never be shown to be false--if they are not true, we ought not to wish +to believe them. + +The spirit and temper above indicated are wholly out of harmony with the +general spirit of Protestant Christianity. It has ever been the boast of +Protestantism that it seeks the light, that it seeks discussion, that +it asserts the right of private judgment, that it courts investigation, +and is willing to expose all its claims to the broad light of day. It +claims to be an everlasting protest against priestly tyranny, and +monkish authority, and abject spiritual servitude in the laity. Strange, +if in this new phase of its history it should fail to be true to itself! + +After the Christian world came generally to accept the statement of +Chalmers that the writings of Moses do not fix the antiquity of the +world, and before science had begun to moot seriously the questions of +the unity of the race, the universality of the Noahian deluge, and the +antiquity of man, it was the custom of clergymen generally to reëcho the +true Protestant strain. They claimed science. They expected much of her. +They wished full and free discussion in order that still stronger +ramparts might be erected around the citadel of their faith. Why should +the tone be changed now? In the year 1840, the Rev. Albert Barnes, of +Philadelphia, who has long occupied a highly respectable and influential +position among the clerical body in this country, in an address on the +'Progress and Tendencies of Science,' delivered before the literary +societies of one of the colleges of Pennsylvania, gave utterance to the +following noble sentiments: + + 'It has cost much to overcome this'--that is, the panic fears of + Christian people at the amazing progress and discoveries of + science--'and to restore confidence to the Christian world that the + researches of science will never permanently clash with the + doctrines of revelation. But the Christian world has come to that; + and science is to receive no more obstruction henceforth from any + alarm that its discoveries will contravene the revealed truth of + God. No future Galileo is to be imprisoned because he can look + farther into the works of nature than other men; and the point + which we have gained now, is that no obstruction is to be thrown in + the way of science by any dread that any scientific truth will + infringe on any theological system. The great truth has gone forth + at last, not to be recalled, that the astronomer may point his + glass to the heavens as long and as patiently as he pleases, + without apprehending opposition from the Christian world; the + chemist may subject all objects to the action of the crucible and + the blowpipe, 'with none to molest him or make him afraid;' the + geologist may penetrate to any part of the earth--may dig as deep + as he pleases, and no one may be alarmed.' + +This exhibits true Christian courage and confidence, and has the genuine +Protestant ring. It is based, however, on the supposition that no +possible conflict can arise between science and his understanding of the +Scriptures, and it is doubtful whether the same equanimity could be +maintained even in the author's mind if the 'progress and tendencies of +science' should take an unexpected direction. Thus, in the same address, +he says: + + 'One fact is remarkable. The geologist proves that the world has + stood many thousands of years, and we cannot deny it. He points to + fossil remains, and tells us of orders of animals that lived many + years before the Mosaic period of the creation of man. The Bible + tells us that MAN was created about six thousand years + ago. Now, the material fact is, that amid all the fossil remains of + the geologist, and all the records of past times, there is no proof + that _man_ has lived longer than that period; but there is abundant + proof to the contrary. Amid all on which the geologist relies to + demonstrate the existence of animals prior to the Mosaic account of + the creation, he has not presented us with _one human bone_, or + with one indication of the existence of man.' + +This is one of the facts, among others, upon which 'the friends of +science and revelation have equal cause to congratulate themselves and +each other.' But what if the fact should change? What if not only one, +but many fossil human bones should be found? How is a divine, who has +already said that the _Bible teaches_ the modern origin of man, to +avoid panic fears? Science is cumulative in its evidences, and it is +somewhat hazardous to undertake to say, at any point, that the _ultima +thule_ of discovery has been reached. + +We reiterate now, in the conclusion of these preliminary matters, the +sentiment of Mr. Barnes that science must be free and untrammelled. No +matter what discoveries may be made, what traditions overturned, what +faiths unsettled, science must have a free rein and an open course. It +must be so; unless we return to mediæval darkness and despotism. +Science, to be science at all, must establish its conclusions by its own +methods, and its methods must be intact and supreme, no matter what +facts they force upon the belief of mankind. It cannot accept any +extraneous authority. It cannot admit any foregone conclusions. It +cannot accept the statements, for instance, of the first chapter of +Genesis as astronomical, meteorological, geological, or ethnological +_facts_, as the able but absurd Review before referred to would insist. +It must verify its own facts. It cannot heed the caveat of any number or +body of clergymen, or orthodox weekly newspapers, who might come forward +and say, respecting the unity of the race, or the antiquity of man: +'Gentlemen, that question is settled. It is put beyond the purview of +your science. An absolute and infallible authority has determined it. To +moot it is profane.' Any such attempt would be both preposterous and +useless. The age will defend the freedom of science; and let all +reasonable and right-thinking men take comfort in the conviction that in +the long run the conclusions reached will be right, in accordance with +fact, in accordance with truth, and that no permanent interest of +religion or morals can suffer. + +But we beg pardon for holding the reader so long by the button, while +Sir Charles Lyell and his book have been kept in the background. These +thoughts have been upon our mind for many months, and we have felt +impelled to give utterance to them here. + +The publication of this work we regard as an eventful matter in the +history of modern thought. The time could not have been far distant when +what we may call the geological history of man on this planet, must have +come before the popular mind; and it is certainly a matter of +congratulation that one of the most venerable, indefatigable, cautious, +and successful investigators of modern times has undertaken the task of +giving to the public a full and labored _résumé_ of the evidence which +has accumulated on the subject. Not unfrequently are the bigotry and +prejudice of well-meaning religious people intensified by the imprudent +zeal of the Hotspurs of science. True science can always afford to bide +its time, and make haste slowly. + +Respecting the work itself, we begin by saying that the theme proposed +is a perfectly legitimate one for science. It is entirely pertinent to +science to undertake to search for the hidden traces of man's former +history, if there be any. It is no dreamland or cloudland which it +proposes to explore. It is no Quixotic adventure which it has gotten up +to astonish and alarm the vulgar. If our human ancestors have lived +fifty or one hundred thousand years longer on this planet than was +generally supposed, it is quite likely they have left some traces behind +them. And if so, it is perfectly legitimate for science to gather, +collate, and interpret those traces. And from what we know of her past +achievements, we may assure ourselves that if man has had such a +pre-historic existence, science will most undoubtedly prove it. She has +proved beyond all sane contradiction the great age of the earth. She has +proved in like manner the vast extent of the universe in space. She has +proved the existence of manifold forms of animal life on this planet for +countless ages before the incoming of man, according to the popular +chronology. She has proved, approximately, the order and succession of +animal life as it arose, and the forms it assumed as the long cycles of +ages rolled on. All these were legitimate themes for science; and all of +them were opposed to the popular belief at the time--as much so as is +the antiquity of man now. And further, we say that the mere suspicion +that any such thing may be--the mere surmise of any such fact--the +merest inkling which scientific men may get of a secret yet hidden +beneath the veil, and waiting to be revealed--is a sufficient +justification of those _tentative_ efforts of science which often result +in the attainment of some grand discovery. Let no timid religionist +charge upon scientific men that they are conspiring with malice prepense +to undermine the popular creeds and overthrow the Bible. This is sheer +nonsense. They follow where nature beckons them. If man has had a high +antiquity on this earth, science will find it out and prove it beyond a +doubt. If he has not had such antiquity, science will discover that too, +and prove it. All we have to do is to let science have her way. + +Another remark which we make here, is respecting the power which a +_single fact_ may have in this investigation. It is not often that great +questions in history, or social polity, or jurisprudence are determined +by a single fact. The great results of history, economics, and law are +effected by the converging power of many facts. So also in science. Its +great results are determined by the accumulated power of multitudinous +facts. Its final categories are fixed by abundant certainties and +manifold inductions. And yet it may sometimes occur that a single fact +may be of such a nature that there is no escaping the conclusion which +it forces upon the mind. It may concentrate in itself all the elements +of certainty usually obtained from many sources. It may be determinative +in its very nature, and admit of scepticism only at the expense of +rationality. A single human grave, with its entombed skeleton, +discovered in some uninhabited waste, where it was never known the foot +of man had trod, would prove conclusively that human footsteps had once +trod there. The discovery of a single weapon of the quality and temper +of the Damascus blade amid the ruins of a buried city, would prove as +fully as would the discovery of a thousand that the people of that age +of the world understood the methods of working steel. One canoe found +moored to the bank of the Delaware, the Schuylkill, or the Susquehanna, +when the white man began to penetrate this continent, would have been +sufficient to prove that the aborigines understood, to that extent, the +art of navigation. So in science, one fossil of a different species from +any found heretofore in a certain deposit is sufficient to add another +to the forms of life represented by that deposit. One fossil found lower +in the geological scale than life was supposed to have begun on this +planet, is sufficient to prove that it had a still earlier beginning. So +with regard to contemporary forms of life, one fact may be sufficient to +warrant or compel a conclusion. Hugh Miller cites the instance of fossil +dung being found as proving to the anti-geologists that these fossils +were once real living creatures, and not mere freaks of nature. The +instance might not be thought conclusive, for if the Author of nature +saw fit to amuse himself by making the semblances of huge iguanodons, +elephants, and hippopotami, in the solid rocks, it might readily be +supposed that He would extend His amusement to the making of fossil +dung.[2] But now, if in the fossil entrails of the cave hyena the bones +of a hare should be found, it would prove conclusively to any but an +anti-geologist, that the hare lived contemporaneously with the hyena. + +These remarks are not thrown in by way of apology for the paucity of +facts adduced by Sir Charles Lyell to prove the antiquity of man, but +merely to illustrate the force which it is possible, in certain +circumstances, for a single fact to have. Thus, for instance, the Scotch +fir is not now, nor ever has been in historic times, a native of the +Danish isles, yet it has been indigenous there in the human period, for +Steenstrup has taken out with his own hands a flint implement from +beneath one the buried trunks of that species in the Danish peat bogs. +Again, if an implement of human workmanship is found in close proximity +to the leg of a bear, or the horn of a reindeer, of extinct species, in +an ancient cavern, and all covered by a floor of stalagmite, we see not +how the conclusion is to be avoided that they were introduced into the +cave before the stalagmite was formed; and in that case the inference +that they were contemporaneous, or nearly so, may well be left to take +care of itself. The attempt has been made to treat with levity the whole +subject of the antiquity of man because of the numerical meagreness of +the facts adduced in support of it. But as to this, it need only be +observed that as a new theme for investigation, its facts must +necessarily be meagre, as must be the facts of any science in its +inchoate condition, and that they are steadily growing in volume, so +that it is not safe to venture a final verdict against it on that score. +The facts in support of the globular form of the earth, or the +Copernican theory of the heavens, or the great age of the earth, were at +one time meagre--they are not so now. Sir Charles Lyell is a pioneer +explorer in a new and mysterious realm: the time may come when, amid the +abundance of the treasure gathered from it, the scanty hoard which he +opens to his reader may seem meagre enough. + +Nevertheless, Sir Charles Lyell is fully a believer in the doctrine of +the high antiquity of man. His book is not merely a debating-club +discussion of the pros and cons, the probabilities for and against the +doctrine, but rather the earnest pleading of the advocate fully +persuaded that the truth is on his side. Not that it displays any +forensic heat;--it is calm, cautious, dispassionate; but it has the air +of one governed by conviction, and he often assumes the entire truth of +his conclusions with the quiet _nonchalance_ of a man seemingly +unconscious that what he regards as matters of established certainty +will be viewed by the great majority of his fellow beings as startling +novelties. + +The main stream of the geological evidence of the antiquity of man tends +to one point, viz., _that man coexisted with the extinct animals_. There +are collateral branches of proof, but this is the main channel. The +remains of man and of man's works and the remains of extinct races of +animals lie side by side, and claim from the geologist the same meed of +antiquity. This is the burden of the book before us. We offer the reader +a brief outline of this evidence. In doing so, we will follow the order +of Sir Charles Lyell's work, and merely state the leading facts which +geological investigations have brought to light. + +In the Danish islands there are deposits of peat from ten to thirty feet +thick, formed in the hollows or depressions of the northern drift or +bowlder formation. These beds of peat have been examined to the bottom, +and they reveal the history of vegetation in those localities, and the +contemporaneous history of human progress. Beginning at the top, the +explorer finds the first layers to contain principally the trunks of the +beech tree, along with implements and tools of wood and iron. Below +these is a deposit of oak trunks, with implements mainly of bronze. +Farther down still he finds the trunks of the _Pinus sylvestris_, or +Scotch fir, together with implements of stone. This clearly indicates +that in the lapse of centuries the pine was supplanted by the oak, and +the oak by the beech, and that man advanced contemporaneously from the +knowledge and use of stone implements to those of bronze and iron. Now +the known fact is that in the time of the Romans, as now, the Danish +isles were covered by magnificent beech forests, and that eighteen +centuries have done little or nothing toward changing the character of +the vegetation. How many centuries must have elapsed to enable the oak +to supplant the pine, and the beech to supplant the oak, can only be +vaguely conjectured. Yet the evidence is clear that man lived in those +old pine forests--leaving his implements of stone behind him, as he did +his tools of bronze and iron in the succeeding periods. Along the coast +of Denmark, also, are found shell mounds mixed with flint knives, +hatchets, etc., but never any tools of bronze or iron, showing that the +rude hunters and fishers who fed on the oyster, cockle, and other +mollusks, lived in the period of the Scotch fir, or, as it has been +called, the 'age of stone.' + +In many of the Swiss lakes are found ancient piles driven into the +bottom, on which were once erected huts or villages, the lacustrine +abodes of man. This use of them is proved by the abundance of flint +implements and fragments of rude pottery, together with bones of +animals, which have been dredged up from among the piles. The implements +found belong to the 'age of stone,' or the period of the Scotch fir in +Denmark, and the bones of animals are all, with one exception, those of +living species. + +Passing over the fossil human remains and works of art of the 'recent' +period, as found in the delta and alluvial plain of the Nile, in the +ancient mounds of the valley of the Ohio, in the mounds of Santos in +Brazil, in the delta of the Mississippi, in which, at the depth of +sixteen feet from the surface, under four buried forests, superimposed +one upon the other, was found, a few years ago, a human skeleton, +estimated by Dr. B. Dowler to have been buried at least fifty thousand +years--in the coral reefs of Florida, in which fossil human remains were +found, estimated by Professor Agassiz to have an antiquity of ten +thousand years--in the recent deposits of seas and lakes, in the central +district of Scotland, which bears clear traces of an upheaval since the +human period, and in the raised beaches of Norway and Sweden--passing +over these for want of space for minute detail, we go back to the +post-pliocene period, and find the bones of man and works of art in +juxtaposition with the fossil remains of extinct mammalia. + +In the cavern of Bize, in the south of France, and in the caves of +Engis, Engihoul, Chokier, and Goffontaine, near Liége, human bones and +teeth, together with fragments of rude pottery, have been found +enveloped in the same mud and breccia, and cemented by stalagmite, in +which are found also the land shells of living species and the bones of +mammalia, some of extinct, and others of recent species. The chemical +condition of all the bones was found to be the same. Quite a full +account is given of the researches of MM. Journal and Christol in the +Bize cavern, and of Dr. Schmerling in the Liége caverns, and every +effort made, apparently, by the author, to weigh candidly and honestly +the evidence for and against the contemporaneous existence and +deposition of the human and mammalian remains. And while he admits that +at one time he was strongly inclined to suspect that they were not +coeval[3], yet he has been compelled by subsequent evidence, especially +in view of the fact that he has had convincing proofs in later years +that the remains of the mammoth and many other extinct species, very +common in caves, occur also in undisturbed alluvium, imbedded in such a +manner with works of art as to leave no room for doubt that man and the +extinct animals coexisted, to reconsider his former opinion, and to +assign to the proofs derived from caves of the high antiquity of man a +much more positive and emphatic character. + +In chapter fifth we have a minute and interesting account of such fossil +human skulls and skeletons as have been found in caves and ancient +tumuli, and a careful endeavor made to estimate their approximate age. +In 1857, in a cave situated in that part of the valley of the Düssel, +near Düsseldorf, which is called the Neanderthal, a skull and skeleton +were found, buried beneath five feet of loam, which were pronounced by +Professor Huxley and others to be clearly human, though indicating small +cerebral development and uncommon strength of corporeal frame. In the +Engis caves, near Liége, portions of six or seven human skeletons were +found, imbedded in the same matrix with the remains of the elephant, +rhinoceros, bear, hyena, and other extinct quadrupeds. In an ancient +tumulus near Borrely, in Denmark, a human skull was discovered which was +adjudged by its surroundings to belong to the 'stone period' of Denmark, +or the era of the Scotch fir. The careful anatomical examination and +comparison to which these skulls have been subjected, have led to +important discussions, not only as to their age, but also as to their +relation to existing races. + +Next comes an extended account of the flint implements and other works +of art, found so abundantly in juxtaposition with the bones of extinct +mammalia, in various localities--in a cave at Brixham, near Torquay, in +Devonshire; in the alluvium of the Thames valley; in the gravel of the +valley of the Ouse, near Bedford; in a fresh-water deposit at Hoxne in +Suffolk; in the valley of the Lach at Icklingham; in a cavern in +Somersetshire; in the caves of Gomer in Glamorganshire, in South Wales; +and especially in the gravel beds of Abbeville and Amiens, in France, +and various localities of the valley of the Somme. As to these flint +implements, they are chiefly knives, hatchets, and instruments of that +sort, and they have been found in such large numbers, and such diverse +localities, and so uniformly in close proximity with the remains of the +same species of extinct mammalia, that the evidence derived from them +is, to say the least, of a very weighty character, and in the opinion of +Sir Charles Lyell clearly establishes the fact that _Elephas +primigenius_, _Elephas antiquus_, _Rhinoceros tichorrhinus_, _Ursus +speloeus_, and other extinct species of the post-pliocene alluvium, +_coexisted with man_. + +Attempts have been made to throw doubt upon these implements, first upon +their nature, and next upon their genuineness; but we think no one who +weighs the evidence candidly and carefully, can award to these doubts +the merit of respectability. That they are works of art and not native +forms, is, we think, as fully established as human observation can +establish anything; and though frauds have been recently detected, it +would be no more absurd to attribute the whole phenomena of fossil +remains to fraudulent manufacture, than to refer to the same source the +whole series of flint implements. In many cases the flint tools were +taken out of their position by the hands of scientific men themselves, +and in others the excavations were made under their immediate +supervision. M. Gandry, in giving an account of his researches at St. +Acheul, in 1859, to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, says: 'The +great point was not to leave the workmen for a single instant.' + +But the most remarkable, not to say startling revelations of the whole +book, are those pertaining to the discovery of an ancient place of +sepulture at Auvignac, in the south of France. Here we seem to be +brought, as it were, face to face with the denizens of the departed +ages, and to have them start up from their ancient tombs to tell the +story of their death and sepulture. We enter this old burial place with +feelings of more strange and solemn awe than we could have in threading +the catacombs of Rome. An obscure village at the foot of the Pyrenees +reveals in its precincts a more astounding history than all the +monuments and mausoleums of the 'eternal' city. + +In the year 1852, a laborer named Bonnemaison, employed in repairing +roads, observed that rabbits, when hotly pursued by the sportsman, ran +into a hole which they had burrowed in a talus of small fragments of +limestone and earthy matter lodged in a depression on the face of a +steep escarpment of nummulitic limestone which forms the bank of a small +brook near the town of Auvignac. On reaching as far into the opening as +the length of his arm, he drew out to his surprise one of the long bones +of the human skeleton; and his curiosity being excited, and having a +suspicion that the hole communicated with a subterranean cavity, he +commenced digging a trench through the middle of the talus, and in a few +hours found himself opposite a heavy slab of rock, placed vertically +against the entrance. Having removed this, he discovered on the other +side of it an arched cavity, seven or eight feet in its greatest height, +ten in width, and seven in horizontal depth. It was almost filled with +bones, among which were two entire skulls, which he recognized at once +as human. The people of Auvignac flocked in astonishment to the spot, +and Dr. Amiel, the mayor, having first ascertained as a medical man and +anatomist that the relics contained the bones of seventeen human +skeletons of both sexes and all ages, ordered them all to be reinterred +in the parish cemetery. + +In 1860, M. Lartet, a distinguished French savan, examined thoroughly +the remaining contents of the cavern and its surroundings and +approaches. He found, on removing the talus which filled up the +depression on the face of the rock, a level terrace leading to the mouth +of the cave. On this terrace was a layer of charcoal and ashes, eight +inches thick, containing fragments of broken, burnt, and gnawed bones of +_extinct and recent mammalia_, in all some nineteen species, and some +seventy or eighty individuals. Also in the same deposit were +hearthstones, and works of art, flint knives, projectiles, sling-stones, +and chips. Many of the bones of the extinct herbivora were streaked, as +if the flesh had been scraped off them by a flint instrument, and others +were split open, as if for the purpose of extracting the marrow. Inside +the grotto were two or three feet of made earth mixed with human and a +few animal bones of extinct and recent species. None of them, however, +burnt or gnawed; and numerous small flat plates of a white shelly +substance made of some species of cockle, perforated in the middle as if +for the purpose of being strung into a bracelet; also some mementos and +memorials of the chase and the sepulture. Did no opposing traditions +stand in the way, we are quite sure the evidence elicited from this +examination would at once fix its character as a burial place, of an +antiquity coeval with the existence of the great extinct mammalia of the +post-pliocene period. It, however, contains some features of special +interest. In the words of Sir Charles Lyell: + + 'The Auvignac cave adds no new species to the list of extinct + quadrupeds, which we have elsewhere, and by independent evidence, + ascertained to have once flourished contemporaneously with man. But + if the fossil memorials have been correctly interpreted--if we have + here before us at the northern base of the Pyrenees a sepulchral + vault with skeletons of human beings, consigned by friends and + relatives to their last resting place--if we have also at the + portal of the tomb the relics of funeral feasts, and within it + indications of viands destined for the use of the departed on their + way to the land of spirits; while among the funeral gifts are + weapons wherewith in other fields to chase the gigantic deer, the + cave lion, the cave bear, and woolly rhinoceros--we have at last + succeeded in tracing back the sacred rites of burial, and, more + interesting still, a belief in a future state, to times long + anterior to those of history and tradition. Rude and superstitious + as may have been the savage of that remote era, he still deserved, + by cherishing the hopes of a hereafter, the epithet of 'noble,' + which Dryden gave to what he seems to have pictured to himself as + the primitive condition of our race: + + 'As Nature first made man, + When wild in woods the noble savage ran.' + +The remainder of the book, so far as it relates to the evidences of +man's antiquity, is mainly occupied with the consideration of the +glacial period, in its relation to the indications of man's first +appearance in Europe. It bears evidence throughout of the hand of a +master. The gigantic phenomena and wonderful agencies of that marvellous +period in geological history--its vast icefields and glaciers, with +their movements, drifts, and denudations--its coast ice and glacial +lakes and rivers--the risings and sinkings of level of islands and +continents, are all considered and discussed in a thoroughly intelligent +and scholarly manner. And here, also, amid the debris of this +far-distant and inhospitable era, has man left the traces of his +existence, as indubitably, according to Sir Charles Lyell, as the great +icebergs themselves. Not only is it proven that man coexisted with the +extinct animals, but also that he coexisted with the extinct glaciers. +We have not space, however, to follow out in detail this evidence. + +The last five chapters of the book are devoted to the discussion of +certain subjects of vital interest and great moment just now in the +scientific world--the theories of progression, development, +transmutation, and variation of species. It seems, however, to be the +intention of the author to give us, not so much his own views as a +general résumé or outline of the tendencies and conclusions of the +scientific world upon these subjects. This he does with his usual +fulness, candor, and impartiality; and the reader at the same time +gathers from him that he is strongly inclined to accept the doctrine of +the origin of species by 'variation and natural selection,' and to +accord vast periods of time for the workings of that law of development +and transmutation which he believes to pervade all mundane affairs. +Considerable space is devoted to the consideration of man's place in +nature, and especially to the discussions arising out of the comparison +of the human and simian brain; and while the author fully admits the +vast gulf placed between man and the animal creation below him--a gulf +which science cannot bridge--by virtue of the moral and religious nature +of man, yet he pointedly protests against confounding distinct orders of +ideas, and insists that man as a physical being is clearly of the same +order as the gorilla and ape; and he does not shrink from accepting the +possibility that they all may have sprung by successive stages or +'leaps' from the same primordial form. His concluding words are, that +'so far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction +into the earth at successive periods of life--sensation, instinct, the +intelligence of the higher mammalia, bordering on reason--and lastly the +improvable reason of man himself, presents us with a picture of the +ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter.' + +To our mind one thing is certain. The whole scientific world is drifting +slowly, but steadily and surely, to the verification and +acceptance--with certain and in some cases important modifications--of +the development hypothesis of Maillet, Lamarck, La Place, Owen, and the +author of the 'Vestiges[4] of Creation.' The movement reminds one of +the motion of one of the great Greenland glaciers, so slow, quiet, +almost imperceptible, yet inexorable as fate--heedless of all obstacles. +As in the case of all great, genuine revolutionary or formative ideas, +it is curious to watch the incidents of its career--to note the alarm, +indignation, scorn, and holy horror occasioned by its first +announcement--to observe these subsiding gradually into patient +endurance and permissive sufferance, and these again giving place to a +certain curiosity and wakeful interest, culminating at last in downright +advocacy and championship. + +We are inclined to think that great injustice has been done the +development theory in the name of morals and religion. There has been no +end to the railing against it on the part of clergymen, Biblical +interpreters, theological Professors, and orthodox editors. It was held +to put infinite dishonor upon the Creator, not only to suppose that He +should take many millions of years to make a world, but that He should +employ the same lengthened period to make man, instead of speaking him +into existence by a word. It was held to put infinite dishonor upon the +Scriptures to suppose that they should be understood in any but the most +literal sense. And it was held to put infinite dishonor upon man to +suppose that he was kith and kin with the monkey--bone of the bone and +flesh of the flesh of the unreasoning quadrupeds, over which in his +god-like royalty he was to sway his imperial sceptre--and this, too, by +a class of teachers who could never have enough of thundering in the +ears of men their degradation, their lost, debased, insensate, and +damnable condition, worse than that of beasts or devils. + +Now, with all deference, we beg to say that this development theory does +not strike us as so fraught with dishonor, either to the powers in +heaven or the beings upon earth. It has for many years impressed us with +its grandeur as an intellectual conception. We doubt whether anything so +grand has dawned upon the mind of modern civilization since the days of +Sir Isaac Newton. And we cannot see what dishonor it can work to either +God or man--especially if it be proved to be true. We regard it, so far +as there is truth in it, as one of those great germinant seed-thoughts, +which at long intervals are dropped into the soil of the human mind; +and though the mind of the age, in its first impulses of joy, may play +wild gambols with it, it is destined in the end to mould and control the +thinking of the civilized world. But apart from its truth or falsity, in +whole or in part, regarded simply _as an intellection_, it strikes us as +one of the grandest of modern times. Spreading itself over almost +illimitable space, grasping back through almost illimitable time, +claiming for itself the boundless multiplicity of type, and form, and +life, and law of the organic world, and unfolding to the wondering gaze +the vast prophetic possibilities of the future, it possesses all the +attributes of grandeur, magnificence, sublimity, and mystery. If it is a +phantasm, it is more gorgeous than the most splendid creations of +poetry. If it is a mirage, it is more beautiful than any that ever +bewildered the vision of enchanted traveller. If it is an _ignis +fatuus_, it is more potent than any ever raised by the spell of the +sorcerer. But whether phantasm, mirage, _ignis fatuus_, or sober but +grand reality, will assuredly be found out by science before another +half century. And the ultimate finding of science, whatever it may be, +must and will be believed. + +It is, of course, not to be expected that the evidence thus adduced by +Sir Charles Lyell in behalf of the antiquity of man, will be accepted as +conclusive by the religious and thinking world in general without a +thorough sifting and an earnest struggle. It is too novel and +revolutionary in its tendencies. And indeed it ought to be subjected to +the severest ordeal of fact and reason. It is in this way alone that the +golden grains of truth are separated from the dross of crude conjecture +and hasty generalization. We are not prepared ourselves to say that the +evidence itself is final and conclusive. We have sketched it for the +purpose of giving the distinguished author a full hearing, and affording +the reader an opportunity to judge for himself. We await the logical +sequences of time, knowing full well that the laws which regulate the +progress of science are as stable and infallible as the laws which +control the motions of the solar and planetary systems. One thing, +however, we may be excused for saying: All the attempts we have seen to +parry the force of this evidence, and to account for the acknowledged +phenomena and facts within the schedule of the received chronology, +strike us as singularly and painfully feeble. One suggestion is that the +bodies of the extinct mammalia may have been preserved in ice until the +recent period, and their bones deposited contemporaneously with those of +modern species and man. Another is that the geologists may be vastly +mistaken as to the date of the extinction of species, and that in fact +the mastodon, mammoth, and other species found in juxtaposition with +human remains and works of art, have probably survived until a very +recent period. Without entering into detail on these points, we would +venture the prediction that when weighed in the balance they will be +found utterly wanting. One type of discussion will survive, if it +survive at all, as a most curious fossil of the layers of modern +thought. It is that represented by the book referred to in a note on a +former page, by Mr. Davies. Believing that all mineral fossils were +never living animals at all, but the types simply of animals that were +to be, stamped instantaneously upon the rocks as prophetic symbols of a +work of creation to be afterward accomplished, he is prepared to hear +without surprise that man should some day be found as a fossil. We refer +to it as a most curious mental product. If it is not unanswerable, we +presume it will at least remain unanswered. + +What now, in conclusion, is to be the effect of this new development of +science on the received and traditionary thinking of the time? What +readjustments will be necessary in case the doctrine of the antiquity of +man comes by and by to take its place, in the creed of science, +alongside of the doctrine of the great age of the earth? Can it be made +to harmonize with what is now known as orthodox and evangelical +Christianity? + +That it cannot be made to harmonize with that sort of orthodoxy which +asserts that 'the Bible teaches' that man began to exist upon the earth +about six thousand years ago, we need hardly aver. Eminent theologians +may say, 'if science does not agree with the Scriptures, so much the +worse for science,' but we opine that the minds which will be able to +stand upon this platform in the face of overwhelming evidence will be +few and far between. But it must be remembered that the Scriptures have +adjusted themselves, in the popular and orthodox mind, to several things +which were once considered opposed to their teachings. The Copernican +theory of the solar system was once regarded and treated as a palpable +and dangerous heresy; yet now-a-days the boldest literalist would not +venture to insist that the Bible teaches a system opposed to that. +Within living memory, it is well known that the doctrine of the recent +creation of the earth was regarded as indubitably a part of the teaching +of the first chapter of Genesis, yet it is now fully conceded in high +orthodox quarters that the opposite doctrine does no violence to the +letter or spirit of the Mosaic writings. Here the adjustment has been of +the interpretation to the fact. It is up to this time largely believed +that the Bible teaches the doctrine of a general deluge, yet Hugh Miller +could advocate, with all the elegance of his superb intellect, and all +the power of his unanswerable science, the opposite doctrine of a +partial or limited deluge, without being outlawed for heresy in the Free +Church of Scotland. It is now held almost universally that the doctrine +of the unity of the race is essential to Christianity; and we, for +ourselves, cannot see that it is otherwise than essential to a properly +organic Christianity, and yet we begin to see a blinking in certain +quarters toward the opposite view;--and we may mention that the curious +book of Mr. Davies before mentioned, which is written in the special +interest of the most literal orthodoxy, advocating the doctrine of +immediate creation in six literal days, and other equally indigestible +matters, insists on the doctrine of _diversity of origin_ in the human +race, because it is taught in the Scriptures! And he does not fail to +find proof texts. He rightly avers that several important assumptions +are needed in order to extract the doctrine of unity from the Mosaic +record. + +We have not adduced these instances of the variations of orthodoxy for +the purpose of intimating that the Bible is a nose of wax, which can be +twisted into any shape without injury--that it is a book which can be +made to mean anything or nothing, as the circumstances of the case may +require--but that it has a vital elasticity and power of adjustment to +all veritable findings of the human mind in every sphere; as indeed it +must have, if it is in any important respect such a communication to +mankind as it is claimed to be. Whatever may be said of the +infallibility of the Scriptures, it is certain that interpretation is +not infallible--a distinction that is not always kept in mind by those +zealous defenders of the faith who are ready to make the inspiration of +the Scriptures stand or fall with a given interpretation of a particular +passage. + +But can the doctrine of man's antiquity be made to harmonize with the +essentials of Christianity and the inspiration of the Scriptures? If +Christianity be a religion for man, as the present writer believes, we +answer emphatically in the affirmative. Not the smallest feature that is +essential to make Christianity a religion for man, if it be such, will +be imperilled by this or any other well-established doctrine of +science. But precisely how much modification of existing opinion, how +much sepulture of traditionary relics, how much clearing away of rubbish +will be indispensable, it is now not easy to say. It is certain that it +must be conceded that we have as yet attained to no infallible +chronology. And it is equally certain that a larger amount of allegory +must be infused into the first chapters of Genesis than would have been +digestible by the theologians of the last generation, if we would ever +have theology and science stand upon the same plane. The question in the +child's catechism, '_Who was the first man?_' will by and by be easier +asked than answered. If, moreover, the narrative in Genesis refers to +some imaginary being supposed to have existed upon the earth about six +thousand years ago, it seems clear that this being cannot be regarded as +the 'federal head' of the human race, from whom 'all mankind have +descended by ordinary generation.' And we strongly suspect that a very +large amount of theological machinery will need to be readjusted; and +amid many pangs and with much tribulation will not a few canons of +orthodoxy pass away to the region of fossil forms. + +In conclusion, we take leave of this work of Sir Charles Lyell with the +conviction that however obnoxious it may be to orthodox editors and +superannuated doctors of divinity, it is destined to stimulate greatly +scientific inquiry and active thought. It is impossible that when such a +mine has been sprung, and promises to yield such tangible results, it +should suddenly cease to work, because the note of alarm is raised by +affrighted theologians. We predict for science in this department a rich +and rapid progress of discovery. And we are profoundly gratified that +the subject has been broken to the popular mind in such a cautious and +unexceptionable manner as to the tone and spirit of the work--the author +holding with philosophic steadfastness to the subject matter in hand, +and, in the true scientific spirit, eschewing all side issues, and +exhibiting throughout a candor, impartiality, and honesty, worthy the +well-earned fame of this Nestor of geologists. + + + + +ÆNONE: + +A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME. + + +CHAPTER III. + +The thoughts of Ænone followed her into sleep, and colored her dreams +with pleasant memories of the past; and when the morning sun, pouring +its beams through the window, awakened her, there was a momentary +struggle before she could throw off the fancies of the night and realize +that she was no longer in her cottage home. But distinct perception soon +returned as she glanced around her and recognized the paintings which +adorned her chamber, and the marble goddess still holding forth a +welcoming hand, as though in greeting for the return of another day. + +Throwing open the window, she sat down for a moment to enjoy the soft +breeze, which, laden with perfume, came gambolling fresh from the Alban +Hills. The window at which she placed herself looked out upon a central +courtyard, formed by the intersection of the main body of the palace at +right angles with the two wings. This court was paved from one side to +the other with marble flags of different shades, excepting in the +middle, where played the fountain--a circular basin of water, upon a +rock, in the centre of which two bronze satyrs struggled for a tortoise, +from whose mouth the supplying stream poured forth. From the end of each +wing of the palace the line of the sides was continued by a straight +stone wall of considerable height, leading across the whole breadth of +the Cælian Hill to the slope of its farther side, and enclosing an area +thickly planted with such flowers, shrubbery, and trees as the taste of +the period considered most essential to a well-appointed garden. + +For the moment the central court was almost deserted, the only +appearance of life being a little Nubian slave, who sat upon the edge of +the fountain, and lazily played with a tame stork. But all at once Ænone +heard mingled voices, and distinguished among them the tones of her +husband--deeper than the others, and marked with that quicker and more +decided accent acquired by a long course of undisputed authority. At +first the sounds seemed stationary, as though the speakers were tarrying +in one place for discussion; but in a moment they approached nearer, and +the disputants stood in full sight upon a balcony which ran around the +interior wall of the palace and overhung the sides of the court. + +Foremost and tallest of the group stood Sergius Vanno, recognizable at +once by his athletic and graceful figure, reflective face, commanding +eye, bright with intelligence, and his agreeable, refined, and +attractive presence, as the leading spirit of the group. At his side +leaned the poet Emilius, whose weak and slender figure and mild, girlish +expression would hardly appear to sustain the reputation he enjoyed of +devoting half his time to the invention and elaboration of new forms of +profligacy, and thereby carrying his exploits into realms of vice +hitherto undiscovered even in that age of unbridled indulgence. Behind +these stood three others--a captain of the prætorian guard, a tribune of +the law, and a comedian of the school of Plautus--each probably carrying +the palm of excellence in his especial calling, and all of them +doubtless endowed with superior capacities as boon companions in a +night-long revel. They had evidently but just left the banqueting hall, +and bore indications of having passed a somewhat unquiet night, though +in different degrees; for while the captain and comedian still staggered +confusedly and displayed haggard faces and disordered dresses, the +superior tact, constitutional strength, or recuperative powers of the +others enabled them to maintain such a demeanor of proper sobriety, that +but for a slight flush and the companionship in which they were placed, +their late excesses might have passed unnoticed. + +'It was the choice of all the slaves, both male and female, I tell you,' +said the comedian, evidently resuming an unfinished dispute. 'The choice +of all the slaves, Sergius.' + +'Hear you now this man!' exclaimed Sergius, turning toward his friend +Emilius with a quiet smile. 'Thrice already have I told him the truth of +the matter, and still he persists; well knowing that, if now he can +scarcely sustain himself from falling over into the area below, he +certainly could not, three hours ago, have been able to tell what play +he made, or whether he made any play at all. Nay, Bassus, it was only of +the male slaves that I spoke.' + +'Yet listen to me,' insisted the comedian, placing his hand upon the +other's shoulder and leaning heavily upon him, 'You do not deny that we +gamed?' + +'Of a surety I do not.' + +'Nor that I won money of you?' + +'Ten sestertia. I acknowledge it.' + +'Nay, twenty sestertia, was it not?' + +'Twenty sestertia be it, then. What matters the amount, when I paid you +upon the moment, and you now have the sum, whatever it may be, in your +own purse?' + +'True, true,' rejoined the other, nodding his head with an air of sage +gravity; 'whatever it was, of a certainty I now have it. And then, +Sergius, you offered against the ten--no, the twenty sestertia--to play +the choice of all your new slaves.' + +'Of my new male slaves, certainly.' + +'No, of the slaves both male and female. I will tell you how it is that +I so especially recollect. It was because I had heard from our lawgiver +here about the beautiful Samian girl you have borne home among your +share of the spoils. You did not think, perhaps, that I knew of her; but +when I offered to throw the dice, I held her in my mind. And then, when +I had won, and told you that I would select her, you said--' + +'Exactly what I had said to you before, that you could take your choice +from the male slaves,' interrupted the other impatiently. 'And I have +brought you directly hither to make your selection, for fear that when +you became sober you would forget the matter altogether, and thereby +cheat yourself out of a fairly won prize. Am I not right, comrades? Was +not the play as I have stated it?' + +'Neither more nor less,' the poet answered; and the tribune and the +prætorian captain spoke to the same effect. The comedian still looked +unconvinced, and, for the moment, gazed inquiringly from one to the +other, in the hope that some newer recollection would come to the mind +of either of them and lead to a recantation. But in that desire he was +disappointed, and at last he reluctantly gave up the contest, not daring +to protract it longer for fear of provoking a quarrel, and thereby being +thrust out of the society to which he was aware his social talents, +counteracting his low birth and calling, were his sole passport. And +after all, though he had too carelessly made his wager, he had won +twenty sestertia and a male slave, and that was something. + +'Well, be it so,' he assented, with a sigh. 'A male slave, since you say +it. I had supposed I had spoken more particularly, but it seems that my +poor brain was careless and at fault. Only bring the slaves hither +quickly, that I may choose and go home, for I must play Castorex this +morning, and this head of mine seems likely to split.' + +'Let it split, then,' retorted Sergius with a laugh. 'It may save our +cracking it some day with a goblet. Ho, there, Drumo!' + +He was not obliged to call a second time, for, at the first ring of his +voice, the obedient armor bearer emerged from one of the lower entrances +into the court. He also, as well as his master, had been convivially +celebrating his return, and now bore the evidences of his frolic in a +sad combination of inflamed features, tangled hair, and disordered +clothing. + +'What ho, master?' he cried, stretching his huge limbs in a yawn and +looking up. 'Am I wanted?' + +'You have been drinking,' said Sergius; 'go to the fountain basin there +and cleanse yourself. If there were fish in it, I would feel half +inclined to cast you in to feed them. After that, come back to me.' + +The giant grinned, knowing that his master placed too high a value upon +him ever to make a dinner of him for the carp, though he might now and +then inflict a stripe or two in anger upon his broad shoulders. Then +kneeling down at the fountain, he quickly splashed the water into his +face and eyes, ran one finger from his forehead to the crown of his head +in order to part his disordered locks, pulled away a loose straw from +behind his neck, gave his tumbled tunic one jerk to straighten it, and, +with the air of a person who had made an elaborate toilet, and could +afford to be well satisfied with the result, presented himself for +inspection. + +'So! Were my new slaves sent in last night?' + +The armor bearer nodded. + +'The whole allotment?' + +'I suppose so, master. Fifty there should have been, the lictor said, +when he brought them, but one had died, and they had thrown him into the +Tiber to the fishes. Ho, ho, master, we shall all go one day to feed the +fishes or the dogs or the worms, both you and I alike.' + +'Silence, you hound!' said Sergius, more by way of habit than because he +really minded a familiarity to which he had gradually grown accustomed. + +'The others came a little before midnight, and I locked them up below,' +the Gaul added, pointing to a low range of buildings at the foot of the +garden. 'They are a well-looking lot, master, but among them all you +will not find one to take my place; so, for this time, I am safe, and +can yet say and do what I please. Ho, ho! And here is the list of them +which the messenger brought.' + +'Never mind the list. It is doubtless all correct,' said Sergius, waving +the papyrus aside. 'Go, now, and bring the slaves hither.' + +The man nodded, and taking a large key from a nail over his head, +disappeared down the garden walk, and in a few moments returned, driving +before him the whole body of captives which had fallen to the share of +his master. As he had reported, they were of good quality, the best of +the prisoners of war having naturally been reserved for the commander of +the expedition. The men were mostly stout and athletic, while the women +were of healthy and properly agreeable appearance. Of the whole number +there were none who seemed to be at all sickly or ill favored; while the +only one who exhibited any signs of deformity was a dwarf, whose +withered and twisted figure imparted to him that peculiar grotesque and +ape-like appearance which, at that period, was certain to commend him to +the taste of wealthy purchasers, and render him of more value than a man +of correct proportions. Moreover, as a general thing, the captives +seemed more cheerful than they had been the day before, having had the +advantage of several hours' rest and of better food than had fallen to +their lot at any time during the journey. There were a few who +manifested sorrow at having been separated from relatives or friends +with whom they had succeeded in travelling to the very gates of the +city; and some others, as yet unbroken to misfortune, maintained a +rebellious and intractable demeanor. But the majority had already made +up their minds that slavery was henceforth their inevitable fate, and +that their highest future happiness must be looked for in its +alleviation rather than in its abolition; and they now appeared to take +pleasure in the thought that their fortune had led them to a wealthy +household, where they would probably experience kind treatment and have +easy tasks allotted to them. + +Now, having reached the paved court, the captives rested and awaited the +inspection of their owner--some sitting upon the marble border of the +fountain, some standing by in groups, and through a sort of sympathy +holding each others' hands, as though that would give protection. A few +gazed moodily upon the ground; and one or two, oppressed with sorrow or +nervous apprehension, quietly wept. But the greater portion, impressed +with a dim consciousness that their future lot might depend upon their +present conduct and appearance, endeavored to assume an air of pleased +satisfaction, and thereby possibly win the favorable notice of the group +which stood surveying them from the balcony, or at the least the +friendly compassion of the older slaves of the household, who began to +pour forth from the different doors upon the ground floor of the palace, +and join unbidden in the inspection. Most of these, in the early days of +their captivity, had stood up in the centre of similar gaping and +curious crowds, and now in their turn they sated their curiosity upon +the new comers. A few, remembering their own sorrows of those former +times, seemed compassionate; others manifested careless indifference; +some wondered whether enough of the present reinforcement would be +retained to materially lighten their own labors; and others, who had +been known to fail in attention to their peculiar departments of +industry, trembled lest their places might now be supplied by the new +comers, and themselves be again driven off to market. Whatever their +thoughts and feelings, however, no one ventured to approach too near or +speak aloud, excepting the armor bearer, who, as the privileged slave of +the household as well as the marshal of the occasion, moved hither and +thither among the captives, encouraging some with rude jokes, shoving +others back or forward into suitable positions, and generally +endeavoring to set forth the merits of the whole mass in as favorable a +light as possible. + +'Now stand forward where the noble imperator and his friends can see +you,' was his command to a well-featured, strong-limbed Rhodian. 'Do you +think to better your lot by slinking out of sight among the women, and +so perhaps be sent off unnoticed to the market, and there be purchased +for hard labor in the quarry pits? Who knows but that if my master sees +you, he may make a gladiator of you; and then you can fight before +emperors and consuls.' + +'What care I for your master?' retorted the man. 'Let him give me back +my wife and my child, whom I yesterday had, and who now are gone.' + +The armor bearer shrugged his shoulders. + +'Is that all?' he said. 'Wives are plenty in this city of Rome. When I +first came from Gaul, I too had a wife, and, like you, lost her. What +then? I suppose that she is happy, wherever she may be; and I--I have +not allowed myself to be lonely since. But neither did I let myself +slink behind, when I stood in the market; but I pressed forward and +struck upon my chest, and called to the highborn and the rich to look +upon me, and see how a man could be made, and what he could be good for. +And here am I now, a slave, indeed--that cannot be helped--but for all +that, a ruler over the other slaves, and my master's favorite and +companion. By the immortal gods! there is more manliness in yonder +dwarf, with his open face, than in you, with your whimpering and your +tears. I will call him forward to teach you a lesson how to act.' + +At the first beck the dwarf pressed forward with a smile, alternately +stretching up to make the most of his diminutive proportions, and then +bowing low to crave the good will of the spectators. His appearance +brought him instant commendation; and more particularly did the +prætorian captain break forth into expressions of appreciation. + +'A proper dwarf! a most excellent dwarf! Smaller and more ugly by a +quarter than one which I have known to be sold for forty sestertia! And +see, Bassus, how he bows and rubs his hands and shows his teeth at +yourself. He has perhaps been the buffoon in a Grecian theatre, and in +you now recognizes a brother in the art. Take him, therefore, for your +choice. At the very least, he will be of value to carry your bag of +plays before you, and he may even help you act.' + +The comedian forced a sickly smile upon his features, not daring to +quarrel with his companion, yet not insensible to the sneering tone with +which he was addressed. He had, at the first, been struck with the +dwarf, and half inclined to choose him. But now the mocking speech +deterred him. + +'You are disposed to be merry,' he said; 'nor do you reason well. It is +not an ape that an actor wants to carry his plays. There are enough such +to listen to them. I will leave the dwarf, therefore, for you to +purchase. Perhaps, after all, there may be a place found for him +somewhere in your own household. I will make another selection for +myself.' + +And descending from the piazza, he moved in among the captives for the +purpose of entering upon a more careful inspection. Eager as he was at +all times to make the best of a bargain, he was the more especially +anxious now; for the contemptuous tones of his companions rankled in his +heart, and he felt that the more he evinced a capacity to benefit +himself, the more he would be likely to disappoint them. Passing +deliberately about the slaves, therefore, he scrutinized each face and +form before him with the most exact attention; carefully lifting the +eyelid of one, and examining the teeth of another--now pressing his +knuckles into an expanded chest, then twisting a muscular arm--causing +some to stoop, and others to bend back--and generally practising all +those arts and expedients which a professional slave dealer would employ +to guard himself against imposition. Nor was it until the lapse of many +minutes that he settled upon his prize. + +'I will take this man,' he said, dragging the Rhodian forth by the +shoulder. 'He shall be my slave.' + +'It is well; take him,' responded Sergius, in his most courtly tone. And +for the moment or two, during which his companions yet tarried, he +maintained a demeanor so studied and controlled that it would have +required a keen glance to detect in his face his bitter sense of +disappointment at the selection which the comedian had made. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +As Sergius turned and entered the house, those who had seen him saluted +as the favorite of the emperor and the idol of the crowd, and thence had +believed unbounded happiness must be his never-varying lot, would have +been astonished to know how many things there were which rankled +painfully in his heart, and, for the moment, made him discontented and +fretful. + +Thoroughly jealous in respect to his military fame, he was suspicious +that the cheers of the crowd upon his ovation had been elicited more by +the perfection of the pageantry than by a proper appreciation of his own +merits; while it was certain that the Senate, though meeting him with +the customary congratulations, had delivered them with more form than +enthusiasm. And though the emperor had given audience, he had bestowed +no new honors upon him. To these disappointments was added the unhappy, +self-accusing consciousness of having failed in duty to his own dignity, +by having passed the night in wild revelry and among companions, many of +whom were beneath him in every quality except their talent for ribald +jesting and buffoonery. Moreover, though reputed wealthy, he was at +present pressed for money, and had added to his embarrassments by losing +at the gaming table during the past night more than he could well afford +to part with; while, to add to all other vexations, the comedian Bassus +had not only increased the loss by selecting the most valuable slave, +but had performed the action in a cool and calculating manner, which was +particularly exasperating. + +'The low buffoon!' Sergius muttered to himself. 'Who would have thought +that, half drunken as he was, he would have had the wit to select a +slave worth double the sum which had been staked against him, and one +whom I had obtained with such trouble, and for my own purposes? Can it +be that he pretended his intoxication the more easily to outwit me? I +had no fear, but believed that he would be sure to select some slim +youth who could be taught to play the flute before him or act as +cupbearer. What demon put it into his head so suddenly to look for bone +and muscle rather than for girlish graces?' + +This last suspicion of having been made the victim of artful +dissimulation added fuel to his vexation, more especially as, turning +his head and glancing into the courtyard, he saw the comedian slipping +through a side passage, and the Rhodian obediently following at his +heels. This filled up the measure of Sergius's wrath. To his excited +fancy the actor bore upon his face an insultingly satisfied smirk of +triumph, while the Rhodian appeared larger and stronger than ever. With +an exclamation of unavailing anger, Sergius pushed open the door, and +stood in the presence of his wife. + +It was into the dining hall that he had plunged. Upon a small table was +placed the wine and bread and fruits which formed the customary morning +meal among the richer Romans; and beside the table stood Ænone, in an +attitude in which hope and fear and surprise and disappointment were +equally blended. + +Clad in the manner which she knew had always best pleased his fancy, +wearing the adornments which, as his gifts, he would most naturally +prefer to see upon her, with her curling locks parted as in former days +he had liked her to dress them, even striving to impart to her features +the peculiar radiant expression which, in other times, had most won his +heart--she had impatiently awaited his approach, with a vague fear +whispering poisonous surmises to her soul, but yet with a joyful and +hopeful assurance of good predominating over all. As soon as these +friends of his had departed--she had said to herself--he would no longer +delay coming to her. He would meet her with extended arms and the same +joyous welcome as of old. He would utter kind and pleasant words +expressive of his happiness, and would fold her to his heart. There +would she nestle and forget her foolish fears and suspicions of the past +night, and would only remember that she was loved. As, however, she now +saw the frown upon his face, her heart and courage failed her; and in +proportion as she had previously fortified her mind with hopeful +confidence, a terrible reaction of apprehension overcame her. Could it +be that the angry look was for her, and that it could be justified by +any word that she had ever spoken or any duty that she had neglected? +With one hand lightly resting upon the table, her right foot thrown +forward in impulsive readiness to spring into his extended arms, but her +whole form drooping and shrinking with dismay, her face pale, and the +smile which she had called upon it now faintly and painfully flickering +in a deathlike manner about her whitened lips, as it glided from her +control and began to give place to an utter and undisguised fear, she +stood awaiting his first word or action. + +'Ha, Ænone!' + +'My lord--' + +Then remembering what was due to her upon their first meeting, he +smoothed the frown from off his face, held out his arms, and tenderly +embraced her, uttering kind and loving words. It was the same gesture +with which he had parted from her when, six months before, the state had +called upon him to arouse from the ease and tranquility of his wedded +life and do new service upon the field. Those were the same gentle and +affectionate words which he had been wont to utter. And yet to her +quickened apprehension, urged on by some secret instinct, it seemed as +though the soul of the tender greeting was gone, leaving but the mere +form behind. Could it be that during those few months of absence he had +learned to think less dearly of her? At the thought, the last faint +gleams of the flickering smile died away from her face; while he, +unobservant of her distress, and still goaded by the remembrance of his +losses, released her from his embrace and threw himself heavily down +upon the nearest lounge. + +'I am thirsty,' he said. 'Give me some drink.' + +She poured some wine into a goblet, and timidly presented it to his +lips. The liquid, cooled with snow from the mountains, was refreshing to +his palate, and he drank it to the last drop. As he parted with the +goblet--rather tossing it away than setting it down--he noticed how she +stood before him with whitened face and frightened features, and with +the attitude of a shrinking slave rather than of a wife joyous to be of +service. His heart smote him for his negligent greeting, and he rose up +from the lounge and placed his arm about her. + +'Not with you, Ænone, am I vexed,' he said, partly comprehending the +cause of her emotion. And drawing her nearer, he commenced toying with +her waving locks, telling her how for months he had been longing to meet +her, and how her looks more than ever delighted him, and otherwise +uttering such pleasant and reassuring words as soonest came into his +mind. As she began to perceive that it was not for any fault of hers +that he had displayed anger, her face gradually lost its expression of +dread. But still she could not fail to notice that the words which he +spoke were not such as are commonly prompted by a true and +unpremeditated affection; but were rather the labored and soulless +result of a mere good-natured desire to make atonement for a neglect, +and were uttered in all the careless spirit with which one tries to +soothe an improperly aggrieved child; and the old smile but feebly +played upon her features, struggle with it as earnestly as she would. + +'Nay, not at your sweet face is my anger excited, Ænone,' he said; 'but +at that scurvy dog, Bassus. He should himself be a slave and the +companion of slaves, were his true station meted out to him.' + +'He with whom you passed the night?' suggested Ænone. + +'Ay, he was one of us,' Sergius answered, taking a position nearer the +table, and commencing to pick off a crumb of bread as the incentive to a +more extended repast. 'He was with us, as there always will be some rude +and unmannerly intruder in every company; but there were also others, +the associates of Emilius. There was Sotus, the Egyptian, a learned +astronomer, and Cyope, the renowned Greek dramatist, and Spoletius, who +is now writing a history of the empire, and, if what he says is true, +has already brought his work down to the time of the Emperor Nero--' + +'And will carry it on until he reaches the present day! And will then, +in their proper place, tell about your achievements, my lord!' exclaimed +Ænone, a flush of expectation glowing upon her face, as she thought that +here were her conjectures of the preceding evening about to be realized. + +'Ay!' responded Sergius; 'I presume that he will speak of me and of what +you dignify as my achievements, foolishly fond child; and therefore it +was meet that I should not neglect the opportunity of being in his +presence, in order that he might speak well of me rather than the +reverse. Otherwise, you well know that I would have preferred to let +revelling have the go-by, and to have come at once to gather you to my +heart. But we men, whom the world calls celebrated, must be watchful, +and learn to resign pleasure to duty, and guard our fame, or else it may +go out like a wasted lamp, and leave it in the darkness of oblivion. We +cannot spare our time to give free scope to our love, as though we were +poor and unknown.' + +Ænone reproached herself for her suspicions. Surely she had done wrong +in distrusting him for the coldness of his greeting. He may have meant +nothing but love and kindness, and have been weighed down by cares and +anxieties which she could not comprehend. Had he not said that something +had made him angry? He, the great imperator, to have been ruffled by the +conduct of a low comedian, whose company his interest obliged him to +tolerate! She would yet be patient and wait. + +'And not only Spoletius, the historian, but also others, poets and +philosophers, whose good will it is proper to secure, and whose +conversation would be improving to the gods themselves,' continued +Sergius, almost blushing as he remembered how little philosophy had been +spoken during the past night, excepting that shallow doctrine which +inculcates full enjoyment of the passing pleasure of the world, lest +death might come and too suddenly end them; and how little poetry had +been recited, except as roared forth in the form of bacchanalian +choruses. 'And even this Bassus it were worth my while to condescend to, +lest the notion might seize him to satirize me upon the public stage. +And it was to conciliate him that I lost to him twenty sestertia and a +well-favored slave. May it not be that I paid too high a price for his +friendship, and hence have a right to be angry?' + +'But let my lord reflect that he has many slaves--more than he well can +find use for; and that, therefore, one less may not be of great +consequence to him.' + +'Nay, but such a slave!' responded Sergius; 'tall, almost, as my armor +bearer, and strong as an elephant! A man who was worth to me all those +others, thrice over, for the use to which I could have put him. The rest +will doubtless be of good account in their way. Some of them will go and +dig in my quarries, and a few will be exposed in the market, and will +bring their proper price. But this Rhodian--listen! You know that in a +few weeks the new amphitheatre of our emperor will be opened with grand +spectacles lasting many days. At my audience with him last evening he +spoke thereupon, and of the wild beasts he had sent for to give dignity +to the occasion; but of this anon. You know that for months all Rome has +been preparing for that time?' + +Ænone nodded assent. Even had she desired, she could not have remained +ignorant that the great colossus of all amphitheatres was approaching +completion, since, from her window, she could look down the Appian Way +and watch every stone being laid, while, in all societies, the magnitude +and magnificence of the approaching games were the theme of universal +conversation. + +'Well,' continued Sergius, 'months ago--I hardly remember how many--I +wagered with the proconsul Sardesus that I would furnish for the games +the superior gladiator of the two. Fifteen purses of a hundred sestertia +each; a large sum, but the larger the better, since I had my armor +bearer in my mind, and felt certain to win. But since then I have become +attached to this Drumo. The dog has twice saved my life, and hence has +become too precious to be risked; for though he would most likely win +the day, yet a chance thrust might destroy him at the end. I therefore +looked around for a substitute, and found him--this Rhodian slave. Day +after day I marked him in the opposite ranks, fighting against us, and I +gave orders to capture him alive. Twice we thought we had secured him, +and as often did he break away, killing many of our men. But at last the +commander of one of my cohorts obtained possession of his wife and five +children, and sent him word that each day, until he delivered himself +up, one of them should be put to death.' + +'Surely that thing was not done?' exclaimed Ænone, horror struck. + +'As I live, it was not ordered by me, nor did I learn of the scheme +until it was too late to arrest it,' responded Sergius; 'else would I +have forbidden it. But what would you expect? War has its practices, and +mercy is not exactly one of them. And cruelties will happen, do what we +may. Whatever transpired, therefore, was the work of the commander of my +first cohort, to whom I had given directions to take the man alive, and +who knew that it must be done, and without troubling me about the +process. Perhaps you do not care to hear the rest?' + +'Go on,' said Ænone, shuddering with a sickening apprehension of what +was to come. + +'Well, the first day his oldest child was slain, and the body sent to +him; and the next day the second one slain, and in like manner sent to +him; and so on until but his wife and one child were left. Then he came +in and gave himself up.' + +'And this brave man--fighting for his country--you have made a slave +of!' exclaimed Ænone, impetuously. 'He has been stripped of his family +one by one, and now you would place him in the arena, to be the victim +of wild beasts, or at the best, of other slaves!' + +'What else would you wish? The man is of a warlike nature; and it were +better for him to bravely contend for his life in the presence of the +emperor himself, than ignominiously to wear it out in the base labor of +the quarries. And I will tell you what I meant to have done. I know +where are his wife and remaining child, with whom he yesterday entered +Rome; and if in the amphitheatre he had won the victory for me, I would +have restored them to him and given him his freedom besides. But all +that is past now. In the heat of the moment I forgot him, and suffered +this drunken dog, Bassus, to take his choice; and he has had too good an +eye for what is valuable not to select the Rhodian. Strange, indeed, +that I should have been so careless. But throughout all, I never dreamed +that his taste would lead him to do more than choose some slight-built +boy, who could assist him in his trade. Once, indeed, I feared for the +moment that he would select amiss, and take a rarely precious dwarf, +whom, both for his appearance and for his knowledge of armor, I had +reserved as a gift for your father; and when that danger was past, I +breathed freer, not calculating upon any further mischance.' + +Ænone remained silent. Ready as she was at all times to give her utmost +sympathy to her husband for the slightest annoyance which he might +experience, it seemed to her now that his complaining was puerile and +unjust, so utterly had the sense of his disappointment been swallowed +up, in her thoughts, by the real and tragic woe of the Rhodian captive. +Finding day after day his dead children laid at his very door--then +separated rudely from all who were left--and in the end brought chained +into the arena, and obliged to fight to the death for the pleasure of +his conquerors, and perhaps against his own countrymen: why should such +things be? Ænone was no nerveless creature to faint at the sight of +blood. The education of all Romans of that day was adapted to a far +different result, and she could look with enjoyment upon the contests of +wild beasts, or even view without disapprobation the struggles of +gladiators trained to their work as to a profession, and, of their own +free will and with full knowledge, taking its risks upon themselves. And +yet, for all that, she could not but feel that every hour there were +being enacted around her, and as a part of the daily workings of the +social system, abuses of power, which, like the present, nothing could +justify; and she wondered whether it would last forever, or whether, on +the contrary, the outraged gods would not some day arise and pour down +upon this imperial Rome the vengeance due to the oppressed. + +Sergius partially read her thoughts, and set himself to work to reverse +their current and turn it into a more cheerful channel. Drawing his seat +closer to her, he began to speak to her of more pleasant topics, telling +of the enlivening incidents of his campaign, rehearsing the exploits of +those about him, and dwelling upon the few occasions in which, by some +unusual departure from martial customs, mercy had been shown to the +weak and helpless, and captives who were not fit for slaves had not been +crucified. The gift of fascination was one of his distinguishing traits; +and when he chose, he could charm, with his winning speech, the most +obdurate and unloving. Therefore, as he now softly whispered these +narrations into Ænone's ears, mingling gentle words of endearment with +them, it was not long before she began to yield to the pleasant +influence, and was almost ready to believe that she had judged rashly, +and that everything upon earth was not so very wrong. Why, after all, +should she presume to criticize matters which did not arouse the +discontent of the wisest of men? And if the gods felt really outraged, +why did they let their thunders sleep so long? At the least, it was not +the duty of herself, a weak girl, to strive to right the world. Her only +domain must be her lord's heart--her only rule of life, his will. + +Leaning upon his shoulder, and looking up into his face as she listened, +she thought upon the old times, when she had first met him, and how he +had then, as now, so successfully exerted his powers of charming, that +it had seemed as though no mere earthly love could be good enough reward +for him. Could it be that in her distrust she had been the victim of a +momentary delusion, and that he would always exert himself hereafter, as +now, to please her? Might it not be, after all, that this great +happiness, with its tender whisperings and caresses, would ever continue +unbroken, as in past times? + +'But, aha!' he suddenly exclaimed, in the tone of one newly awakened to +the existence of a fact whose comparative unimportance had led to its +forgetfulness by him. 'Let not my own losses make me indifferent to your +pleasure, love, for I have not been so. For you, and you alone, I have +reserved a gift fit for the palace of the Cæsars.' + +'A gift, my lord? And for me?' + +'Yes; but ask me no questions now. You shall see it to-morrow. A few +hours only of mystery and waiting must yet elapse before I will bring it +to you. Until then you can enjoy a woman's pleasure and nurse your +greedy curiosity--hopeless of solving the enigma until I myself choose +to give the clew.' + + + + +THE YOUNG AUTHOR'S DREAM. + + '_One more Unfortunate._' + + Alone in a garret where cobwebs hang thick + Over walls that display the bare mortar and brick, + Whose windows look down on the roofs of back sheds, + From a height that would dizzy the coolest of heads, + A young author sits by a rickety stand, + In a broken-backed chair, with a pen in his hand, + And patiently toils ere the sunlight shall fade + To black the last quire of a ream of 'white laid.' + The shadows have deepened that hang on the wall; + But the Finis is written, the pen is let fall; + And, glad of a respite from labors complete, + His hands and his head press the last written sheet. + Sleep comes not alone; for the goddess of dreams + Is accustomed to visit this blacker of reams. + Like the man that sits under a monster balloon, + And soars o'er the earth halfway up to the moon, + Now stepping at once into Fancy's fair car, + He sails from the dusky old garret afar; + And, leaving the world with its practical crowds, + Such visions as these meet his gaze in the clouds: + + THE DREAM. + + Forty large editions + Of the 'thrilling tale;' + Forty thousand dollars, + Net proceeds of sale. + Forty smiling critics + Lavishing their praise; + Forty famous florists + Bidding for the bays. + + Forty thousand maidens + Sitting up at night, + Poring o'er the volume + With intense delight. + + Forty thousand letters + From the country sent, + Blurred by frequent teardrops, + Filled with sentiment. + + Forty scheming mothers + Anxious for a match; + Forty blushing daughters, + Each a glorious catch. + + Forty generations + Reverence his name; + Forty future ages + Fortify his fame. + + + THE REALITY. + + Forty dunning letters + Coming every day; + Forty cents for washing, + Which he cannot pay. + + Forty jokes malicious + Cracked by forty wags; + Forty pert young misses + Sneering at his rags. + + Forty old companions + Wondering at his mood; + Forty friends officious + Preaching fortitude. + + Forty days of sadness; + Forty nights of sorrow; + Forty dark forebodings + Hanging o'er the morrow. + + Forty hempen inches + Borrowed from a friend; + Rafter at the upper, + Neck at lower, end. + + Forty earthy spadefuls + On the green hillside; + Forty lines of 'local,' + Telling now he died. + + + + +THE GREAT LAKES TO ST. PAUL. + + +Toward the close of July, 1860, our party gathered at Canaudaigua, that +beautiful piece of Swiss overland scenery, transported to Western New +York. Its Indian name, signifying 'the chosen place,' was not inapt for +our meeting ground. + +By the 31st of July we were at Cleveland, Ohio, over the Buffalo and +Lake Shore Railway and New York Central. It was a beautiful day's ride, +the most of the way skirting the lake, whose broad expanse gleamed in +the sunshine, and bore many a sail and propeller to the great havens of +its commerce. The railway borders fine towns and farms, formed by the +dense settlement of the oak openings and groves of the Western Reserve +of Ohio, which was purchased from the Holland Land Company, by a company +from Connecticut, of whom General Cleveland, who names the present city, +was the agent. + +Cleveland city, with about forty thousand population, lies on Lake Erie, +at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, which forms its harbor. It is well +built, chiefly of the light graystone of the vicinity, upon a declivity +shaded with trees, among which the buckeye hickory abounds, has many +fine dwellings, and presents a fair front to the lake view. + +On the evening of the 31st July we embarked on the North Star for +Superior City. She is of first class, eleven hundred and six tons, and +bore an immense freight from the East to the remote peninsula, in +exchange for its precious minerals. The entire sail from Cleveland to +Superior is nine hundred and sixty-four miles. + +As these boats are the only means of commerce and intercourse for the +dwellers on the upper lakes above Detroit, very frequent are their stops +and calls, taking and leaving much freight, consuming much time on their +way. However, our voyage was speedy: we arrived at our distant terminus, +Superior City, very early on the morning of the 5th of August, making +the running time about seventy-five hours. + +Leaving Ohio, one of the earliest settled States of the Western Valley, +and organized sixty years since, our course from Cleveland stretched +northwesterly across the wide lake, passing the island scene of Perry's +splendid triumph, and thence northerly, by its river, to Detroit, a sail +of one hundred and twenty miles, arriving early on the 1st of August. + +The city lies extended along its beautiful river, at one extremity +guarded by its old fort, and at the other are the extensive +copper-smelting furnaces, where the ore from the Superior mines, brought +by the steamers, flows in liquid copper. It is comparatively an ancient +town, settled as early as 1701 as a French frontier post; and some of +its land titles, always protected at each national change, with some of +its old families, derive their origin from these early French pioneers. + +Our afternoon sail was up Detroit River and the St. Clair, threading our +way among its many verdant islands and rich shores graced with numerous +pretty villages. At 9 p.m. we reached Port Huron and its Canadian +opposite neighbor, Sarnia. At this point is the southern outlet of Lake +Huron, distant seventy-three miles from Detroit. Sarnia is also the +western depot of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, while Windsor, +facing Detroit, terminates the Canadian Great Western. From Sarnia, +passing old Fort Gratiot, over to Port Huron, the railway ferry boat, +propelled by the current only, transfers its passengers to the cars of +the Grand Trunk line, on Michigan soil, and by a short branch +intersects the Michigan Central Railroad, a few miles west of Detroit. +For over twelve hundred miles this iron road, fitly named the Grand +Trunk, transports our Western products. Entering Lake Huron, with its +innumerable islands and almost wilderness shores, our sail through it, +of two hundred and seventy-five miles in all, brought us early, on the +2d of August, off Saginaw and Thunder Bays, its western arms, with +Presque Isle, the Great Manitoulin Island, bearing north by east; and by +noon, we reached Point de Tour, at the outlet of St. Mary's River, three +hundred miles from Detroit, lying opposite to Drummond's Island. + +Point de Tour has but a solitary dwelling, from whose roof rises the +light tower. Its inmates are said to have preferred this solitude to the +crowded refinement of a New England city. Shortly after, and still +coasting the western side, we stopped at Church's Landing, where an +enterprising New Englander has built his log houses in the forest, amid +the Indians, and drives an active commerce in _raspberry jam_. His trade +has prospered, and he had just completed a new and handsome dwelling. +Fourteen miles farther brought us to Saut Sainte Marie, or the rapids of +the eastern outlet of Lake Superior. + +Lake Huron is at an average height of five hundred and seventy-five feet +above the sea level, and one hundred feet in depth below Lake Superior, +with a length in direct line of two hundred and seventy-five miles, from +Port Huron to Saut Sainte Marie. Georgian Bay, to the east of the Great +Manitoulin Island, is its broad eastern expansion; while, on the west, +the Straits of Mackinaw open into the vast expanse of Lake Michigan, +extending a length of four hundred and forty-six miles to Chicago. The +borders of Lake Huron are sparsely peopled. The primitive forest bends +over the lake's clear waters, and surrounds the log cabin or infant +settlement with the wigwam and canoe of the Indian half breeds, who are +still fishing and hunting round the graves of their ancestors-once the +fiercest of all the warrior races that scarce forty years ago as +sovereigns roamed its wilds. + +The majestic solitudes of these lakes first received the white man in +1679, when the discoverers La Salle and Hennepin, in the vessel of sixty +tons, which they had built with their Indians at Cayuga Creek, sailed up +Niagara River, Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, to Mackinaw, and thence +through Lake Michigan to the mouth of Green Bay. Entering Lake Erie on +the 7th of August, 1691, they arrived at Green Bay on the 2d of +September following, encountering many storms and cautiously seeking +their untried way. After gathering a rich cargo of furs, the vessel, in +charge of the pilot and five men, started to return, and was heard of no +more. She doubtless perished with her crew in a gale on Lake Huron. She +carried seven cannon, was well manned and armed, adorned with carved +griffin and eagle heads, and bore the banner and religion of France amid +all the border tribes. + +Surely the voyage of Columbus, discovering Hispaniola, while sailing +before and obeying the trade winds, did not surpass in real adventure +this simple expedition of those half-warrior pioneer voyageurs, Fathers +Hennepin and La Salle. The memory of their visit is yet immortal in the +local names given by them and still cherished; while the influence of +France still lingers at Detroit and many other prominent points in this +wide region, once the empire of Louis XIV. + +We reached the Saut Sainte Marie about 4 P. M. of the 2d of August. Here +the River St. Mary, or the eastern outlet of Lake Superior, after a wide +course of fifty miles, gathers the multitude of its waters into a narrow +channel of less than a mile in width and length, of swift and impassable +rapids. + +The grand Ship Canal, with its stone banks of about eighty feet width +and three locks, transports the largest tonnage around these rapids. +This great work was completed in 1857 by the contractors, Erastus +Corning, of New York, Fairbanks, and others, for a contract price of +seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, chiefly mineral, in the +State of Michigan. During our steamer's canal passage of about two +hours, we were interested by the picturesque scenery, untenanted save by +the wigwam and the bark canoe. As usual, upon the arrival of the +steamer, the long canoe, steadily held by a single boy and paddle, in a +current swift as the Niagara, shoots out into the Saut, while the +Indian, standing erect in the canoe, poising his harpoon and scrap net, +strikes or swoops in the large and delicious white fish, assured of a +capacious basketful and more, before the steamer leaves the canal. + +And thus we floated onward to the bosom of great Superior. + +Our course was along the St. Mary outlet, northwesterly toward White +Fish Point, on the main south shore, projecting far out into the lake. +We were hence carried miles away from sight of the famed-pictured rocks +or of any land. Tending southerly and still westward, we steamed on over +the dark waters, during a serene night, until daylight showed us the +beautiful town of Marquette. Scarce seven years old, the fruit of the +iron mining in its vicinity, it spreads its neat white cottages around +the crescent of its bay and river on an amphitheatre of hills. The rail +train destined to Bai de Noc, on Green Bay, and finished to Marquette +Mines, in all some eighteen miles, was starting upon our arrival. +Marquette, though so young, a mere group of cottages, fronting a +wilderness, from its rich mines of the best iron, has become at once a +scene of industry and large outlay of capital; while the beauty of its +position and its unrivalled climate, surpassing all others on Lake +Superior, have already made it the most attractive summer resort, as +well for the pleasure traveller as the pulmonary invalid. Its climate, +without the sea air, has a cool, silken softness, reminding one of +Newport, Rhode Island. It is more equable and certain; the summer +average is 66°, and the winter 41°; while the lake wind and evaporation +secure it from the rapid changes of the sea shores. + +Marquette is the lake port and entrepot of the short range of iron +mountains which adjoin their sisters, known as the Porcupine Mountains, +in whose depths lies the famous copper ore, not unmixed with silver and +other precious deposits. This great mountain fortress extends from +Marquette to Montreal River, beyond Ontonagon, the western boundary of +the State of Michigan, in a line of about twelve to eighteen miles south +of the lake, and often approaches two thousand feet in height, lifting +its forest sides in constant view for more than two hundred miles. +Leaving Marquette and the iron range at 7 A.M., on the 3d of +August, we sailed for Portage, the first harbor in the copper mountains, +arriving about noon. + +Portage is a shallow bay or mouth of the river of the same name, on the +east shore of Keewaiwonah Promontory, or, as it is commonly called, +Keweenaw Point. The mines and town of Portage lie at the mountains, +about sixteen miles inland. A few huts were the only signs of settlement +at the bay. Tugs landed the freight and passengers, and we soon left the +wooded bank for the broad expanse of the lake, turning the head of the +promontory, and at 5 P.M. reaching Copper Harbor on its +northwest shore. Here we lay till morning. The village is small, at the +base of a lower range of mineral mountains, spurs of the main chain. + +The Clarke Copper Mine is within two miles of the wharf. This mine, like +many others, has had many owners. It had just gone through the +experiments of a French company, which expended its capital, as +alleged, in building fine roads, bridges, and residences for its agents, +while the mining had scarcely reached one hundred and twenty feet deep, +and then employed only six Frenchmen as its miners, whose ore product +was little over three per cent. of copper. In other hands, perhaps, it +may now yield a better reward. + +We were much amused with the description given by these Frenchmen of the +mishaps of their ill-directed enterprise. Persistent as Chinese, +resembling many others of the French nation in their ignorance of our +country, language, or customs, they had passed through many droll +blunders, which rendered their narrative highly entertaining. + +Copper Harbor, although so small, only then claiming about seventy legal +voters in the entire township, including the mines, was promised the +unusual treat of a political address that evening, as duly placarded, +from a gentleman, who was then candidate for Governor of Michigan, and +came in our boat. The apathy and indifference of the free and +enlightened electors of Copper Harbor were remarkable. A small, dingy +room, adjoining the only store, was the destined arena; and therein, +dimly lighted by some tallow candles, long sat the candidate--alone: a +rejected Timon, whose reflections were never published. The only +interest taken in the meeting (that came under my notice) was an anxious +inquiry by the owner of the building for his rent and expense of +candles, etc., payment of which was alleged to have been refused by the +candidate. + +Singularly happy Copper Harbor! your contented equanimity is unruffled +by all the stormy strife of politicians. + +Its lake front is graced by a fort, now and long since a water-cure +establishment. All these Western forts, erected many years ago, seem not +intended for offence, but rather as stockades or blockhouses of shelter +from the Indians. They are arranged as extensive tenements within, +pierced for musketry, and only in some cases with terraces for cannon. +These frontier forts, long the dwelling of the hunter or his family in +the wilderness, were guarded by the company of troops who protected the +settlers and maintained the sovereignty of our flag and nation over +these remote wilds. They are always placed in the most eligible and +commanding positions, and seem as if by design to have secured the +settlement of these points, which in all cases have become the thronged +cities or favorite towns of the ever-growing West. Thus, in Europe, the +ancient Roman fortified camps on their frontiers founded Cologne, +Chester, Vienna, Milan, Verona, and other cities, once their military +outposts against barbarism. + +About 7 A. M. of the 4th August, we left Copper Harbor on our +course, and soon reached Eagle River. This is another copper-mining +settlement, straggling along its poor harbor, somewhat larger than +Copper Harbor, and more picturesque. Landing a few of our company, we +sailed to Ontonagon, the largest of these copper-mine towns (perhaps two +thousand in population), and situated upon a sand reach at the mouth of +its river, which leads to the Great Minnesota Mine, eighteen miles +distant. + +Early in the clear morning of the 5th of August, we were moving up +Allouez Bay. Sounding slowly over its bar, and passing Minnesota Point +and Island, between the mouths of the Rivers St. Louis and Nemadji, we +arrived at Superior City, our destined haven. + +_Superior City_, by its pretentious name, great distance, and our +expectations, had risen to much importance in our imagination, but the +actual scene presented a wide contrast. A large town--or metropolis--on +a poor harbor, without interior resources or communications, had been +hastily projected. It is called the head of ocean navigation, and the +terminus of many proposed but as yet imaginary railroads. While the +titles to all the land are still in litigation, the wilderness shades +its streets, and, saving the rare arrival of the Indian mail carrier on +snow shoes, during six months of intense cold, they are isolated from +all humanity. Its grand prospectus, some five years before, had drawn +there about three thousand people; and soon afterward, starved and +disappointed, nearly all, save perhaps five hundred, had deserted. About +two miles of streets, planked from the mud, with frame dwellings, had +been constructed, and they had already attained the first municipal +blessing--_taxes-_-to the total of $45,000, payable by this feeble +remnant of a settlement, mainly of abandoned dwellings. Should the +railroads so frequently surveyed and designed to terminate here be +really built, Superior City may see, to some extent, in future years, +somewhat of that prosperity which its projectors, blinded by their +hopes, had thought already realized. + +Few positions are more picturesque. In front, the shores of Portland and +Minnesota rise in beautiful grandeur, and the bay and harbor, although +imperfect, are richly wooded and very graceful; while, all the way +thither, from La Pointe, the lake's waters, lying among the mountains, +shadowed by their heavy foliage, remind one much of the scenery of the +Lower Danube. This _ghost of a city_ had not much left of interest, and +we passed our day in arranging for the journey across the country +southward to St. Paul. + +And here we found ourselves really _pioneers_. No road or transport was +alleged to exist. We persevered. Indians and trappers beset us with +their projects of tracking and portage by the St. Croix and other +rivers, requiring a camp life with strange companions of nearly a month +to accomplish the distance of only one hundred and sixty-three miles, +equivalent to that of Albany from New York. A military road direct +through the wilderness had been often surveyed, and once cut through, of +about eighty feet width, to near Sunrise City, fifty miles from St. +Paul; at which point the dense forest spreads into oak openings and +beautiful prairies. This single cutting, long overgrown in lofty pines, +with the frequent surveys and contracts, from the year 1852 to 1857, had +cost the United States Government, for this distance of about one +hundred and twelve miles, $150,000; and no actual road had ever yet been +made. Fortunately for our enterprise, we met a gentleman who had just +groped through safely on horseback. We were reassured, and engaged the +only available wagon and team--a small, frail affair, devoid of cover, +seats, or springs; and, with ample provisions, perched upon our luggage, +we rolled out of Superior City that evening, and, passing its +significantly large cemetery, we at once entered the forest. These woods +are chiefly of pine, cedar, tamarack, or hemlock, gigantic in size, a +dreary solitude, unvisited by any bird or game, save an occasional hawk +or owl. They are but the southern outposts of that forest army which +begirds Hudson's Bay, and spreads its gloomy barrier of the same trees +around the dominions of the Ice King, while it is the only forest to be +met with in all the Mississippi Valley. + +The width of about eighty feet--that theoretical road for which the +United States had paid so often and so well--was seen between the +mightiest sentinel trees; but in the midst had sprung up a fresh growth, +often nearly one hundred feet high, surrounded by huge stumps, and heavy +undergrowth of the renewing forest, varied with hopeless mudholes and +swamps, and only at intervals of about twenty miles was there any +habitation. + +Such was the _great military road_. Perhaps its progress equalled the +actual wants of this region; for population had not yet crowded any of +the forest borders. It was then by the adjoining townships, under State +laws, feebly commencing to be really made as a road; and frequently we +halted at the camps of these hardy sons of toil. Our first twenty-one +miles to Twin Lakes, at the best speed, with good horses, occupied eight +hours, three of which, in the middle of the night, were passed under +deluging rain accompanied by thunder and lightning of the most appalling +grandeur, thumping in the shelterless wagon over stumps and bogholes +through the dreary woods. + +Twin Lakes--or the isthmus between two small lakes, in the depths of the +forest--is a solitary log house and stable. Its proprietor and our +landlord for the night's shelter was, I believe, named John Smith. With +his family he had lived there, keeping this _hotel_ for some years, +owning _several lots_ in the paper _City of Twin Lakes_, rich in the +anticipated tide of gain to flow from the crowded thoroughfare of the +great military road. + +Happy man! we were the first party _on wheels_ that had yet essayed the +road. Perhaps his posterity, by patience, may win their reward. + +Our rain deluge, with sheeted lightning and pealing thunder, was +ceaseless throughout the night. Its echoes amid the forest solitudes +were awful; and our fitful sleep was varied by the rain dripping between +the logs of our shelter. + +However, morning came at last, bright, clear, and calm; and early we +resumed our wagon and way-picking among the familiar logs and stumps, +contesting as for life with legions of mosquitoes, sandflies, etc. And +thus we made thirty miles farther (halting at a camp for dinner) to the +_City of Chengwatana_, which is so named on the large and beautiful map +thereof, prepared in New York. It is laid out in Broadways, Fifth +Avenues, Lydig Avenue, and, I believe, Daly Square, so named from J. +Daly, of New York, with parks, colleges, etc., etc., adequate for a +million of inhabitants. This fine imaginary picture proved unavailing to +sell the land. It still remains a swamp bordering Snake River, in the +bosom of the wilderness; and its entire population was only one German +and his family--really indefinite in number of children--and two log +houses, between which he vibrated at pleasure. + +Our arrival was in another violent rain, lasting far into the night; but +we considered ourselves, by this time, road and water proof. On the +river shore, by the red glare of the fire light a wigwam and some +Indians were visible; and frequently we heard their rifle shots. To our +surprise, in the morning, instead of deer, they brought in a large +basket of lake trout, each pierced through the head with a bullet when +approaching the fire light. + +Morning found us early on our hard way to the famed _City of Fortuna_, +whose picture displayed a similar origin and imagination, and its +reality was even more doleful. + +Fortuna City, on Kettle River, in the woods, contained three log cabins, +and no inhabitants. A boy came hither, perhaps from Superior, the day +before, to meet our party. After repelling some furious charges of the +mosquito cavalry, who displayed their vigor after long starving, we gave +up the contest, and attempted sleep. + +To our log cabin had come that day several engineers, who formed a +surveying party for another railroad project, passing through this +forest from St. Paul, whence they had started a month before with an +ample wagon train. The Indians had murdered the drivers and captured the +wagons with their entire property; and in their destitution they sought +this only shelter. We took them forward with us into St. Paul, and were +greatly indebted for their intelligent society and kind attentions. + +Fortuna City had one peculiar interest to us; it was the _last halt_ and +lodging in the forest. Our next day's ride--if such it may be +called--brought us to the oak openings at Folsom's, a clearing on the +southern skirt of this wilderness, and shortly after to Sunrise City. + +Our forest journey to-day was varied by the utter collapse of the wagon +in a vain charge upon an obstinate stump; and perforce we walked for +miles, till reaching a camp of the road workers on the farther bank of +Grindstone River, we joyfully forded and found shelter from the noontide +heat and mosquitoes; while the German sutler, who alone remained, busied +himself in his primitive _al fresco_ cookery, which we enjoyed, and +then, exchanging to another wagon, hastened on to our destination. + +The oak openings--those grand parklike expanses and rolls of land, with +stately groups of giant oaks--far surpassing all culture of man, set out +by the Creator on such a noble forest background, never looked more +majestic and beautiful. They were vocal with singing birds, and filled +with life; at their foot thronged the grouse or prairie chicken, darting +through the high flowering grasses (richer than all garden flowers) in +such numbers that but a few feet from our wheels we shot them in great +abundance. + +_Sunrise City_--a village but of yesterday (public lands, for sale by +proclamation, adjoining)--is beautifully placed on Sunrise River, and +might have then contained about five hundred inhabitants, whose neat +white cottages and pleasant streets, bordering a romantic river and +bridge, made a picture not unlike the scenery of Warwickshire, England. + +We reached here--fifty miles still north of St. Paul--to pass the first +night of our ride in a comfortable dwelling. + +Many a fine farm, just cleared and broken, attracted us here, and hence +along the prairie road into St. Paul, where we arrived at the close of +the following day, which proved to be, as we kept no calendar, Thursday, +the 9th of August. + +Our drive this last day led past numerous linked lakes, with their +borders of the tall Minnesota rice grass in flower, the home of the +canvas back, pelican, and swan. Passing through the village of Little +Canada, we rode on to Minnehaha Prairie along its gentle, verdant slope, +and lapse of shining waters of Twelve Lakes, graced with the names of +Como, Garda, etc., and adorned with many a pretty boat and sail. A few +miles further brought us to the upper terrace of beautiful St. Paul. + +As pioneers of this wilderness route, we met with marked attention from +all, and passed some agreeable days at St. Paul, Fort Snelling, +Minneapolis, St. Anthony, and their numerous points of interest. Our +homeward route was by the Mississippi River to Prairie du Chien, where +old Fort Crawford, then a mere tenement, commands the confluence of the +Wisconsin River with the Father of Waters. This sail of three hundred +miles consumed forty-eight hours. + +The river banks recede and advance in lake-like expanses along its +winding course, and their richly wooded heights, crowned with red +sandstone, resemble the ruined Rhine castles. The sail through Lake +Pepin, and between the States of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, was +varied by frequent and thriving towns and villages. + +From Prairie du Chien--a picture of straggling despair--by the Milwaukie +and Prairie du Chien Railroad, and the Northwestern Railroad, two +hundred and twenty-two miles, we reached Chicago, and passed through a +crowd of beautiful towns, in a State scarce a generation since reclaimed +from the Indians. Familiar railroads transported us from Chicago to +Detroit, Niagara, Albany, and New York. + +Our whole distance of travel in three weeks was thirty-four hundred and +forty-one miles. It was brief, but spiced with adventure, and over a +field of vast interest, present and future. + +Our beautiful country, made one and indivisible by the great and good +Author of its existence, through its mighty natural features, has, +among its chief grandeurs, this water system of the great northern +lakes, the frontier of the ever-progressive and patriotic West and +North. In dimensions, sublimity, and beauty, by the consent of all, it +is without parallel on earth. + +A volume of the purest fresh water is gathered in Lake Superior, without +visible, adequate supply, to a depth of one thousand feet, with a length +of near five hundred miles, and average breadth of one hundred and sixty +miles, on a bottom lifted six hundred feet above sea level. + +This incalculable mass of water moves its limpid wave through the Saut +Sainte Marie into its twin seas, Lakes Michigan and Huron, then by St. +Clair and Detroit Rivers is poured through Lake Erie, ever gradually +descending, till, at great Niagara, 'The Thunder of the Waters,' it +tosses in fury along its rapids, leaps the cataract in glory, at a rate +of one hundred millions of tons of water the hour, and then sweeps away +into Lake Ontario, to form that northern Mississippi, the River St. +Lawrence, which, for over one thousand miles, holds on its ever +increasing and widening current, in majesty to the broad Atlantic. By +the canals at the Falls and Saut Sainte Marie, direct and continuous +ship and steam navigation for sea-going vessels from the Atlantic to +Superior City, the extreme Northwest, or Chicago on the Southwest, over +three thousand miles through the heart of the continent, is open, while +the American coast line along these great waters, exceeds thirty-two +hundred miles. Complete in itself, the source of life, health, fine +climate, fertility, wealth, and countless blessings to all its shores +and valleys, it is divided by lofty barriers from all the other chief +water systems of the United States. The Mississippi rises in the +highlands of Minnesota at Lake Itasca, more than one hundred miles west +of Lake Superior, and gathers in its course all the rivers of its +valley. Still loftier mountains separate the sources of the Hudson and +Connecticut, and the other rivers of the Atlantic slope. + +Blessed with soil and climate unsurpassed, and a Government the nearest +to perfection, this region, watered by a mighty inland ocean, is already +the chief granary of the world, as well as its great mineral store, +although its railway system is not yet extended to its utmost limits; +and beyond Michigan it is scarce thirty years since the Americans gained +a settlement in its borders. + +The greatness of ancient Europe, Asia, and Africa gathered along the +shores and harbors of the Mediterranean; all beyond was barbarism, bound +to the sovereigns of the Midland Sea only by terror of arms. Even to +this day, the laws and literature of those master nations are yet +dominant in all the learning and social polity of Europe. This great +northern water system is geographically the Mediterranean of the North +American continent, and Minnesota, the actual centre, is its _omphalos_. + +The geographical centre of North America in the heart of Minnesota is +also the pinnacle of its watershed--the central source of the majestic +rivers whose vast basins determine the physical contour, climates, +products, commerce, industry, and political destiny of two-fifths of the +whole continent. + +With such a theatre for development, the future of this great area, in +near grasp, surpasses conception. Egypt, with it endless renown, +dwindles into insignificance in comparison. The paramount supremacy of +any nation depends wholly on its utility to the rest of mankind. + +The warrior nation yields in turn to a stronger foe, while all alike are +willing tributaries to the natural arbiter of commerce and source of +food supply. Wars, by the laws of Providence, attend the convulsions of +national change and growth; but all alike ever welcome the white-winged +doves of commerce as the ministers and messengers of national glory and +prosperity. + + + + +ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TAXATION. + + +There have been few more striking circumstances connected with the +transcendent changes which have taken place in this country during the +past three years than the steady verification, amid every change, of +those great principles of political economy which, during the past half +century, have been the practical guides of European legislation. In +fact, under the pressure of war we are slowly coming to realize our +fellowship with the communities of the Old World in the laws of social +change. Step by step the nation is now passing through all the changes +in its internal and domestic condition that took place in Great Britain +in the wars with Napoleon. Struck with the novelty and apparent +anomalies of our condition, we have been inclined to feel that it was +without parallels in history. But in that period of English history +which beheld a suspension of specie payment protracted twenty years, an +enormous expansion of the currency--the appreciation of gold--a rise in +prices unparalleled in any country--a wild spirit of speculation--and, +with all, an appearance of astonishing prosperity in the midst of a most +exhausting war, we see the reflection of our own condition, and find the +lessons by which we should be governed. We have now, for the first time, +become a people conscious of taxation. It is clear that the burdens of +the future must be still greater than anything we have yet borne in the +past. The questions as to the best modes of taxation have already begun +to call forth the anxious deliberation of the nation. The question is +asked by some if we have not already reached that limit where taxation +ceases to be a contribution from the surplus of society, and beyond +which it will become a draught on the vital, productive energies of the +country. It cannot be unprofitable, at such a time, to examine the +history of English taxation in the great periods of similar trial +through which that nation has passed. + +The great rebellion marks the era of the adoption of a regular system of +taxation in Great Britain. 'From a period of immemorial antiquity,' says +Macaulay, 'it had been the practice of every English Government to +contract debts; what the Revolution introduced was the practice of +honestly paying them.' + +The change is significant of the triumph of the people. It was found, on +the breaking out of the rebellion, that not even an army of Puritans +could be sustained without money. The plan of weekly assessments was at +first adopted. It was unequal and frequently oppressive. In 1643 it was +proposed, in the republican Parliament, to place a tax on the +manufacture of beer and cider. The proposition was not at first +favorably received. That solemn body had no objection to checking the +abominations of beer drinking, but it hesitated to inaugurate a species +of taxation which seemed to infringe upon some of the most cherished +rights of Englishmen. After much discussion the bill was carried, though +with the express declaration that it was compelled by the necessities of +the state, and should not be renewed. The tax was soon found too +convenient to be dispensed with. In spite of the good resolutions of +Parliament, the act was again and again renewed. As the necessities of +the state increased, the list of articles was enlarged, and the rate of +duty gradually augmented. Thus the excise was introduced to the English +people, and thus, almost before they had ceased to look upon it as an +intruder, it had acquired a foothold in the budget, from which it has +never since been possible to shake it. The burden of the excise at this +period, however, was not oppressive. During the Commonwealth and the +reign of Charles II. a tax, which has since produced to the state an +annual income of $90,000,000, did not probably average more than +£500,000. It gives us a singular picture of the simplicity of that +period that even this small sum made up one third of the whole royal +revenue for the year. The other two thirds were drawn in about equal +proportions from the customs and crown lands. + +We now approach one of the most important eras in the financial history +of England. The nation was yet unaccustomed to taxation, and was weighed +down by no national debt. In the Revolution of 1688, and the events that +grew immediately out of it, we find, however, the origin of nearly every +species of tax now in use in Great Britain. In the same agitated period +we find also the beginning of the national debt. Louis XIV. espoused the +cause of James, and England entered upon a war with France. In a +conflict with the greatest monarchy of Europe, the Government soon found +itself forced to adopt a scale of national expenditure which the +preceding generation would not have conceived possible. At once, as in a +night, a harvest of strange taxes sprang up on every hand. The list of +excisable articles was increased. The tax on houses and windows, that +had been so unpopular in the preceding reign, was again introduced, and +a new appraisement was made of all the real estate in the kingdom. A +degenerate age might take exceptions to some of the other taxes now +instituted. An act was passed placing a tax upon bachelors and widowers, +fixing, at the same time, 'certain rules and duties on marriages, +births, and burials, for the term of five years, for the carrying on the +war against France with vigor.' Men were not even permitted to enjoy the +subtile luxury derived from having a title attached to the name without +taxation. Persons of the present day, wishing to know the relative value +of the titles, will be interested in the following law, passed at this +time: + + Every person bearing the title of + esquire, or reputed, or owning, or + writing himself such, shall pay £5 + + Every gentleman, or reputed gentleman, + or owning himself such, + shall pay £1 + +These, however, were by no means the most burdensome forms of taxation. +A man would willingly pay for the distinction of writing himself an +esquire, who would grumble with dissatisfaction at the duty on his salt. +But to meet the increasing expense of the state, and 'carrying on the +war with vigor in France and Ireland' (the propitiating clause with +which nearly all the acts of taxation of the period close), the most +minute articles, both of necessity and luxury, were required to bear a +portion of the common burden. The nation bore its unaccustomed load with +singular patience. A license duty on hackney coaches, imposed in 1693, +called forth, however, opposition from an unexpected quarter. The +outraged wives of the hackmen assembled, and, to express their +indignation at the tax, mobbed the offending members of Parliament on +their way from the House. It should be mentioned, as showing the +intrepidity of that body, or, more probably, the great necessities of +the state, that the tax remained unchanged. In spite of all these taxes, +the greatest difficulty was experienced in procuring funds to carry on +the war. A general lack of confidence in the stability of the Government +prevented men from taking up readily the loans which the Government was +forced to call for. Various expedients were adopted to attract the +cupidity of capitalists. Among these the most successful was the custom +of receiving loans upon tontines. This was a species of annuity. Twenty +or thirty persons united in the purchase from Government of an annuity +upon the joint lives of their whole number. At the death of each his +share went to those who remained, and was distributed equally among +them. The final survivor took the whole annuity. No inducements, +however, were sufficient to overcome the popular distrust. The national +debt had already begun to accumulate. Exchequer bills sold on the street +at forty per cent. discount; while, at the same time, a wild spirit of +speculation and adventure, such as is too apt to be produced by the +unnatural excitements of a state of war, had seized upon the popular +mind, and threatened, in its reaction, to bring the whole nation to +ruin. + +It was at this time of excitement and danger that the National Bank was +established. It was not at first favorably received. But the effect of +its steadying influence soon began to be felt in the whole financial +condition of the state. It even checked for a time the frenzied spirit +of stock jobbing, which was absorbing the strength of the nation, and +with which a few years later, when the whole country ran wild with the +South Sea Bubble, it was so nearly involved in a mortal struggle. Under +the influence of the Bank, the business of the nation gradually acquired +an evenness and stability which was unknown to any former age. + +But while the establishment of this National Bank supplied the +Government with a ready and economical method of procuring funds, it did +not do away with the necessity of taxes. A new form of taxation was now +furnished by the Dutch. This small and ingenious people, in the defence +of their liberty, had been early forced into extraordinary expenditures, +and were in advance of every other nation in the perfection of their +system of taxation. The English Parliament had, in the preceding age, +borrowed from them the excise. They now took from the same source the +idea of stamp duties. This species of tax had been invented in a +competition for a prize offered by the Dutch Government for the +discovery of a new form of tax, which should press lightly on the +people, and, at the same time, produce a large revenue to the state. +Stamps were introduced in England in the year 1693. The nation was now +in possession of the four most important methods of taxation: customs, +excise, licenses, and stamps. The first had existed in the island from a +period of immemorial antiquity. The second was introduced by the Great +Rebellion. The third and fourth came in with the wars attendant upon the +accession of William and Mary. + +Of these different forms it may be said, that the second is most +obnoxious to the people, and the third most unequal. We should add, +perhaps, to this list the land tax, which, founded on the new assessment +made by William, became from this time a regular source of revenue. In +this period, we see, was laid the foundation of the whole system of +taxation now in use in this country and in Great Britain. The hundred +years that followed produced no new species of tax. The five forms which +we have mentioned, however, were diligently cultivated. In the nine +years which immediately followed the accession of William and Mary, +about forty distinct acts of taxation were passed by Parliament. Still +it was impossible for a nation counting less than six million +inhabitants to pay the expenses of a vast and protracted war by +immediate taxation. In 1697 a debt existed of about one hundred million +dollars. This is the foundation of that national debt which, with +trifling exceptions, has been constantly increasing for more than two +centuries, and which now occupies a position of influence not second to +that of the throne itself. The importance of the Bank increased with the +growth of the debt, and the effects of their combined influence appeared +on every hand. They were the national pledges for the stability of the +Government. + +Every fresh rumor of preparation on the part of the exiled Stuarts to +enter England, filled the people with alarm for the safety of the Bank. +And when, in 1745, Charles Edward landed in Scotland, and made his +romantic advance into the kingdom, an enormous run was begun on the +Bank. It was prevented from doing harm only by the patriotism of the +London merchants. In this brief rebellion the people realized the +important financial interest which each citizen had acquired in the +permanency of the existing Government and the stability of the reigning +house. + +At first Parliament had proceeded in the imposition of its taxes on the +principle that a tax, to be equitable and easy, should be distributed +over a great variety of articles. It was argued that a man would pay a +small duty on a large number of things with less inconvenience and +consciousness of burden than if the same tax was levied upon a few +prominent articles. The pettiness of the tax would keep him in a kind of +deception as to the total amount he was paying, which not even the +frequency with which he was called upon to pay it would entirely remove. +This theory, together with a condition of state in which the wants of +Government were constantly increasing, produced, in the time of William +and Mary, a constant multiplication of petty taxes. In the early part of +the following reign many of these were consolidated in separate funds, +which were designated to pay specific parts of the national debt. + +But the number of articles subject to taxation was not reduced. The +restlessness of the people under the numerous exactions of the excise +soon, however, suggested the necessity of a change. Government now +passed to one of those extremes which were only too common in an age +when political economy had not yet risen into a science, and legislation +was only an art of shifts and expedients. In 1736 a tax of five dollars +upon the gallon was imposed on all English-made spirits, with a +corresponding protective tariff on those of foreign manufacture. The +result of this extraordinary tax proved the folly of its originators. It +failed as a source of revenue, and, so far from removing these articles +beyond the reach of the poor, which had been one of the designs of the +bill, it was estimated that the business of smuggling was so stimulated +by the enormous bounty offered upon its labors, that the amount of +spirits consumed in the kingdom during the existence of this tax was not +sensibly diminished. After a short trial the tax was removed. + +The work of reducing the list of excisable articles was nevertheless +begun, and from this time it went slowly, and, except as interrupted by +extraordinary demands upon the state, steadily forward. Stamps, however, +were governed by a different law. Its inoffensiveness, the economy of +its mode of collection, together with its ready availability, caused +this species of tax to be brought into more and more extensive use. In +fact, a constant increase of taxation in some form had become necessary +in order to meet the increasing expenses of the state. After the close +of the war in 1697, strong efforts were made to pay off the national +debt, the rising greatness of which filled all classes with alarm. No +corresponding efforts since have been rewarded with similar results. In +the brief period of peace that followed, the national debt was reduced +one fifth. Four expensive wars, following each other in rapid +succession, overwhelmed the petty labors of the sinking fund, put an end +to the work of diminution, and left the nation, at the beginning of the +war with her colonies in this country, oppressed with a debt of +$600,000,000. It came out from this struggle with $500,000,000 added to +the burden of the state. This point of time may be fixed as the close of +the second epoch. A new class of changes now begin, which have had, if +possible, a greater influence on the financial condition of England, as +it exists at the present, than those we have already described. + +In 1793, notwithstanding its enormous debt, the country boldly entered +upon its great conflict with France. It is impossible to look without +admiration upon the obstinate energy displayed by the English nation +during this conflict, which lasted, with slight intermissions, for more +than twenty years, and by which the annual tax was quadrupled, and the +national debt increased beyond a chance of final extinction. In the +astonishing revolution which it wrought in the financial condition of +the state, as well as in much of the social phenomena with which it was +accompanied, this conflict strongly resembles that in which the States +of the North are engaged against the South. The first effects of the war +appeared in the tax system. + +Great changes had taken place in Great Britain since the time of the +introduction of a regular system of taxation in 1688. Land was no longer +the most important source of income to the citizen. Profits from other +sources had sprung up. Commerce had discovered the riches of the Eastern +trade, and manufactures, stimulated by new inventions, had begun to +assume an importance and exert an influence which already threatened to +revolutionize the whole condition of society. Unconsciously to itself, +the nation had reached a point where any large increase in the demands +of the state must produce a new species of taxation. The war with France +supplied the impulse required. In 1797, Government attempted to meet the +extraordinary expenses of the year by tripling the tax on houses and +windows, etc. The experiment failed. It was found that these taxes, +which had been the 'towers of strength' of a preceding generation, could +no longer be relied on in the changed circumstances that had been +brought about by time. + +It was in many respects one of the darkest periods in English history. +The Austrian armies, exhausted by repeated defeats, hoped only to be +able to defend themselves if attacked. Spain and the Netherlands had +joined themselves to France. Against the power of Napoleon England stood +up alone. At this critical juncture, a mutiny broke out in the English +navy. The whole fleet in the channel refused to do duty. The fleet at +the Nore, catching the spirit of revolt, also raised the red flag. The +doctrines of the French Revolution were sedulously scattered throughout +the kingdom, and in several counties of Ireland actual uprisings had +taken place. Added to these were financial difficulties. The enormous +outlays demanded for the prosecution of the war were very naturally +weakening the public confidence in the final ability of the Government +to pay the extravagant sums it was obliged to borrow. Under the +influence of the distrust thus engendered stocks fell. Three per cents., +which had sold at 98, went down to 53. Many of the loans effected by the +Government at this time and during the war were made with a discount of +forty per cent. on the nominal value of the stock. Gold was scarce, and +rapidly rising. The pressure on the Bank for redemption was greater than +it had been since the rebellion of 1745, and threatened, unless +corrective measures were at once adopted, to bring that institution to +actual bankruptcy. + +The undaunted courage and resolution of the Government, in the midst of +this accumulation of difficulties, saved the country. The writ of habeas +corpus was suspended. By an admirable mingling of firmness and +conciliation the mutiny was quelled in the navy without serious +consequences resulting to the state. To meet the financial difficulties, +an act was passed by Parliament permitting the Bank to suspend specie +payment--thus delivering the country, for a period of more than twenty +years, over to a wholly inconvertible paper currency. From these strong +measures the enemies of the country anticipated the most disastrous +results. They were, however, doomed to disappointment. Even Napoleon at +length grew weary of prophesying the bankruptcy of a nation which every +year, from this time, gave more and more effective proofs of the +stability of its finances. It was the singular fortune of Great Britain +to have at the head of its finances, at this juncture, a man, who in a +different sphere, exhibited a spirit scarcely less bold, indomitable, +and comprehensive than that of the First Consul himself. This man was +Mr. Pitt. The finances of Great Britain, even at the present day, bear +witness to the extraordinary changes instituted by this statesman. The +tax on houses, windows, etc., had failed. In 1798, Mr. Pitt, with a +characteristic fertility of invention, brought forward a bill laying a +tax on incomes. By this bill, which is the foundation of all those that +have since followed, no tax was imposed on incomes that were less than +$300; on incomes above this sum a small tax was laid, which gradually +increased until it became one tenth of all incomes over $1,000. The +income tax was designed by Mr. Pitt to be simply a war tax. According to +his plan the interest upon the national debt, which he kept funded as +far as possible, was to be provided for solely from the indirect taxes, +leaving the direct tax to meet the extraordinary expenses of the war. +The most original feature of the financial system instituted by this +statesman, however, was the sinking fund. To prevent the rapid +accumulation of the national debt, Mr. Pitt, even before the breaking +out of the war with France, had obtained from Parliament permission to +set aside six million dollars, with an addition, afterward made, of one +per cent. of all the loans made by Government, as a fund to be expended +in the purchase of Government stock. The rapid growth of this fund from +the constant compounding of interest would, he declared, be sufficient, +ultimately, to consume the entire debt of the state. The result seemed +to justify his prediction. Constantly in the market, the sinking fund +saved the state, by its timely purchases many times during the war, from +the disastrous depreciation to which the public stock was liable at +every unfavorable turn of the conflict. In 1815, so enormous had been +the financial transactions of the state that this fund amounted to about +$75,000,000. + +In 1802 the income tax was discontinued; and, in the following year, was +renewed under the name of the property tax. The expenses of the state +continued to rise, and it became necessary that this tax should be +largely increased. During the last ten years of the war the property tax +required ten per cent. of all the incomes of the kingdom--with a few +exceptions--to be paid into the national treasury every year. Never +before had such a burden been laid on Englishmen. All classes groaned +under the exactions of a tax every penny of which they were made +conscious of by direct collection. In comparison with the property tax +all other burdens seemed easy. It is now clear, however, that the nation +could never have passed successfully through the great struggle in which +it was engaged without the assistance of the tax upon incomes. It stood +next in order of productiveness to the excise. In the year 1815 the +property tax produced seventy-five millions of dollars. Still the people +remembered with pleasure that the word of Parliament had been given that +it should not continue longer than the return of peace. The time was +eagerly looked forward to when that promise should be redeemed. Early in +1816 the question of the continuance of the tax came up before +Parliament. A strong party, impressed with the importance of diminishing +the national debt, advocated its continuance. Every night, for two +months, the subject was anxiously discussed. The motion for its +abolition was at last carried. The vast crowd which had assembled +without the Parliament House to await the result, caught the sound of +cheering in the chamber, and, receiving it as a signal of success, rent +the air with shouts of joy. The enthusiasm spread with the news. Bells +were rung as for a great victory, and bonfires in all parts of the +kingdom proclaimed the joy of the nation at its release from what was +regarded the moat oppressive burden of the war. Twenty-five years later +the income tax was again revived. + +The national debt at the close of the war with France amounted to a +little more than $424,000,000,000. Of this, $300,000,000,000 had been +added by the war. During the last years of the contest the annual +expenditures of the state were $585,000,000. The population of the +island was at this time 13,400,000, from which $360,000,000 was annually +collected in taxes. It is important to notice the condition of the +people during this epoch. For nearly twenty years the country had been +under the uncontrolled influence of a paper currency. It had been a +period of remarkable prosperity, coupled with unparalleled changes. And +here we find many points of resemblance with the present condition of +our own country. The rapidly expanding currency, the enormous demands of +the war, and the spirit of speculation engendered by the sharp +alternations of hope and fear, and the extraordinary fluctuations of the +markets had stimulated in every branch of business a preternatural +activity. Manufactures, which the beginning of the war had found just +rising into prominence, rapidly developed in an age of financial +profusion. No such progress had ever been made in a corresponding +period. Exports were doubled. The shipping rose from one to two and a +half million tons. The whole nation exhibited the singular spectacle of +a country constantly advancing in wealth and prosperity in the midst of +one of the most exhaustive wars that the world has ever seen. + +To this, however, there was apparently, at least, one exception. Prices +rose steadily from the beginning of the war. This was true not merely of +unimportant articles, or those which, by the exercise of a more severe +economy, could be in part dispensed with. The cost of the necessaries of +life doubled. Wheat rose from forty-nine shillings per quarter in 1797 +to one hundred and forty shillings in 1813; while the beef which was +sold in Smithfield market, at the beginning of the war, at three +shillings per stone, constantly advanced in price, until the same +quantity in 1814 could only be bought for six shillings. Malt, coal, +wages--everything rose proportionately. Few questions have been the +subject of more discussion than the cause of this remarkable rise of +prices. Two diverse explanations have been given, each put forth by men +whose habits of thought and opportunities for observation qualify them +to speak on the subject with authority. One large party attribute the +rise of prices that took place at this period, entirely to the influence +of the suspension of specie payment by the Bank, which, as they say, +flooded the country with an inflated and depreciated paper currency, and +thus necessitated a corresponding rise in the price of the articles +given in exchange for it. So strongly does this reasoning commend itself +to the minds of those familiar with the first principles of political +economy, that it has been very generally accepted. And it is worthy of +notice that these are almost the only arguments which can be heard in +explanation of the similar rise of prices now going on in this country. +A more subtile but very important class of influences were brought to +notice by another party, under the able leadership of Mr. Tooke. By +these the rise of prices is, to a large degree, attributed to the +excited spirit of speculation produced by the war, which, as they show, +twice during this period brought the country to the brink of ruin. In +favor of this explanation it may be further said that the fall of prices +began immediately on the close of the war, and at no time was greater +than in 1817, two years before the resumption of specie payment by the +Bank. In 1819 the Bank of England resumed the payment of specie. Gold, +which had been at one time at a premium of twenty-five per cent., now +fell rapidly, and in 1821 was again at par. + +It is difficult to say which has exerted the largest influence on the +finances of Great Britain--the Revolution of 1688, or the wars with +France in the beginning of this century. The first gave to England its +system of taxation, but the last developed the capabilities of that +system, and adapted it to the wants of a growing and commercial people. + +The nation came out of its long conflict with taxes pressing upon nearly +every important branch of industry. In the sixteen years that followed +the war with France, taxes to the amount of nearly $200,000,000, were +taken off from the country. These changes gave opportunities for many +important reforms. While the national debt was slowly reduced, the tax +system underwent great changes. Many taxes which had checked the growth +of important branches of business were entirely removed. Efforts were +made to reduce the excise, which was always an unpopular form of +taxation. In carrying forward these changes, it was found that one +really productive tax might be made to take the place of a large number +of small duties which pressed with peculiar severity upon the people. +Government now turned longingly to that 'splendid source of revenue,' as +it was aptly called, which it had so reluctantly relinquished in 1816. +In 1842, Sir Robert Peel suddenly brought forward a plan for a new tax +upon incomes. It was at once adopted. This income tax differed, however, +in many important particulars, from the one which the Government had +been compelled to make use of in the wars with France. By it incomes +under $750 were exempt. A discrimination of very great importance was +also made, which has been the occasion since for much refined +discussion, and is founded in sound reason, but which has hitherto been +wholly overlooked in the legislation in this country. A discrimination +was made between salaries and the incomes divided from realized capital. +Taxable incomes, partaking of the nature of a salary, and upon which a +tax would have the character of a duty on capital, were required by the +provisions of this new act to pay only one half as much as those incomes +which arose from, and would be therefore added to, wealth already +acquired. + +The income, or property tax, as it is now called, completes the system +of taxation which is now relied upon to supply the varying but always +enormous wants of Great Britain. Through these various sources during +the past year the English Government has collected an income of three +hundred and fifty million dollars--about the same it obtained through +the same channels from a population of thirteen million inhabitants in +the closing years of the war with Napoleon. With the same system of +taxation, our own Government has, during the past year, obtained an +income of one hundred and eleven million dollars. If we examine +particularly the sources of the English revenue at these two epochs, and +compare them with the corresponding branches of taxation with us, we +find that in the year closing in 1815, the receipts from customs +amounted to about fifty-six million dollars--a sum, it will be noticed, +considerably less than that drawn from the same source in this country +for the past year, but only about half the amount derived from customs +in Great Britain in the year ending September, 1863. From the property +tax was obtained about seventy-five million dollars--the modified form +of this tax now in use in Great Britain produces about fifty million +dollars per annum. Either of these sums is probably much larger than it +would be advisable to attempt to produce by a direct tax in this +country. Stamps, in 1815, yielded an income of thirty million dollars. +During the past year this simple and productive source of revenue +produced in Great Britain forty-five million dollars. It seems probable +that this species of tax might be extended in this country much farther +than it now is, without oppression to the people, and with a handsome +increase of the revenue. + +But the excise has ever been the most productive fountain of revenue in +Great Britain. The income from this tax in that country, during the year +ending September, 1863, was eighty-four million dollars. In the year +1815, when, on account of the smaller population, the other sources of +revenue were less productive than at the present day, the excise yielded +an income of not less than a hundred and thirty-five million dollars. It +is worthy of notice that, of this income, the tax upon the various forms +of spirituous liquors supplied a large element. English spirits, which, +in the experiment of 1736, it had been found could not carry a tax of +five dollars per gallon, it was now found easily bore the more moderate +but still large tax of ten shillings sixpence sterling. Aside from this +tax was the duty on beer, cider, and malt, the last of which alone +yielded an income of thirteen million dollars annually. + + * * * * * + +We have lingered on these details, which to many will be dry and +uninteresting, because they supply a kind of guide to the changes which +must ultimately take place in the tax laws of this country, and because, +further, they furnish an answer to all those objections which +periodically disturb the minds of the timid and doubtfully patriotic in +our midst. But these lessons we must leave the reader to extract for +himself. We close simply with saying that, while excessive and +undiscriminating taxation is always a curse, yet taxation, properly +imposed, although severe and long continued, may be far from +disadvantageous. We have seen the English people slowly arising, through +two centuries, from a nation comparatively free from taxation and +without a national debt, to one bearing an annual tax of three hundred +and fifty million dollars, and holding absorbed in its midst a national +debt of nearly four thousand million dollars. We have seen it during +this period constantly advancing in prosperity and greatness--the +national debt adding stability to the Government, and taxation giving +caution and stability to the transactions of private life. + + + + +APHORISMS. + +NO. I. + + +One of the most sublime of all facts beneath that of the Divine Being, +appears in the existence of an immortal soul. There it stands--once for +all, once forever. The earth might be wasted away, at the rate of a +single grain in a century, without passing the very infancy of our +spirit's life. How insignificant, in the comparison, a world like our +own, in all its temporal aspects. What the future duration of the earth +may be, we have no means of knowing; but if less than endless, it is of +little moment in the presence of the least capacious human soul. + + + + +THE LOVE LUCIFER. + + +CHAPTER II. + +I find myself writing upon matters connected, at least, with, religion, +with the thought of saying something useful--of presenting a valuable +experience, if not a valuable congeries of new ideas. Most readers +deeply interested in religion are, by this time, demanding that I show +my colors--present my creed; otherwise they will shut themselves up from +my influence. As I write, church bells are ringing. I know that many of +those who now assemble to hang with a deathly solemnity upon the lips of +preachers--while death, hell, heaven, eternity, atonement are the +themes--will say: 'He treats lightly the most serious matters: he treads +with dancing pumps on holy ground.' Now I claim to be, above all things, +an earnest, solemn person. Yet do I verily believe that there is a +humorous side to all subjects, that is not ignored by even the loftiest +beings; and that, in a restricted sense, it may be said of all +well-balanced persons, as a philosopher has said of children: 'Because +they are in innocence, therefore they are in peace; and because they are +in peace, therefore all things are with them full of mirth.' It must be +admitted, however, that if the 'orthodox' creed is wholly correct, we +find in the Puritans and their existing imitators the only consistent +Christians. In view of the inevitable damnation of a majority of the +race, they set their faces against all mirth; would eat no pleasant +bread, and wear no beautiful raiment. I followed them to the letter, +till, the 'naked eye' not being wholly blinded, nor the ear deafened by +theologic din, I saw that nature, in all her guises and voices, was +firmly opposed to all such gloomy dogmas. + +In a word, then, as to creed, I find no satisfactory platform save that +of the broadest eclecticism. The motto of the old Greek, 'Know that good +is in all,' is mine. I am aware that the danger accruing from this style +of creed is, that one often gets, in the effort at impartiality, into +the meshes of pantheism; and then your list of gods many and lords many +comprises all the chief divinities, from Brahm and Buddh to Thor; you +priding yourself the while upon the consideration shown for 'local +prejudices' by your not putting Christ at the end of the list. But, +after life-long investigation, I am not ashamed to say, in the words, +though not in the spirit of Emperor Julian, 'Galilean, thou hast +conquered;' with Augustine, 'Let my soul calm itself in Thee; I say, let +the great sea of my soul, that swelleth with waves, calm itself in +Thee;' with De Staël, 'Inconcevable énigme de la vie; que la passion, ni +la douleur, ni le génie ne peuvent découvrir, vous revelerez-vous à la +prière;' with practical Napoleon, 'I know men, and Jesus Christ was not +a man;' with a Chevalier Bunsen and a Beecher, 'Jesus Christ is my God, +without any ifs or buts.' I can assent more decidedly than does +Teuflesdröck, in the 'Everlasting Nay,' to the doctrine of regeneration. +I narrow the whole matter down to these plain facts: Of all religions, +Christianity is best calculated to elevate man's nature; and of all +Christians, they reach the highest spiritual condition who regard Christ +as utterly divine. + +On this other matter that enters so largely into my narrative--the +conjugality of disembodied spirits--I cannot forbear some further +discourse before proceeding historically. The absurd idea is still +prevalent that there is no sex in heaven. Those who retain this notion, +despite the revelations of science concerning the universality of sex +throughout creation, cannot reason very candidly. When we find in the +earth positives but no negatives, light but no heat, strength but no +beauty, action but no passivity, wisdom but no love, intellection but no +intuition, reflection but no perception, science but no religion, then, +at last, may we expect to see in the heavens men but no women. + +Take the conjugal element from human creatures, and you have Hamlet +without the ghost. Excepting, perhaps, the religious, it is the most +powerful, prominent, exacting part of our nature. In 'man's unregenerate +state,' at least, the love story is the most interesting book, marriage +the most interesting ceremony, true lovers' dalliance the most +interesting sight. For the beloved, one relinquishes all else--performs +the greatest prodigies. Marriage is the subject most thought of, most +talked about. Around it cluster all the other events of life. Rejoice, +then, O 'romantic' youth and maiden, now in the days of thy youth; for +this flitting romance--so soon interrupted by care and grief, by shop +and kitchen and nursery, by butcher, baker, tailor, milliner, and +cordwainer--is about the most genuine experience you will have in this +world. Therefore, say I, cultivate romance. Devour a goodly number of +the healthier novels. Weep and laugh over them--believing every word. +Amadis de Gaul, even, is a better model than Gradgrind. Adore each the +other sex--positively worship! Both are worshipful (in the 'abstract'). + +What healthy-minded person loves not to behold the eye-sparkle of pure +admiration between young man and maid? 'They worship, truly, they know +not what.' In bowing down to their ideal, they bow to the _real_ +human--the purified man or woman of the better land. The recluse is ever +the true prophet and seer, in this as in still higher matters. Your +modest-eyed student, stealing glances of unfeigned admiration at +ordinary maidens, is not such a simpleton as some suppose. His seclusion +has cleared his vision. He sees on through the eons--sees things as they +will or may be--regards the objects of his adoration as he will in the +angelhood. Why will so many decry this admiration?--when they see that, +not till the youth passes the purely romantic age--fourteen to sixteen +or eighteen--and begins to have commonplace thoughts of the other sex, +does mischief arise. + +The idea of eternal conjugality should lighten all faces with hope, and +should have a most conservative influence in society. Those who are not +very well matched, and yet are conscious that the very highest earthly +bliss comes of a right mating, are not content to pass through this life +without enjoying this bliss, if they suppose that it appertains solely +to earth. So, many of them break bounds and bonds. Let these but accept +the idea that conjugality is one of the chief features of the heavenly +life, and they can settle down steadily to the apparent duties of this +sphere, content with 'peace on earth,' since now they feel sure of +rapture in heaven--a rapture, too, mind you, of a kind with which they +are somewhat acquainted. It is all very well to anticipate the fact +which 'eye hath not seen,' etc. But men need the prospect of an eternal +joy they know of, as much as they needed that awe-inspiring Jehovah +should outwork in love-inspiring Christ. In view of this, among other +joys set before him, the extra-earnest worker, in public or private, can +more easily deprive himself of that amount of social intercourse with +the other sex which he craves. Such can suffice themselves with +occasional glances of the complementary portion of mankind; and as they +hurriedly pass seraphic faces in the street, they wave the hand of the +spirit after them, saying: 'I prithee, O thou wonder, art human or no?' +'O you sweet beautiful! 'the king's business requires haste. Providence +has set our lives so far apart we cannot hear each other speak.' But +you will be a woman, and I will be a man, forever. In paradise, I will +read wonderful things in those and other such eyes, and wonder at you +forever. _Vale! vale!_' + +There is a poet claiming to be of the supernal life--especially of the +supernal conjugal--who has written 'epics' and 'lyrics,' of which I must +honestly say, as Emerson, I believe, once honestly said of some of the +writings of Swedenborg: 'I read them with an unction and an afflatus +quite indescribable.' They lift one to the empyrean like nothing else I +know of outside the Bible. There is such a saintly purity; such a +wondrous, rich, mellow joyousness; such bounding elasticity of spirit; +such an evidently irresistible gush of song in the heart; such broad +catholicity of religion, that, to some, it seems impossible that they +could have been written anywhere but under the perpetual midsummer skies +of paradise. It may show poor taste, but to me, in those regions of the +upper ether wherein Tennyson, Mrs. Browning, and Shelley grow +wing-weary, he soars on strong, free pinion. His 'imaginings,' if such +they are, of immortal life, as much surpass in plausibility and +naturalness those of Milton, Dante, and Virgil, as the acting of a +first-class theatre surpasses that seen in the old monkish 'mysteries.' +This writer, T. L. Harris, has won much recognition in both hemispheres; +would win much more if he appeared simply as a poet, and did not claim a +seer faculty, making many positive statements that cannot be verified. +He certainly comes up to Aristotle's standard, where he says: 'The +object of the poet is not to treat the True as it really happened, but +as it should have happened.' + +And now the story. I left myself indulging in reveries concerning the +expected sight of my invisible charmer. The appointed hour came. I was +quite excited. I knew that the land was already full of people who +claimed to see the sights of the other world as spirits see them, and +fully expected to have my clairvoyant faculty opened. But I saw no +'sudden Ianthe;' and to this day have never seen even a kobold, a +wraith, or a döppelganger! This was doubtless fortunate; for I was +nearly driven into lunacy by the things I _heard_ before I reached the +end of this 'youthful adventure.' I should have gone 'clean daft' if the +bugaboo had been permitted to show me the sights they presently +promised. + +Soon came again my collocutor with explanations. + +'You were in such a state of excitement that the united efforts of more +than forty of your spirit friends were utterly unavailing for the +opening of your sight. We, too, became so excited that we lost all +control of ourselves, and could only weep to hear your mournful appeals +followed by your surrender of all claims upon me.' ... 'Do not think +that I could ever hope to bask beneath the sunshine of your smile after +having intentionally deceived you.' + +Then followed much similar feminine beguilement; the faculty for which +seems to be rather increased by the Jordan bath. + +It began to be a noticeable fact that their magnetic power over me was +such that they could cast me down to the borders of despair, and raise +me thence to rapture at will. Thus a few moments of such ordinary +blandishments as the following were the only apparent means of raising +my usually slow-moving spirits from a very low to a very high pitch. I +was complaining of the waste of paper, in writing words of letters three +or four inches high; did not think any law, even a law of nature, +justified the imposition of such an expenditure upon a spouse in a +separate sphere. 'She' promised to tone down the expressions of +attachment until she could talk as largely as she pleased; and to some +further suggestions, replied: + +'Really, you are quite impertinent, considering the short time we have +been married.' ... + +Slightly singular as it may seem to those who think that this narration +is 'all gammon,' I had gone through the usual course of acquaintanceship +with this airy nothing; was first distant and reserved; then slightly +thawed, though still horrified at the thought of having all my thoughts +read; and finally, after I felt that the invisible eyes had read, in my +memory, every page of my history, was perfectly familiar and at ease in +the presence this finite searcher of hearts. + +I find, next in order, the following: + +'So you wish me to _prove_ that we were married, do you? Well, when you +become a denizen of this higher, but none the less practical sphere, you +may read, if you please, where, with wonder and strange emotion, I read, +in the heavenly records of marriages.' ... [It was dated about the time +of my birth.] 'Your banter is not so agreeable as your tenderness.' ... +'You are incorrigible. It will take me many a long age to bring you to a +due sense of my importance,' etc. 'Some of my friends are beside +themselves with mirth, at my vain attempts at taming a spirit so rude.' +Then came another promise of opened vision. 'A truly solemn scene is at +hand. Spend the interval in prayer.' + +But again there was something wrong about the spiritual zinc or acid, +and the electrical machinery would not work. The fair or foul deceiver +(who knows?) came up very solemn after this failure. + +''Though all men forsake thee,' said Peter, 'yet will not I forsake +thee.' So now, when the highest spirits of heaven have fled in terror +and dismay, your poor darling will not forsake you. Well might I sit, +like Job's friends, seven days, ay, seventy times seven, in silent +contemplation of him who--woe is me!--fears that I am but another +Delilah, commissioned by his enemies to betray him into their hands. +What can I say? what do? Oh that I had never seen the glorious light of +the sun or the pure myriads of my happy home, rather than I should have +beheld that sight last night. How can I explain the fact that he, whom +I, at least, believe to be heaven's most supreme (string of adjectives) +favorite, is sitting here with his unutterable but unrepining sorrow +looking forth from his ... eyes.' + +Just here I caught a glimpse of my divinity, and turning in wrath and +scorn to my Titania, said, mockingly: + +"While I thine _amiable_ cheeks do coy!" + +To this she replies: 'Do not heap additional reproaches upon me, by any +such awfully ludicrous quotations.' ... 'So you think that your Delilah +is striving to gain time by all these pious and otherwise interesting +remarks?' ... 'Nay, do not with loathing cast me from you as an an +unholy and hateful thing! for then, oh, what I should then do or be, I +cannot, dare not even think.' ... 'Again you see my woman's heart cannot +suppress its emotions toward one who still hopes that he has been +talking with ----; and who says that, for him to be convinced of +this, is to be convinced that she who has been talking with him has not +intentionally deceived him.' + +She then wrought upon my feelings by portraying her sufferings, until, +in my maudlin condition, I was casting about to find how I should help +her; just as you sometimes see a drunken tramp striving to pull his +drunken pal out of a ditch. + +'So, most self-forgetful, you begin to think that you ought to help me +bear my burden; as you have planned sitting there, with your little +friend encircling you in her so warm embrace. But why should I inform +you of such fact, as this last, until you are convinced that all you +have heard is not the wily utterance of seducing and hellish spirits? +Try not to entertain such awful suspicions. As to the cause of these +lamentable failures, I can only suppose that the Lord wishes to make us, +who wrongly prophesied, sensible of our inability to foretell future +events.' + +Then came some bungled Scriptures about my 'mission,' which roused my +ire. My taunts drew forth this response: + +'Why do you love to ridicule my tenderness, and speak so awfully to one +who has no other human source of perfect happiness?' + +The day following, the solemn dodge was again resorted to. I began to +feel a sort of awe creeping over me. My affectionate friend thereupon +wrote: + +'What a change a few minutes have wrought in you. Yes! yes! the morning +light is breaking. The fiery trial is complete. As I write there rests +upon your now placid brow a glorious and marvellously beautiful crown. +The cup is drained. 'To him that sat in the valley and shadow of death +light has sprung up.' And now awe seizeth me: for there standeth, as yet +a long way off, one whose form is like to that of the Son of Man. In a +very little while, now, the great event must inevitably occur. He who +stands upon the holy mount prepares to open your sight, and give you +your commission. How can we see him face to face and live! Let not a +passing suspicion of further delay disturb you. Already you begin to +feel the influence of his approach. Well may you heave a sigh--as one +who experiences a sudden and unlooked-for relief. In less than ten +minutes the Lord will appear to you. So make ready, in solemn meditation +and prayer, for the most solemn event of your or any other man's life is +at hand.' + +'If the vision tarry, wait for it,' is the only scripture that seems +applicable to my visions: for still they came not. Yet some very serious +and substantial experiences now fell to my lot, which shall be the theme +of another chapter. + + +CHAPTER III. + +As manager of this exhibition, I would request the orchestra to play +something gloomy and grand, during the remainder of the performance; +something weird, mysterious; something in which you can hear the +soughing of the wind through the pines of the Hartz Mountains or the +Black Forest. A passage from a _Faust_ opera or _Der Freischutz___ might +meet the case; for it began to be intimated to me, now that I was +sufficiently clairaudient to be able to dispense almost entirely with +the pencil, that his Satanic Majesty was no indifferent spectator of the +preparation of the man who was about to interfere so signally with his +plans and pursuits. Thereupon there began to steal over me for the first +time, + + 'A sense of something dreadful, something near. + +However it was managed, from this moment till the end of this phase of +life I am narrating, I had an almost constant sense of the presence of +'genii of the pit,' of vast intelligence, cruel as ever Satan was +imagined, relentless as fate, cold as Dante's ice hells could make them. +At first, some influence led me to review the traditional history and +prospects of my supposed distinguished visitor, at some length. I +discussed the state of his case with no little unction, though shaking +in my boots, and in momentary expectation of being gobbled up, body and +soul, and whisked off in sulphurous smoke, with only a sulphur-burnt +hole in the carpet to mark the spot where I saw the last of earth. + +Presently my inseparable companion broke in with: + +'He hears you! he hears you! and never may it be my lot again to look +upon--' ... 'There he is again, glaring with inexpressible rage upon the +comparatively insignificant man who just now so plainly revealed to him +'the true state of the case.' I am almost afraid to look upon that +awful visage. 'The state of the case is it?' he exclaims. 'We will see +what is the state.''-- + +There is a break here in the manuscript, which is resumed thus: 'You +have conquered! frantic with rage he has fled, never, I trust, to +return.' + +How will I remember what happened during that awful pause? It was spent, +I suppose, in a hand-to-hand conflict with the Prince of Darkness; the +agreeableness of which was not enhanced by my vivid recollection of the +'bit of a discooshin' between Christian and Apollyon depicted in the old +family Pilgrim's Progress. We are truly 'the stuff that dreams are made +of.' What mattered it to me, on that bland summer afternoon, since I was +of this opinion, whether it was Beelzebub himself or some departed +'blazing tinman,' with a suit of his majesty's old clothes on, while +himself, all snug at home, + + 'Sat in his easy chair, + Drinking his sulphur tea.' + +That was certainly one of the most awful moments of my life, in which I +felt the first dreadful rush of this invisible tiger. It seemed as if he +swooped toward me to annihilate me in a moment; but was restrained by a +higher power. His coming was like the rush of a fifteen-inch shell past +one's head. + +As soon as I saw that the first onset did not destroy me, I gathered +strength to face the monster; for a tongue combat seemed all that was +permitted him. He put me through my theological paces at an awful +rate--using the Socratic dialectic--growling out questions in the tones +of a cathedral organ, that made me shiver. Oh that I could remember that +fearful catechism! It would make a tract for which the Tom Paine +Association would pay a high price. He drove me--partly, I suppose, by +magnetic force--step by step, from my cherished religious opinions. My +reasons for believing in the cardinal doctrines of Christianity seemed +to burn like straw before his fiery rhetoric, and to turn to dust +beneath the ponderous blows of his iron logic. He pushed me away from +all I had esteemed reliable in the universe, till I seemed to stand on +the verge of creation. There I hung with the strength of terror. Then I +found poet Campbell true to nature, where he speaks of hope standing +intact ''mid Nature's funeral pyre.' I insisted upon 'hoping,' in spite +of all his fiery hail. + +After he had beaten down all my defences, he began to jeer at me with +fierce sneers and goblin laughter that froze my blood. 'So _I_ was the +contemptible manikin who dared to entertain the idea of equality with +him--the Star of the Morning--one breath of whose nostrils would wither +me into nonentity. So _I_ presumed to stand up and face him, who had, in +his time, scattered the hosts of heaven! If it were not for those +cursed, white-livered _things_ (angels) that stood in the way, he would +swoop down and destroy me in an instant.' + +Having found and maintained foothold for several minutes on the rock of +hope, I began to consider how weak things had of erst confounded the +things that were mighty, and soon the wirepullers behind the scenes +(whoever they were) had me smiting him hip and thigh. I 'began in +weakness, but ended in power.' At first a few muttered remonstrances, +but finally whole Ironsides broadsides, with the result above named. The +words of my antagonist, during this encounter, rang through my brain +with awful distinctness. For a day or two I had been communicating +partly with the pencil, and partly by clairaudience, eked out by writing +in the air with my forefinger. But this demon, or demon _pro tem._, +needed not to write his words: his 'trumpet gave no uncertain sound.' + +The thoughtful reader will perceive what a strong point my magnetizers +gained by this scene. After disappointing me so many times, they could +not, with all their power over me, have kept me from throwing the whole +thing overboard, without resorting to some such _coup d'état_. Being, +doubtless, on better terms with the infernal than with the supernal +regions, these denizens of the Intermediate Limbo (we will suppose that +my strange guests were mostly of this sort of nondescripts) had perhaps +induced some _bona fide_ demon to act the part of the king of them all, +'for this night only.' It certainly was an immense success. I, to be +sure, had not received the expected commission: but had I not fought the +great red dragon, and, like another St. George, pinned him to the earth, +through supernatural aid? Here was a substantial success. I write this +merrily enough now; but was not often merry then--was indeed acting +great, real tragedy. + +I was not long to enjoy this triumph. The word came: 'Again he comes!' +Then I had another long, hard fight; but this time was not pushed so +near the wall. I was then told by my spiritual adviser and Circe of the +unbounded admiration expressed for me by those who had listened to this +'ever-memorable' disputation. + +The attempt to craze me, or--putting the best face on it--to show me +_how spiritists are generally crazed_, now began in downright earnest. +All that night, despite my entreaties to be permitted to sleep, I was +kept awake, and busied with a variety of 'extremely important' business. +I am naturally a solid, regular sleeper, and do not prosper upon +Napoleon or Humboldt portions of repose; but now could only suit my +persecutors by rising on one elbow in bed, and 'wrestling' for the +salvation of my next neighbor. They sedulously poured into my mind all +manner of apocrypha concerning this gentleman's shortcomings--about the +necessity of praying for and at him, and about the effects of my +efforts, i. e., bringing a streak of celestial light upon him--until I +was almost ready to wish that he might be ----, rather than that I +should have any such unseasonable work to perform in his behalf. But +they kept me at it, straight through the night and a large portion of +the next day; and finally induced me to go, much against my will, to +reveal to him some of my experiences, and to endeavor to force from him +an acknowledgment that what I had heard about him was true. + +The attempt to cause at least a temporary aberration of my intellect now +becomes very plain in the manuscript. Every idea is uttered in the most +exciting manner. All statements and prognostications about my neighbor +having proved false (he was amazed at my procedure), the invisible +busybodies boiled over thus: + +'He has lied! he has lied to you! and if you would preserve your reason, +go and read the papers to him. He had schooled himself to show no +emotion, and you showed enough to excite his worst, most hideous fears. +So go, for Heaven's sake! He quailed once, and only once, before your +not sufficiently steady gaze. Woe! woe! woe! Now what shall be done?' +... [Evidently trying to get up a teapot tempest.] 'Do not strive to +unravel this mystery in that fiercely keen way, or this evil spirit will +have to give place to a more expert deceiver. God will certainly do +something soon to set these matters straight, or I shall cease to be!' +[She had said annihilation was possible!] 'Your father wishes to speak +to you.' + +A fatherly spirit it was truly--was for driving me mad off hand, but +overshot the mark. + +'Son, this is awful! I can only say to you, be calm and cool, for you +will need to be both to get free from this snare of Satan, so well +conceived. Better go to supper now (for appearance sake): after that, +pray for help. When you took away those books [after reading extracts to +the neighbor], the whole crew of devils,' etc., etc. + +This exciting language 'brought me up with a round turn.' I saw at once +the object of the person who was talking with me. So I brought the +affair to a full stop, as far as the use of my hand was concerned. I +simply added, on that leaf--speaking now for myself: + +'I will hear no further. This part of my discipline is finished.' + +But I was forced to hear, whether I wrote or not. I had come to this +wisdom too late. I fully believe that, as far as my ability to prevent +the catastrophe was concerned, I was then and there a possessed +person--_a slave of spirits_--as utterly bound to do the will of my +magnetizers as ever a 'subject' was. Though I cannot be persuaded that +all these beings, from whom unseen I had heard so much, were 'only evil +continually,' no 'harmonialist' can persuade me that those who now began +to play with me, as a cat plays with a mouse, were other than evil. In +all imaginable ways, they strove to show me how utterly I had lost +self-command and self-control. (I am esteemed obstinate by nature.) + +What is very singular, I now lost sight of my 'prima donna.' It would +seem natural that a Delilah would, at least, have come with a jeering +'The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.' But no, not till this great +tribulation was over did I hear from 'her.' + +That evening and night were spent, mostly, in showing me that I was no +longer my own master. There was not, however, that continuous hell-blast +upon me that so scorched my soul on the following afternoon. The cats +were tossing me in their velvet paws--only occasionally protruding a +sharp claw as a reminder, until they could feel surer of their victim. +They would say to me: 'Now we will exalt you to heaven;' and up I went, +higher, higher, higher into the empyrean, until I heard the music of the +spheres, and all things were ablaze with light and glory. Again they +would say: 'Now go down into hell;' and the scene changed as suddenly as +do those of a ten-cent panorama, when a midnight storm at sea or a +volcanic eruption is about to be rolled in view: I went down _ad +imis_--'down to the bottom of the sea--the earth with her bars was +around me forever.' Blank horror and anguish seized me. Hope fled to its +impregnable corner of my heart, till the calamity was overpast. A hushed +agony was upon me, as before I had known its boundless bliss. And thus +variously I fared through all that second night of sleeplessness. They +probably sent me up and down this scale of sensation twenty times during +eight hours. This night I was not at all sleepy. A few more such would +have finished the business; and there would have been 'another awful +effect of the spiritual delusion' to chronicle. The honest verdict of +the first century would have been: 'Another possessed of devils or +devil-crazed.' The wretches well knew that insomnia is an excellent +preparation for insanity. + +Toward morning a new scheme was invented. Some ostensible good friend +informed me, in a business-like way, that the work of the morrow for +me--the new Saul of Tarsus--was to set out for a certain town in +Vermont, where I should find my Ananias; who 'would show me what things +I should do.' So the faithful slave of the genii prepared to obey. I +packed a carpet bag, and went early to the residence of a medical +friend, who had been dabbling in the same arcana. I gave him a sketch of +what I had experienced; yet, for some reason, did not start for Vermont, +but remained with him all the morning. My invisible monitors sent me out +into the street several times, to find people who could not be found. +(Anything to keep up their influence.) + +Toward noon the fact came plainly to me that an effort was being made to +disturb, if not destroy, my reason. I began to find my ideas becoming +incoherent in spite of hugest effort. I called my friend, and said to +him, through set teeth, but as coolly as possible: + +'I find myself to be thoroughly and utterly a magnetic subject, an +abject subject of mischievous spirits. They are striving to derange my +faculties. I am exceedingly alarmed to find that they are trying, with +much success, to render my ideas incoherent. It is only by a very great +effort of will that I am enabled to speak these words distinctly to you. +As far as my private power of resistance is concerned, I am gone. Do +exert your powerful magnetism; perhaps you can drive them off.' + +He was much distressed, and exerted himself mightily (he was a professed +electrician), combining will power with that ancient agent, prayer, to +exorcise the evil influence. But his efforts were useless, as the +vagabonds well knew, before they brought me there on exhibition. They +had not spent the week in vain. I had sold myself to them as squarely as +fools ever did in German legend. + +When dinner was announced, the doctor wished me to accompany him. I +refused, and he left me, to take a hasty meal. Finding, when he was +gone, that I was growing worse, I went into the street, determined that +if I was to be crazed, I would not sit there and let him watch the +operation. I walked on, vowing that I would not turn toward home until +my faculties were restored; and execrating _my folly in permitting the +enslavement_! On, on I rushed, my head all ablaze with 'od' that had no +business there, and praying as I never had prayed before. I took the +Gowanus road toward Greenwood. Perhaps it was some defunct rogue there +interred, who was leading me on to 'rave among the tombs.' + +Arrived at a spot where a little tree-capped promontory overhangs the +beach, I turned aside, beneath the projection, and sat down on a +log--like Jonah under the gourd--and, gazing out on the rippling waves +of the bay, desired that death or relief might come. I was determined to +sit there until God or Satan made good his claim upon me. Suddenly +relief came. The fierce onset upon my intellect ceased. I was made +whole. I 'leaped and walked.' The means of my relief I never knew. + +But my lesson was not complete. I had but just informed my medical +friend of my deliverance (he had scoured the neighborhood, and informed +several of the cause of his fears), when there were mutterings and +growlings of another approaching storm. The messengers of Satan sent to +baffle me gave me to understand that they had not abandoned their prey, +but were sure of it yet. They poured the wrath of hell upon my +defenceless head that afternoon. I have not, hitherto, attempted to +offer much direct proof to the uninitiated that my experiences, in this +connection, were other than hallucination. That which now occurred is, +as it seems to me, in the nature of such proof. Here was I thoroughly +alarmed for my safety, and extremely anxious to get rid of my +tormentors. Yet, not for a single moment now, could I close my mental +ears to their horrid clangor of threats and imprecations; for, throwing +off all restraint, they flooded me with Billingsgate. They cursed and +damned me, and all persons, things, and ideas esteemed by me, in the +most approved style. Indeed, the swearing exceeded anything I ever heard +on the Mississippi and Alabama river boats, when forced, for lack of +room, to sleep on the floor of the saloon, almost under the feet of the +chivalry, during their midnight gambling carousals. + +The mode of speech is not easily described. Sometimes the words came +slowly and distinctly. Again there would be merely thought-panorama +presented. A complete statement or view of things can be flashed into +the mind in an instant. Therefore the language of spirits is of vastly +greater compass than that of men. These immortal blackguards could vomit +more oaths and other blasphemy in five minutes, than a mortal one could +in an hour. If it is difficult to translate from one earth-language +into another, how much harder must it be to bring the ideas of an inner +sphere into outward forms of expression! + +They told me that it was their intention to open my clairvoyant faculty +now with a vengeance. For, having fairly accomplished it, they would +worry me to death or madness by the continual sight and hearing of all +that hell could show or conjure up. I only wish that a few of those +Sadducees who philosophize all this sort of thing into moonshine, could +be, for a while, as sore beset as I was on that eventful day! It would +need but a few minutes' parley with these 'fierce Ephesian beasts' to +induce them to repeat the language of an older sceptic, who returned +from the dead to the friend who had discussed immortality with him, and +who exclaimed, as he passed from sight: + +'Michael! Michael! _vera sunt illa!_' + +The scheme of the diabolians seemed so feasible that I was greatly +perplexed. They had shown themselves able to keep me awake the two +preceding nights; and I knew that, if permitted, they could accomplish +their purpose in that way alone. How much, then, would the perpetual +sight of fiery flying dragons, horned satyrs, and other hideous +half-human creatures, tearing around, with mouths agape to take me +in--while other lost souls flitted about as flying serpents, bats, and +owls--hasten the evil work. I thought over all the horrible forms +portrayed in the Catholic purgatory pictures, and described by delirium +tremens subjects, until I was a thousand times more anxious to have the +eyes of my spirit kept shut, than I ever had been to have them opened. + +I tried to exorcise the foe by reading the Bible; but this only +increased their jeering at the '---- fool,' whom they had worked hard to +get, had got, and meant to keep, in spite of 'hell, book, and candle.' +Truly 'their mouths were full of cursing and bitterness.' + +Did space permit, and were it not that the printing of oaths, which has +become so fashionable even in respectable periodicals, is hurtful to +morals, I could fill pages with their jeers, taunts, blasphemies, +threats, and execrations. + +I left my private room, and went among the household, in hopes that, +amid busy outer scenes, the hold of the invisible tigers would be +loosed. But then, while conversing on commonplace subjects, I realized +more fully than ever upon what a _fearful precipice_ the heedless +spiritist is ever sporting. For, clearer, more distinct, came threats, +curses, goblin laughter; and 'Fool! dolt!' was the cry. + +'Simpleton, etc., think you that the company of women and children will +save you, when the mightiest spirits (angels they call themselves) +cannot now rend you from our grasp? As soon as we choose, we will tear +your silly soul out of your carcase; and _then_ we will make a veritable +Lucifer of you. '_Lucifer_! LUCIFER! star of the morning! how +art thou fallen, and become as one of us!' Ha! ha! ha! yes! yes! you +must go with us. We fancy you. For a callow priest, you have a deal of +music in you. Would-be Samson, you must grind in our prison house and +sport in our temple; the pillars whereof you can never cause to +tremble.' + +They said that I was a 'coward--dared not face a set of shadows, +figments of the brain, empty nothings.' I saw that 'vain was the help of +man;' and, retiring to my room, had an awful season of worse than +'temptation combats.' + +Then came the last scene in the tragic part of my unromantic experience. +One of the artful dodgers, having transformed himself into an angel of +light (in my hearing, not in my sight), informed me, at about eight +o'clock in the evening, that, though my destruction appeared imminent, +there was one way of escape left. My own prayers were useless: but if I +would get down on my knees, and repeat a confession and supplication at +his dictation, it might avail. Enslaved as I was, I of course complied; +and then underwent a humiliation that, even in my horrified state, was +very bitter. I had always, in my most puritanical days, kicked at the +doctrine that we are all such abominable, hell-deserving, +_self_-degraded creatures, responsible for our own ruin, that it is the +wonder of creation that God would give our souls any least chance of +heaven. I had always felt with Tennyson: + + 'Thou wilt not leave us in the dust; + Thou _madest_ man, and Thou art _just_.' + +But now I was forced to change all this; and for once I uttered a +perfectly orthodox prayer. Slow and distinct came the words, which I +must perforce repeat as slowly, though every one was a bitter pill. I +was made to say that I was entirely mistaken in supposing myself a +Christian (in the 'evangelical' sense); that I had been a fool, a +braggart, a sort of impostor; that my life had been one series of shams +and follies; that I had disgraced my religious profession, etc., etc., +_ad nauseam_, winding up with the abject declaration that I deserved to +go straight to 'the city of Dis, and the three-headed dog;' and that if +I was spared, it would be 'a miracle of mercy.' + +The higher powers must have thought that I had swallowed enough of this +hell-broth; for, at this juncture, the dictation and compulsion suddenly +ceased. I stood upon my feet, no longer a slave. It seemed as if some +grand, calm Ithuriel had touched with his spear-point the venomous toad +that sat by my ear, or the wily serpent that 'held me (enchanted) with +his glittering eye.' From that moment to this, I have not been, for an +instant, seriously annoyed by invisible disturbers of the peace. + +A sweet quiet came over me; I went to bed and slept soundly. The next +day I determined to complete the exorcism by walking a dozen miles into +the country, to visit a relation. The only trace of the fearful scenes +through which I had passed, consisted in the fact that my head was still +all ablaze with the foul, gross magnetic fluids of my ex-tormentors; and +was so hot that I found it agreeable to walk with my hat off. I was two +days getting rid of the heat. + +Though I had no more sulphur tea to drink, I was not yet weaned from the +invisible milk and water. I was at once informed, by 'respectable +appearing' spirits, that my trials had appeared necessary, because I had +thrown myself open to promiscuous communication with the other world--a +thing peculiarly dangerous in my case; and that I could now see the +propriety of never again surrendering my manhood, my individuality, and +my common sense to any brigand in or out of the body. I was also told +that it never had been intended to use me for any important mediumistic +purpose, except so far as my experience might be useful. So I gradually +let the thing drop. Regarding the new light as scientific rather than +religious, I long since pigeon-holed it among my sciences. I +sardonically tell total Sadducees that I have placed it among the +_exact_ sciences. + +I am sorry that I am unable to enlighten the novel-reading reader +further concerning the 'prima donna;' but that is a delicate subject +under existing circumstances. So presenting, herewith, the bright and +sulphurous end of the Lucifer Match under the nose of a discerning +public, I will watch the upcurling and dilating of nostrils. As I pen +these last lines, the live body looking over my shoulder smiles +scornfully. + + + + +SKETCHES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND SCENERY. + +III.--MOUNTAIN WAYS. + + +'Lucy D----,' said Aunt Sarah Grundy, 'I really cannot conceive what you +and Elsie find to entertain you in the desolate, out-of-the-way places +where you are in the habit of wasting your summers. Why can you not be +content with the ordinary highways, where people travel comfortably in +good boats and rail cars? Why must you leave tolerably convenient +hotels, regular meals, and agreeable, proper people, to bury yourself in +some mountain fastness, where the inns are poor, the food plain, and the +people--well! such as are totally unfit associates for two well-bred +young women?' + +'O auntie! auntie! we thought you called yourself a democrat!' said +Elsie. + +'Politically, my dear, but not socially,' was the reply. + +'And a Christian!' added Lucy D----. + +'I see,' continued Mrs. Grundy, 'that, by raising other issues, you hope +to escape an explanation of the mystery to which I have referred.' + +'A mystery indeed!' replied Lucy D----. 'The mystery of nature, of +creation, of the communion of the creature with the infinitely bountiful +Creator. Have you never wandered away from the beaten track, from +tiresome dinners, with mercenary waiters and elaborate courses, from +yawning, _blasé_ men, and over-dressed, artificial, weakly women, and, +resting upon some quiet hillside, suffered the glories of external +nature to fill your soul as you drained the cup of beauty, until +sunrises and sunsets, storm clouds and morning mists, broad bands of +light and darksome shadows, steep mountains and curving valleys, +hurrying brooks and tidal oceans, dusky pine forests and tremulous +bluebells, dreamily floated before the vision, soothing care and the +petty wounds inflicted by the human denizens of this nether world? I +love my kind, I share their faults and follies, I pity their sorrows, +and would do my utmost to succor or to soothe; but I do not understand +them as I do the woods: their faces I readily forget, but never the +forms of mountain crag, of noble tree, or of first spring wild flower. +Among men I may be misunderstood, disliked perhaps, or, more generally, +simply ignored and overlooked; but among the hills I fear no harsh, no +indifferent word: each treasure of beauty breathes to me of One who +knows my every heart-beat, One whom I can love without fear of wound or +disenchantment. The mountain clefts have no unkind words, no +fault-finding, no ridicule, no rash judgments for the sons of men. They +offer clear springs, fresh fruits, and festal flowers, peace and rest +and pure joy!' + +'Really, Lucy,' said Aunt Sarah, 'I am not sure your rhapsody has made +the mystery any plainer than before. May I not, in my turn, ask if your +feelings are quite Christian? Are you not afraid you entertain a species +of repulsion toward your fellow men?' + +'Aunt Sarah, I nearly always feel more for them than they for me. +Perhaps they hurt my vanity by overwhelming me with the sense of my own +insignificance. Be that as it may, their everlasting wrangling among +themselves is more than I can endure. When people begin to quarrel, even +to disagree warmly, the blood rushes to my brain, and I long for a cool +breeze from some piny height, a mossy seat by some calm lake, that +mirrors only the blue of heaven, the measured flow of falling waters, +the rustle of leaves, the hum of bees, or the song of birds.' + +'You are not strong, and have grown nervous, I fear,' said Aunt Sarah. +'I can remember when you greatly enjoyed a good discussion, and never +shrank from an encounter of opinions.' + +'I was young then,' replied Lucy; 'I am older now, and have less +confidence in my argumentative powers. I love truth as well, but doubt +my capacity to lift her veil, the willingness of mortals to seek her +humbly, or the certainty of their yielding to conviction, even were she +bodily, in unclouded radiance, to stand before them. I hope I may always +have courage sufficient to support my honest convictions, but I must +confess the effort has become a painful one, and I instinctively fly all +wrangling as I would the plague.' + +'Do you then desire to lead an isolated life?' asked Mrs. Grundy. + +'By no means,' replied Lucy. 'Duty and affection both bind me to active +service in the ranks of the world, and, to return to the subject of a +retired country sojourn, the freedom from _gêne_, the absence of hurry, +the _confidentiality_ of nature, lead us in a week to a better +comprehension and appreciation of the few persons surrounding us than +could be obtained in years of ordinary city acquaintance. Bricks and +mortar and cut stones tend to the revelation of but few secrets, but the +evening twilight, the crescent moon, the morning dawn, the forest shade, +and the noonday repose are persuasive openers of hearts and weavers of +sympathy. A walk with Elsie is far more to me than a solitary ramble. +Then, too, the country population frequently exhibit an originality and +individuality of development more often missed than found in the +assimilating atmosphere of cities.' + +'I should weary in a week of such a dull, sentimentalizing mode of +existence,' said Aunt Sarah, with a significant shrug of her prettily +drooping shoulders. + +'Sentimentalizing!' cried Lucy; 'nothing can be more healthfully real, +more conducive to strength and will to work, when the last red leaf has +fallen, and the gray November clouds remind one that Paradise is not yet +gained, and that a world of toil and strife and passion has a claim upon +each mortal's earnest labor. Also, the comic side of life is by no means +wanting among the hills, and many an innocent laugh is to be enjoyed +with, not at, one's fellow creatures. Humor I love dearly; satire is +simply hateful--filled with pain. I can always see the victim (if he +only knew!) writhing and blenching beneath the bitter glances and +blasting words of fiendish tormentors.' + +'Yes, indeed,' said Elsie, 'many a merry evening have we spent laughing +over the day's adventures. The singular coincidences and strange +incongruities of American life are nowhere more strikingly exhibited +than among the hills and lakes bordering the great thoroughfares of +travel. Do you remember, Lucy, the transit of our friends, the foreign +professor and the artist, from the Catskill Mountain House to the head +of the Kauterskill Falls?' + +'Can I ever forget it?' + +'What transit was that, Lucy?' asked Mrs. Grundy. + +'You know, Aunt Sarah, that midway up the Clove, nestled against the +side of the South Mountain, is Brockett's, and two miles up the ravine, +at the head of the Kauterskill Falls, stands the Laurel House, where we +passed a portion of last summer. Two miles farther east is the steep +brink of the Pine Orchard, crowned by the White colonnade of the +Mountain House. Early one morning, a much-esteemed friend, one of our +best artists, left Brockett's, and, climbing the ravine, passed our +house on his way to the North Mountain, whence a sketch was desired. We +had had nearly four weeks of continued rain, the brooks were full, the +falls magnificent, the roads in some parts under water, and every +pathway a running stream. We were daily expecting the arrival from +abroad of a gentleman whom I had never seen, but who was well known to, +and highly regarded by, sundry members of our family. He had written to +announce his coming, but we had failed to receive his letter, and, +consequently, when he, on the afternoon of the day already mentioned, +arrived at the Mountain House, he found no one waiting to receive him, +and no carriage to convey him to his final destination. No vehicle was +to be obtained at the great caravansary, and he was vainly endeavoring +to have at least a note despatched to our address, when the artist, who +had meantime finished his sketch and descended the North Mountain on his +way home, entered the office. He was weary from a toilsome walk under +heavy trappings, but hearing a fellow mortal in distress, and partially +learning the cause, his habitual kindness of heart induced him to say to +the stranger that he was about to walk over to the Laurel House, and +would lead the way, if he chose to follow. The professor, despairing of +his ability to make any more comfortable arrangement, accepted the +offer, and prepared to follow his guide. + +'Our foreign visitor was a tall, athletic man, with a noble forehead and +piercing black eyes. His attire was irreproachably neat, his +patent-leather boots rather thin for so rough a walk, especially as he +was just then much out of health, and he carried a heavy basket of +fruit, which he had kindly brought from a tropical clime to give +pleasure to his friends. He added to a generous and affectionate +disposition profound learning in languages, science, and philosophy, and +was a devoted patriot and lover of liberty. He had, however, landed in +New York during the terrible riots of last summer, and had hence imbibed +no very exalted idea of the orderliness of our population. He was of +course totally unaware of the frank confidence placed by man in his +brother man among our Northern mountains. + +'When the outside door was reached, the artist paused to gather together +his pointed staff, sketching box, and other _traps_. These implements +were evidently not familiar objects in the professor's experience, as he +supposed they might be part of the gear of a peddler, and hence +conceived a certain distrust of his guide. The artist was tall and +handsome, with a vigorous frame, a long, waving beard, a slouched hat, +and garments rather the worse for much exposure to the suns, winds, and +rains of a summer spent in the open air. One who did not examine the +clear eyes raying the essence of truth, and the high-cut features +bearing the unmistakable impress of manly honor, might perhaps have +erred with the stranger, and have supposed it possible that 'the man' +(as the professor invariably called his guide when he related the +adventure) might be a brigand intent upon luring travellers into byways +for sinister purposes. This idea was strengthened by the character of +the pathway chosen by the artist as the shortest route between the two +hotels. It passed through a dense forest, and was ankle deep in water. +Fallen trunks lay across its sinuous track, and no sound save a +twittering bird or crackling branch broke the silence of the rugged, +lonely way. The active guide strode on from stone to stone, returning +short answers to his companion, whose doubts began to take the form of +questions as to 'the man's' knowledge of the road, and the certainty of +finding the Laurel House at the end of this will-o'-the-wisp journey. +Weariness from a long day's walk and work, and the dawning perception of +the stranger's suspicions, were not calculated to induce a very bland +frame of mind or tone of manner, and the replies received confirmed the +professor's determination to keep a watchful eye upon his leader. He +fell behind a few paces, and prepared his only weapon, a strong +penknife, in case the enemy should suddenly turn upon him, meantime +consoling himself that, should matters culminate in a hand-to-hand +fight, he was rather the stouter and heavier man of the two. The thin +boots had soon been saturated with water, the basket of fruit grew +heavier and heavier, and the way seemed interminable. The guide, now +fully awake to the absurdity of the situation, and perhaps as much +provoked as amused, strode rapidly on, and, at a fork in the pathway, +momentarily struck into a wrong route. He was forced to retrace a few +paces, and the stranger's dismay was now complete--the way was surely +lost, and a night in the damp wood the least evil to be anticipated. + +'A wide meadow was soon after reached, but no sign of human habitation +greeted the longing eyes of the expectant traveller. Another band of +woodland was entered, and a deserted charcoal hut for a moment cheered +the heart and then dashed the hopes of our weary friend. The woodland +crossed, an open field and a cheery farmhouse broke upon his view. +Suffering the artist to hasten on, he eagerly bent his steps to the +farmhouse door, and there inquired concerning the way to the Laurel +House. He was in fact rather surprised to learn that he was on the +direct route, and now not far away. Narrowly escaping the fangs of a +cross dog, he hurried on, and overtook the now thoroughly amused artist +before the latter reached the long-expected Laurel House. That goal won, +the two gentlemen entered the office, and, as the rest of the family +were out walking, the professor sent to me the note already prepared at +the Mountain House. Not knowing that he had himself brought it, I went +into the bar room, where the first person I saw was the artist. I gave +him as usual a cordial greeting, noticing his travel-stained appearance +as bearing honorable evidence to a good day's work, and said I had come +to order a carriage for a foreign friend just arrived at the other +hotel. The artist asked a question or two, then said he presumed he had +brought over the very gentleman, and, with a quizzical expression, +offered to introduce me. The professor meantime had been watching the +interview with some surprise. He recognized me from my resemblance to +other members of my family known to him, and wondered to see 'the man' +so high in my esteem. He afterward remarked that he had thought it +strange that when he invited 'the man' to a joint punch at the bar +counter, the stranger should have drawn forth a two shilling note, and +insisted upon paying the whole scot. Night was rapidly approaching, and +the artist hastened down the glen while the summer twilight might serve +to illuminate the somewhat intricate way. + +'Bursts of laughter greeted the comical recital of the adventure as +good-naturedly given by the professor. The only drawback upon our mirth +was the fear lest wet feet and over fatigue might perhaps have increased +his malady.' + +'You see now,' said Aunt Sarah, with an ominous shake of the head, 'if +you will go to such forlorn, wild places, what may be expected to +happen. Had I been in your friend's place, I should never have forgiven +you for causing me such an uncomfortable, and, in one sense, dangerous +walk.' + +'Oh yes, you would,' cried Elsie; 'the remembrance would have added a +zest to the monotony of your every-day life, you would never willingly +have resigned.' + +'I presume, then, Elsie, you also have had adventures?' + +'Have I not?' replied Elsie; 'from the young Southerner who informed me +he would like the mountains very much if the roads were not so terribly +up and down, to the infuriated bull that took especial offence at my +white umbrella, and came charging toward me, with flashing eyeballs, +horns tearing up the sod, and hoofs threatening a leap over a low stone +wall, the only barrier dividing us.' + +'I suppose you call that pleasure, too!' said Aunt Sarah. 'Well, I must +confess I am more mystified than ever.' + +'I presume, Aunt Sarah, you could as little appreciate the attractions +to be found in a walk of over twenty miles in ten hours?' + +'Very well for men, my dear Elsie, but I think such excursions scarcely +fitting for ladies, especially for young and pretty ones. One of Lucy's +wild-goose chases, I doubt not! However, I am quite ready to listen to +your experience.' + +'One morning, at nine o'clock, Lucy and I left the Laurel House, +intending to visit the valley of the East Kill, a fine trout stream that +rises near the North Mountain, and flows into the Schoharie. The first +three miles being well-known ground, we preferred to drive, but left the +little carriage on the stony road to East Jewett, soon after that road +branches from the main Clove stage route. The day was magnificent, and +the view from the fir-garlanded sides of the Parker Mountain novel and +bewitching. The North and South Mountains, Round Top, the jagged peaks +bounding the Plattekill Clove, the narrow cleft of the Stony Clove, and +the terraced slope of Clum's Hill swept across the horizon bathed in a +soft September shimmer. A few birds were still piping, golden rods and +purple asters lighted up the wayside, and luscious blackberries, large +as Lawtons, hung in great clusters, from which no mortal hand had as yet +plucked a single berry. There they grew all for us and the birds, and +you may be sure we enjoyed this feast so lavishly spread in the +wilderness. The crown of the hill passed, we left the lovely view +behind, and began the descent into the valley of the East Kill. The +forest growth was here dense and of various species, and the road, +although solitary, apparently well worn. An ominous rustling among the +trees was the only sound we heard until we again reached the open +country, where a market cart, driven by a woman, assured us of some near +habitation. A long, broken valley lies between the hills bordering the +Schoharie, and the river range, and contains the settlements of East +Jewett, Big Hollow, and Windham Centre. Near the first-named place (a +scattered collection of farmhouses), we struck the East Kill, and began +to follow it up toward its source. It is a clear, rapid stream, and we +did not wonder the trout still loved to linger in its cool waters. On a +rustic bridge we sat down and ate our simple lunch of gingerbread, +crackers, plums, and almonds. The sun was in the meridian, and +counselled return, but curiosity led us on to further explorations. + +'The winding road crossed and re-crossed the stream. It was bordered by +lofty summits, and led through many a clearing and past many a +farmhouse. At one of these we met a man hiving swarms of bees. He lived +below, and told us we were eight miles from Cairo, a town near the +eastern foot of the Catskills. The friendly mistress of the cottage +informed us that the pass at the summit was only three miles distant, +and we hence concluded to return home by descending the eastern slope of +the mountains, crossing the lower portion of the intervening spur, and +reascending by the Mountain House road. Mountain miles are proverbial +for their length, and so we found them, as we wandered on until +civilization and the last good piece of road was left behind at a large +steam sawmill. Our way now skirted the near hills, and passed through an +upland bog of apparently interminable width. Fortunately, the last few +weeks had been comparatively dry, and hence it was possible to make +one's way by springing from clump to clump of rank grass, or more +frequently from hurdle to hurdle, as long stretches of half-decayed +branches covered the partially hidden quagmire. The air had become +close, the sun hot; a dense, low growth of wood shut in the devious way; +desolation and neglect marked the environs, and we were by no means +sure we were on the right road. Even Lucy began to doubt the prudence +and final success of the expedition. A very suspicious circumstance was +the fact that this road, by which we expected to cross the mountain top, +had lately made very little of an ascent. + +'At length a fresh, cool breeze began to fan our cheeks, such a breeze +as is never felt except upon mountain heights, and steep piles of rock +rose upon our left. The road had shortly before become hard and dry, +and, as it now commenced to descend, we could not doubt the summit of +the pass was reached. Fine trees, however, so closely hemmed us in that +we could see nothing beyond, and not until we were some distance down, +did we come to an opening whence the lower country was visible, with the +Berkshire hills, the river, the city of Hudson directly opposite, and +Kiskatom Round Top lying to our right. We exchanged glances, for we knew +something of the distance signified by this situation of landmarks. +However, there was nothing to be done except to press on, which we did, +down a road at first enchanting, but finally detestable, where it had +been neglected, and had become the rocky bed of a stream then dry. We +could fancy it in the spring, at the melting of the snows, with the wild +water dashing down the steep pathway, and the white foam gleaming and +glittering, as a newly risen Undine, in the sight of the astonished, +far-off beholders. + +'Lovely vistas over the rolling lands beneath, and up to the mountains +we were leaving behind, charmed away fatigue, and made the way like +fairyland. Near the first cottage we again sat down to rest and consider +our route. We hoped to find some near wood road leading over the wide +base of the North Mountain into the Mountain House road; but never a +wood road was to be seen. On and on we walked, descending lower and +lower into the valley, and coming nearer and nearer to Kiskatom Round +Top. At a turn in the way we asked a party of carpenters working on a +house, if this was the right route to the Mountain House tollgate. Some +laughed, all stared, and one answered, 'Yes.' On and on we plodded along +a dusty highway, till we reached a house by a brook, with ducks and +geese, a garden filled with autumn flowers, and a pleasant old lady +sitting near the door. She also opened her eyes at our question, and +said the distance to the tollgate was eight miles. Eight miles to the +gate, three thence up the steep mountain, and then again two to the +Laurel House! This, added to the many miles we had already walked, and +the lateness of the hour, was indeed alarming. She added, we might +obtain fuller information at a red farmhouse to be found some distance +on. Again we walked and walked, passing through a wild region, Kiskatom +Round Top continually most provokingly near, the road evidently leading +due east, and sinking lower and lower toward the river. At the end of +two or three miles we reached the red farmhouse, and were glad to rest +in a neat sitting room, with a cheerful woman and two bright, handsome +children. The harvest work being nearly done, the husband was absent on +a day's hunt, but the aged father was soon called in to give us the +desired information. The distance to the tollgate was only two miles, +and while the boy made ready the team to take us over, the honest, +intelligent farmer gave us a few sketches from his life history. His +daughter wished him to don his better coat, but he replied that he had +never been able to think that clothes could make or unmake a gentleman. +He also observed that early adversity had been the greatest boon he had +ever received, as, had he never failed in his city trading projects, he +never would have come to the country, or have enjoyed his present health +and happiness. He was a good patriot, and eagerly asked the latest news +of the war. He had also pleasant reminiscences to relate of a Carolina +Senator, who, with his family, had one summer beneath his roof sought +health and strength under the shadow of the Catskills. + +'A lively lad and fleet team soon placed us at the gate, which the stage +from the boat was just passing. The little rest and drive had greatly +invigorated us, and we bravely pushed on to the summit, outstripping the +heavy coach, and reaching the top of the mountain just as the red rays +of the setting sun were flushing the hills with crimson. The hour was +too late to risk the dark path through the wood, and we continued upon +the main highway, making but one deviation down a stony road, and over +Spruce Creek, until we reached the Laurel House, where the twilight was +still lingering, and where we found our friends a little anxious.' + +'I do not wonder,' said Aunt Sarah. 'Such vagaries are enough to keep a +whole household in a chronic state of anxiety. And I really cannot see +what you had gained!' + +'I have only given you a simple statement of the facts,' replied Elsie; +'to know our feelings by the way, the delight we experienced, all we +learned, including geography and topography, and the life and health we +drank in at every step, you must take that very same walk.' + +'More inscrutable mysteries!' returned Aunt Sarah. + +'Yes,' said Lucy D----, 'inscrutable, and yet subtilely vivifying as the +breath of their Author, the Great Architect of this glorious universe.' + + + + +OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE BLACKS. + + +All thoughtful minds are profoundly conscious that the problems of war +are not the last and most important to be solved in our national +affairs. It is clear enough that this great convulsion must end; and +end, too, in the total extinction of that stupendous system of iniquity +in the interests of which it was projected. President Lincoln's +Proclamation of emancipation throughout rebeldom, and the recent order +to enlist the slaves throughout the Border States in military service to +the Government, emancipating all thus enlisted, whether slaves of loyal +or disloyal masters, with the certainty that there is to be no cessation +to the grand achievements of our arms short of the completest success, +all conspire to assure us that the dreadful _disorder_ hitherto +consuming our national vitals is to pass finally away in the convulsive +_disease_ of its last throes, so distressing to us all. It being thus +certain that this consecrated crime is to be dismantled, dishonored, and +abandoned forever, the question is forced upon us: 'What is to be done +with the negroes?' Some four millions of human beings, doomed to +remorseless servitude, denied the static force of social law, forbidden +by positive law the rights of education, through which alone are +attained the culture and refinement of real manhood--these are the +'freedmen' just emerging from the most insignificant nonage to the +sublime personality of citizenship in a Government of the people. Such +being practically their attitude, what are the real demands and needs in +the case? + +Reputed statesmen, journalists, public speakers, and politicians are all +ready enough to determine the matter. 'Let them alone,' say they. 'They +are needed where they are; and the respective wants of capital and labor +will regulate the intercourse between these simple and uncultured +people and the powerful and shrewd men who henceforth are to buy their +service.' Such, in our humble opinion, is not the wisdom of sound, +healthy statesmanship. Let us see. + +We cannot get a complete handling of this matter without first +determining the purpose and character of government as a principle; and +we cannot determine this without a clear understanding of the laws of +the human mind in its historic evolution. We must understand, then, that +government is legitimately only an institution in the service of +universal man. It is subjective, ministerial, instrumental always ways; +_aiming only at the interests of the governed_; else it contains an +element hostile to the Divine order that peacefully directs all +movement, and must therefore be disturbed with a commotion that will +either restore or destroy it. + +We may not hereupon assume that government must necessarily assume only +one form; for, being thus subservient to human use, to manly culture, to +complete social state, it must infallibly assume forms precisely +proportioned to the human conditions to which applied; hence, we must +understand the laws of the human mind, which display its _varied_ +conditions in the course of its evolution from infancy to manhood, +before we can have a clear, scientific conception of the principles, +operations, and organic forms of human government. Let us, then, inquire +briefly as to these laws. + +Hereupon we find the mental conditions of the Grand Man--the human race +at large--precisely analogous to those of the small man--the individual +person. And by exhibiting the mental conditions with principles of +government properly related, which rule in one sphere, we infallibly +present the corresponding conditions and forms in the other sphere. + +The human mind, then, is a three-fold form, each fold having its own +distinct character, in consequence of which it is broadly and very +definitely individualized. Childhood, youthhood, and manhood, constitute +this triple form. The slightest consideration will readily confirm one +as to the propriety of this analysis; for, one cannot fail to see that +the distinct characteristics of each are broad and marked, and therefore +necessarily discriminate to any completeness of thought upon this +subject. Childhood is a form of total inexperience and unlimited +dependence. Youthhood is a form of growth from the helplessness of the +child to the strength and completeness of the man; involving the trials +of experimental endeavor, attended with the numerous buffs and rebuffs +so surely the witness of vital efforts toward fulness. Manhood is the +form of fulness, completeness, maturity. It is the form of luscious +juices ultimated in the perfectly rounded and glowing fruitage; juices +that pressed the tender bud into the thousand charms of floral beauty, +and thence moulded and urged the growing form to its crowning +excellence. + +Childhood, therefore, is a form in which activities are commanded from +without; as the parent commands the child, knowing that the child's best +interests--the ultimate realization of true, manly freedom--are only to +be realized through such arbitrary tutelage. Youthhood is a form of +rational freedom, wherein the subject's moral freedom is stimulated +under various forms of appeal in behalf of right doing. Here the careful +parent keeps the reins firmly in hand, but still slackens them to allow +the plunging steed to determine his own career; overjoyed if he choose +rightly and make his course with vigor and safety; sad and anxious if +forced to draw rein and urge anew the proper direction. It is evident +that the subject's activities here are partly self-determined or free, +and partly coerced or outwardly imposed. + +Manhood is a form that repudiates all methods of external appliances, +scales the bounds of parental dictation, and finds only life's fulness +in a freedom all aglow with the soul's adoration. It knows no law but +that of attraction; feels no impulse but that of love. Its activities +are perfectly free or spontaneous. The human mind thus falling under +this triple order of development, inevitably projects governmental forms +strictly proportioned or related thereto. And this is true regarding any +of its organized forms, from the individual to the human race at large: +hence the infantile condition of a people or a nation demands a +perfectly absolute, arbitrary, or commanding form of government; while +the youthful condition demands a mixed form; wherein the ruled are +partly free or self-determined, and partly subject or directed by the +reigning authority; and the manly condition demands a system of pure +self-government, wherein the law is written on the heart. + +It must be borne in mind that government is solely instrumental or +ministerial to human use; being designed to mould and fashion unfolding +human powers to higher and still higher social conditions, tending all +to that perfect ultimate wherein life and law are both spontaneous and +exactly balanced, and nothing detrimental to the dearest interests of +manhood can by possibility exist. + +Government, then, of whatever kind, must always be administered with +strict regard for the interests of the governed; and it is the endeavor +to subvert and overcome this legitimate principle of government, through +the mistaken selfishness of ruling powers, which attempt to administer +in behalf of their own lusts and in violation of universal ends, which +has kept and is keeping up now the convulsions that shake and try civil +institutions to their utmost. + +The theory or declaratory form of our Government stands out, boldly and +distinctly, as that of the highest order. In theory it is the form +proportionate to full manhood; planting and fostering institutions +tending to promote the free play of all that is great and glorious in +human character. It does not thus far practically realize its theory, +because, without regard to this incongruous system of inhumanity, which, +by its very nature, can find no harmony nor peace in connection, nations +themselves wear the human form, and must, therefore, realize the various +states of infancy, youthfulness, and manhood--of germ, growth, and +fruitage. This is true of whatever national form. Nationalities founded +upon the principles of absolutism, embody and express the same laws and +conditions. Their principle of supreme external authority is first a +condition of germination, then of growth or labored effort toward +maturity, and lastly of fruitage, in which the whole form is matured in +perfectly organic completeness, manifesting despotism in government, in +orderly or scientific proportions. + +Our nation, then, has not realized its highest conditions, because it is +as yet only germinal, or the national child-man; or, at best, is but the +vigorous blade, or national youth-man; while the corn, fully ripe in the +ear--the national man-man--is reserved unto the glory of the approaching +future, whose rays already dawn upon us and illustrate the clouds, that +have hitherto hung over us and darkened our way, with the power and +great glory of the coming of the Son of Man. + +Let us now try to draw nearer to the mark at which we principally aimed +in projecting this article. We said that the 'let-them-alone' system, +concerning the nation's 'freedmen,' is not the system of sound +statesmanship. Why not? Because they are a people in a state of +infantile weakness and inexperience; whom, from the irrepressible laws +and conditions of the human mind, we _must_ govern and control, either +wisely and beneficently or otherwise. To unloose the chains that have +bound them, and set them adrift to contend and compete under our +methods of individualism or isolated interests, is to doom them to +conditions hardly to be preferred to those from which they are about to +escape. This is certainly true with respect to a large majority. Witness +the state of our weakest white laborers, particularly in all our large +cities, and some few years back. See them by thousands and tens of +thousands imploring for employment, and only too happy if they may find +it at the most repulsive and unwholesome labor, sufficient to stay their +famished frames and adjourn for a time the pangs of hunger and frosts. +Driven in despairing hordes to beggary, prostitution, and crimes of +every kind, how fearfully threatening are the neglected duties and +obligations that confront us in their behalf! What, then, shall we say +to those who propose to swell the frightful tide by turning loose +millions more, weaker and more incompetent, it may be, besides being +subject to the evils of the reigning prejudices against color? No, no; +it must not be done. The Government must become the visible providence +of these weak children. It must organize and direct their efforts and +interests. It must, at least, organize them into industrial legions, and +carefully direct all their educational interests. This work, too, must +assume paternal form. Government is rightfully the foster parent of all +its tender, weak, or by any means incompetent children; and unless it +acknowledge and fulfil its functions as such, it is not Divinely +administered, and stands accountable before Supreme Wisdom for all +remissness. To meet all the demands, an especial commission must be +established, and organized with a completeness that will meet all the +educational and industrial needs of these dependent children. This +commission must have a wise head and _tender heart_. It must be fully +alive to the great issues involved, and must be healthy and vigorous in +its extremities, where will come the immediate points of contact with, +the great power it is to operate--the organized freedmen. The expense of +this commission must not be a tax upon the Government, nor must +Government derive any profit therefrom. Such an organized directory, +with extremities all complete, may be amply paid from the freedmen's +labors; at the same time, those labors being doubly remunerative to +themselves, in consequence of the wise adjustment of the organized +machinery of such a commission. For the weak and uneducated to be in +complete subjection to the stronger and more cultivated is in strict +accordance with the divinest order; only this relation must be that of +dependence and providence, without a taint of selfishness. It must be +humanitary or beneficent in its aims, and not inhuman and malevolent, as +is always the case when the weak are subjected to distinguish, +aggrandize, and enrich those who subject them. That the freedmen may be +organized and directed upon such humane and economical principles and +according to the strictest method and order--an order amounting to +definite science--will be practically demonstrated when the Government, +in the full consciousness of its mission, calls to its aid competent men +for this commission, and moves vigorously in the work. The principles of +government which we have briefly suggested as the basis of movement in +this matter, based upon the laws and consequently applying to the needs +of the human mind, enable us infallibly to estimate the whole relations +of Government and people. Our Government being in its theory the highest +form--the form proportioned to manhood, or the human mind so matured as +to have the intelligence to perceive and the virtue to execute the +right--proceeds, of course, upon the declaration that 'all _men are +created_ free and equal;' but in the only practical sense of free or +self-government, which, in its very nature, can only rest upon the +virtue and intelligence of its subjects, men cannot be regarded as +'created' until they are made whole or complete in the crowning +intelligence and virtue of the loftiest human attributes. But as +government, of whatever kind, follows the laws of the human mind, is +first a germ, then a growth, and then a fruitage--shoot, blade, and +ear--our Government can only realize this greatness and perfection +(unlimited intelligence and virtue) in its matured or organic state; +when the declared principles of its form shall have become livingly +combined or organized in institutions of unlimited excellence and +power--institutions that will perpetually embody and express the exalted +human force that inspired them. That our Government has thus far failed +to exhibit such completeness, only argues that it has heretofore been in +a formative condition--a condition of laborious trial, tuition, and +growth, fitting it to realize ultimately its fullness, wherein it will +stand related to previous conditions as the grand, symmetric beauty of +the ear of grain stands related to its various formative states. + +If now our Government is, as we fondly hope, approaching its third +degree, its matured condition, with a race of dependent children +emerging from the lowest condition, that of chattel slavery, it is plain +enough what the relation of these people and the Government should be. +They are simply minors, subjects of the Government, but not a part of +the Government. The right of suffrage is not to be extended to them, +because, from the nature and spirit of the Government, they are +necessarily excluded from the _highest_ prerogatives of citizenship. +Their education and whole training are to proceed with a view to their +becoming ultimately a function in the government. + +If the principles thus stated amount to a _science_ of government--and +we unhesitatingly aver that they do--then it is clear enough that +self-government--the highest form--does by no means necessitate, under +all conditions, _universal_ suffrage. In truth, its orderly development +strictly forbids it. A government, founded and only healthily operated +on virtue and intelligence, must apply itself studiously to develop +these conditions in its subjects; thus, and only thus, may these +subjects become a part of the governmental power in its full, harmonious +development. Self-government must recognize the principle of universal +suffrage, because it proceeds upon, and, in its ripest form, must come +to that; but, as it is an operation or analytic before it is an ordered +form or synthetic in its character, it will, while forming or growing, +both restrict the rights of suffrage, and permit its subjects to a part +in government when they are not fully qualified therefor. Our freedmen, +then, are neither to be subjected contrary to the demands of their own +highest good, nor are they to become an element in government in +detriment to the public good. Hence they must not be controlled in _any +form_ of servitude to interested and selfish superiors, nor must they, +by partaking of the elective franchise, become, at present, active +participants in the government. + +Our current national history must be regarded as singularly marked by +beneficent Providential design. At the same time that a people hitherto +despised and oppressed are emancipated from a dreadful thraldom, the +conditions attending such emancipation are forcing upon the nation a +system of industrial organization which we trust will not only prove +effective in all that pertains to their future welfare, but will, at the +same time, become the example of an organization that shall emancipate +and enthrone labor everywhere and in all conditions. Seeing thus the +light of day streaming in with unmarred radiance, dispelling every trace +of darkness and gloom, we cannot but thank God for His wise +dispensations, and with renewed hope and energy press onward toward the +glowing east to greet the rising sun. + + + + +OUT OF PRISON. + + From crowds that scorn the mounting wings, + The happy heights of souls serene, + I wander where the blackbird sings, + And over bubbling, shadowy springs, + The beech-leaves cluster, young and green. + + I know the forest's changeful tongue + That talketh all the day with me: + I trill in every bobolink's song, + And every brooklet bears along + My greeting to the chainless sea! + + The loud wind laughs, the low wind broods; + There is no sorrow in the strain! + Of all the voices of the woods, + That haunt these houseless solitudes, + Not one has any tone of pain. + + In merry round my days run free, + With slender thought for worldly things: + A little toil sufficeth me; + I live the life of bird and bee, + Nor fret for what the morrow brings. + + Nor care, nor age, nor grief have I, + Only a measureless content! + So time may creep, or time may fly; + _I_ reck not how the years go by, + With Nature's youth forever blent. + + They beckon me by day, by night, + The bodiless elves that round me play! + I soar and sail from height to height; + No mortal, but a thing of light + As free from earthly clog as they. + + But when my feet, unwilling, tread + The crowded walks of busy men, + Their walls that close above my head + Beat down my buoyant wings outspread, + And I am but a man again. + + My pulses spurn the narrow bound! + The cold, hard glances give me pain! + I long for wild, unmeasured ground, + Free winds that wake the leaves to sound, + Low rustles of the summer rain! + + My senses loathe their living death-- + The coffined garb the city wears! + I draw through sighs my heavy breath, + And pine till lengths of wood and heath + Blow over me their endless airs! + + + + +LIES, AND HOW TO KILL THEM. + + 'I said, in my haste, all men are liars.'--KING DAVID. + + 'Ye said it in your _haste_, did ye, David? Hech, mon, were ye + leevin now, ye might say it at your _leisure_.'--DOMINIE + McPHAIL. + +The Dominie was right. It's a lying world. It does not improve with age +either. The habit has become chronic, and the worst of all is, that the +world has told some lies so often, that it actually now believes them +itself. The wretched family propagates, too, at a terrible rate. Lies +breed, like other vermin, rapidly, and they are not at all modest about +intruding in any company. + +I meet them in the gossiping circle, and I meet them in the courts of +justice. I find lies in politics and lies in religion, lies in the +pulpit, 'nail't wi' Scripture,' lies in the counting room railed with +false entries, religious lies, told by Deacon Longface, for the +advancement of what the Deacon calls 'the gospel,' and irreligious lies +told by Bill Snooks, and clenched with an oath, lies in good books, and +lies in bad ones, lies written, and printed in the newspapers, and lies +whispered in the ear, and any number of lies sent by telegraph! And +then, there's the walking lies, going about on two legs, saying what +they do not believe, professing what they do not feel, the most +scandalous sort of lies extant. + +I meet them often, too, in 'the best society.' They are very impudent, +you know. I suppose they force their presence on people. At all events, +I know I find them in respectable company, and they seem quite at home +there. + +My friend Jones has just built what the newspapers call 'an elegant +mansion.' I was invited to the house-warming. Mrs. Jones's set is very +exclusive, and I was greatly complimented, of course. I went. Jones has +taste. I noticed the plaster walls. Jones had them colored to marble. +The wainscoting of the library was pine, but the pine lied itself into a +passable walnut. The folding doors of the parlor were pine, too, when I +came near. They pretended to be solid oak while I stood at the other end +of the room. Jones had succumbed to the demands of his time, and had +made his dwelling among lies. His 'elegant mansion' was a big, staring +lie from top to bottom. From the plated door-knob to the grained railing +round the garret stairs, he had 'made lies his refuge.' I was bewildered +that evening. It was impossible to say what was real. Miss Seraphina +Jones had a lovely color. Was it _done_ like the folding doors? Mrs. +Smythe had the whitest of teeth when she smiled. Were they only a +pretence at teeth? Mrs. Robinson had beautiful masses of that chestnut +hair around her handsome neck. The bewildering 'mansion' of my friend +made me half doubt even that splendid hair. Tom Harris's magnificent +whiskers, I _knew_, were not colored by fancy to that depth of darkness. +At last I actually began to doubt the sincerity of everybody present. +Their warm expressions of delight with Jones's new house, their pleasure +in each other's society, their earnest inquiries after each other's +welfare, all began to affect me with a sense of unreality, owing to that +masquerading 'mansion.' I began to think, in such a house, there might +be more shams than the marbled plaster or the grained pine. + +Jones's church is not better. I occupied a seat in his 'eligible pew' +last Sunday. The lath and plaster walls pretended to be Caen stone. The +cheap deal was all 'make-believe' oak. The brick pillars were 'blocked +off,' and unblushingly claimed to be granite. As I entered, I observed +that the pulpit stood under the arch of a recess, roofed with carved +stone, with clustered columns rising on the sides and spreading into +graceful arches overhead. As I walked up the broad aisle, the recess +shifted strangely, and the clustered columns of 'carven stone' ran in +and out, at hide and seek. At last the truth flashed on me. The chancel +was only painted on the flat rear wall of the building! I don't know +what the sermon was about. It doesn't matter. How _could_ a man preach +truth, framed in such a staring lie? I have no doubt he tried to, for, I +believe, he is an excellent man; but what a place to put him, Sunday +after Sunday, with that painted cheat behind him, mocking all he says! + +But lies are venerable as well as respectable. There are old, gray lies +that men half worship. The more toothless and drivelling, often the more +venerable. They have imposed their solemn emptiness on men for +generations. They have awed the souls of the fathers. They make the +children tremble. Men chant their praises, call them great names, and +tell each other the old scarecrows are better than any truths--they are +so ancient, so venerable, you see; and all the old women, male and +female, believe them. + +Then, there are powerful lies. Think on the wars men have fought for +lies, on the millions of followers lies have had--how from their lofty +seats they govern empires, convulse continents, and drive patient +nations mad. Think on the money they have made, the mouths they have +filled, the backs they have warmed, the houses they have built, the +reputations they have created, the systems they have propped, the books +they have sent out, the presses they have kept busy. Think of the +Donation of Constantine, the Forged Decretals, the South Sea Scheme, the +Mississippi Bubble, of Wild Cat Banks, and Joyce Heth! He is certainly a +bold man who will rashly measure his strength with this mighty family. + +As the world goes, the Father of Lies crowns himself and claims the +sovereignty. 'All these things will I give thee'--riches, honor, power. +It is the old Temptation of the Desert forever repeated. He lies when he +makes the offer. They were never his to give. But it's a lying world. +There are millions of us cheated. They take the old scoundrel at his +word. + +You and I, reader, do not, let us hope. We agree in believing that, +under any circumstances, lies are not good; that, at all times, they are +unsafe, unwholesome, and in every way bad, very bad; that, on the whole, +it is not safe to trust them, or go with them. That is a good creed. It +appears to me the only creed, on this subject, that will stand. + +For this is, after all, a very solemn sort of life. It has a very +serious ending. A great universe whirls away with its ebon-faced +mysteries piled from central caves to highest heavens--a universe, with +all its mysteries, of hardest reality and baldest truth. A man, looking +up to the cold, clear, unswerving stars, out yonder in the wintry night, +or down at the grave that lies, somewhere, for the digging across his +path, must feel that a lie for him, knowing his place, knowing himself, +that a lie for him is accursed. + +We want the truth always--clear-eyed, sharp-cut, marble-faced truth. We +want to know the facts and realities of our position, just as they are. +The mariner sails away into the lonely sea. The mystery of the +unfathomed deep sways miles down beneath his passing keel. The mystery +of the overarching heavens swims far above with mazy constellation and +revolving sphere. Between the mystery of the sky and the mystery of the +sea he steers right on, in calm and tempest confident, in night and +noonday secure. For he there, on the trackless wastes that girdle in the +great wide world, alone with the silence of Nature and God, _knows_ the +facts of his position, the realities of his place. The charts lie spread +before him. Island, continent, lone sea-rock, hidden shoal, they are all +mapped to his eye. The faithful needle points due north. The true sun +rises where he always has. The faithful, changeless stars look down at +midnight. The truth saves him, rocked in the arms of the wild sea. The +reality holds him secure. Ask him, looking out, in the night watch, over +the black sea and up to the inky deeps, and down to the dim-lighted +compass before him, ask him his opinion of _a lie_! What his honest +notion may be about a false light on yonder headland, a false latitude +on his chart for this island or that shoal, a mistaken measurement of +depth across this bay or through yonder straits! Ask him the nature and +effects of _a lie_ in the chart he sails by! + +And we are all sailors. We want true charts. The false chart is our +ruin. The false beacon on the headland is kindled by the fiends. It +leads to death--a wreck-strewn sea, dashing white up the black cliffs, +and bubbling cries, rising above the tempest's roar and the surges' +boom, as, one by one, the swimmers sink to darkness through the foam! + +Nay, for us, sailors over life's seas, sailors into eternity's dimness, +the lie wears its Father's likeness. And the liar, the man who makes a +lie, or helps a lie to success, a lie of word or deed, a lying boast +merely, or a bad, vile, lying system, is my enemy, your enemy, +humanity's enemy. He has deserted God's army, has denied his human +brotherhood so far, has gone over, soul and body, to Satan. He is God's +enemy and man's thenceforward. + +That, I say, is, I trust, our creed about lies and liars too. We know +where the lie comes from. We know whither it tends. We have made up our +minds that it, and all its belonging, were best swept clean away and +pitched into the Big Fire. Blessed be the man, we say, who successfully +kills lies! He is a man to be honored and loved, no matter how rough he +is in the process. It is never very smooth business. It is not a thing +that can be well done in gloves. Let us not quarrel with how the +champion does it. The main end is to get the lies well choked somehow. + +But the one great difficulty in the way of such a man is, that so many +people believe in lies. My eager young friend, Philalethes, supposes +that, if he can only expose this falsehood, show up this sham, or sound +the emptiness of this piece of cant or pretence, he will do the state +some service, that men will thank him and call him benefactor. He does +the work, and lo! to his amazement, many excellent men count him their +deadly enemy. + +These good souls see what he sees, that lies, and shams, and cheats in +business, in science, in politics, in religion, in social life, are +often very successful and very powerful, and they come to _their_ +conclusion, which is not his by a great deal. He thinks the lie ought to +be hated, with a hatred the more intense because of its success. They +conclude that lies, in this world at least, are necessary. They have +seen, with their own eyes, how powerful, venerable, or respectable lies +are, and they act on their knowledge. They take the lie into sleeping +partnership--Quirk and _Co_. + +There are men who do not believe plain truth can walk alone in this +world. She needs a pair of lies for crutches! Men will actually write +and print lies for the truth's sake. Men have piously written down and +copyrighted lies (I have their books on my shelves) for the sake of +religion! They have so little faith in God, they think they must wheedle +Satan over on His side, or the truth and the right will fail. It is very +easy to believe in God for the other world, but very hard to believe in +Him for this. He will be omnipotent lord and master there, but here, +now, in this bewildering world, in this confused and wretched time, +where wrong seems so prosperous and lies so strong, is He omnipotent +here? Hereaway, is not the Devil mightier? Can we get along without a +little of his help? + +Now lies can never end till this ends. While men think them necessary to +truth, in business, in politics, in social order, even in religion, they +will stand. People must be got to see that they are evil, that under no +circumstances can they be anything else, that there can be no alliance +between truth and falsehood, that the false thing must, in the end, be +the corrupting thing, Satanic and vile utterly. They must know that, +just so far as anything is incorporate with a lie, so far is it foul to +the nostrils of all angels, and ought to be to the nostrils of all men. + +Weave a lie into your social polity. It may prosper for a while, but +soon or late your social polity runs mad. Take a lie into your business, +as sleeping partner, try to live and prosper in that connection, and, +some time, you and your business will go to the dogs together. Adopt a +lie in your religion, make up your mind, piously as you think, to +believe what you do not believe and cannot believe, attempt to sanctify +falsehood and lie yourself into a faith, and your sham creed and your +lying religion will do you no good in this world or in the other. + +Because a lie is a respectable lie, believed and patronized by +respectable people, shall you respect it? Because some venerable sham +has imposed its emptiness on a score of generations, shall we go on +reverencing it, and pass the scarecrow and its trumpery trappings on for +the reverence of our children? Shall we, for any cause, that is, turn +liars ourselves, and use the tongues God gave us to speak honest truth +and simple meaning with, to deceive, in small matter or great, one human +brother of ours, and make him think Satan's black lie as good as the +Lord's white truth? + +It may be strong preaching, but how can one help it? Never yet did a +true-hearted, clear-headed reformer set to work to clear away some old +cankering sore of falsehood from a people's life that he did not meet +with opposition. And never yet did that opposition come from those who +loved the lie for the lie's sake or the bad for the bad's sake. It came +from those who love Truth, but who could not trust her, who loved Good, +but had no faith in its success, who wanted to see the right side +triumph, but had no confidence in the right--who really believed, that +is to say, that Satan was almighty and the Lord's cause could not +prosper, in this world at least, without his help! The opposition came +from those who would deal gently with respectable lies, not because they +are lies, but because they are respectable; who trembled before powerful +lies, not because they were lies, but because they were powerful; who, +seeing shams and cheats so prosperous, so venerable, so strong, got the +notion into their poor cowardly hearts that they are strongest, and +wanted the reformer to come humbly, cap in hand, and ask them to let a +little truth live, a little modest, humble, unaggressive truth--it will +be very orderly, very quiet, very deferential, if they, the powerful, +the venerable, the respectable lies will let it stay here, in some +corner, out of charity! + +These are the men who, in all ages, have built barriers against heaven, +the cowards, the faithless, the unbelieving. They dare not trust truth +because it is truth, and good because it is good, leaving consequences +with Him whose special business it is to take care of consequences. No, +it is not love for the lie, but want of faith in the truth, that blocks +the chariot wheels of the golden year. + +For men do not love the lie after all. There's comfort in that. They do +not like being cheated. They never get quite used to it, as, they say, +eels do to skinning. They sometimes turn on the man, or the system, that +tries it on them, in a very terrible and savage manner, with fury as of +a mad lion, and take swift, fearful vengeance. The big, dumb heart of +humanity, in the long, run, can be trusted. It is often imposed upon, +its blind trust shamefully abused. Scoundrels exist and prosper on its +patience and credulity. But only for a time. There is a reckoning for +all such deceptions, if need be, in blood and fire. The dull heart +throbs, the dull eyes open, the great brain stirs in its sleep, and +humanity, true to its origin, rises to crush the lie with its million +arms of power. And earth-born Briareus, when his thousand hands turn to +right his wrongs, is not delicate in their handling. The echoes of a +French Revolution will ring for some generations yet. + +The man who turns to combat error needs the assurance of the true +instincts of his race, for he enters on a task that must seem hopeless +often. + + 'Truth crushed to earth will rise again;' + +so Mr. Bryant tells him, and he is much obliged to Mr. Bryant. But will +not error do just the same? He killed a lie yesterday, and buried it +decently. He finds it alive again and prosperous to-day. Cut a man's +head off, and he dies. There's no help for it, unless he is a St. Denis, +and then he can only take a walk with his head in his hand. But, if he +is not a St. Denis, he dies. That is the law. Cut the head off a lie, it +does not die at all. It rather seems to enjoy the operation. You will +meet it, like fifty St. Denises, on every morning walk, during your +lifetime. They have a marvellous vitality. I meet lies every day that, +to my certain knowledge, were put to death a hundred years ago, by +master hands at the business, too. They ought, in decency at least, to +look like pale ghosts 'revisiting the glimpses of the moon,' but they +don't. They are smug, comfortable, and somewhat portly, as from good, +solid living. + +Now this is discouraging somewhat. But there is no good in shutting +one's eyes to the fact. That is what I am going against. It is best to +know that lies die hard. They will bear at least as many killings as a +cat, and that's _nine_. Still, much depends upon the manner of the +operation. How is it best performed? Knowledge is needed in all +pursuits. There is a science undoubtedly in killing lies. If you wish to +go into the business, and I trust most honest men do, you need to study +it somewhat. Otherwise you will waste much effort, and get few results. +It is not easy to kill one wolf with a stick, but, call science to your +aid, and an ounce of strychnine, well administered, will do the business +for a pack. Instead of going into a rough-and-tumble fight with some +coarse, rude, vile lie, and mauling it to death by sheer force of +muscle, it is better to use science and put it to death neatly, cleanly, +and delicately, with unsoiled hands. Let us see if we can find the +science of killing lies. + +'The greater the lie the greater the truth.' Take that with you. A lie +must, somewhere, have a truth to prop it. In the heart of every big +successful lie you will find some reality. Of course you cannot build a +house on _nothing_. A pyramid cannot be constructed in the air. Now a +lie is _nothing_, the very definition of nothing. It is what _is not_. +So, of course, no pure and simple lie exists. It always builds itself on +some truth. It always roots itself into some fact. And there is the +secret of its vitality. You batter the lie with your logic, but the +blows rebound from the iron truth beneath. You assail it with the +flashing darts of your rhetoric, the points fly harmless from the marble +reality below. There is truth there somewhere. That is why your rhetoric +and your logic fail. That, too, is why one so often sees that most +bewildering and despairing sight, men clinging to a lie, honoring it, +trusting it, defending it, in all sincerity, against all assailants. It +is not the lie they defend, but the truth in the lie. What a relief it +was when I first made that discovery! I was ready to think meanly of my +kind, to distrust humanity's instincts for truth. The lookout was on +despair. But, when I understood the nature of the lie, I learned to +think better of my brethren, I learned to have more hope in their Maker. +No, there is no building on nothing. Every lie has a substratum of +truth. In fact, look closer, and is not a lie only a distorted truth?--a +truth torn from its connections, its features twisted out of all +symmetry, its outlines battered out of all shape? + +A man tells a true story to-day, in the hearing of one who has this +distorting power, an essentially untrue soul. He hears the same story +to-morrow, the very same, but so deformed, so mangled, so patched, that +it is, now, every inch a lie--the truth gone crazy. That is, a truth +half told is a lie, a truth added to is a lie, a truth distorted is a +lie, a truth with its due proportions changed is a lie. And a lie may +always be defined as a lame, deformed, or crazy truth. + +And it is the truth in the lie that gives it its power, that makes +honest men so often accept, love, and help it. Their conscious design is +to work for the truth's sake. It is the truth in the lie that makes so +many logic shafts, so many rhetoric arrows glance off, as from the hide +of a rhinoceros. + +And the bigger the lie the bigger also the truth. That is another bit of +science. If Mrs. Tattle tells Mrs. Tittle a lie about Mrs. Jenkins, she +knows very well Mrs. Tittle will not believe her unless her lie has some +spice of fact to go on, unless it has _vraisemblance_, truth-likeness, +an appearance of foundation at least. Mean little lies, like those she +sets going, do not need much salt of truth to keep them from spoiling; +still they require their due modicum, and they usually have it. As for +instance, she says, with a long face, to Mrs. Tittle: 'Mrs. Jenkins, the +widow Jenkins, you know, it's _awful_. She went over to Pinkins's last +evening; I saw her go, and I do believe she stayed till twelve, and Mrs. +Pinkins is away, you know. Isn't it terrible?' and she raises her eyes +in pious horror at the depravity of the world, and of handsome young +widows in particular. That is the _lie_. Now here is the _truth_. Mrs. +Jenkins _did_ go across the way to Pinkins's, because one of his little +ones was suddenly taken with some baby ailment, and the poor fellow, in +his wife's absence, was scared out of his few wits in consequence. He +sent for the kind-hearted widow, and begged her help for Johnny. She +came, nursed the young scamp like a mother, and returned at nine, with +her conscience glowing under the performance of a kindly and neighborly +act. + +Now, without this much of truth, the amiable Mrs. Tattle would never +have manufactured this particular lie. All liars understand the +principle. They scarcely ever, until they become blind and stupid liars, +invent a falsehood out of mere fancy. They pay tribute to humanity's +instinct for truth so far as to tell as much of it as possible without +ceasing to lie. They get in as great an amount of truth as convenient, +to save their lie from swift, sure death. + +But a rousing big lie!--not one of these small neighborhood affairs, +that buzz about like wasps in every community--but a grand and +magnificent lie, imposed on a nation, imposed maybe on half a world, +must have a corresponding truth to make it prosper. It takes less salt +to cure the small pig, more to cure the large hog. So, the greater the +weight of dead lie, the greater the amount required of preserving truth. + +Mohammed imposed a lie on half a continent. That lie has lived and, in +some sort, prospered to this day. All sorts of babblement have been +written and spoken about that wonderful fact. The truth is, Mohammed's +great lie was founded on, and propagated with, an equally great truth, a +truth amply sufficient to carry it. In the midst of abominable idolatry, +of stupid polytheism, Mohammed proclaimed: 'There is no God but God!' +His wild and foolish fictions were based on that grand, unalterable +truth. That truth is big enough to bear up more lies than even he +ventured to cover it with. The human heart leaped up to grasp the great +fact that props the Universe--'GOD IS!'--and, in its love for that, +accepted also the falsehoods woven into its proclamation. + +In all the universe the evil roots itself into the good. Evil never has +an independent life. Like an idol, 'it is nothing in the world.' An evil +nature is a good nature, only turned from its aim. Death exists only +because there is life. Disease feeds on rosy health. Devils are, by +nature, angels. The foulest fiend is only the loftiest seraph spoiled. +The evil is always a parasite. All things were made 'very good.' An evil +thing is only one of those good things corrupted. The lie, therefore, +grows out of the truth. The clearest heaven's truth, half told, +distorted, patched upon, is the vilest lie thenceforth. + +Now, when one wants to kill lies successfully, he must remember all +this. He may turn, as many have done, to the work of proving +Mohammedanism a cheat. He sees it is. He wants to get others to see it. +He brings his logic artillery and the rifle brigades of his flashing +rhetoric to the battle. But, let him not be surprised if his heavy shot +is powdered, and his Minié bullets glance harmless, as from a Monitor's +turret, for beneath lies the iron truth that 'God is God,' and that +saves the lie that 'Mohammed is His prophet.' He is not to rush, like a +madman, at the lie, and try to maul it to death by sheer force of arm +and hand. There is a hard truth beneath it, and he will only lame his +knuckles. Let him go at the thing scientifically. They say of slander, +which is one kind of lie, that, if left alone, it will sting itself to +death. It is so somewhat with all falsehood. One should pay less +attention to the lie and more to the truth. And the best way to destroy +the false is to teach simply the true, and leave the false no room to +stand on. + +It is possible to destroy one lie by another. They are cannibals, and +eat each other. Voltaire tried to conquer the lie of a corrupt church by +establishing the greater lie of the denial of any church. That is a very +unfortunate process, and yet it is common enough. The best way is to set +out the truth, plain, and simple, and whole, and so kill lies in flocks. +Positive teaching will be found the most effective teaching. The man who +takes up the business of combating error, may originate quite as many +errors as he destroys. There are a hundred prominent examples. Negative +teaching is barren business at best. Better show what _is_ the truth +than worry oneself to show what is _not_ it. + +For, as I have shown, all lies have some truth in them. That is why they +kick, and struggle, and die so hard. Now, take the truth, tear away the +lies patched about it, tell it all, and you have quenched that +particular lie that worried you, do you not see? and every lie that +roots itself in that given truth, or lives on its distortion. Declare +your one truth convincingly, clearly, warmly as if you loved it, and the +work is done. All that does not agree with that is, of course, false, +without further breath wasted. + +I might spend one day in proving that two and three are not four, +another in proving that nine and six are not four, and so on _ad +infinitum_. How much more sensible to prove that two and two are four, +and so end the thing! How much simpler to show what is the truth than, +laboriously, to expose the claims of a thousand pretenders that are +_not_ it! Here are five hundred John Smiths. They each pretend to be +_our_ John, the man we know and esteem so highly. I could set to work +with infinite labor, and, by having commissions appointed all over the +world to take evidence, and by employing a hundred or so of my friends +the lawyers, I might, after a lifetime of investigation, prove the +negative, that four hundred and ninety-nine of them are not John. But +how much easier to walk out the real John at once, prove the positive, +and let the rest pack! By proving that one truth, you see, I kill four +hundred and ninety-nine lies--a good day's work that. + +There is altogether too much of this negative style in all our defences +of truth, too much attempt to destroy what is wrong, and too little to +build what is right. And, after all, the business of the destructive, +though many times very necessary and very useful, is not the highest +style of work. You are never sure of your ground till, on the ruins of +the towers of injustice and wrong, you erect the fortresses of justice +and right. + +The wise way is to let truth fight her own battles. She will render a +good account of all her foes. Our humble duty is to stand by her, merely +as seconds in the strife, to help her to her feet should she fall, to +burnish her armor if the rust come to dim its brightness or spoil the +keenness of her weapon's edge, knowing that she, as with the sword of +the cherubim, will scatter, at the last, the evil legions and their dark +array, as the whirlwind scatters the chaff. + +I have written of a war that, as far as this world is concerned, is +endless. As long as the world exists lies will exist. Truths will always +be half told, half learned, half understood. The man who girds himself +to do battle with falsehood and wrong should understand that 'there is +no discharge in this war.' It will last his life out. He must accept the +inevitable condition of his place, and must be content to do his best, +hopefully and bravely, in this world-work, though he surely know that it +shall be said of him, as of those faithful ones who saw only in vision +the coming Christ: 'These all died in hope, not having obtained the +promise.' I have attempted here some hints for the truth-lover. I warn +him, on the start, that his work is endless, his discouragements many +and great. Often and often it will seem that the evil is omnipotent, the +false all-conquering. Again and again his heart must sink in half +despair before the world's triumphant wrongs, before its overwhelming +lies. In many a dark time the heavens will seem brass and the earth +iron, and the evil victorious over all. He must be prepared for this. +There is no good in cheating men with false hopes. In a world that +crowns its saviors with thorns, such things are, and it is just as well +to know it. + +But there are encouragements too. The conviction is perennial among men, +that, on the whole, the false must go down. That is one strong +encouragement. This is another, that, after all, men are truth-lovers. +The true instincts of the race will give themselves voice some time, and +when they speak they shake the world. On the whole, they are for the +right thing and the true thing. All history, I believe, will bear them +that testimony. + +But the great encouragement is, that the Lord is King, that a true God +owns creation, that He is on the side of truth, and armed against every +lie. I think, between ourselves, that is encouragement enough. The side +that Jehovah is on is a pretty strong side, no matter who is on the +other. In the long run it will be the safe side, and the successful +side. + + + + +WAS HE SUCCESSFUL? + +_PART THE LAST._ + + 'Do but grasp into the thick of human life! Every one _lives_ + it!--to not many is it _known_; and seize it where you will, it is + interesting.'--GOETHE. + + 'SUCCESSFUL.--Terminating in accomplishing what is wished + or intended.'--WEBSTER'S _Dictionary_. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The reader must imagine a lapse of five years. + +Hiram Meeker sits by an open window of his front parlor. It is the first +week in June; and, although early in the afternoon, the avenue is +beginning to be thronged with the fashionable world. + +Hiram sits, idly regarding the passers by. If you observe particularly, +you will perceive that the chair in which he is sitting is of a peculiar +construction. It is made so as to be wheeled from one point to another, +without disturbing the occupant. + +If you regard his countenance with a little more scrutiny, you will find +it greatly changed. There is no longer that firm texture of the skin +which indicates the vigor of health, and which shows that the muscles +are under full control. One side of the face is a very little out of +shape; not enough, however, to affect the appearance of the mouth, and +probably not to interfere with articulation. + + * * * * * + +Reader, the 'evil days' have come to Hiram. They _have_ come, but, as +one might say, gently, without aggravating circumstances or attending +misfortunes. Still, the evil days have come. The 'years,' too, draw nigh +when he shall have no pleasure in them. + +It is a twelvemonth now since the fatal, long-dreaded _paralysis_ came. +The stroke was a mild one, but there it was. All that care, and +forethought, and the best medical advice could accomplish, had been put +in requisition, and not without effect; but the millionnaire could not +neglect his vast interests, nor fail to mature plans which his fertile +brain originated. + +The machine gave occasional token of the wear and tear to which it was +subjected. Then Hiram would intermit his labor; would ride farther and +sharper of a morning; would subject himself to an extra amount of +friction. Presently the brain would work bravely on again, as of yore, +just the same--exactly the same. Hiram could perceive no +difference--none. Then would come another premonitory symptom, which +would be followed by other extra rides and various new courses of +treatment, till all worked well again. During these periods, Doctor +Frank, under whose charge Hiram had at length placed himself, would urge +on his brother the necessity of some relief from his self-imposed +labors. But, as I have intimated, the advice was heeded only while +danger was apparent. + +When the fearful visitor _did_ appear, Hiram bitterly regretted tasking +his brain so severely. He was now quite willing to obey every injunction +and follow every suggestion of his physician. + +To this is owing his present comfortable state and tolerable degree of +health. But privately let me tell you that he is failing--not fast, but +gradually, surely failing. + + * * * * * + +Let us return to the window. + +Mrs. Meeker's carriage is at the door. In a few moments Arabella herself +comes out and enters it, and drives away. Positively she does not appear +in the least changed since we last saw her. In fact, her health was +never so good as at present. + +'She will outlive me,' mutters Hiram--'she will outlive me, though she +is more than two years older than I am. Let me see, from April to +November is seven months. Yes, it is nearer three years than two. She +will outlive me, though. + +'I say, Williams!' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Williams, have you heard how Mr. Hill is to-day? I am told he is not +expected to live.' + +'No more he wasn't sir; but I met his man this morning, at market, and +he says as how Mr. Hill is very much better, sir, very much better.' + +'Humph! + +'Williams, who was that young man I saw come to the door this morning?' + +'I really couldn't say, sir--I didn't know of any, sir--oh, now I +recollect, sir: it was a messenger from the Doctor, sir, with the new +friction gloves.' + +'Humph!-- + +'You understand, Williams, if _that_ young man ever comes near the +house--you know who I mean--I say, you--you understand what I told you?' + +'Oh, yes, sir--certainly, sir.' + +'That will do, Williams.--Hill is getting better, is he?' pursues Hiram +to himself. 'Let me see--Hill must be at least four years older than I. +Yes, I recollect perfectly when he was at Joslin's, the time I came down +from Burnsville. Why, I was a mere boy, then, and Hill--Hill was a young +man of five-and-twenty. Yes, I recollect perfectly'--and Hiram smiled, +as if his encounter with Joslin and his clerk was fresh in his mind. 'So +Hill is better to-day,' he continued. 'He will outlive me too. Yet he is +certainly four years older--four years older.' + + * * * * * + +There may be some of my readers who have taken sufficient interest in +'that scapegrace Hill' to wish to know something about him during these +last thirty years. + +I will say, therefore, that when Hiram jilted Emma Tenant, Hill took a +perfect disgust toward him. He presently quit drinking and swearing, and +married a pretty--indeed, a very charming--rosy-cheeked girl, whose only +fault was, as he said, that she was foolish enough to love him. This +girl was the daughter of his landlady, and not worth a penny--in money. +Till Hiram's 'affair' with Emma Tenant, he had exercised sufficient +influence over Hill to prevent his committing himself. That resulted in +Hill's throwing off the yoke, and announcing his independence. Hill was +no fool. The fact is, Hiram, to a certain extent, was in his power. The +parties never quarrelled. But all accounts were closed between them the +following season. I am constrained to add Hill continued in the liquor +business, in which he amassed a pretty large fortune. He was afterward +made President of the Globe Bank, one of the largest in the city, as all +know, which office he continues to hold. He has proved a good husband, a +kind father, and a useful member of society. The phrase is a stereotyped +one, but it is true of Hill. + + * * * * * + +Leaving Hiram Meeker to pursue his soliloquy, I will endeavor to put the +reader in possession of such facts as may be necessary for the better +understanding of the narrative, and the present situation of affairs in +Hiram's own house. + +After the departure of Belle, I remarked that Hiram was busily engaged +for more than a week in preparing his will. With the defection of his +son and the elopement of his favorite daughter, Hiram's ideas took a new +and distinctive turn. + +He at one time had considerable pride in the idea of building up the +family name in his children, 'even unto his children's children.' This +he thought a laudable ambition, since he found the phrase in Scripture. +But when Belle deserted him, and he found himself not only forsaken but +duped, his feelings underwent an entire change. + +When Harriet, in her anxiety to induce her father to bring back her +sister, said, 'Give her my share--I shall not require it,' there was +stirred in Hiram's heart the old demon of Calculation and +Acquisitiveness. It seemed as if something had been saved to him by +Harriet's untimely departure from the world. It is difficult fully to +understand this, since, while he lived, certainly he would retain +control of all his property; and after his death, what could it avail +him? Nevertheless, I but recount the simple truth. + +That night he conceived the idea of a magnificent disposition of his +vast estate, to take place on his decease. Now he began to regard his +afflictions in a providential light. These were chastenings, at present +not joyous but grievous; but they would work out for him a more eternal +weight of glory. + +The consequence was, that by his will be founded three distinct public +institutions, all bearing his name; and prepared, at the same time, +minute directions how to carry his bequests into effect. These +institutions were not what are called charitable, neither did their +establishment indicate a heart easily touched by human misfortune. They +were calculated, however, to adorn and ornament the city, and to blazon +forth _H. Meeker_ to the world so long as they stood. + +One thing threatened to interfere with Hiram's arrangements. His wife +would have a right of dower in all his real estate, in case she survived +him. This annoyed Hiram greatly. + +He got along with the matter in a business way. Arabella herself was +called in. Hiram announced, in general terms, what he proposed to do, +and suggested that he was ready to leave her a sum certain, provided she +would relinquish her rights in the real estate. + +Under ordinary circumstances Arabella would have been indignant; but her +thoughts were of her son, now a wanderer from his home. She was +tolerably familiar with the laws which regulate property. She knew if +she insisted on her dower, which she had a right to do, that however +affluent she would be while she lived, she would have nothing to leave +her child. She did not give Belle a thought. + +After a good deal of haggling, it was agreed that Hiram should give her +by his will three hundred thousand dollars (just about the sum, by the +way, she brought her husband), together with the household furniture, +plate, horses, carriages, and so forth, and the use of the house during +her life. + +This settled, Hiram was left free to follow out his ambitious plans for +raising a monument to--himself. + +These occupy him entirely. So much so, that he has no time to look +forward to the great future which cannot now be very far off to him. +Indeed, strange as one may think, although Hiram feels well assured of +his title to the kingdom, he _thinks_ very little about it; neither does +the prospect give him the least satisfaction. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, where is Harriet? What has become of Belle! How did Gus turn +out? + +Harriet survived longer than one would have imagined, considering the +progress disease had made when we first became acquainted with her. +While she lived, she could not fail to impart her influence--the +influence of a gentle and a chastened spirit--over the whole household. + +I have already intimated that there was a new tie between her and her +mother--the worldly minded and fashionable Arabella. It was in the +interest which both felt in Gus. It seemed to be the chief object of +Harriet in living, to bring back her brother to his home, and to see him +in the right path. The mother longed to bring about the same thing, but +probably for very different reasons from those which actuated the dying +girl. But here their sympathies met, and they could act in concert. Gus +had always been sensibly alive to Harriet's regard for him. He loved her +with real affection; and when, in a foreign land, he read her letters, +fraught with the strongest expressions of love and sympathy, and filled +with the most earnest appeals from his 'dying sister, whose every breath +was a prayer for him,' it was impossible for his nature to resist. + +In a few months, Gus had taken his resolution. He abhorred trade. His +four years in college were not altogether lost on him. He felt quite +sure that his father would never relent. He believed he discovered in +himself a taste for the medical profession. So, after a short period, +Gus established himself in a very quiet way in Paris, and became a very +persevering and devoted student. His mother, of course, managed to keep +him in funds; but his drafts on her were very moderate. His reformation +seemed complete. + +After devoting about eighteen months to the study of medicine abroad, he +returned to New York. This was the season before Harriet died. He said +he could not endure the idea of her passing out of the world without his +seeing her again, and telling her what was in his heart. + +Hiram all this time remained, or professed to remain, profoundly +ignorant of what was going on. He continued to speak of his 'reprobate +son,' among his acquaintances in the church. The least attempt on +Harriet's part to introduce the forbidden subject was met by the most +stern repulse. + +But Gus came back. He was obliged to enter his own home stealthily and +in secret, where he deserved to be welcomed back in honor and with +reward. But he came. What was the joy, the intense satisfaction of +Harriet, to see him again! And Arabella--it was a strange sight indeed +to see _her_ give way to any real emotion. + +Perhaps, before this, you have guessed that Doctor Frank has had +something to do with Gus's return. He has had a great deal to do with +it. Doctor Frank is an old man. He has no boys--living. He wants Gus to +live with him. He will give him the benefit of his large experience, and +Gus in return will relieve the doctor of much of the hard work which is +constantly accumulating. This is Doctor Frank's plan. It has been +carried out, and Gus is now 'the young doctor.' Bravo Gus! God bless +you! + + * * * * * + +Poor Belle! + +At the end of a single year, she was obliged to quit her husband. Quit +her husband, did I say? I mean that her husband quitted her. After +spending a few weeks in travelling, the two set off for Europe; and, +going to Paris, they gave themselves up to the enjoyment of the gay +scenes which this remarkable city affords. + +'When the ocean shall be between us, papa will no longer hold out--I +know he will not.' + +So Belle said to her husband. But Belle was mistaken. Months passed, and +destitution stared the couple in the face. Then the various articles of +jewelry went, one by one--and then the crisis arrived. + +When Signor Filippo Barbone became fully satisfied that his +father-in-law was not to be turned from his resolution: when it became +apparent that the mother was not to be influenced, he came to the +conclusion that he had made a bad bargain, and resolved to escape as +soon as possible from the consequences of it. + +Belle, on her part, began to be disenchanted. Then all the elements of +her imperious, passionate nature, broke out in the fiercest, most +vehement, most vindictive manner. She heaped reproaches, taunts, and +maledictions on the head of the signor, who bore them with more +equanimity than would be supposed, but who determined not to have +another such tempest. One night he decamped, taking with him the few +remaining valuables the miserable girl possessed. + +Belle had not communicated with Gus, or even permitted him to know her +whereabouts. Now she wrote him a note, imploring him to come to her. He +responded at once, and instantly made what arrangements he could for her +comfort. After a season, and by the joint efforts of Gus and Harriet and +Doctor Frank, Belle was enabled to go back to New York. Her father would +not see her; her mother would not permit her to enter the house; but a +small weekly stipend was allowed, to enable her to board in a +respectable place, and to dress decently. + +Her unfortunate marriage has had very little effect on her. She never +was so handsome in her life. She enjoys exciting the sympathies of those +by whom she is surrounded, including half-a-dozen gentlemen who are +constantly dangling around her. A young lawyer, who was boarding at the +same house, undertook to institute proceedings for a divorce against the +absent signor. He was successful in his application, and Belle is now +legally free. She will probably marry some man of coarse taste, who will +be attracted by her fine form and showy appearance, to say nothing of +the effect of the prevalent belief that she will certainly be provided +for 'on old Meeker's death.' + + * * * * * + +So much for the present situation of the Meeker family. While Arabella +is taking her drive, I have had time to tell the reader thus much about +it. The carriage is now approaching, and I must stop. + + * * * * * + +The shadows of evening begin to gather. Along the great artery of the +city press the crowd. Their steps tend homeward. + +Still Hiram sits by the window, but oblivious of the current which +sweeps by. + +His thoughts go back to Hampton. He is a clerk in the 'opposition +store,' making love to Mary Jessup. + +'What a pretty girl she used to be!--how much she always did for +me--what pains she took to please me!' he mutters to himself. + + * * * * * + +Now he is thinking of Burnsville. His mind seems principally to dwell on +what was formerly of secondary importance to him. + +'Those Hawkins girls--they were good girls--very kind to me always--nice +girls--handsome girls--both of them in love with me. The widow Hawkins, +too.... + + * * * * * + +'Sarah Burns--she was a different sort from the rest. I don't think I +ever cared so much about her--too independent--thought too much of +herself. How quick she broke the engagement! I remember it was +preparatory lecture--preparatory lecture.... + + * * * * * + +'Emma Tenant--_she_ wasn't proud--Emma really loved me--I always, knew +she did....' + +He raised his eyes. + +Was it through some species of traction, as believers in odic force +other peculiar affinities, attribute to their influences, that he did so +at that moment? + +_There_ was Emma Tenant--Mrs. Lawrence--passing in her carriage, +surrounded by blooming, grown-up children. + +Her attention, it seems, was directed for an instant to the window. +Their gaze met. + +No outward sign that they were ever acquainted was manifested. But there +was, on both sides, a _recognition_, instantaneous and complete. + +'Poor old man!' exclaimed Mrs. Lawrence, involuntarily. + +'Who, mamma?' + +'We have passed him now.' And no more was said. + +'She loved me once,' was the soliloquy. 'That was a great while ago, +too....' + + * * * * * + +Another carriage passed. A bow from a lady, accompanied by a pleasant +smile. It is Miss Innis (Mrs. Leroy), driving out with _her_ children. +Though no longer young, she is still a most attractive and elegant +woman. + +'What a wife she would have made me! I should not be in this state if I +had her to look after me. She has a kind heart--always smiling, always +happy.' + +'Mr. Meeker!' + +The shrill voice of Arabella is heard. + +Hiram groans in spirit. + +'Don't you think you had better be wheeled to your room? You know I dine +out to-day.' + +'I prefer to sit here. Tell Williams to come to me.' + + * * * * * + +The shadows fall thicker and faster. + +Still Hiram Meeker sits by the window. + +Despite my real inclination, I have a morbid desire to linger by his +side. + + * * * * * + +I hear the sharp ring of the prompter's bell! The curtain is about to +fall. I _cannot_ stay in the gloom alone with that man!--Good by to you, +Hiram! + + * * * * * + +I breathe again--in the cheerful streets, surrounded by bustling, +earnest, sympathizing humanity. + + * * * * * + +Reader, what think you? WAS HE SUCCESSFUL? + + + + +APHORISMS. + +NO. II. + + +One may effect an _absolute insurance against all real evil_ by the +adoption of a single rule, i. e., _never to do anything against +conscience_. This must be applied in our treatment of ourselves, in body +and mind--especially the former; because there we are most apt to fail. +It must be kept strictly toward the soul, in view of its endless +welfare, and in all our relations to God and man. This, I admit, may not +save us from the invasions of apparent ill; but from the entire +_reality_ of evil, the security thus furnished is absolute. Conscience +is the voice of God in the soul; and no one truly obeying this voice +will meet with permanent harm. This rule, let us further observe, is +most needed where it is least likely to be regarded, i. e., in +circumstances where the voice of conscience is not so decided as in the +case of temptations to palpable vice. Our danger is often greatest, +where we have to resist only an obscure sense of right and wrong, in +seeking the lower gratifications of life. So much the more scrupulous +must we there be. + + + + +BENEDICT OF NURSIA AND THE ORDER OF THE BENEDICTINES. + + +Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the celebrated order which bears his +name, gave to the Western monasticism a fixed and permanent form, and +thus carried it far above the Eastern with its imperfect attempts at +organization, and made it exceedingly profitable to the practical, and +incidentally also to the literary interests of the Catholic Church. He +holds, therefore, the dignity of patriarch of the Western monks. He has +furnished a remarkable instance of the incalculable influence which a +simple but judicious moral rule of life may exercise on many centuries. + +Benedict was born of the illustrious house of Anicius at Nursia (now +Norcia), in Umbria, about the year 480, at the time when the political +and social state of Europe was distracted and dismembered, and +literature, morals, and religion seemed to be doomed to irremediable +ruin. He studied in Rome, but so early as his fifteenth year he fled +from the corrupt society of his fellow students, and spent three years +in seclusion in a dark, narrow, and almost inaccessible grotto at +Subiaco.[5] A neighboring monk, Romanus, furnished him from time to time +his scanty food, letting it down by a cord, with a little bell, the +sound of which announced to him the loaf of bread. He there passed +through the usual anchoretic battles with demons, and by prayer and +ascetic exercise attained a rare power over nature. At one time, Pope +Gregory tells us, the allurements of voluptuousness so strongly tempted +his imagination that he was on the point of leaving his retreat in +pursuit of a beautiful woman of previous acquaintance; but summoning up +his courage, he took off his vestment of skins, and rolled himself naked +on thorns and briers near his cave, until the impure fire of sensual +passion was forever extinguished. Seven centuries later, St. Francis of +Assisi planted on that spiritual battle field two rose trees, which grew +and survived the Benedictine thorns and briers. He gradually became +known, and was at first taken for a wild beast by the surrounding +shepherds, but afterward reverenced as a saint. + +After this period of hermit life, he began his labors in behalf of the +monastery proper. In that mountainous region he established, in +succession, twelve cloisters, each with twelve monks and a superior, +himself holding the oversight of all. The persecution of an unworthy +priest caused him, however, to leave Subiaco, and retire to a wild but +picturesque mountain district in the Neapolitan province upon the +boundaries of Samnium and Campania. There he destroyed the remnants of +idolatry, converted many of the pagan inhabitants to Christianity by his +preaching and miracles, and in the year 529, under many difficulties, +founded upon the ruins of a temple of Apollo the renowned cloister of +Monte Cassino,[6] the alma mater and capital of his order. Here he +labored fourteen years till his death. Although never ordained to the +priesthood, his life there was rather that of a missionary and apostle +than of a solitary. He cultivated the soil, fed the poor, healed the +sick, preached to the neighboring population, directed the young monks, +who in increasing numbers flocked to him, and organized the monastic +life upon a fixed method or rule, which he himself conscientiously +observed. His power over the hearts and the veneration in which he was +held is illustrated by the visit of Jotila, in 542, the barbarian king, +the victor of the Romans and master of Italy, who threw himself on his +face before the saint, accepted his reproof and exhortations, asked his +blessing, and left a better man, but fell, after ten years' reign, as +Benedict had predicted, in a great battle with the Græco-Roman army +under Narses. Benedict died, after partaking of the holy communion, +praying, in standing posture at the foot of the altar, on the 21st of +March, 543, and was buried by the side of his sister, Scholastica, who +had established a nunnery near Monte Cassino, and died a few weeks +before him. They met only once a year on the side of the mountain for +prayer and pious conversation. On the day of his departure two monks saw +in a vision a shining pathway of stars leading from Monte Cassino to +heaven, and heard a voice that said by this road Benedict, the well +beloved of God, had ascended to heaven.[7] + +His biographer, Pope Gregory I., in the second book of his Dialogues, +ascribes to him miraculous prophecies and healings, and even a raising +of the dead.[8] With reference to his want of secular culture and his +spiritual knowledge, he calls him a learned ignorant and an unlettered +sage.[9] At all events he possessed the genius of a lawgiver, and holds +the first place among the founders of monastic orders, though his person +and life are much less interesting than those of a Bernard of Clairvaux, +a Francis of Assisi, and an Ignatius of Loyola. + +The rule of St. Benedict, on which his fame rests, forms an epoch in the +history of monasticism. In a short time it superseded all contemporary +and older rules of the kind, and became the immortal code of the most +illustrious branch of the monastic army, and the basis of the whole +Roman Catholic cloister life.[10] It consists of a preface or +_prologus_, and a series of moral, social, liturgical, and penal +ordinances, in seventy-three chapters. It shows a true knowledge of +human nature, the practical wisdom of Rome, and adaptation to Western +customs; and it combines simplicity with completeness, strictness with +gentleness, humility with courage, and gives the whole cloister life a +fixed unity and compact organization, which, like the episcopate, +possessed an unlimited versatility and power of expansion. It made every +cloister an _ecclesiola in ecclesia_, reflecting the relation of the +bishop to his charge, the monarchical principle of authority on the +democratic basis of the equality of the brethren, though claiming a +higher degree of perfection than could be realized in the great secular +church. For the rude and undisciplined world of the Middle Age, the +Benedictine rule furnished a wholesome course of training and a constant +stimulus to the obedience, self-control, order, and industry which were +indispensable to the regeneration and healthy growth of social life.[11] + +The spirit of the rule may be judged from the following sentences of the +_prologus_, which contains pious exhortations: 'Having thus,' he says, +'my brethren, asked of the Lord who shall dwell in His tabernacle, we +have heard the precepts prescribed to such a one. If we fulfil these +conditions we shall be heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Let us, then, +prepare our hearts and bodies to fight under a holy obedience to these +precepts; and if it is not always possible for nature to obey, let us +ask the Lord that He would deign to give us the succor of His grace. +Would we avoid the pains of hell and attain eternal life while there is +still time, while we are still in this mortal body, and while the light +of this life is bestowed upon us for that purpose, let us run and strive +so as to reap an eternal reward. We must, then, form a _school of divine +servitude_, in which, we trust, nothing too heavy or rigorous will be +established. But if, in conformity with right and justice, we should +exercise a little severity for the amendment of vices or the +preservation of charity, beware of fleeing under the impulse of terror +from the way of salvation, which cannot but have a hard beginning. When +man has walked for some time in obedience and faith, his heart will +expand, and he will run with the unspeakable sweetness of love in the +way of God's commandments. May He grant that, never straying from the +instruction of the Master, and persevering in His doctrine in the +monastery until death, we may share by patience in the sufferings of +Christ, and be worthy to share together His kingdom.' + +The leading provisions of this rule are as follows: + +At the head of each society stands an abbot, who is elected by the +monks, and with their consent appoints a provost (_præpositus_), and, +when the number of the brethren requires, deans over the several +divisions (_decaniæ_), as assistants. He governs, in Christ's stead, by +authority and example, and is to his cloister what the bishop is to his +diocese. In the more weighty matters he takes the congregation of the +brethren into consultation; in ordinary affairs, only the older members. +The formal entrance into the cloister must be preceded by a probation or +novitiate of one year (subsequently it was made three years), that no +one might prematurely or rashly take the solemn step. If the novice +repented his resolution, he could leave the cloister without hindrance; +if he adhered to it, he was, at the close of his probation, subjected to +an examination in presence of the abbot and the monks, and then, +appealing to the saints, whose relics were in the cloister, he laid upon +the altar of the chapel the irrevocable vow, written or at least +subscribed by his own hand, and therewith cut off from himself forever +all return to the world. + +From this important arrangement the cloister received its stability, and +the whole monastic institution derived additional earnestness, solidity, +and permanence. + +The vow was threefold, comprising _stablitas_, perpetual adherence to +the monastic order; _conversio morum_, especially voluntary poverty and +chastity, which were always regarded as the very essence of monastic +piety under all its forms; and _obedientia coram Deo et sanctis ejus_, +absolute obedience to the abbot, as the representative of God and +Christ. This obedience is the cardinal virtue of a monk.[12] + +The life of the cloister consisted of a judicious alternation of +spiritual and bodily exercises. This is the great excellence of the rule +of Benedict, who proceeded here upon the true principle that idleness is +the mortal enemy of the soul and the workshop of the devil.[13] Seven +hours were to be devoted to prayer, singing of psalms, and +meditation;[14] from two to three hours, especially on Sunday, to +religious reading; and from six to seven hours to manual labor indoors +or in the field, or, instead of this, to the training of children, who +were committed to the cloister by their parents (_oblati_).[15] + +Here was a starting point for the afterward celebrated cloister schools, +and for that attention to literary pursuits which, though entirely +foreign to the uneducated Benedict and his immediate successors, +afterward became one of the chief ornaments of his order, and in many +cloisters took the place of manual labor. + +In other respects the mode of life was to be simple without extreme +rigor, and confined to strictly necessary things. Clothing consisted of +a tunic with a black cowl (whence the name _Black Friars_); the material +to be determined by the climate and season. On the two weekly fast days, +and from the middle of September to Easter, one meal was to suffice for +the day. Each monk is allowed daily a pound of bread and pulse, and, +according to the Italian custom, half a flagon (_hemina_) of wine; +though he is advised to abstain from the wine, if he can do so without +injury to his health. Flesh is permitted only to the weak and sick,[16] +who were to be treated with special care. During the meal some edifying +piece was read, and silence enjoined. The individual monk knows no +personal property, not even his simple dress as such; and the fruits of +his labor go into the common treasury. He should avoid all contact with +the world as dangerous to the soul, and therefore every cloister should +be so arranged as to be able to carry on even the arts and trades +necessary for supplying its wants.[17] Hospitality and other works of +love are especially commanded. + +The penalties for transgression of the rule are, first, private +admonition, then exclusion from the fellowship of prayer, next +exclusion from fraternal intercourse, and finally expulsion from the +cloister, after which, however, restoration is possible, even to the +third time. + +Benedict had no presentiment of the vast historical importance which his +rule, originally designed simply for the cloister of Monte Cassino, was +destined to attain. He probably never aspired beyond the regeneration +and salvation of his own soul and that of his brother monks, and all the +talk of some later historians about his far-reaching plans of a +political and social regeneration of Europe, and the preservation and +promotion of literature and art, find no support whatever in his life or +in his rule. But he humbly planted a seed which Providence blessed a +hundredfold. By his rule, he became, without his own will or knowledge, +the founder of an order, which, until in the thirteenth century the +Dominicans and Franciscans pressed it partially into the background, +spread with great rapidity over the whole of Europe, maintained a clear +supremacy, formed the model for all other monastic orders, and gave to +the Catholic Church an imposing array of missionaries, authors, artists, +bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and popes, as Gregory the Great and +Gregory VII. In less than a century after the death of Benedict, the +conquests of the barbarians in Italy, Gaul, and Spain were reconquered +for civilization, and the vast territories of Great Britain, Germany, +and Scandinavia incorporated into Christendom or opened to missionary +labor; and in this progress of history the monastic institution +regulated and organized by Benedict's rule bears an honorable share. + +Benedict himself established a second cloister in the vicinity of +Terracina, and two of his favorite disciples, Placidus and St. +Maurus,[18] introduced the 'holy rule,' the one into Sicily, the other +into France. Pope Gregory the Great, himself at one time a Benedictine +monk, enhanced its prestige, and converted the Anglo-Saxons to the Roman +Christian faith by Benedictine monks. Gradually the rule found so +general acceptance both in old and in new institutions, that, in the +time of Charlemagne, it became a question, whether there were any monks +at all who were not Benedictines. The order, it is true, has degenerated +from time to time, through the increase of its wealth and the decay of +its discipline, but its fostering care of religion, of humane studies, +and of the general civilization of Europe, from the tilling of the soil +to the noblest learning, has given it an honorable place in history and +won immortal praise. + +The patronage of learning, however, as we have already said, was not +within the design of the founder or his rule. The joining of this to the +cloister life is due, if we leave out of view the learned monk Jerome, +to CASSIODORUS, who, in 538, retired from the honors and cares +of high civil office in the Gothic monarchy of Italy,[19] to a monastery +founded by himself at Vivarium[20] (Viviers), in Calabria, in Lower +Italy. Here he spent nearly thirty years as monk and abbot, collected a +large library, encouraged the monks to copy and to study the Holy +Scriptures, the works of the church fathers, and even the ancient +classics, and wrote for them several literary and theological text +books, especially his treatise _De institutione divinarum literarum_, a +kind of elementary encyclopædia, which was the code of monastic +education for many generations. Vivarium at one time almost rivalled +Monte Cassino, and Cassiodorus[21] won the honorary title of the +restorer of knowledge in the sixth century. + +The Benedictines, already accustomed to regular work, soon followed this +example. Thus, that very mode of life which in its founder, Anthony, +despised all learning, became, in the course of its development, an +asylum of culture in the rough and stormy times of the immigration and +the crusades, and a conservator of the literary treasures of antiquity +for the use of modern times. + + + + +HANNAH THURSTON. + +PAUL. Well, Dorcas, now you have finished the book, what do you +think of it? + +DORCAS. I must confess, my expectations on the whole have been +agreeably disappointed. From the criticisms I had read, both favorable +and adverse, I was fully prepared to quarrel with it from beginning to +end. I find in it much power and sustained interest. The descriptions of +nature are admirable--fresh, unhackneyed, and vivid. Western New York, +with its blue lakes, sloping hills, shining brooks, quiet woodlands, +spring buds, autumn flowers, winding country roads, and laden grain +fields, stands before one, clearly pictured. The characters, with their +_isms_, seem like old acquaintances, and the seething, fermenting +condition of American society is most accurately represented. There is +pathos, too, in the story, and many will read it with moistened eyes. + +PAUL. So far so good, but--? + +DORCAS. But there runs through the entire work a vein of +sentiment or philosophy, which wears a very suspicious resemblance to +that of a certain school just now popular in France. I need not tell +you, Uncle Paul, how distasteful to me is that school, nor how false I +think the premises upon which it is founded. I am convinced there is a +difference in the mental and moral constitution of men and women. I will +not bore you by any disquisition upon relative superiority or +inferiority, but will simply give you a portion of my idea as I find it +laid down by St. John Chrysostom: 'Do not confound _submission_ with +_slavery_,' says the golden-mouthed Greek. 'The woman obeys, but +_remains free_; she is _equal_ in honor. It is true that she is subject +to her husband; and this is her punishment for having rendered herself +guilty in the beginning. Mark it well; woman was not condemned to +subjection at the time of her creation; when God made and presented her +to her husband, He said nothing of domination; we hear nothing from the +lips of Adam which supposes it. It was only after having violated her +duty by leading him astray to whom she had been given as a support, that +she heard these words: 'Thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he +shall have dominion over thee.'' + +Now, in the book under consideration, we are led to suppose that even +the 'exceptional women' find submission and dependence, not only +delightful, but absolute necessities of their being. They are only too +happy to succumb to the powerful magnetism attributed to men by reason +alone of their manhood. (A doctrine too repulsive to admit of +discussion.) I fancy that thinking, sensitive, and high-spirited women +have not yet ceased to find submission and dependence a _punishment_. +They may take up their cross cheerily, and wear it gracefully, but none +the less do they feel it to be a cross. As for pecuniary dependence, so +long as all goes smoothly and matters are so arranged that the wife is +not obliged to ask the husband for funds, the power of custom and of +legal provisions may be sufficient to prevent any disquietude; but after +the first misunderstanding, the first unkind word, _his_ money, as it +passes through _her_ hands, burns like coals of fire, and the bitterness +of her heart, as she perhaps vainly longs for some means of employment +by which to procure at least sufficient for her own personal expenses, +would cause him a new and strange sensation, did she not deem it her +_duty_ to suppress all evidence, even the existence, of such +self-assertion, and quietly shoulder this with the rest, as a portion of +the burden to be borne through the valley of humiliation into which she +has entered, and wherein, by reason of the especial power granted her of +knowing and loving God, she usually finds herself Heaven's own +missionary, the keeper and guide of souls. Now, do not misunderstand me, +Uncle Paul; when I say that marriage is a valley of humiliation, I +intend no reproach to men; I simply state a fact dependent upon the +nature of things, and upon the primal sentence passed against the pride +that, in spite of the prohibition of the Almighty, sought to know all +things, 'to become as gods.' Meekness, humility, self-abnegation, +affection, are the beautiful flowers that grow by the wayside; but the +pathway is not the less thorny, and no good can be accomplished by +denying or sugar-coating the fact. + +PAUL. I do not doubt the correctness of your views, Dorcas; but +your rather vehement statement of them somewhat surprises me, as you +yourself married of your own free will, and at an age when women, if +ever, are supposed to know their own minds. + +DORCAS. That my own marriage has been a happy one, and that my +good husband has striven, by recognizing my womanly as well as +individual idiosyncrasies, to render the yoke as light as it possibly +can be, is the very circumstance that gives me a right to speak and +offer my testimony against ideas which I think wholly unwarranted by the +facts in the case. The views of modern philosophers, attacking the +sanctity of Christian marriage, are to me perfectly abhorrent. Deprive +marriage of its mystical, sacramental, penitential character, and it +ceases to be the bulwark of a well-ordered society. I must again call +upon St. John Chrysostom to speak for me. He says: 'Marriage is one of +the most surprising mysteries, by reason of the sublime character which +belongs to it, of representing the alliance of Jesus Christ with His +Church. The necessary consequence of which is, that it should not be +contracted lightly and through interested motives. No, marriage is no +bargain; it is the union of the entire life.' This is what true marriage +should be; but in so far as mankind fall below the lofty standards set +before them, so far does actual marriage fail to reach its glorious +ideal. Meantime, reverence for maidenhood is one of the strongest +safeguards of the sanctity of wedded life, and no delusions of any +school, whether romantic, sentimental, Micheletic, humanitarian, or +Lutheranistic, should be permitted to obscure this reverence. Neither my +own experience, nor that of the young maidens best known to me, teaches +me that the idle hours of women are haunted by dreams of some human +lover, who must be found to save them from despair. I cannot think that +marriage is essential to, or even best for, the happiness of women. If +we enter the nearest institution of Charity Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, +or of the Poor, we cannot fail to remark the contrast between the +healthful, cheery, unsolicitous countenances of the inmates, and the +nervous, suffering, careworn faces of the wives and mothers in our +midst. Both live in the conscientious performance of equally estimable +duties, but the pleasing of a Heavenly Master would seem to be a more +peaceful and less wearing task than the gratification of an earthly +lord. Let us hearken for a moment to an eloquent French theologian: +'Woman's nature, in some exceptional cases, rises to such a height of +intellect and sensitiveness, that it ceases to be capable of accepting +that subordination which constitutes the essence of Christian marriage. +Think you there are not women athirst for the ideal; who are crushed by +the commonplace of ordinary affections; who would go beyond that narrow +circle traced round them by domestic cares? Give to such natures as +good, kind, and conscientious a husband as you will, do you think he can +ever satisfy the ardent longings of their mind and heart? Do you think +they can find in the family the realization of the brilliant dream +caressed by them from the earliest years of infancy? Do you not believe +that they will constantly feel cruel disappointments, infinite tortures, +and the deepest anguish?' + +PAUL. But if such be a true statement of the case, what are +these good ladies to do? + +DORCAS. The world has always need of intellect and enthusiasm, +and these, directed by the spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice, +without which nothing good or great can be accomplished, will point the +way to the fulfilment of whatever may be the especial vocation of the +individual. The author above quoted continues: 'Some heroic virgins have +played so wonderful a part that, by the sublimity of their devotion and +the power of their intellect, they have occasionally eclipsed the renown +of the most illustrious men. A St. Catherine of Sienna was the light of +doctors, the ambassadress of nations, the counsellor of popes, and the +admiration of her age. A St. Rose of Viterbo, a charming and graceful +child, became the intrepid buckler of Rome against the pretensions of +the Ghibelline emperors. A St. Clara, by her ardent love for the poor +and the Cross, was worthy of aiding the Seraph of Assisi in his +admirable reform. A St. Theresa astonished the world by the grandeur of +her character in the age of the Loyolas, the Xaviers, and the Francis +Borgias.' To these few but striking instances we may add Joan of Arc, +whose patriotism and valor saved her country from the dominion of the +foreign invader, and, in our own day, Florence Nightingale and Miss Dix, +together with hosts of courageous maidens, who in every Christian land +yearly devote themselves to the service of suffering humanity. I should +weary you, uncle, were I to pursue this subject into farther depths: +suffice it to say that it is one which no man, however tender or +talented, could ever exhaust, for there are chords in the feminine +organization beyond his comprehension--strange chords, the resolution of +which will be found only in that heaven where there shall be no marrying +nor giving in marriage. + +PAUL. You mentioned Joan of Arc: did you observe that the +author of 'Hannah Thurston' notices the fact, that while she has been +poetized by Schiller, Southey, and others, no woman has ever yet made +her the theme of song? + +DORCAS. I was no little surprised to find such a reproach +issuing from the lips of one who must have known that no man had yet +sung her in his verse who had not violated the truth of history and +smirched the beauty of a noble character, devoted solely to her country +and her God, by picturing her as enamored of some mortal lover. +Shakspeare must here receive his share of blame, although the national +prejudices still existent in his age may offer some excuse. Voltaire is +not to be mentioned, Schiller twaddles through a tissue of sheer +inventions and impossible absurdities, and even Southey, who strives to +be faithful to history, thinks he must invest her with a 'suppressed +attachment' in order to render her sufficiently interesting to be the +heroine of a poem. (Inconceivable and insane vanity, that imagines no +woman can live her life through without laying her heart at the feet of +one of the 'irresistibles'!) The historic character of Joan of Arc has +been terribly maltreated and misrepresented by every man who has +attempted to portray it, with the single exception of the German +historian, Guido Goerres, whose work, by the way, has been reverently +done into English by two sister women. + +PAUL. Well, and the final conclusion to all this? + +DORCAS. The final conclusion is, that a large portion of even +the worthier souls in this world, is drifting away into a sea of +materialism, shrouded in rose-colored mists of poetry and sentiment, and +it behooves every earnest friend of humanity to sound the alarm, and at +least strive to give warning of the danger. + + + + +GLORIOUS! + + + 'Far how can a man die better, + Than in facing fearful odds. + For the ashes of his fathers-- + And the temples of his gods!' + + MACAULAY'S _Ballads of Ancient Rome_. + + + Alone--and widowed so early, + Aged only twenty-one-- + Only so few of her years are past, + And yet her life is quite done! + + Quite concluded her life is-- + Nothing for hopes, or for fears; + Nothing to think of, or look to see + But a barren desert of years! + + Slender, lithe little figure-- + Graceful and yielding form, + Never again to be held in the close + Clasp of a manly arm! + + Oh the sweet oval face, + And the wonderful violet eyes! + No more to be sealed with true kisses, + And opened to love's paradise! + + And oh the sunny, brown hair, + Which breaks into ripples and waves + O'er her sad brow--like the laughter + Of young children over graves! + + Put it away under widow's weeds-- + Draw it as straight as you can: + Never again will the dear little head + Be held to the heart of a man. + + Dazed, she sits in the twilight + Of the funeral-darkened room, + Her whole soul gathered to listen--alas! + For a voice that is stilled in the tomb. + + Dear voice, now silent forever! + God help her! It seems a dream! + She hopes, even now she may waken; + But see yonder cruel sunbeam. + + How it wanders over the carpet-- + It lights up the distant room-- + It falls on his portrait--_his_ portrait!-- + His face shines out in the gloom + + As warmly and loving as ever;-- + But, oh, there hangs under its frame + The sword he has wielded so bravely-- + The blade that has lettered his name + + On the tablets of Glory--erected + O'er the bodies of thousands of slain; + Who have died to preserve the Republic! + _Our_ loss--but the nation's great gain. + + Wring the small, white hands together-- + Clasp them close over the breast:-- + Prisoned heart, throbbing so wildly, + Never again to know rest. + + Can you not leap and be joyful, + Knowing the nation is free! + Gentle-eyed Peace is but waiting + Sure of a welcome, to be. + + Ask not for pæans of triumph + From 'only a woman's' heart: + Alas! in the triumph of nations + She hath but an humble part! + + Hers to be patient, and suffer-- + While her soul goes out to the fray + With the one who is dearer than heaven, + To see him shot down by the way. + + Anguished, for drops of cold water + That e'en to the vilest we give! + Mangled and crushed and insulted! + God! can I write it, and live! + + Fold the hands o'er the soft bosom + Baby hands never caressed-- + Hush into patience the sweet lips + Never to man's to be pressed. + + There on the altar of nations + She has given the soul out of her life: + Holocaust greater was never: + God help the poor, little wife! + + + + +THE ISLE OF SPRINGS. + + +CHAPTER V. + +HISTORICAL SKETCH. + +Jamaica was discovered by Columbus himself, on the 3d of May, 1494, +while prosecuting his second voyage. On his fourth and last voyage he +was shipwrecked on its northern coast, and, through the cruel jealousy +of the governor of Hispaniola, was detained there nearly a year before +relief was sent. In the dearth of historical associations, I have +sometimes pleased myself with gazing at the high summit of Cape Clear +Hill, which is far and wide conspicuous along the northern shore, and +reflecting that the eye of the great discoverer may have often rested +upon it during his weary detention, endeavoring thus to raise present +insignificance somewhat by linking it with the one illustrious name in +the annals of the island. + +Sevilla d'Oro, the first settlement of the Spaniards in Jamaica, was +founded in 1509, near the place of Columbus's shipwreck. It soon became +a splendid city. Traces of pavement are still discoverable two miles +distant from the church and abbey around which the town was built. In a +few years, however, it disappeared as suddenly as it had arisen. Even +the cause of its destruction is not certainly known. It is supposed, +however, to have been a sudden irruption of the Indians. These were of +the same voluptuous and gentle race which peopled the other Great +Antilles, but, like them, might have been roused to temporary madness by +the diabolical cruelties of the Spaniards. If so, their brief revenge +availed them little, for by 1558, the sixty thousand Indians, who +inhabited the island when discovered, had been extirpated, it is said, +to the very last one. Near the seashore in the east of the island are +some caves, in which mouldering bones of the unhappy aborigines are +still found, who had taken refuge here, preferring to die of famine +rather than to fall into the merciless hands of the Spaniards. + +After the extirpation of the Indians, the labor of African slaves was +introduced. Some sugar was raised, but the greater part of the island +was devoted to the raising of cattle and swine. Besides the few whites +and negroes needed for this, and a small number at two or three +seaports, the population was mainly gathered in the town of St. Jago de +la Vega. This was built on the south side, a few miles from the sea, +after the destruction of Sevilla d'Oro. At the time of the English +conquest in 1655, during Cromwell's protectorate, the population +consisted of twelve hundred whites and fifteen hundred negro slaves. +They were summoned by the English admiral to take the oath of allegiance +to England or to leave the island. But they declared that they could do +neither; that they were born subjects of the King of Spain, and knew no +other allegiance; and, on the other hand, that they were natives of +Jamaica, and had neither friends nor kindred elsewhere. They implored +him, therefore, not to exact an impossible oath, nor yet to turn them +adrift in the wide world. But the misfortunes of Spanish Papists were a +matter of little concern to English Puritans. They were expelled the +island, but leaving their slaves in the mountain forests of the central +ridge, they planted a seed which for generations bore bitter fruit to +their cruel enemies. These slaves became the nucleus of those formidable +Maroon communities which for generations were a terror to the island. +Their masters, having conveyed their families across to Cuba, returned +with a body of Spanish troops, hoping, in their turn, to expel the +invaders. They intrenched themselves in a natural fastness that appeared +impregnable, and an English messenger being sent to demand a surrender, +the venerable governor, Don Arnoldo Sasi, it is said, ordered him to be +shown around the fortification, that he might see that it was impossible +to take it, and then dismissed him with a handsome present. But the +English soldiers knew no such thing as an impregnable fortress; they +soon stormed the height, and, as the Spaniards were fleeing along the +cliffs, picked them off like so many crows. A few attendants hurried +down the aged governor to the sea, and conveyed him across to Cuba. And +thus perished the tranquil and happy colony of St. Jago de la Vega. The +victors took possession of the deserted town, which has finally become +the seat of government. But they changed its Popish appellation of St. +Jago de la Vega to the homely but unimpeachably Protestant name of +Spanishtown, which it still bears in popular use, although officially it +has resumed its former designation. There were two Roman Catholic +churches in the town, each of which gave the name of its patron saint to +the street on which it stood. But the Puritans would know them only as +Whitechurch street and Redchurch street--names which, I believe, still +remain, curious monuments of Puritan scrupulosity in that southern land. +Spanishtown has increased in population to about five thousand, and in +its palmy days of slaveholding prosperity exhibited doubtless much pomp +of vice-regal splendor. But this has long fled, and its sandy streets +are now almost as silent and sombre in the glittering sunshine as if +traversed only by the ghosts of the Spanish colonists who dwelt here in +peace until ruthlessly thrust forth by the English invader. + +After the conquest, the island filled up with English, partly by +voluntary emigration, and partly by a double deportation from home, +first of refractory Cavaliers during Cromwell's protectorate, and partly +of mutinous Puritans after the return of the Stuarts. These often +renewed in the streets of Spanishtown the brawls of the mother country, +and the exclamation, 'My king!' which the negroes are fond of using, is +said to be a genuine relic of the time when it was the watchword of the +outnumbered but courageous Cavaliers. Even after the Restoration, the +Puritans were for a while in the ascendant in the island which the +Puritan protector had wrested from the great foe of Protestantism; but +gradually all traces of that hardy sect disappeared from a land which +an enervating climate and the rapidly advancing barbarism of slavery +rendered far fitter for another sort of inhabitants, namely, the +buccaneers. The buccaneers, it will be remembered, were not exactly +pirates preying indiscriminately upon all. They were rather English +corsairs, who took advantage of the long enmity between England and +Spain to carry on, in time of peace and war alike, perpetual forrays +against the Spanish settlements and commerce of the West Indies. They +were simply the jayhawkers and border ruffians of their day, and, with +some traits of chivalry, differed probably as little from pirates as +Quantrell and his fellow scoundrels differ from robbers. This villanous +crew early resorted in great numbers to Jamaica, which became as good a +base of operations against a power with which England was professedly at +peace as Liverpool and Greenock are now against another power with which +she is professedly at peace. Dr. Arnold, in one of his letters, says he +imagines the British West Indies have never recovered from the taint of +buccaneer blood. It is hard to say, for the universal corruption of +morals and justice induced by slavery, existing in the overwhelming +proportions which it had in the West Indies, renders it almost +impossible to measure how far any subsidiary influence of evil may have +helped to aggravate the mischief. + +Jamaica, like the other colonies, soon received a constitution. Like her +sisters on the continent, she opposed a spirited and successful +resistance to the early encroachments of the crown. When our Revolution +broke out, her Assembly passed resolutions declaring their entire +concurrence in the principles set forth by the Congress, and gave as the +reasons for not joining in our armed vindication of them, their insular +position, and the peculiar nature of their population. Had geography +permitted, Jamaica would doubtless have made one Slave State the more in +the original Union, and would have been one of the fiercest afterward in +the secession. We may well believe that nothing but the knowledge that +she would be crushed like an eggshell by the mighty power of England, +hindered her in 1834 from heading her sister islands in a revolt against +the impending abolition of slavery, and thus giving the world +twenty-seven years earlier the spectacle of a great slaveholders' +rebellion. + +The history of Jamaica, otherwise so monotonous and devoid of interest, +even to its own people, yet includes one awful event, the destruction of +Port Royal by the earthquake of 1692. This city, built by the English +soon after the conquest, on the tongue of land which encloses the +present harbor of Kingston, soon became the most splendid city of the +English in America. Its quays and warehouses, Macaulay says, were +thought to rival those of Cheapside. This wealth and splendor were not +wholly the fruit of lawful commerce, for Port Royal was the favored +resort of the buccaneers. Their lawless forrays against the Spanish +filled it with wealth, and filled it also with voluptuous wickedness. + +Tradition adds, perhaps to give emphasis to its doom, that just before +the earthquake, a successful expedition had filled the city with booty, +which loaded the warehouses, and even overflowed into the dwelling +houses and verandas. But the stroke of judgment came, and a few shocks +of an earthquake in a few seconds buried the greater part of the +dissolute and splendid city beneath the waters of its own harbor. The +decaying bodies that were thrown afterward on the shore produced a +pestilence which swept off three thousand of those who had survived the +earthquake. The sad remnant went over to the inside shore of the harbor, +and built Kingston. A poor village of some twelve or fifteen hundred +souls, adjoining the naval station, is now all that represents the once +wealthy and wicked city, the Sodom of the West, and smitten with a fate +like that of Sodom. + +The same earthquake which destroyed Port Royal, almost ruined the +island. Whole plantations changed their places. The mountains were +strangely torn and rent. In many parts the immense accumulation of earth +fallen from the mountains choked up the course of the streams for +twenty-four hours, and when at last they burst their way through, they +bore down on their swollen floods thousands of trunks of trees, +branchless and barkless, to the sea. The gorge of the Bocaguas, through +which the Rio Cobre winds in a glorious succession of cascades and +whirling pools, is said to have been entirely filled up, causing the +waters to overspread the upland basin of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale with a +lake, which lasted nine days before the waters tore loose from their +confinement, and swept over the plains to the ocean. There was evidence +of a slight subsidence over the whole island. The earthquake of 1692 is +undoubtedly the most desolating convulsion of nature which has ever +befallen any portion of the English race. + +For generations after the destruction of Port Royal, it was affirmed +that the spires and housetops of the sunken city could be discerned on a +clear day through the waters of the harbor. Even now there is a floating +belief that they may occasionally be dimly descried, though I have never +been able to ascertain whether it is worthy of credit. + +Since then, although there are often shocks of earthquake, sometimes +several in a year, and though some have occurred quite destructive to +property, there has been none to divide with that of 1692 its awful +preeminence of desolation. It is true, we know not at what time such a +one may come, and it has been truly said that 'this beautiful island may +be regarded as a gorgeous carpet spread over the deeply charged mines of +a volcano.' Hurricanes, though very much less frequent than in the +Windward Islands, have yet left their traces in the annals of Jamaica. +Particularly noted are those of the 28th of August, 1712, of the 28th of +August, 1722, and the series which, with the exception of two years, +annually ravaged the island from 1780 to 1786 inclusive. It was in one +of these that the town of Savanna-la-Mar was so completely overwhelmed +by the sea, driven over it by the force of the wind, that when the flood +rolled back to its home, not the slightest vestige of the place was +discernible. In such a region the petition of the Litany, as it is here +offered, 'From lightning, tempest, and _earthquake_, good Lord, deliver +us,' falls on the stranger's ear with unwontedly solemn force. + +The awful magnificence of these convulsions of nature is in strange +contrast with the insignificance of the record of human actions in this +island. Not that Jamaica was an insignificant member of the empire. Far +from it. The teeming source of wealth, she was, on the contrary, during +the whole of the eighteenth century, continually increasing in +importance. Even dukes were glad to leave England to assume the princely +state of a governor of Jamaica. Six hundred thousand African slaves were +introduced during the last century, of which number something over half +remained at the beginning of this. Human blood flowed in fertilizing +streams over the island, and out of this ghastly compost rose an +opulence so splendid as to silence for generations all inquiry into its +origin or character. It secured its possessors not only easy access, but +frequent intermarriages among the aristocracy of England, who thus in +time came to be among the largest West Indian slaveholders. Jamaica was +justly reckoned one of the brightest jewels in the British crown. But +the brilliancy was merely that of wealth, and as the ownership of this +was transferred more and more to Great Britain, the island itself at +length came to be of little more independent account than an outlying +estate. Petty squabbles between the governors and the Assembly, +occasional negro conspiracies, soon suppressed and cruelly punished, and +the wearying contests with the remaining negroes, who, under the name of +Maroons, long maintained a harassing warfare from their mountain +fastnesses, and yielded at last to favorable terms, are almost all that +fills the chronicles of the colony. + +The island society, unrelieved by any eminence of genius or virtue, or +by the stir of great public interests, presented little more than a dull +monotony of sensuality and indolence, on a ground of inhumanity. It is +no wonder that Zachary Macaulay, from his experience in Jamaica as the +superintendent of an estate, formed in quiet sternness that resolution +to devote his life to uprooting a social system whose presiding +divinities he saw to be Mammon and Moloch, which he afterward so nobly +fulfilled. The graces and virtues of private character that lent some +relief to this dreary picture, I shall speak of hereafter. + +One relief to the prevailing dulness of Jamaica life was found in a bar +of first-rate talent. There was so much wealth passing from hand to +hand, and so many disputed titles in the continual mutations of +ownership among the estates under the reckless system of conducting them +prevalent, that the disciples of the law found a rich harvest, and it +was worth while for a first-rate man to settle in the island. It is +thought that the lawyers of Jamaica used to receive not less than +£500,000 annually. Whether this was reckoned in sterling money or in the +island currency, I do not know, but probably the latter, equivalent to +£300,000 sterling. Of men not lawyers, Bryant Edwards is the only one of +the last century or the early part of this of any note whatever among +those permanently settled in the island. His chief claim to distinction +is found in his carefully prepared and judicious 'History of the West +Indies.' Beckford, the author of 'Vathek,' and Monk Lewis, christened +Matthew, the patent ghost-story teller of half a century ago, and more +honorably connected with the history of the island as a proprietor, +whose inexperienced kindness toward his negroes had almost led to his +prosecution, both resided in the island for a while. Jamaica had almost +drawn to herself a name far more illustrious than any or all which had +appeared in her annals--that of Robert Burns. It is known that he had +already engaged his passage to the island, when the course of events +turned him from it. He celebrates his expected departure in some verses +more witty than moral, in which he addresses our islanders as follows: + + 'Jamaica bodies, use him weel, + And hap him in a cosy biel, + Ye'll find him aye a dainty chiel, + And fu' of glee; + He wadna wrang the very deil, + That's ower the sea.' + +Poor fellow! had he really gone, the admonition to 'Jamaica bodies' to +'use him weel,' would probably have been obeyed by making him drink +himself to death ten or twelve years earlier than he did in Dumfries, +and thus would one of earth's great, though stained names, have been +lost in the inglorious darkness of a Jamaica bookkeeper's short life, as +many a young countryman of his, perhaps not less gifted than he, had +perished before him. + +Among the distinguished personages of Jamaica, I ought not to omit +mention of the Duke of Manchester, governor soon after the beginning of +this century, who was able to boast that no virtuous woman had crossed +the threshold of the King's House in Spanishtown during his +administration. So that if Jamaica has never had her _parc-aux-cerfs_, +she can at least boast her Regent Orleans. There is small need of any +special _parc-aux-cerfs_ in a slaveholding country.[22] + +In brief, except a certain interest attached to the struggles of the +barbarous Maroons to maintain their wild freedom in the woods and +mountains, the human history of Jamaica, from the English conquest in +1655 to the abolition of slavery in 1834, is little more than a +monotonous blank. + +She had a vigorous bar, a sumptuous church establishment, and boundless, +though shifting wealth. But all these together, smitten as they were +with the palsy of voluptuousness and oppression, had not the power to +bring forth one great name, to achieve one heroic deed, or on the other +hand, to foster any growth of humble, diffused happiness. Her sin, +plated with gold, dazzled the eyes and confounded the consciences of +men, but, like the ornaments of a sepulchre, it only beautified +outwardly what within was full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. + +Those events of her history which bear on the abolition of slavery will +be specially noticed hereafter. + + + + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. + + +The rule held, anciently, that a nation's architecture was the exponent +of its national character, growing with and out of its social, civil, +and religious peculiarities, and modified by climate, habit, and taste. +In those early ages, the halcyon days of the art, men built with a +purpose, built what they wanted in a natural and appropriate way, +and--built successfully. So true was this, that to this day, most of +their relics proclaim their own origin, just as fossils determine the +relative positions of their enclosing strata, and history owes to +architecture the solution of many of her hardest problems. The ancient +Egyptians, for instance, gloried in the erection of the most magnificent +tombs that their genius could produce, and, ruined as they are, we find +that it is in their sepulchral monuments--the rock-wrought mausoleum, +and the stupendous pyramid--that their art-current found its readiest +flow. Compare these with the light and graceful structures of the Moors, +the cool, arcaded courts, and the tesselated pavements, the orange +trees, and the fountains. 'But no comparison,' says Fergusson, 'is +applicable to objects so totally different. Each is a true +representative of the feeling and character of the people by whom it was +raised. The plaster Alhambra would be totally out of place and +contemptible beside the great temple-palace of Karnak. No less would the +granite works of Egypt be considered monuments of ill-directed labor if +placed in the palace of the gay and luxurious Arab fatalist, to whom the +present was everything, and with whom the enjoyment of the passing hour +was all in all.' + +Still another idea, grander than any aspiration of Saracen or Egyptian, +we find, when Europe, slowly shaking off the lethargy of the Dark Ages, +was developing the idea of religion. It was material, however, as well +as spiritual. God was glorified, not only by repentance or holiness of +life, but also by the devotion of hand and heart and fortune to His +earthly temples and the jewelled shrines of His saints. All that impetus +which is now given to religion itself, was turned into the channels of +religious art. And yet, temporally speaking, how grand were the results! +Slowly but surely arose those vast and wonderful cathedrals, springing +lightly out of the quaintly gabled streets, with their richly wrought +transepts and their pinnacled spires. Not trailing along the ground like +the Greek temple or the Arab mosque--of the earth, earthy--but leading +the soul heavenward with their upward flow of harmony. Vast Bibles of +stone, bearing on lofty façade and on buttressed flank the sculptured +details of Holy Writ--silent lessons, but not lost upon the rude though +reverent men who dwelt within their shadow. It is sad to think that +there can never be any more cathedrals. For they _grew_ in those times: +now they would have to be built. + +But we are following a tangent. Our idea is, that architecture, to be +good, must be appropriate--expressive of the spirit of the age. It +should be an epitome of the nation's progress, an abstract of its +guiding principles, condensed, as it were, and crystallized into an art. +Of what use would a garment be, though ever so elaborate, if it did not +fit? Just so our houses, which are but a broader kind of clothing, +should be fitted to their purpose, or they will never yield us any +pleasure. + +Suppose that, in searching the ruins of ancient Greece, we found nothing +but pusillanimous, sham imitations of Egyptian art. Would we not despise +such a paltry method of making matter serve for mind--such a miserable +make-shift to save the labor of invention? And yet it is this same +servile imitation of classical and foreign models that is fettering the +progress of art in America. Instead of honestly constructing what we +want, and then decorating it with a style of ornament that should +assist, explain, and intensify it, we go wandering off to the ends of +the earth, building Grecian temples and Veronese palaces, some entire +and some in slices, dreary, indefinite-looking objects, devoid of all +constructive principles within, and ornamented with falsified gewgaws +without, stuck on in the hope of hiding rather than helping out the +flimsy design. Our 'national style' we are sure can never be born of any +such travesties. Borrowed architecture never fits well. + +The fact is, we ignore the first great principle--the essence and _sine +qua non_, of the art--DECORATED CONSTRUCTION. By construction is meant +that mechanical arrangement of parts which is best suited to convenience +and most conducive to stability. It is what the French would call the +_motif_, the end in view, while decoration is only the means. And the +moment we lose sight of it, in our anxiety to make room for some pet +ornament, that very ornament becomes an eyesore, and will persist in +spoiling the design, for the simple reason that the end is sacrificed to +the means. Set it down, then, at the start, that ornament must be +dependent upon construction, and not construction upon ornament. The +useful begets the beautiful, and the order cannot be reversed. + +But before proceeding to what American architecture might be, we must, +in all fairness, examine it as it is. + +Our great cities, of course, claim our attention first, for these +centres of wealth and intellect must necessarily be centres of art, and +there, if at all, are we to discover our prospects for a national style. +As a single example of what it has attained to so far, nothing can be +better suited to our purpose than Broadway, New York, our best-known and +most essentially American thoroughfare. But what to compare it to we +know not. Neither history nor geography affords a parallel. It resembles +neither the London Strand nor the Parisian Boulevard, nor is it like the +Ludwig Strasse of Munich, nor the Grand Canal of Venice; and yet it has +something or other in common with all of these. There is all the +incongruity of the English thoroughfare and the brilliancy of the +French, while the frequent succession of vast palatial structures allies +it still closer to the last-named examples. Perhaps, after all, the +Grand Canal--the silent highway of the City of the Sea--is more like it +in general effect than any other street in Europe. The one, it is true, +is as straight as an airline, and the other nearly the shape of an S; +the one a paved roadway, noisy with the rush of traffic, and, in the +other, the water washing the very walls of palaces that are mournful and +deserted--while, as regards style, there is scarcely a single specimen +of the Venetian in this country. + +But the resemblance is this: your prevailing impression from first to +last is the absence of all general arrangement, and the independent +elegance of each separate façade. Each tells the same story: it is the +wealth and enterprise of the citizen, and not the munificence of the +sovereign, that has added palace to palace, and made the dumb stones +eloquent. Remembering, then, that it is private taste and influence that +is to develop our art, we proceed to the analysis of the great +thoroughfare in question. + +Fancy yourself, patient reader, at one end of this street, so as to +command its vista. What do you see? Architecture? Very little, we +imagine. Save the buildings immediately at your right and left, all the +others are seen in profile, a contingency never reckoned on by their +builders. The decoration is all piled on the front, as elaborate a +design, often, as Palladio ever dreamt of, but at the side, every +cornice and stringpiece stops as short as if it had been sawn off, and +the whole side is a flat blank piece of brickwork. This is greatly +aggravated by the disparity in height, and the ponderous cornices. As to +construction, the prevailing type is a flimsy pile of brick and timber, +'put up,' apparently, by mutual connivance of the contractor and the +coroner, and screened off from the street by a thin veneer of +'architecture.' Now there is a certain merit, _sui generis_, in a clever +deception, but those in vogue here are too utterly transparent to claim +even this. The telltale wall of brick cheats you out of the pleasure of +cheating yourself, no matter how charitably disposed. + +Were it necessary to represent this street upon the stage, the decorator +would simply have to paint his scenes upon the edges, and leave the side +toward the audience bare. As you walk along you see a given building +sideways for five minutes or more, but you cannot see it as it was meant +to be seen--full in front--for as many seconds. We even know of churches +in the cross streets, though near Broadway, whose square towers are +stone-fronted after the usual fashion, but present nothing to the +crowded thoroughfare but undressed walls of brick! Yes, a Christian +church, _in flagrante delictu_. + +It will be objected to this that there is no use in finishing the sides +of city buildings, as they may afterward be hidden by others. This would +do well enough if they were all of the same height; but they are not, +and never can be. Indeed, a house is by many considered 'handsomer' than +its neighbors, just so far forth as it overtops them. The builder would +hardly think it a fair beat if the cornices corresponded. The successive +erections on a row of vacant lots, usually illustrate this popular +ambition. Some one secures the corner and builds his house. So far, so +good. Presently number two comes along, and, to secure himself from +invidious comparison, piles his house half a story higher than number +one. But his triumph is short, for the third aspirant soon arrives, who, +true to principle, takes another step in the ascending series. So it +goes till the block is finished, the whole thing looking as if +architecture was a sort of auction, in which the prize of success was +awarded to the highest builder. + +It being one of our social necessities that our houses differ in size, +we must pay some attention to their sides. Not giving them as decided a +treatment as the front, but something compatible with a plain surface. +And, above all, the principal cornice and roof lines should be carried +round on the sides, at least as far as they can be seen. In some rare +instances, where this has been done, it is astonishing to note the +improved appearance and _finish_, that it gives. + +Did you ever consider the superior elegance of a corner house? Yet it is +not so much the position as the fact that the position is taken +advantage of. Being finished on both sides, it gives to the mind the +idea of thickness as well as length and breadth. It is, in short, a +_solid_, while the affair next door, overtopping it perhaps a story or +two, is merely a _superficies_. + +But this is only a side thrust. Our 'commercial palaces' challenge the +same criticism face to face. For the front, considered by itself even, +is generally incomplete. A supposititious formula determines that the +house must be in the Italian palace style, but the narrow lot forbidding +an entire design, the builder, as he cannot put in all, puts in all he +can, so that, instead of the house being a house, it is only a specimen +slice of a palace. It has no particular beginning or middle or ending, +and, with the long viscera of brickwork trailing off behind, it looks as +if just wrenched out of the side of some Florentine or Genoese mansion. +And, in very truth, is it not? + +The common cause of these errors and incongruities is our self-abasement +to a style which depends for its effect upon continuous uniformity of +design, while, from the very nature of our society, our houses must be +diverse in size and pretension. We are a social people, it is true, but +our individualities are strongly marked, and our dwellings, while +designed with reference to each other, should never be too uniform. How +frightful those white-shuttered brick piles which monotonize the streets +of Philadelphia! But to assert its individuality the house need not +shoot up like a vein of trap rock through a stratum of conglomerate: an +American rises, not through the mass, but out of it. + +Have you ever seen a street view of Bruges or Nuremberg, those fantastic +old cities of mediæval Germany? You remember them, the tall gabled +houses with projecting stories, the picturesque grouping of porch and +gallery and oriel, the curious old bridges and the Gothic fountains, the +grotesque carvings over the doorways, and the perfect population of +dormer windows and turrets and lanterns. And did you not, _entre nous_, +like it better than those stiff, formal views of the French and Italian +cities? Was not the poetry more pleasing than the prose? + +'Oh well,' you say, 'these turrets and gables and things look all very +well in pictures, but they would never do for our streets: we must build +in some regular style, you know.' The same old error again, the same +servile imitation of a vague something or other, which we call classic. +Do you think the old German burghers built in any regular style? Not a +bit of it. They built just what they wanted, in the most natural and +plain-spoken manner. If they wanted a porch over the door, or a bay +window at a certain corner, or a turret to enjoy some favorite +view--they made them, put them just where they were needed. Convenience +was everything, and precedent nothing. + +Is there not something about this individual originality, this perfect +freedom of thought and expression, that might be adapted to express the +American character? And if more pleasing, why cling to the effete and +cumbrous tyrannies of a soulless classicism? Why crush out all symptoms +of natural growth to make room for the unsightly exotic? + +Nature herself has made the law that beauty is _variety_. Monotony, +though magnificent, will become irksome, but variety is an unceasing +delight. Versailles, with its formal avenues of shorn foliage, and its +geometrical lawns and terraces, may please you more at first sight than +an English park, because the mind feels a sort of pride in being able to +grasp such vast ideas at a glance. But you will find, upon a second or +third visit, that the unnatural arrangement of the French pleasure +grounds has something of staleness about it. Nature disdains such +bondage. Louis XIV, it is said, grew weary of his splendid plaything, +almost before it was finished. How different the English landscape +garden, where graceful sweeps and irregular masses of foliage meet the +eye with unlooked-for beauties at every turn! Well do we remember how, +after a few days spent in viewing the grand dullness of the Bavarian +capital, we looked wearily back to the delightful visit we made at +Nuremberg, with its curious old streets and fountains: + + 'Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song; + Memories haunt thy pointed gables like the rooks that round them throng.' + +To claim the merit of variety for our streets is wrong, for they are not +varied, but only incongruous. Their variety is rather that of an +architectural museum than the result of any combination. We have styles +enough, in all conscience, but none that will tolerate any other. + +Against this may be urged the very argument with which we set out, that +a nation's architecture should be the exponent of its national +character, and as we are made up of every people and every class, that +this heterogeneous _mélange_ is our normal style. But mark the +distinction: Although we are made up of so many diverse elements, yet +the component parts are severally and mutually held in solution. Each so +affects the mass as to give rise to a new element--not a mere union, but +a result--not an addition, but a multiplication. But with the +representative art, the materials have merely come in contact--nothing +more. Our houses lack that social element which characterizes our +people. Each is itself, and itself alone, ruining the appearance of its +neighbors, and ruined by them in turn. _Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo_, +is the only law; while we are a chemical solution, our architecture is +only a mechanical one. + +How proceed, then, to develop our national style, that unborn something +which a future age might refer to as American, just as we speak of +Byzantine or Gothic? Are we waiting for somebody to invent it? We think, +maybe, that it is to spring forth, ready made, like Minerva from the +brain of Zeus. If this is our idea, we might as well give up at once and +confess to the world our imbecility. Never, from Adam's day to this, did +anybody ever invent a new architecture. It is purely a matter of +genealogy. For just as we trace back a family line, can we trace the +generations of art. Spite of its complications, many an offshoot can be +followed up directly to the parent stock. Taking, for example, the +mediæval architecture of Spain, the brilliant 'Moresco,' we find it to +be a combination of the vigorous Gothic of the North with the beautiful +though effeminate Saracenic--the exotic of the South. And of these +latter, each is traceable, though by different lines, to the same great +prototype, the Roman. For when Rome was divided, the Dome fell to the +inheritance of the Eastern Empire, and the Basilica (which was only a +Greek temple turned inside out) to the Western. The former, joined to +the Arabian, and the latter to the Gothic, formed two great families, +from the union of whose descendants sprang the Moresco. But even the +Roman was a derivative style, leading us back successively through +Greece, Assyria, and Egypt. Each step is visibly allied to the +preceding, and yet how unlike the pyramid and the Spanish cathedral! Did +history permit, all the styles that have ever existed could be traced in +the same way; it is quite as easy to account for their diversities, as +for those of the nations that produced them. Ham and Japheth were of the +same household, yet how different their descendants of to-day! As from +one man sprang all people, so was there an original germ of architecture +from which all successive styles have been derived. + +The composite forms that have arisen since commerce and civilization +have brought the ends of the world together, increase the complication. +There have been marriages and intermarriages, some good matches and some +bad ones, some with vigorous and some with sickly offspring, and some +hybrids of such monstrous malformation as almost to make us fear that a +new style can be invented. But the effect is impossible without the +cause. Save the mysterious Pyramids, every structure extant acknowledges +its ancestry. If physiologists are fond of claiming the history of the +race as one of their own chapters, architecture has at least an equal +claim. + +But all this does not mean that we are mere passive agents in the +matter. _We_ are, in a great measure, the 'external influences' that +modify art. The motion exists, but it devolves upon us to give +direction. + +We have already alluded to Venetian architecture as being parallel in +origin and tendency to our own, and much can be gained, we believe, by a +careful examination of what it accomplished. Not that we ought to copy, +line for line, the doge's palace or the Casa d'Oro--the arabesque +arcade, or the Gothic balcony--that would only be following the +well-worn rut of imitation. We are not to study the result, but the +cause. For the causes that produced the style in question were not +unlike what we find at home to-day. A commercial republic, there was the +same liberty of expression--the same preponderance of the individual +over the national; and there, as here, are we attracted rather by the +elegance of independent units than by any general unity of design. + +But the growth of art in Venice (we ask special attention) was due to +her central situation, and the simultaneous influx of foreign elements. +It was her commerce that made Venice great: her glory came and departed +with it. Witnessing, as she did, the development of all the mediæval +styles, she became--geographically and historically--the metropolis of +architecture. 'The Greeks,' says Ruskin, 'gave the shaft, Rome gave the +arch, the Arabs pointed and foliated the arch.... Opposite in their +character and mission, alike in their magnificence of energy, they came +from the North and from the South--the glacier torrent and the lava +stream, they met and contended over the wreck of the Roman Empire; and +the very centre of the struggle, the point of pause of both, the dead +water of the opposite eddies, charged with embayed fragments of the +Roman wreck, is _Venice_. + +'The ducal palace of Venice contains the three elements in exactly equal +proportions, the Roman, Lombard, and Arab. It is the central building of +the world.' + +Truly, it was a glorious success that art achieved in the Italian +republic, Whether the old precedents were violated or not, the result is +unquestionably pleasing, and the pleasure-seeking tourist lingers there +as long as the critic. + +At this transition state, through which Venice passed so nobly, have we +now arrived. We have collected our materials, and piled them up +together, but just as all seems most propitious, _le mouvement +s'arrête_, the materials will not coalesce. The brass and the silver, +the iron and the gold, are all in the crucible, but there is no fusion, +only a discordant clash. + +Alas! there is no heat. We are not warmed, as yet, with any love for +art. We are too much absorbed in the rapid accumulation of wealth, or +the passing excitement of the hour, to attend to anything that is noble +or honest or beautiful. And now that devastating war is sweeping through +the land and clogging the wheels of progress, we are learning terrible +lessons; but, with experience for our teacher, learning them well. Where +war prevails, civilization for the time must stand still. _Inter arma +silent--artes_. And so long as we consider art a marketable commodity, +and consign it, like merchandise, to soulless builders, so long will it +remain in hopeless embryo. Only by taking a personal interest in it can +we hope to make it our own. + +So much for what we have done. There is little to be proud of, and +little, we hope, that will influence our future art. To which we now +turn our attention. + +To begin with, great public buildings will never form a distinguishing +feature of American architecture. It is to be preeminently a domestic +style. Herein shall we differ from the European nations, for in art, as +in politics, the people are the rulers. It is discouraging, at first +thought, to reflect that no such magnificent architectural combinations +as those of the French capital can ever find place in an American city. +They are grand, they are superb, these endless successions of palaces +and gardens and triumphal arches, with groves and fountains all in +perfect symmetry, and well-balanced vistas radiating in all directions; +but they are the result of centuries of despotism--of the impoverishment +of the many and the aggrandizement of the few. This, we hope, is not to +be the fashion in America. It is true that the ground plan for the city +of Washington exhibits a design analogous to the above, but we think it +will be a long time before it exists elsewhere than on the map. The +Greeks and Romans, we know, confined their efforts to public buildings, +but that was their business. They served their Governments, but our +Government serves us: the spirit of the age points in an opposite +direction. Since we are so fond of the classic, why not have chariots +for carriages, and triremes instead of gunboats and steamers? + +Our real style will first appear in our residences and warehouses, in +our banks and hotels and railroad depots. It sounds odd, but it is +manifestly so to be. We are a commercial republic. Old European palaces +and cathedrals are doubtless very grand, and--for those who need such +things--most excellent models. But with us the private element already +predominates; we only need to begin honestly, and the thing is half +done. + +Our national dread of Gothic, except it be for church purposes, should +be done away with. The Gothic _principle_, we mean; the style we may +follow or may not. But to be sincere and constructive, to build with a +purpose, we must do as did the mediæval builders. In their hands, our +daguerrean sky-lights and shot towers, our factory chimneys and +signboards, would have become glorious objects, become useful objects. +Their art did not confine itself to one day in seven; it permeated the +commonest details of every-day life, because they were common. Hence +they ennobled everything. + +But the Romans, unfortunately, never had any shot towers, or hotels, or +railroad depots, and so we think such things exceptions to the ordinary +rules of architecture. But after all, perhaps, this is all the better +for their future, as it leaves them comparatively untrammelled. In the +matter of railroad depots, England has certainly stolen a march upon us, +the large city stations in that rail-bound country being perfect Crystal +Palaces in size and elegance, while those for the more rural places are +often the most exquisite little villas, unapproachable in neatness and +taste. In some parts of the Continent, the Swiss style has been pressed +into this service with notable success. + +In regard to fire-alarm towers, we rejoice to be able to make an +exceptional remark. New York city has actually produced two or three of +these of new and elegant shape, perfectly adapted to their purpose; and +yet, so far as we know, not copied from anything else. Those in Sixth +and Third avenues have a grace of outline that is really elegant, and +show what we can accomplish if we only build what we want in a natural +and appropriate way. + +Nothing, however, is to exert a vaster influence on our style than the +hotel. This 'institution,' as we have it, is comparatively unknown in +Europe; beyond all nations are we a travelling and hotel-building +people. Our hotels have not grown up with the scant traffic of the post +chaise or _diligence_; they overleaped that feeble infancy, and started +at once with the railroad and steamboat. Large, luxurious, and well +appointed, they are usually the prominent buildings in all our large +cities. + +But as yet it is only their size and social importance that +distinguishes them, not their architecture. The recipe for a first-class +city house is simple: a vast square front of white, with ninety-six or a +hundred and forty-four windows, as the case may be, all alike, and all +equidistant. The variety afforded by this arrangement is much the same +as that of an uncut sheet of postage stamps. In such large masses, a +single color--white especially--is always disagreeable, unless treated +with some variety of form. Brick, with stone dressings, will almost +invariably produce a finer front than stone alone. But, after all, the +most desirable kind of variety is that which seeks to express exteriorly +the inner arrangement of the building, by giving some degree of +prominence to the principal rooms. As to interior, our hotels neglect a +grand opportunity in making no capital of the central space they +generally enclose. This, instead of being abandoned to cats and ash +barrels, might be made the feature of the establishment. Fancy such a +court roofed over with glass,[23] and surrounded with light arcades of +ironwork forming a continuous balcony at each story, arrange a garden in +the centre with a fountain, and give the whole a sort of oriental +treatment, and what a really elegant effect could be produced! The main +entrance in this case would be, not on the street, but on one of the +sides of this inner court, while an arched carriage way, to connect with +the street, would render vehicles accessible under cover. The arcades, +connecting all parts of the house, would take the place of halls and +corridors, besides forming delightful promenades. Some few hotels could +be named, in our large cities, which seem to have the germ of this idea, +but we know no instance of its complete development. + +Still we have great hopes of the hotel, because it is the place of all +others which it is to our interest to make look well. People go to the +post office all the same, be it a barn or a parthenon, but they will go, +other things being equal, to the best hotel. Here comes in the American +principle of Competition, the keynote of all our enterprise. Competition +is to do for us what the hope of earthly immortality did for the +builders of the Pyramids, what the desire to glorify God did for the +builders of the cathedrals. It is to be the soul of our art: what sort +of a body it is to put on, we shall presently see. Even now it is safe +to assume that no more such granite prisons as the 'Revere' or the +'Astor' will be built for hotels. Lightness, variety, and vivacity will +more probably characterize this style. + +The _shop front_ is something that we must have in some shape or other, +and, if fairly treated, it would become as decidedly American as +business is. It is susceptible of great variety, but care must be taken +that it harmonizes with the superstructure. How often we see massive +structures of marble, five stories or more, supported on basements of +plate glass, apparently; while the real supports are carefully +concealed! The best method, so far tried, seems to be that in which the +columns are made sufficiently prominent to show their object, and are +surmounted by arches, which give a good basis for what comes next +above, while affording sufficient window space to the store front. + +But we must make up our mind to part with those hideous signboards, +which trail their loathsome length across our best buildings, regardless +of console or capital or cornice. For the importance of the sign renders +it constructive, and it has as much right to take part in the design as +a door or a window. Instead of being pinned on like an afterthought, it +should be built into the wall, panel fashion, and by a little taste in +the selection of the style of letter, it might become one of the most +striking features of the whole front. Color would be better for the +letters than relief, being more economical and more easily altered. + +Our warehouses and even our factories might become imposing objects if +appropriately conceived, for is not labor ennobling? Anything that is +worth doing, is worth doing well; and if any of our manufacturing towns +are hideous, they are not necessarily so.[24] There is a certain +grandeur about many such places, with their myriad chimneys and +ponderous wheels and whirling engines, that deserves a corresponding +grandeur of expression, and some of our Pennsylvania ironworks already +afford splendid examples of this. We have seldom been more impressed by +the grandeur of mechanical operations than on a recent night visit to +one of the large rolling mills of Scranton. The whole interior, vast as +a cathedral, was brilliantly lighted by the numerous operations in +molten and red-hot iron that were everywhere in progress, and, with its +gleaming furnaces, ranged on either hand down the long vista, and +glowing here and there from the galleries, really made us feel prouder +of our race than did many a dim, dilapidated temple of the Old World. + +As to churches, we cannot expect much, except that they will be tasteful +and commodious audience rooms, commensurate with the importance of their +congregations. The religion of to-day appeals to soul, and not to soul +and sense. The world is older and better educated than in the cathedral +era, and the apostles and prophets are read, not from sculptured doors +or painted windows, but from the printed page and the winged word. +Childhood, that cannot read, requires gaudily painted primers for its +instruction and amusement, but the world is a grown man now; the press +has superseded the cathedral, and if we imitate those structures in our +churches, we should bear in mind that it was their size that gave them +grandeur, and that they would be caricatures without it. We have heard +our American church interiors spoken of somewhere as divisible into two +classes--the charlotte-russe style and the molasses-candy style. This is +not true, we hope; but there is too much truth in it, for it shows the +influence of a too close imitation of European palaces and churches, and +the hard shamming that has to be done to make this imitation apparent. + +If our rural architecture has been more successful, it is because our +better class of country houses are planned with reference to the +landscapes they occupy. A rich level meadow with here and there a waving +elm requires a different style of house from a fir-clad bluff on a river +bank or a wild gorge in a mountain. No intelligent architect, we take +it, would design a country house without an intimate acquaintance with +the surroundings, and yet the same man, likely as not, would make you a +sketch for the elevation of your house in town, without even looking to +see what it was to adjoin on either side. Now this method may be +correct, but it seems to us that, by first putting on paper the existing +houses, say one or two, on each side of the space to be built upon, the +new front could be much better planned, and much of that unnecessary +discord avoided which destroys so many of our best streets. This is what +is done in painting and other arts, and why not in architecture? +Particular situations require particular treatments. A front that would +appear well on a narrow street, would be inappropriate on a broad avenue +or a square. A corner, or the head of a street, are most responsible +situations. A tall marble front, placed in a modest row of freestone, is +hideous, and yet the unrelieved monotony of many such rows is quite as +bad. A dome, unless at the top of a street or on some open space, is +next to worthless. Who would ever notice Boston State House or the +Baltimore Cathedral, but for their elevated and central positions? + +We often find among the old masters elegant architectural paintings, +street views, taken from the picturesque cities they lived in. We should +like to find some one bold enough to paint a street view of Broadway or +Washington street or Chestnut street. + +It is a pity that our architects are unwilling to acknowledge the +importance of the _buttress_. Concerning this feature, it is not easy to +say whether beauty or utility is most apparent. It is the very +idealization of strength, and hence its inherent elegance. Suppose Nôtre +Dame or Milan Cathedral stripped of their double tiers of flying +buttresses. Would you not say that their glory was gone--their beauty +departed? And yet the old builders did not pile them up against their +naves for mere beauty's sake. By no means. But they knew the immense +weight of their vaulted roofs, and anticipated the outward thrust of the +walls. That was the problem, and most fairly was it met. They +counteracted the outward pressure from within by an inward pressure from +without, and there was the buttress. But what if they had said, We are +not going to spoil our fine churches by sticking props all around them, +and had resorted to concealed bedplates and invisible rods of iron, +would their structures have been better or nobler or more enduring? +Fortunately, they gave themselves no concern, as to how they would +look--for architecture was honest in those days--they simply built them, +allowing decoration to come in afterward in its proper order; and +thereupon the buttress became the distinguishing feature of Gothic art. + +Perhaps this is the very reason why we so neglect it; but symptoms are +already appearing which lead us to hope that gothophobia is on the +decline, and not the least of them is the outcropping of something that +would be a buttress if it dared to, but hides its real intention under a +classic mask, and passes off as a pilaster or a panel border. But it has +a guilty look, and the sooner it puts off its borrowed garments the +better. Certainly the demand for it is immense. So long as we are a +commercial people, vast warehouses, piled from cellar to roof with heavy +merchandise, must abound in all our cities. And yet how utterly +incompetent would many such buildings be to stand alone! So long, too, +as we are a manufacturing people, must we have huge mills crowded full +with heavy apparatus, vibrating machinery, and _human lives_. Have we +forgotten Lawrence? Let us not wait for another such holocaust ere we +learn wisdom. We can do without ornament, but we must have safety. A +mere increase of dead weight is no remedy; there should be a +well-studied mechanical disposition of material. If buttresses are +applied to warehouses and factories with sole reference to their +utility, elegance will grow upon them afterward as naturally as leaves +grow upon trees. + +Material must depend much upon locality, but iron is undoubtedly to hold +an important place in our architecture. Already it is extensively used, +but does not seem to command general favor. The reason is that nearly +everything that has been done with it so far is not iron architecture, +but stone architecture done in iron. We do not let it speak its own +language; the truss, the tie rod, and the girder are kept out of sight, +while every possible display is made of consoles and cornices and +Corinthian columns and balustrades, and all sorts of foreign +expressions. No wonder that it is unable to give an account of itself +with all these false witnesses. Stone houses should be made of stone, +and if made of wood or iron or plaster, they are nothing but shams, +unenduring and unsatisfactory. + +Now architecture requires the least amount of material that is +compatible with the greatest amount of strength. The forms of different +materials must be varied to suit their texture, according as it is +fibrous or crystalline, tough or brittle. Iron, of course, requires a +peculiar treatment. At the risk of being charged with pedantry, we say +that there have never been but two iron buildings, of any pretension, in +this country--the Niagara Suspension Bridge and the Crystal Palace at +New York. The first still speaks for itself; and of the latter, no one +who saw it can forget what an exquisite structure it was, so light and +airy and elegant, and yet so strong. It was but a bird cage, though, +compared with its enormous prototype at Sydenham. That is unquestionably +one of the wonders of the world; its internal _coup d'oeil_ is without +a parallel. Fancy a broad level vista, a third of a mile long, flanked +on either side by graceful groves of ironwork, and covered with a +continuous crystal arch, a hundred feet above your head; line it with a +profusion of tropical foliage and clambering vines, that grow as +luxuriantly as in their native woods, and interspersed with statuary and +vases gleaming everywhere through the rich masses of verdure, while here +and there fountains of rare and exquisite design, rising from broad +marble basins, relieve without lessening the immense length--and you may +have some faint idea of this peerless structure. 'No material is used in +it,' says Fergusson, 'which is not the best for its purpose, no +constructive expedient employed which was not absolutely necessary, and +it depends wholly for its effect on the arrangement of its parts and the +display of its construction.' It is in iron what Gothic is in stone. + +Details, if fairly studied, would do much to nationalize our +architecture. Why should we, in designing a capital or cornice, still +cling to the classic acanthus or honeysuckle ornament, or even the +English ivy, when we have such a fund of our own? The maize and the +sugarcane, the potato blossom and the cotton boll afford so many mines +of treasure, that it is surprising that they have not already been +worked. In the architecture of the Central Park, however, a decided +impetus has been given in this direction. The details of the grand +terrace at the end of the Mall are as elaborate as those of a European +cathedral, but they are all American--all our own. + +Another excellent feature of our city houses is that little strip of +garden in front, just within the sidewalk. For this, too, we think we +have some claim of originality. At least it is not European, for in +Berlin, Vienna, etc., some of the most palatial quarters are without so +much as a sidewalk--the paving stones reaching from wall to wall. Such +barrenness of arrangement cannot be relieved by any architecture, nor +was there ever a building so good that it could not be improved by a +setting of foliage. The power of mutual relief between art and nature is +wonderful. To this is owing much of the effect of the celebrated 'Place +Napoleon,' the court of the New Louvre at Paris. The contrast between +the richly wrought façades of Caen stone and the foliage in the centre, +is most grateful to the eye. Even the grand quadrangle of the Tuileries +seems dismal after it, grand as are its ogre-roofed 'pavilions' and +triumphal arch, for it lacks the refreshing verdure. The eye wearies of +the everlasting buff color. + +Not to overstep the subject, we will say just one word about the street +plans of our cities. It is really shameful that these are not more +studied. No one seems to think of adapting them to the surface of the +ground, but everything must needs be graded flat, and rectangular blocks +laid out thereon. Our Western cities, particularly, appear to +crystallize in cubes--their monotony is painful. An occasional +introduction of the curved street, so common in Britain, would be a +delightful relief. The London 'Quadrant' is a superb example--the way in +which the houses come into view, one by one, as you follow the curve, is +not to be surpassed. But the chief secret of success in plotting a town +is to seize upon the natural irregularities of the ground, and make them +part and parcel of the design. The beauty of Edinburgh--the 'Scottish +Athens,' as Dugald Stewart called it--is entirely owing to this. The new +town is a 'wilderness of granite, magnificently dull,' and the old has +barely enough of the picturesque to save it from being hideous. But +there is a broad, natural ravine, dividing the two, which has been +retained in its original shape, and being tastefully arranged with +shrubbery and terraced walks, forms a fine park. Near one end of this +the Castle Hill rises abruptly against the old town, while at the other +end the view is closed by Calton Hill, with its classic monuments, and +Arthur's Seat rising grandly beyond. Two or three bridges afford a level +communication between the old town and the new, and Prince's street, the +thoroughfare of the latter, forms a fine terrace along the northern edge +of the ravine, passing midway the Scott monument, a superb spire of +Gothic. This latter is perhaps the only commendable feature _per se_ in +the city--for the details of Edinburgh are notably poor, its pictorial +effect arising solely from the very happy manner in which they are +grouped, amphitheatre-like, around the 'Gardens.' + +Did such a vale lie in the track of one of our cities, we would consider +it an unlucky blemish, to be filled up at once to the general level. It +would be named in the contract as such-and-such 'sunken lots,' and as +the Castle Rock was digged down and dumped in, tax-payers would rejoice +over the saved cartage. Having thus killed off Nature, we would put up +squares of houses upon the dead level, while the local papers would +comment upon the 'improvement of property.' + +If we only had a Napoleon here, some think, his master mind might arrest +this Vandalism, infuse some system into our rag-bag cities, and make +each a Paris. But have we not Public Opinion, stronger than any despot? +Let a little of this current, guided by taste, be turned into the +channels of art, and the results will soon be forthcoming. We seem to be +hampered, as yet, with a kind of feudal system of architecture; this +will presently be done away with, for the American character is +eclectic, and naturally selects and combines the best in art, as in +politics and commerce. To combine English good sense without its +heaviness, French vivacity without its hollowness, and the exuberance of +German fancy without its inertia--to combine and reflect all these +should be the mission of our architecture. + +Neither is it too much to say that a genuine love for art may have its +bearing on that part of us which is immortal. Not that any of these +things will exist after this life, but as children are drilled by their +teachers in many studies which have no practical bearing on their after +life, so may we consider ourselves as only at boarding school with +Nature while in this present temporary state; and if she has set us some +lessons which do not appertain directly to our more exalted future, we +should remember that this is her method of _discipline_. But she has +done more; she has made the very tasks delightful. Are not such studies +more beneficial and satisfactory than the idleness and play which fill +up so much of our lives? + +No student can succeed, however, who tamely copies his neighbor's work. +Let us hope, then, that our art will soon drop its clumsy costume, and +take to itself something natural and national; that it will become, as +it should, the type of our Western civilization--a civilization that +spreads itself, not by sword or sceptre or crozier, but by life and +liberty and light. + + + + +JEFFERSON DAVIS AND REPUDIATION OF ARKANSAS BONDS + +LETTER NO. III OF HON. ROBERT J. WALKER. + + + London, 10 Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, + _January 28th_, 1864 + +In two pamphlets, published by me last summer, Mr. Jefferson Davis was +clearly convicted of sustaining the repudiation of the Union Bank bonds, +and the Planters' Bank bonds of the State of Mississippi. These +pamphlets were most extensively circulated throughout the United States, +the United Kingdom, and upon the continent of Europe, and several +confederate writers have since referred to them; but no attempt ever has +been made, either by Mr. Davis himself, or by any of his agents or +friends, to refute any one of the facts or deductions contained in those +pamphlets. Indeed, the facts were founded upon authentic documents, +official papers, and Mr. Davis's own two letters over signature, plainly +and unequivocally sustaining the repudiation of Mississippi. It is true, +in the case of the Union Bank bonds of Mississippi, that Mr. Davis +justified their repudiation on the ground that the bonds of the State +were unconstitutional. But the utter fallacy of this position was shown +by two unanimous decisions of the highest judicial tribunal of the State +of Mississippi, before whom this very question was brought directly for +adjudication, affirming the constitutionality and validity of these +bonds. When it is recollected, also, that this was the Court designated +by the Constitution and laws of Mississippi, as the tribunal to which +the ultimate decision of this question was referred, the wretched +character of this pretext must be at once perceived. Mr. Davis's two +repudiating letters were published by him in the spring and summer of +1849, yet one of these decisions by the highest judicial tribunal of +Mississippi, quoted by me, affirming the validity and constitutionality +of these very bonds, was made in 1842, and again unanimously reaffirmed +in 1853. But still, Mr. Davis adhered to the same position. As to the +Planters' Bank bonds, however, the repudiation of which was shown to +have been justified by Mr. Davis, there never was even a pretext that +they were illegal or unconstitutional. Nor is there any force in the +suggestion, that these questions were decided before Mr. Davis came into +public life. They were _continuous_ questions, constantly discussed in +the press and before legislative and judicial tribunals. And, we have +seen, even as late as 1853, four years succeeding Mr. Davis's +repudiating letters, the second decision was made by the highest +judicial tribunal of Mississippi, reaffirming the validity and +constitutionality of these bonds. + +But I will now cite another instance of the advocacy of repudiation by +Mr. Jefferson Davis, still more flagitious than that of Mississippi. It +was that of the State bonds of Arkansas, the validity and +constitutionality of which never has been disputed. A brief history of +this transaction is as follows: In 1830, James Smithson, an eminent and +wealthy citizen of London, in the kingdom of Great Britain, died, +bequeathing, by his last will and testament, the whole of his property +to the United States of America, in trust, to found at Washington, under +the name of 'The Smithsonian Institution,' an establishment 'for the +increase of diffusion of knowledge among men.' After some delay, the +Congress of the United States, in 1836, passed an act, accepting the +trust, and pledging the faith of the Government for the faithful +application of the money to the noble purpose designated by the +illustrious donor. Under this act, Richard Rush, one of our most +distinguished citizens, who had been minister to England and to France, +and had held the position of Secretary of State and of the Treasury, at +Washington, was sent by the Government to London, to obtain from the +Court of Chancery the fund, amounting to over $500,000. It is usual in +the proceedings of the English Court of Chancery, when funds, under +circumstances like these, are bequeathed to trustees for scientific or +charitable purposes, not to part with the money to the trustee, except +upon his filing in court absolute security for the faithful fulfilment +of the trust. In this case, however, the High Court of Chancery in +England, considering that to imply any laches or neglect of a trust so +sacred, on the part of the Government of the United States, was an idea +not to be entertained, did, by their decree, without any security, hand +over all the money to the Government of the United States, to be +appropriated to the purpose designated by the donor, receiving only the +pledge given by the Congress of the United States, for the faithful +appropriation of the money. Now, if there ever was any obligation, that +would be considered sacred by the whole civilized world, it was this, +and most faithfully has the Government of the United States executed +this trust. Nay, it has done much more; it has granted forty acres of +ground, belonging to the Government, in the city of Washington, +gratuitously, for the erection of the buildings upon them, erected by +the Government, are worth largely more than the whole bequest. Not only +has the Government done this, but, upon the whole fund received from Mr. +Smithson, it has always punctually paid an interest of six per cent. in +gold upon the whole sum, and pledged its faith for a similar perpetual +payment. It has also largely aided the institution by contributions to +its museum, collections, and library, and by the gratuitous services of +public officers in its behalf. Such was the bill passed by Congress in +1846, and which has always been most faithfully executed. So that the +institution is now established upon a permanent basis, and is fulfilling +all the great and noble purposes proposed by the illustrious donor. Now, +in 1837, this fund was received by the Government of the United States, +and invested by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Woodbury, in the six +per cent. bonds of the State of Arkansas at par, to the extent of over +half a million of dollars. During the same year Arkansas invested this +money in a bank, entitled 'The Real Estate Bank of Arkansas;' and of +which the State was the great stockholder. In 1839, this Bank, having +loaned out these funds to the citizens of Arkansas, became absolutely +and totally insolvent, and has never been able to pay one cent on the +dollar to any of its creditors. In 1839, the State of Arkansas failed +to pay the interest on its bonds, and from that day to this has never +paid one dollar either of interest or principal on any of these most +sacred obligations. + +On the 4th of March, 1845, I became Secretary of the Treasury of the +United States, and having taken the deepest interest in this Smithsonian +fund, and in its faithful application to the noble purpose of the donor, +and inasmuch as one of my predecessors had invested these funds in these +bonds, and the Government had made itself directly responsible for the +faithful execution of this trust, I endeavored to reclaim, as far as +possible, this money from the State of Arkansas, and to induce Congress +to appropriate its own moneys to redeem the pledge of the Government, +and fulfil this trust. My first official action on this subject was as +follows: By act of Congress, five per cent. of the net proceeds of the +sales of the public lands of the United States in Arkansas was payable +to that State, for certain purposes designated in the act. There was, +also, an act of Congress in force, authorizing the Secretary of the +Treasury, where there were mutual debts and credits between the +Government and any other person, to offset any debt due by any creditor +of the United States, against any debt, so far as it would go, due by +the United States to such creditor. I interpreted this act as +authorizing me to withhold this five per cent. fund from the State of +Arkansas and appropriate it, as far as it would go, in payment of the +interest which had accumulated on the bonds of the State of Arkansas, in +which my predecessor, Mr. Woodbury, on behalf of the Government, had +invested the Smithsonian Fund; thus saving a small portion of the +interest which had accrued on these bonds. For this act I was violently +denounced by the Senators and Representatives of Arkansas in Congress, +as also by the Legislature and Governor of the State, and strenuous +efforts were made, unsuccessfully, first to induce me to revoke my +action, and, secondly, to have it overruled by the Government. But I +adhered to it, and declared openly, that if such a breach of trust were +consummated, and my action overruled in the premises, I would resign my +seat in the cabinet. My official action, however, was sustained by an +almost unanimous public sentiment of Congress, and of the country. +Indeed, beyond the limits of the State of Arkansas, and the circle of +the repudiators of Mississippi, my course was sustained and approved. + +Now, then, let us see what was the action of Mr. Jefferson Davis on the +question of these Arkansas bonds. On reference to the journals of the +House of Representatives, of the Congress of the United States, it +appears that Mr. Jefferson Davis took his seat in that body, as one of +the members elect from the State of Mississippi, on the 8th of December, +1845. (P. 56.) When the bill was pending for organizing the Smithsonian +Institution, and making good for both principal and interest, the sum +bequeathed by Mr. Smithson that had been invested by the Government of +the United States in these Arkansas State bonds, Mr. Jefferson Davis, on +the 29th April, 1846, as appears by the official proceedings of the +House, page 749, moved an amendment: 'To add at the end of the section +the following'--'_Provided, however_, That if the Governor of the State +of Arkansas shall make it appear to the satisfaction of the +Attorney-General of the United States, that he has used suitable means +to obtain from the Real Estate Bank of the State of Arkansas, payment of +the debt due by said Bank to the State of Arkansas, but without success, +then, in that case, and until the arrears due by the said Real Estate +Bank shall have been received into the Treasury of the State of +Arkansas, the said State shall be and is hereby declared to be absolved +from the promises on the face of her bonds by which the said State +heretofore pledged her faith for the due payment of the principal and +interest of said bonds.' Now, then, it will be remembered, that the +legality and constitutionality of these Arkansas State bonds never has +been disputed. These bonds were issued by the State, under direct +authority of law, signed by the Governor, with the broad seal of the +State attached, and recognized by the Government of the United States, +by the investment of this sacred fund in these obligations. Nay, more, +this fund thus received by the State from the Government on these bonds, +had been invested, under the law of the State of Arkansas, in a Real +Estate Bank, created by that State, and the money loaned to the citizens +of the State. That State Bank, however, in 1839, became utterly and +notoriously insolvent, and never did or could pay one cent in the dollar +on its obligations. And, more especially, never did it pay, after 1839, +one single cent of the principal or interest upon these State +obligations. Now, then, this institution, in 1846, being absolutely and +totally insolvent, its funds having been wasted and squandered without +the possibility of recovery, either in whole or in part, Mr. Davis +offers this resolution to authorize the State to repudiate its bonds, +and that the Government should look only to this insolvent Bank for the +payment of the principal and interest on these bonds, amounting then to +over $700,000. It was not alleged by Mr. Davis, or by any other person, +that these bonds were unconstitutional. No such pretext was ever made +even by the State of Arkansas. It was a most atrocious case of open +repudiation. And here, it matters not, so far as this question is +concerned, what may have been the obligation of the Government of the +United States to make good these funds. That is a totally distinct and +independent question. The true and real issue in this case is this: Was +not the State of Arkansas bound to pay these bonds, both interest and +principal, as it fell due, in, which bonds, by the request and authority +of the State, the Government of the United States had invested this +Smithsonian fund? This obligation of the State of Arkansas, both moral +and legal, is undisputed and indisputable; and yet Mr. Davis moved the +resolution before quoted, absolving the State from the payment of the +principal and interest of these bonds, except so far as the assets of +her own Bank, then notoriously bankrupt, should avail to make good these +obligations. That is, the Congress of the United States, by solemn act, +was to authorize the State of Arkansas to repudiate her solemn +obligations. Recollect, this was not a case of Mississippi bonds, of +which State Mr. Davis was then a Representative in Congress, but it was +the case of Arkansas, another State, having on the floor of Congress its +own Senators and Representatives. But it is a very remarkable fact, that +Mississippi, for many years, had then repudiated her own bonds, that Mr. +Davis justified and sustained that repudiation, and that now he appears +on behalf of Arkansas to induce Congress, by solemn act, to authorize +that State to repudiate her obligations also. Thus was it that Mr. Davis +travelled out of his own State into another, to make the Government of +the United States a party to the repudiation of her bonds by the State +of Arkansas. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not mean to say, that Mr. +Davis proposed or intended that the Government of the United States +should repudiate its faith, plighted to the British Court of Chancery, +to make good this fund. That is not the question. It is entirely +collateral. But, what he did do was this, and there stands his own +resolution, offered by himself in the Congress of the United States, +which, if carried into effect, would have released the State of Arkansas +from these bonds, or, in Mr. Davis's own words, 'The said State shall be +and is hereby declared to be _absolved from the promises_ on the face +of her bonds, by which the said State heretofore _pledged her faith_ +for the due payment of the principal and interest of said bonds.' + +Why should Congress release Arkansas from the payment of her State +obligations? Why thus justify the repudiation of her bonds? Can any +other reason be assigned than this, that Mr. Jefferson Davis was looking +to the repudiated bonds of Mississippi, and was endeavoring to establish +a precedent, by solemn act of the Congress, by which, if adopted as a +principle, Mississippi, and every other defaulting State, could be +justified in the repudiation of their bonds also. It is to the credit of +the Congress of the United States, that Mr. Davis's resolution was +rejected without a division, and without a count. When it is +recollected, that at this very time, I, as Secretary of the Treasury, +was appropriating the five per cent. found payable by the Government to +the State of Arkansas toward the liquidation of these bonds against the +protest of that State, the further meaning of these movements will be +clearly perceived. Had this resolution of Mr. Davis passed the two +Houses of Congress, absolving the State of Arkansas from the payment of +these bonds, I could, of course, as Secretary of the Treasury, no longer +have withheld that fund from the State, and appropriated it, so far as +it went, toward the liquidation of the interest accrued and accruing on +these bonds. It appears, then, by conclusive and official evidence, that +Mr. Jefferson Davis's repudiation of State obligations, was not confined +to his own State, nor even to the State of Arkansas; but that he desired +to make the Government of the United States, by solemn act of Congress, +a party directly sanctioning such atrocious violations of State faith +and State obligations. + + R. J. WALKER. + + + + +APHORISMS. + + +NO. III. + +TWO RULES.-To get safely and comfortably through the world, one +must observe two rules: first, keep your eyes open; second, keep them +shut. + +Not to see the actual realities of our daily existence, is the part of a +fool. + +Not to notice the thousand and one petty faults of others, and the +ever-recurring petty annoyances of our circumstances, is the part of a +wise man. + +Even injuries intentionally done to us, are often best disposed of by +resolutely ignoring them. + +So of evils that cannot be remedied--the less we know of them the +better. Not to see an ill sight, is often just as good as to remove it +from existence. + +We need only to add: This seeing and not seeing, depends very much upon +the will. The wolf that wills it can easily see the lamb disturbing the +water that he drinks, even while the lamb is below him on the bank of +the stream; and the lamb, by a stern resolve, can refuse to _see_ the +injustice which it has no power to remedy. The will of man is little +less than omnipotent in the wide sphere of its appropriate power; and +that sphere is much wider than feeble-minded people may suppose. + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THEODORE PARKER, Minister of + the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society, Boston. By JOHN + WEISS. In 2 volumes. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 443 & 445 + Broadway. + +A work of two large octavo volumes, containing 1,020 pages, with two +portraits of Mr. Parker, and some vignettes on wood. The author is John +Weiss, and the biography is exceedingly well written, a great deal of it +being given directly from Mr. Parker's own letters and journals. He was +born in Massachusetts in 1810, and died in Italy before he had completed +his fiftieth year. He was brought up on his father's farm, taught school +while in his teens to provide money for further progress, prepared +himself for the university, taught a higher school during his college +course, studied the classics, acquired German, French, and Spanish, +became a divinity student in Cambridge, added Danish, Swedish, Arabic +and Syriac, Anglo-Saxon and Modern Greek, was ordained a Unitarian +minister in 1837, and settled at West Roxbury. His labors were great: he +preached, lectured, translated, edited, and wrote. His health sank under +his arduous mental toil. He went abroad to regain it, and died in +Florence in 1860. Whatever we may think of his creed, as a preacher he +was able and earnest. He was a man of varied gifts, of wide and detailed +culture. He was opposed to slavery, and stood in bold antagonism to the +Fugitive Slave Law. He was blamed, perhaps maligned, during his +lifetime, but posterity will acknowledge him as a man of large brain and +generous heart. His letters are exceedingly interesting, touching upon +almost every subject now under discussion. + + 'Would you be good, and fill each human duty? + One art's enough for that--the finest art-- + See but the good in every human heart.' + + WAS HE SUCCESSFUL? A Novel. By RICHARD B. + KIMBALL, Author of 'St. Leger,' 'Undercurrents,' 'Romance of + Student Life,' etc. New York; Carleton, publisher, 413 Broadway. + Leipsic: Tauchnitz. 1864. + +The readers of THE CONTINENTAL have been favored with the first +perusal of this monitory novel. It is an accurate delineation of men and +manners found too frequently in our midst, and the moral should be +deeply graven on every heart. We feel the more at liberty to recommend +this work, as it was commenced in our columns before the present corps +of editors had entered upon their labors, and we cordially wish every +species of success to Mr. Kimball. + + MUSICAL SKETCHES. By ELIZA POLKO. Translated from + the sixth German edition, by FANNY FULLER. Philadelphia: + Frederick Leypoldt. New York: F. W. Christern. + +We think this book will become a favorite with our people. It contains +sketches, legends, and traditions of many of the great musicians. Bach, +Gluck, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Pergolesi, Schubert, Scarlatti, Weber, +Paganini, Gretry, Catalani, Malibran, Handel, Anderle, Haydn, Boieldieu, +Cimarosa, Beethoven, Lully, Berger, etc., float pleasantly through its +fanciful pages. Romance and reality mingle genially together, the +reality half persuading us that the romance is true. It is appreciative +and tender in the original, and the translation is well executed. The +vignette of the music-making cherubs is really beautiful. + + HUSKS. COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. By MARION HARLAND. + New York: Sheldon & Co., 335 Broadway. + +Few young writers have attained so sudden a popularity as Marion +Harland. We believe it well deserved. Her plots are interesting, her +characters well drawn, her style natural, her morals unexceptionable. Of +the two tales composing the present volume, we prefer 'Colonel Floyd's +Wards.' The interest is well sustained, and Virginian society and +manners truthfully depicted. + + + DIARY, from November 18, 1862, to October 18, 1863. By + ADAM GUROWSKI. Volume Second. New York: Carleton, + publisher, 413 Broadway. + +Has Count Gurowski's course toward his own unfortunate country, heroic +Poland, been sufficiently loyal and faithful to induce us to put much +confidence in his portraitures of the men and events of the land of his +adoption? + + + THE GREAT CONSUMMATION. THE MILLENNIAL REST; or, The World + as it Will Be. By REV. JOHN CUMMING, D. D., F. R. S. E., + Minister of the Scottish National Church, Crown Court, Covent + Garden; Author of 'The Great Tribulation,' and 'The Great + Preparation.' Second Series. New York: Carleton, publisher, 413 + Broadway. + +The writings of the Rev. Dr. Cumming are too well known to the public to +need any characterization at our hands. His style is clear and simple, +and we believe it is his desire to awaken and win souls. Although +frequently miscomprehending the dogmas of the Mother Church, he is +neither narrow nor bigoted in his religious views. In the volume under +consideration, he takes passages found principally in Isaiah and +Revelations as texts to describe the Millennium which he believes at +hand. He strives to inculcate the lesson, '_Be ye therefore ready_.' + + + CUDJO'S CAVE. By J. T. TROWBRIDGE, Author of + 'Neighbor Jackwood,' 'The Drummer Boy,' etc. Boston: Tilton & Co. + +We believe Mr. Trowbridge has achieved a real success in his Cudjo. The +plot is well conceived and sustained, and the interest never flags from +the first page to the last. There is no dull reading in the book, no +interminable preludes or introductions. We are presented in the very +first chapter to the hero, the young schoolmaster, about to be tarred +and feathered by a brutal mob. And a real hero he proves himself in his +gentleness, conscientiousness, and manly moral and physical courage. +Carl, the German boy, is an inimitable picture of young German life and +character. Toby, the house negro, is, in his mingled stupidity, cunning, +and faithfulness, drawn to the life. Nor are the negroes of the cave +less excellent. Events hurry forward, different characters are strangely +grouped, new elements and capacities constantly developed, while truth +to the original conception is constantly adhered to. Graphic +descriptions and picturesque situations abound. If scenes of violence +occur, it is because they are true to the history of the hour. We close +by extracting the closing sentence of this loyal and natural novel: 'For +peaceful days, a peaceful and sunny literature: and may Heaven hasten +the time when there shall be no more strife, and no more human bondage; +when, under the folds of the starry flag, from the lake chain to the +gulf, and from sea to sea, freedom, peace, and righteousness shall +reign; when all men shall love each other, and the nations shall know +God!' + + + UNITED STATES WALL ATLAS. Constructed and drawn under the + direction of A. GUYOT, by ERNEST SANDOZ. New + York: Published by Charles Scribner, 124 Grand street. + +This is a physical map of the United States, giving the altitudes +(within certain limits) of the surface of the land, the height of the +principal mountains, the courses of the ranges and also of the rivers, +together with many other interesting particulars. The principal +political divisions and the chief towns are also indicated. The names of +that profound and earnest savant, Prof. A. Guyot, and of his talented +nephew, E. Sandoz, are a sufficient guarantee of the accuracy and +excellence of this useful work. + + + A BUDGET OF FUN FOR LITTLE FOLKS. By AUNT MAGGIE. + Boston: Loring, publisher, 319 Washington street. + + JEAN BELIN; or, The Adventures of a Little French Boy. By + ALFRED DE BREHAT. Translated from the French. Boston: + Loring, publisher, 319 Washington street. For sale by O. S. Felt, + 36 Walker street, New York. + +Two very pleasant books for children. The first contains the adventures +of a knitting society, interspersed with sundry novel fairy tales, and +the second is intended to supply the need felt by all the little ones +when 'Robinson Crusoe' and the 'Swiss Family Robinson' have been +exhausted. The tale is lively and well told, and the characters natural +and ably sustained. We notice in both works an occasional inaccuracy of +expression. Such slight blemishes do not materially impair the +excellence of these sprightly volumes, but a little more attention would +have sufficed to render them entirely free from error. The examples of +language placed before youth cannot be too carefully revised. With this +minute exception, we heartily recommend the 'Budget of Fun' and 'Jean +Belin,' especially the latter, to all young people. + + CARROT-POMADE, with twenty-six Illustrations by + AUGUSTUS HOPPIN. 'Hair ten carats fine.' New York: James + G. Gregory, publisher, 46 Walker street. + +A ludicrous satire, and well deserved, on the general style of +advertisements. Hoppin is too well known to need laudation. His +illustrations are irresistibly comic. What could be happier than the +cupids of the brush and comb on the frontispiece? The poor 'krittur +which furnished the grease' is well conceived and executed. + + POEMS. By HENRY PETERSON. Philadelphia: J. B. + Lippincott. + +A volume of graceful verses. We quote its dedication: 'To the members of +that hard-working, poorly rewarded editorial profession, who make so +many reputations for others, and so few for themselves, this book is +respectfully dedicated by one of the fraternity.' 'Abra's Vision' is a +happy rendering of Leigh Hunt's 'Abou Ben Adhem.' + + APPLETON'S UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE; containing the + Chief Regulations of the Post Office; and a complete List of Post + Offices throughout the United States, with other information for + the People. Published Quarterly. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 443 & + 445 Broadway. One dollar per annum. Price, 25 cents. + +This volume has been prepared with the sanction of Mr. Blair, Postmaster +General, and is an authorized medium of information between the Post +Office Department and the public. It meets a want very generally felt, +and will be welcomed by the community at large. Its table of contents is +a full one; we have space but for a few items: 'Officers, and recent +Orders of the Department; Rates of Postage to Foreign Countries; Rates +of Domestic Postage; Date of Sailing of Foreign Steamers; Establishment +of Post Offices; Mail Contracts; Penalties in certain cases; Suggestions +to the Public; Time occupied in the transmission of Letters; Local Post +Office Regulations; List of Post Offices in the United States, etc. We +regard the condensation of important and indeed almost necessary +information as of great value to our people. + + LEGENDS OF THE BIRDS. By CHARLES GODFREY LELAND. + Illustrated by F. Moras. Philadelphia: Frederick Leypoldt, + publisher. New York: for sale by F. W. Christern, 763 Broadway. + +An exquisite volume, containing illuminated pictures of the Birds of the +Legends. Very beautiful are the legends, tenderly and simply told in the +golden words of a poet. They are calculated to teach us humanity toward +the winged creatures of the air, so often the victims of our cruel +sports. We have The Swallow, The Eagle, The Robin, The Cock, The Swan, +The Falcon, The Wood Dove, The Humming Bird, The Scarlet Tannager, The +Peacock, and The Owl, each bird occupying his own illuminated page; each +with his own simple and touching legend. Mr. Leland's little poems will +speak to many a heart, and many a mother will read them aloud to the +wild boys begging for guns to devastate our forests, to inspire them +with mercy for these flying flowers, these musicians of the air. Paper, +print, type, arabesques, and designs, are excellent. We heartily +congratulate Mr. Leypoldt on the beauty of the publication. + + HAND BOOK OF CALISTHENICS AND GYMNASTICS: A Complete Drill + Book for Schools, Families, and Gymnasiums. With Music to accompany + the Exercises. Illustrated from original designs. By J. MADISON + WATSON. New York and Philadelphia: Schermerhorn, Bancroft & + Co. Chicago: George Sherwood. 1864. + +The American people are waking up to the importance of physical culture, +struggling to develop muscle, to strengthen weak nerves, and to build up +national bodily vigor. The purpose of the volume before us is to solve +this problem. The author "has aimed to make it a complete gymnastic +drill book, with words of command and classes of movements +systematically arranged, embracing all necessary exercises for the +lungs, the voice, the organs of speech, the joints, and the muscles." + +Part 1st, under the head of _Vocal Gymnastics_, treats of Respiration, +Phonetics, and Elocution; concise and clear principles and rules are +given, accompanied by examples and exercises sufficiently numerous to +enable the student to bring them completely within his comprehension and +under his control. We regard this part of the work before us as +exceedingly important. To read aloud well is one of the rarest of +accomplishments, though one of the most desirable, and the training of +the voice is absolutely necessary to attain this end. When properly +pursued, such exercises are exceedingly invigorating. 'In forming and +undulating the voice,' says Dr. Combe, 'not only the chest, but also the +diaphragm and abdominal muscles are in constant action, and communicate +to the stomach and bowels a healthy and agreeable stimulus.' The poetic +selections are made with great taste, and are admirably fitted to +achieve the end for which they are designed. + +Part 2d, under the head of _Calisthenics_, exhibits a varied course of +exercises without the aid of apparatus. Pupils are taught to beat time, +and use is thus made of the magic power of rhythmical movement. Nineteen +pieces of piano music are given, which are well chosen, and +appropriately introduced. + +Part 3d, under the head of _Gymnastics_, presents a wider collection of +exercises for wands, dumb bells, Indian clubs, and hand rings, than any +of the books we have yet seen. All the exercises are arranged in +accordance with well-known principles of Anatomy, Physiology, and +Hygiene. 'In presenting a _new system_ of Calisthenics and Gymnastics, a +series of illustrations from _original_ designs is indispensable.' These +are remarkably well drawn and executed. Accent, quantity, with Iambic, +Trochaic, Anapestic, and Dactylic Rhythms, are _practically_ given in +the work, which, should the student have poetic talent, would be of +great use to him in making his own verses, while to the reader of poetry +a knowledge of them is indispensable. + +We heartily commend this book to the notice of our readers--to all who +prize physical culture, health, and symmetrical education. We hope it +may find its way into our schools and families. + +Print, paper, and the mechanical execution of this valuable Hand Book +are really excellent. + + LIGHT ON SHADOWED PATHS. By T. S. ARTHUR, Author + of 'Ten Nights in a Bar Room,' 'Steps toward Heaven,' 'Golden + Grain,' etc. New York: Carleton, publisher, 413 Broadway. + +The books of T. S. Arthur have had a very wide circulation both in this +country and in England. This volume is composed of thirty-three short +tales, well calculated to touch and soothe the popular heart. They are +tender, moral, and simple. + + * * * * * + +JANUARY PERIODICALS RECEIVED. + + THE UNIVERSALIST QUARTERLY. Boston: Published by T. + Tompkins & Co. New York: H. Lyon, 119 Nassau street. + +CONTENTS: The Logic and the End of the Rebellion. The Eastern +Church and Council of Nice. Salvation in Christ not Limited to this +Life. Contributions of Science to Religion. History of the Doctrine of a +Future Life. Atheism and its Exponents. Formula of Baptism. The +Universalists as a Christian Sect. General Review. Recent Publications. +American and English Quarterlies. + + THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, January 1st, 1864. Editors: + Prof. James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton, Esqs. Boston: + Crosby & Nichols, 117 Washington street. New York: H. Dexter, + Hamilton & Co., Sinclair Tousey, and D. G. Francis. + +CONTENTS: Ticknor's Life of Prescott. The Bible and Slavery. +The Ambulance System. The Bibliotheca Sacra. Immorality in Politics. The +Early Life of Governor Winthrop. The Sanitary Commission. Renan's Life +of Jesus. The President's Policy. Critical Notices. + + THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.--Contents: Weiss's Life of + Theodore Parker. Uhland. The Patience of Hope. Arthur Schopenhauer. + The System and Order of Christ's Ministry. Ticknor's Life of + Prescott. Our Ambulance System. The Two Messages. Review of Current + Literature. New Publications Received. Boston: By the Proprietors, + at Walker, Wise & Co.'s, 245 Washington street. + + + + +EDITOR'S TABLE. + + +ARTISTS' RECEPTION. + +The evening of February 4th, 1864, will long be remembered as the +occasion of one of the most delightful receptions ever given in the +Tenth-street Studio Building. The Committee deserve great praise for the +successful manner in which they filled without crowding the pleasant +exhibition-room and the many interesting studios. Their task was +certainly not an easy one, and merits imitation by all managers of +social entertainments. + +Want of space must for the present prevent any description of the fine +works exhibited; suffice it to say that the Committee--Whittredge, +McEntee, Thompson, as well as Gifford, Eastman Johnson, Bierstadt, +Beard, the Weirs, Hazeltine, William Hart, Dana, Leutze, Gignoux, +Shattuck, Brown, Suydam, etc., were all worthily represented. New York +has reason to be proud of her artists. + +Amusing incidents were not wanting. As we stood before Beard's +'Watchers' (an impressive representation of a company of crows watching +the last struggles of a dying deer), we heard a lady ask her attendant +the meaning of the picture and of its name. The reply was, 'Why--do you +not see? Those birds are owls, and they are asleep, and the deer is +asleep too, and so they are all watchers!' 'Ah!' returned the lady, as +if this lucid explanation had flooded the subject with light. We were +accompanied by a very bright young girl, who, desirous of visiting the +studio of Mr. Church, and disappointed at learning that it had not been +opened to the guests of the building, exclaimed, 'Heart of the Andes, +indeed! Where is his own?' No lover of the true and the beautiful could +have resisted the pleading of those earnest blue eyes. We also overheard +that 'the Tenth-street boys hold their heads mighty high!' Long may they +continue to do so, and long may success of every kind crown their +efforts, whether as artists or as conscientious, patriotic men! + + +GOUNOD'S 'FAUST.' + +This opera has attracted large audiences wherever it has been +represented, and has elicited much attention and criticism from the +musical public. Dwight's _Journal of Music_, Boston, January 23d, +contains the best review of its merits and defects which we have thus +far chanced to meet. Mr. Dwight gives M. Gounod ample credit for the +good judgment, common sense, science, taste, poetic feeling, rich and +highly dramatic orchestration, ingenious musical characterization of +individuals and situations, and the many passages of beautiful music +found in this elaborate work, but denies to him the _highest_ +inspiration, the spontaneity of genius, and the attainment of any very +lofty ideal in the production of continuous, elevated, and +soul-entrancing melodies. We think this a pretty fair statement of the +facts in the case. Mr. Dwight, however, says: 'Not even Mozart in 'Don +Juan' had so great a subject;' and in this connection we feel compelled +to offer a few remarks. We think every great composer owes it to his own +God-gift, and to the human beings whom he is to influence, not to select +intrinsically repulsive subjects, and such have we found both 'Don Juan' +and 'Faust.' Now we are not morbidly fastidious, and we well know the +freedom that must be accorded to art, that it may have ample scope and +range in the delineation of human feeling and romantic situation; but +when we see a representation of 'Don Juan,' we instinctively strive to +ignore the plot, with its odious characters (the sensual Don, the +coarse-minded servant, the unwomanly, man-seeking Elvira, the vengeful +Anna, the insignificant Ottavio, the light-headed and shallow-hearted +Zerlina), and live only in the beautiful music which the prodigality of +genius has wasted upon so poor a theme. Not even _that_ libretto could +degrade the pure, serious, and essentially innocent character of +Mozart's conceptions; but, in turn, his refined musical conception has +been unable to lift the subject from the mire of Da Ponte's delineation. +We know that page after page has been written to unfold the mystic +meanings and profound philosophy contained in the story, but our +observation has been, that the effect of the whole upon pure minds is +simply--disgust. The musical grandeur of the finale rarely saves its +becoming ludicrous in the representation, and the _good joke_ of a life +of unblushing immorality is in no way lessened by the appearance of +demons, in whose existence half the world (at least of of opera goers) +has ceased to believe. + +The 'Faust' is nearly, if not quite, as bad. The undisguised sensuality +of Faust, both in Goethe's drama and in the operatic rendering, is such +that it nearly destroys our sympathy with Margaret, and scenes that +should be pathetic are either merely repulsive, or excite our +indignation to such a degree that we 'turn all our tears to sparks of +fire.' + +Nothing but loathing can attend the open, deliberate, and utterly gross +destruction of virtue as planned and executed by that miserable +libertine. Mephistopheles himself is scarcely more corrupt, and the +representation of these two great poisonous spiders, weaving their +meshes round their unfortunate and but too easy prey, can never in any +sense impress us as lofty specimens of _high art_. + +How different is the plot of 'Fidelio,' where one can yield oneself to +the beauty of the music and the pathos of the story without a single +jarring sensation! + +Let the masters then beware! Music is essentially pure, and should never +by great minds be wedded to coarse ideas. The subject must have an +influence upon the immortality of the work. The really noble and truly +art-loving men and women of all countries will, as they advance in +mental cultivation and comprehension of the higher aims of art, banish +such gross delineations and festering moral sores from the stage, and +fine musical works thus sullied will continue to live solely as +represented by such instrument or instruments as may best be calculated +to express their real value and meaning. + +We go to the opera for relaxation, improvement, and enjoyment, and none +of these can be found in the spectacle of noble means perverted to +corrupt ends. May the day soon come when such important channels of +public amusement and instruction may be guided by a refined taste and +correct views of the intimate connection between the Beautiful and the +Absolute Good! + + +Ballads of the War. + + + THE DEATH OF COLONEL SHAW. + + By ISABELLA McFARLANE. + + Loud rang the voice of the chieftain, + As the Fifty-fourth rushed on: + 'Charge on the guns of Wagner, + Charge--and the fort is won!' + + On--like a wave of the ocean, + Dashing against a rock!-- + Back--ah! back--all broken, + Like a wave from the fruitless shock. + + Thus from the guns of Wagner + The Fifty-fourth surged back: + But the voice of their brave young chieftain + Checked not their backward track + + For there, on the sands by Wagner, + The gallant Shaw lay low, + 'Midst a heap of his brave black soldiers, + Left in the hands of the foe. + + Not a flag was lowered in his honor, + Not a gun its deep voice gave, + When, on the sands by Wagner, + Shaw was laid in the grave. + + Not a friend stood over his coffin, + Shedding tears on his gory breast; + But instead, was curse and insult, + Cruel laughter, ribald jest. + + Wide and deep was the trench they hollowed, + Where the gallant Shaw was laid, + With forty negro soldiers + Piled over his noble head. + + Yes, forty negro soldiers, + Whose hearts were hearts of steel, + Who had fought in the cause of freedom, + Who had died for their country's weal. + + Was it then so great dishonor + For that chief so young and brave-- + Who had led them on to the battle-- + To be with them in the grave? + + Nay--most just was the mandate + That in death they should not part, + For he loved his poor black brothers, + With a true and steadfast heart. + + Move not his honored ashes-- + Let him slumber where he lies, + Till the voice of the great Archangel + Sounds the trumpet-call to the skies![25] + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] THE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN, with Remarks on +Theories of the Origin of Species by Variation. By Sir CHARLES LYELL, F. +R. S. Author of 'Principles of Geology,' Elements of Geology,' etc., +etc. Illustrated by woodcuts. Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 628 and +630 Chestnut street. 1863 + +[2] If any one is disposed to doubt that the doctrine that fossil forms +are direct creations, and were never living animals at all, is held by +any respectable person, we refer them to a book entitled 'Cosmogony, or +the Mysteries of Creation,' by Thomas A. Davies, and published by Rudd & +Carleton, of New York, of no longer ago than 1857. + +[3] Principles of Geology, 9th ed., p. 740. + +[4] Professor Louis Agassiz, the most patient, learned, and acute +investigator of embryology now living, finds in that science (upon +which, in truth, rests the final settlement of the so-called development +theory) _'no single fact_ to justify the assumption that the laws of +development, now known to be so precise and definite for every animal, +have ever been less so, or have ever been allowed to run into each +other. The philosopher's stone is no more to be found in the organic +than the inorganic world; and we shall seek as vainly to transform the +lower animal types into the higher ones by any of our theories, as did +the alchemists of old to change the baser metals into gold.' He also +says: 'To me the fact that the embryonic form of the highest vertebrate +recalls in its earlier stages the first representatives of its type in +geological times and its lowest representatives at the present day, +speaks only of an ideal relation, existing, not in the things +themselves, but in the mind that made them. It is true that the +naturalist is sometimes startled at these transient resemblances of the +young among the higher animals in one type to the adult condition of the +lower animals in the same type; but it is also true that he finds each +one of the primary divisions of the animal kingdom bound to its own norm +of development, which is absolutely distinct from that of all others; it +is also true that, while he perceives correspondences between the early +phases of the higher animals and the mature state of the lower ones he +never sees any one of them diverge in the slightest degree from its own +structural character--never sees the lower rise by a shade beyond the +level which is permanent for the group to which it belongs--never sees +the higher ones stop short of their final aim, either in the mode or the +extent of their transformation.' He likewise ('Methods of Study in +Natural History,' page 140) discusses the matter of breeds as bearing +upon diversities of species in a manner to justify his conclusion, that: +'The influence of man upon animals is, in other words, the influence of +_mind_ upon them; and yet the ordinary mode of argument upon this +subject is, that, because the intelligence of man has been able to +produce certain varieties in domesticated animals, therefore physical +causes have produced all the diversity existing among wild ones. Surely, +the sounder logic would be to infer that, because our finite +intelligence may cause the original pattern to vary by some slight +shades of difference, therefore a superior intelligence must have +established all the boundless diversity of which our boasted varieties +are but the faintest echo. It is the most intelligent farmer who has the +greatest success in improving his breeds; and if the animals he has so +fostered are left to themselves without that intelligent care, they +return to their normal condition. So with plants....'--_Ed. Con_. + +[5] In Latin, _Sublaqueum_, or _Sublacum_, in the States of the Church, +over thirty English miles (Butler says 'near forty,' Montalombert, +'fifty miles') east of Rome, on the Teverone. Butler describes the place +as 'a barren, hideous chain of rocks, with a river and lake in the +valley.' + +[6] _Monasterium Cassinense._ It was destroyed, indeed, by the Lombards, +as early as 583, as Benedict is said to have predicted it would be, but +was rebuilt in 731, consecrated in 748, again destroyed by the Saracens +in 857, rebuilt about 950, and more completely, after many other +calamities, in 1649, consecrated for the third time by Benedict XIII in +1727, enriched and increased under the patronage of the emperors and +popes, in modern times despoiled of ts enormous income (which at the end +of the sixteenth century was reckoned at 500,000 ducats), and has stood +through all vicissitudes to this day. In the times of its splendor, when +the abbot was first baron of the kingdom of Naples, and commanded over +four hundred towns and villages, it numbered several hundred monks but +in 1843 only twenty. It has a considerable library. Montalembert (Monks +of the West, ii. 19) calls Monte Cassino 'the most powerful and +celebrated monastery in the Catholic universe; celebrated especially +because there Benedict wrote his rule and formed the type which was to +serve as a model to innumerable communities submitted to that sovereign +code.' He also quotes the poetic description from Dante's _Paradiso_. +Dom Luigi Tosti published at Naples, in 1842, a full history of this +convent, in three volumes. + +[7] Gregor. Dial. ii. 37. + +[8] Butler, in his Lives of Saints, compares Benedict even with Moses +and Elijah. 'Being chosen by God, like another Moses, to conduct +faithful souls into the true promised land, the kingdom of heaven, he +was enriched with eminent supernatural gifts, even those of miracles and +prophecy. He seemed, like another Eliseus, endued by God with an +extraordinary power, commanding all nature, and, like the ancient +prophets, foreseeing future events. He often raised the sinking courage +of his monks, and baffled the various artifices of the devil with the +sign of the cross, rendered the heaviest stone light, in building his +monastery, by a short prayer, and, in presence of a multitude of people, +raised to life a novice who had been crushed by the fall of a wall at +Monte Cassino.' Montalembert omits the more extraordinary miracles, +except the deliverance of Placidus from the whirlpool, which he relates +in the language of Bossuet, ii. 15. + +[9] 'Scienter nesciens, et sapienter indoctus.' + +[10] The Catholic Church has recognized three other rules besides that +of St. Benedict, viz.: 1. That of St. Basil, which is stilt retained by +the Oriental monks; 2. That of St. Augustine, which is adopted by the +regular canons, the order of the preaching brothers or Dominicans, and +several military orders; 3. The rule of St. Francis of Assisi and his +mendicant order, in the thirteenth century. + +[11] Pope Gregory believed the rule of St. Benedict even to be directly +inspired, and Bossuet (_Panégyrie de Saint Benoît_), in evident +exaggeration, calls it 'an epitome of Christianity, a learned and +mysterious abridgement of all doctrines of the gospel, all the +institutions of the holy fathers, and all the counsels of perfection.' +Montalembert speaks in a similar strain of French declamatory eloquence. + +[12] Cap. 5: 'Primus humilitatis gradus est obedientia sine mora. Hæc +convenit iis, qui nihil sibi Christo carius aliquid existimant: propter +servitium sanctum, quod professi sunt, seu propter metum gehennæ, vel +gloriam vitæ æternæ, mox ut aliquid imperatum a majore fuerit, ac si +divinitus imperetur, moram pati nesciunt in faciendo.' + +[13] Cap. 48: 'Otiositas inimica est animæ; et ideo certis temporibus +occupari debent fratres in labore manuum, certis iterum horis in +lectione divina.' vina.' + +[14] The _horæ canonicæ_ are the _Nocturnæ vigiliæ_, _Matutinæ_, +_Prima_, _Tertia_, _Sexta_, _Nona_, _Vespera_, and _Completorium_, and +are taken (c. 16) from a literal interpretation of Ps. cxix. 164: 'Seven +times a day do I praise thee,' and v. 62: 'At midnight I will rise to +give thanks unto thee.' The Psalter was the liturgy and hymn book of the +convent. It was so divided among the seven services of the day, that the +whole Psalter should be chanted once a week. + +[15] Cap. 59: 'Si quis forte de nobilibus offert filium suum Deo in +monasterio, si ipse puer minori ætate est, parentes ejus faciant +petitionem,' etc. + +[16] Cap. 40: 'Carnium quadrupedum ab omnibus abstinetur comestio, +præter omnino debiles et ægrotos.' Even birds are excluded, which were +at that time only delicacies for princes and nobles, as Mabillon shows +from the contemporary testimony of Gregory of Tours. + +[17] Cap. 66: 'Monasterium, si possit fieri, ita debet construi, ut +omnia necessaria, id est aqua, molendinum, hortus, pistrinum, vel artes +diversæ intra monasterium exerceantur, ut non sit necessitas monachis +vagandi foras, quia omnino non expedit animabus eorum.' + +[18] This Maurus, the founder of the abbacy of Glanfeuil (St. Maur sur +Loire), is the patron saint of a branch of the Benedictines, the +celebrated Maurians in France (dating from 1618), who so highly +distinguished themselves in the seventeenth and early part of the +eighteenth centuries, by their thorough archæological and historical +researches, and their superior editions of the Fathers. The most eminent +of the Maurians are D. (Dom, equivalent to Domnus, Sir) Menard, +d'Achery, Godin, Mabillon, le Nourry, Martianay, Ruinart, Martene, +Montfaucon, Massuet, Garnier, and de la Rue, and in our time Dom Pitra, +editor of a valuable collection of patristic fragments, at the cloister +of Solesme. + +[19] He was the last of the Roman consuls--an office which Justinian +abolished--and was successively the minister of Odoacer, Theodoric, and +Athalaric, who made him prefect of the pretorium. + +[20] Or _Vivaria_, so called from the numerous _vivaria_, or fish ponds, +in that region + +[21] Comp. Mabillon, Ann. Bened. 1. v. c. 24, 27; F. de Ste.-Marthe, Vie +de Cassiodore, 1684. + +[22] I take this anecdote on Mr. Underhill's authority. + +[23] As in the Hotel du Louvre in Paris. + +[24] The great Bible-printing establishment at Oxford encloses a +spacious courtyard, which is laid out as a garden. The foliage is +agreeably disposed, and there are shrubbery walks, flowers, vases, and +parterres, all arranged in the best taste. Consider what a healthful +influence this must have on the character of the workman. + +[25] 'Buried with his niggers.' Such was the answer of the rebel +commander at Charleston to General Gillmore's demand for the body of +Colonel Shaw, who commanded the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first +negro regiments organized, and was killed in an unsuccessful attempt to +carry Fort Wagner by assault. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 18820-8.txt or 18820-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/2/18820/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: July 13, 2006 [EBook #18820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p> + + + + + +<h2>THE</h2> + +<h1>CONTINENTAL MONTHLY:</h1> + +<h4>DEVOTED TO</h4> + +<h2>Literature and National Policy.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>VOL. V.—APRIL, 1864.—No. IV.</h3> + +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="75%" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SIR_CHARLES_LYELL">SIR CHARLES LYELL ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#AENONE">ÆNONE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#AENONEIII">CHAPTER III.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#AENONEIV">CHAPTER IV.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_YOUNG_AUTHORS_DREAM">THE YOUNG AUTHOR'S DREAM.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_GREAT_LAKES_TO_ST_PAUL">THE GREAT LAKES TO ST. PAUL.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ENGLISH_AND_AMERICAN_TAXATION">ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TAXATION.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#APHORISMS">APHORISMS I.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_LOVE_LUCIFER">THE LOVE LUCIFER.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#LUCIFERII">CHAPTER II.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#LUCIFERIII">CHAPTER III.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SKETCHES_OF_AMERICAN_LIFE_AND_SCENERY">SKETCHES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND SCENERY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#SKETCHESIII">III.—MOUNTAIN WAYS.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#OUR_GOVERNMENT_AND_THE_BLACKS">OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE BLACKS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#OUT_OF_PRISON">OUT OF PRISON.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LIES_AND_HOW_TO_KILL_THEM">LIES, AND HOW TO KILL THEM.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#WAS_HE_SUCCESSFUL">WAS HE SUCCESSFUL?—<i>PART THE LAST.</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#SUCCESSFULX">CHAPTER X.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#APHORISMS2">APHORISMS II.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BENEDICT_OF_NURSIA_AND_THE_ORDER_OF_THE_BENEDICTINES">BENEDICT OF NURSIA AND THE ORDER OF THE BENEDICTINES.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#HANNAH_THURSTON">HANNAH THURSTON.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GLORIOUS">GLORIOUS!</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_ISLE_OF_SPRINGS">THE ISLE OF SPRINGS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#SPRINGSV">CHAPTER V.—A HISTORICAL SKETCH.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_DEVELOPMENT_OF_AMERICAN_ARCHITECTURE">THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#JEFFERSON_DAVIS_AND_REPUDIATION_OF_ARKANSAS_BONDS">JEFFERSON DAVIS AND REPUDIATION OF ARKANSAS BONDS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#APHORISMS3">APHORISMS III.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_NOTICES">LITERARY NOTICES.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EDITORS_TABLE">EDITOR'S TABLE.</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h2><a name="SIR_CHARLES_LYELL" id="SIR_CHARLES_LYELL"></a>SIR CHARLES LYELL ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> + +<p>When Thomas Chalmers, sixty years ago, lecturing at St. Andrews, +ventured to announce his conviction that 'the writings of Moses do not +fix the antiquity of the globe,' he startled and alarmed, to no small +degree, the orthodoxy of the day. It was a statement far in advance of +the religious thinking of the time. That massive breadth and +comprehensiveness of intellect which soon placed him, <i>facile princeps</i>, +at the head of the clergy of Scotland, joined with a candor, and +ingenuous honesty, which made him admired and beloved by all, could not +fail to perceive, and would not hesitate to acknowledge, the force of +the evidence then for some time slowly but steadily and surely +accumulating from the investigations and discoveries of geological +science, which has forced back the origin of the earth to a vast and +undated antiquity. But nothing could have been farther from the +imagination of the great majority of evangelical, unscientific clergymen +of his day. They held that the writings of Moses fixed the antiquity of +the globe as surely as they fixed anything else. And it required no +little boldness in the lecturer to announce a doctrine which was likely +to raise about his ears the hue and cry of heresy. But fortunately for +the rising Boanerges of the Scottish pulpit, whatever questions might +arise in philology and criticism as to the meaning of the writings of +Moses, the evidence adduced in behalf of <i>the fact</i> of the earth's +antiquity was of such a nature that it could not be resisted, and he not +only escaped a prosecution for heresy, but lived to see the doctrine he +had broached almost universally accepted by the religious world.</p> + +<p>If now some divine of acknowledged power and position in any branch of +the Christian Church were to put forth the statement that 'the writings +of Moses do not fix the antiquity of man,' he would startle the ear of +orthodoxy quite as much, but no more than did Chalmers in the early +years of the present century. And if he would fare more hardly than the +Scottish divine, and fall under the ban of church censure, which is not +unlikely, it would be because the evidence for the fact is still +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>inchoate and resistible by the force of established opinion. But it is +quite within the range of possible things that before the close of the +present century two things may happen: first, that the evidence for a +high antiquity of the human race may accumulate to such an extent as to +carry with it involuntarily the consent of mankind; and second, that the +sacred writings may be found to adjust themselves as easily to this new +finding in the sphere of induction, as they have already done, in the +general mind of the Church, to the doctrine of the great age of the +earth. The two statements are indeed very much akin in several respects. +They both traverse the accepted meaning of the sacred writings at the +time of their announcement. Both are considered, when first promulged, +as irreconcilable with the plain teaching and consequent inspiration of +the Scriptures. Both rest solely, as to their evidence, in the sphere of +inductive science, and are determinable wholly by the finding of facts +accumulated and compared by the processes of inductive reasoning. And +both, if thus established, are destined to be accepted by the general +mind of the age, without actual harm to the real interests of +civilization and religion. No <i>fact</i>, which is a fact and not an +illusion, can do harm to any of the vital interests of mankind. No truth +can stand in hopeless antagonism to any other truth. To suppose +otherwise would be to resolve the moral government of God into a +hopeless enigma, or enthrone a perpetual and hostile dualism, resigning +the universe to the rival and contending sway of Ormuzd and Ahriman.</p> + +<p>Before proceeding to the merits of Sir Charles Lyell's discussion, we +wish to glance at some preliminary matters touching the great debate now +pending between science and theology. We wish to review the posture and +temper of the parties; and particularly to refer to the tone and spirit +of the religious press and the pulpit, respecting the alleged +discoveries and claims of science, and their bearing upon the religious +opinion of the time.</p> + +<p>Moreover, in passing, the present writer begs permission to say that he +speaks from the orthodox side of this question; he hails from the +orthodox camp; he wears the clerical vesture of the Scottish worthies; +and is affiliated theologically with Knox and Chalmers, with Edwards and +Alexander, with the New York <i>Observer</i> and the Princeton <i>Review</i>. This +much we beg to say, that what follows in these pages may be fully +understood.</p> + +<p>No one who has been attending to the subject with any degree of interest +can have failed to observe that science, in her investigations upon the +grand and momentous themes which have absorbed her attention in these +latter years, has exhibited, and does still exhibit, a steady and +well-defined purpose, and has pursued it with a singularly calm, sober, +unimpassioned, yet resolute temper. Its posture is firm, steady, +self-poised, conscious of rectitude, and anticipative of veritable and +valuable results. Its spirit, though eager, is quiet; though +enthusiastic, is cautious; though ardent, is sceptical; though flushed +with success, is trained to the discipline of disappointment. Its object +is to interrogate nature. It stands at the shrine and awaits the +response of the oracle. It would fain interpret and make intelligible +the wondrous hieroglyphics of this universe, and specially the mystic +characters traced by the long-revolving ages upon the stony tablets of +this planet Earth. It has in the first instance no creed to support, no +dogmas to verify, no meaning to foist upon nature; its sole and single +query is, What does nature teach? What <i>is</i> fact? What <i>is</i> truth? What +<i>has</i> occurred in the past annals of this planet? What <i>is</i> the actual +and true history of its bygone ages, and of the dwellers therein? These +are its questions, addressed to nature by such methods as experience has +taught will reach her ear, and it does not hesitate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> to take nature's +answer. It does not shrink, and quake, and grow pale lest the response +should overturn some ancient notion. It does not dread to hear the +response, lest morals or religion should be thereby imperilled. It +boldly and resolutely takes the teaching of nature, whatever it may be. +Its conviction is that truth never can be anything else than truth; that +fact can never be anything else than fact; and that no two truths or two +facts in God's universe can be in hopeless and irreconcilable +contradiction.</p> + +<p>In this spirit the genuine sons of science have exhibited, what has +seemed to some, a heartless indifference whether their discoveries or +theories harmonized with the Scriptures or not, or affected the received +opinions of Christendom on subjects pertaining to religion or morals. +They have been sublimely unconcerned as to results in any such +direction. They have investigated, examined, compared, collated, with +long-continued and patient toil, to gather from the buried past the +actual story of its departed cycles; they have not been troubled lest +they should impinge on the creeds of the religious world, or compel +important modifications in the lectures of learned Professors. This was +no care of theirs. They discovered facts, they did not make them.</p> + +<p>Now with all due respect for the opinions and feelings of religious +people, we hesitate not to affirm that this spirit is the only true one +in scientific men. Conceding, as we must, the supremacy of facts in +their own sphere, and granting that, as mundane and human affairs now +stand, the evidence of the senses, purged from fraud and illusion, must +be held to be conclusive, we cheerfully award to scientific men the +largest liberty to pursue their inquiries in matters of fact, utterly +regardless of the havoc which may be thereby wrought among the +traditional, beliefs of men. In no other way can science be true to +herself. She is the child of induction. She can acknowledge no authority +but what has been enthroned by inductive reasoning; and were she to +adjust her conclusions, and garble her facts, to suit the faiths, +beliefs, prejudices, or traditions of men, she would thereby falsify her +inmost life, and stultify herself before the world. And in this +connection we may premise that we regard as worthy of all commendation +the straightforward and unembarrassed manner in which Sir Charles Lyell +pursues his inquiries into the geological evidences of the antiquity of +man. He could not have been unaware that he was striking a ponderous +blow at one of the main traditions of Christendom; nay, that if +successful in establishing his conclusions, he must revolutionize, to a +large extent, the religious thinking of the civilization amid which he +moves; and yet he moves steadily and quietly forward, calm as Marius +amid the ruins of Carthage, not stopping to consider what Biblical men +will do with his facts; never more than touching upon their religious +bearings; intent only on ascertaining what the facts are, and what they +teach. This, we say, is the spirit and temper of the true +philosopher—this betokens the genuine son of science. As well might we +demand of Watt, or Fulton, or Davy, or Brewster, or Faraday, in pursuing +their inquiries into the nature and laws of steam, electricity, +galvanism, or light, to be careful that their discoveries impinge not on +the teachings of religion or the creed of orthodoxy, as to demand of +Lyell to investigate the antiquity of man in humble deference to the +well-established belief of the whole Christian world that he has no such +antiquity. Not a bitter thing is said in the whole book against any +traditional belief; the Scriptures are scarcely more than alluded to; he +seems scarcely conscious that he is attempting to establish conclusions +at variance with the cherished creeds of vast multitudes of men. To some +this may seem the callousness of infidelity; to us it seems<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> the sublime +composure of science. To him, the fact in the case is everything; and he +is content to leave it to work its own results.</p> + +<p>What now, on the other hand, have been the spirit and temper of the +religious press and the pulpit touching the progress of science, and +especially its encroachments upon the ancient landmarks of traditional +belief? We are sorry to be compelled to say that, with some honorable +exceptions, the spirit manifested by religious journals and clergymen +generally, has not been worthy of unqualified admiration. In many +instances they have shown a dogged determination to hear nothing on the +subject. Assuming, with absolute confidence, not only that the +Scriptures are what the Church claims them to be, but that their +interpretation of them is infallible, they have affected to ignore all +the findings of science, and to treat them, in their bearing on Biblical +interpretation, as profane intermeddling with divine things. They seem +to imagine that their safety consists in not seeing danger, like the +ostrich hiding its head in the sand, and supposing that thereby its +whole body is protected. In other instances, while professing a +willingness to hear—to seek truth—to not be afraid of the light—to +boast of science even as the handmaid of religion—they have shown a +disposition to decry the alleged discoveries of science, to ridicule its +supposed facts, to make light of a whole concatenation of evidence, to +prate of the uncertainties and vacillations of science, to sneer at +'sciolists,' or 'mere men of science,' to warn against the 'babblings of +science' and 'philosophy falsely so called,' and meantime they have +betrayed a nervous sensitiveness with regard to certain alleged +discoveries and facts coming to the popular ear. They affect to sneer at +the 'wise week' of the meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science, and to turn the proceedings of that body into +ridicule, by caricaturing the importance attached to some minor organ of +the human or animal frame, in the determination of specific identity or +difference. While absolutely ignorant of the true state of the case as +it stands in the scientific world, they thunder from the pulpit in the +ears of their people—a position where they are safe from +reply—crudities and monstrosities of science at which the humblest +member of the aforesaid Association would smile. In other instances, +with a most unfortunate or misguided zeal, they would fain compel +Christian faith to override and traverse all those great laws of +evidence which regulate human belief in other matters. They do not +dispute the facts of science when clearly established—they will concede +to them an existence as facts in their own sphere—but they hold the +Scriptures, as being inspired and infallible, to be transcendent and +paramount, and not to be affected by any possible combination of facts. +That is to say, if the Scriptures teach the unity of the race, or the +universality of the deluge, or the modern origin of man—and if they +understand them to teach these things, they do teach them for them—they +hold that no amount of evidence which science may adduce can be of any +avail, even though it might amount to absolute certainty, did not the +Scriptures stand in the way. You may believe the facts of science, if +you choose, but the Scriptures must be believed to the contrary +notwithstanding. If science does not agree with the Scriptures, so much +the worse for science—that is its own affair. This is the sentiment, +distinctly uttered not long since by a learned American Professor. +Consistently with this view, they maintain that the Scriptures are to be +held as an <i>authority</i> in scientific matters; that science must order +its conclusions in accordance with them; and that any facts are to be +distrusted which conflict with the declarations of the Bible. They would +thus place the Scriptures and nature in a posture of antagonism; and +require Christian faith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> to trample upon and triumph over the evidence +of the senses, as it is required to triumph over the world, the flesh, +and the devil. What must be thought of an otherwise educated body of men +who would willingly reduce the faith of the Christian world to such a +posture as that?</p> + +<p>Furthermore, in the general spirit and temper of the religious press +with reference to science and scientific men, there is much to criticize +and condemn. It is often snappish, petulant, ill-humored, unfair, and +sometimes malicious in the extreme. Such opprobrious terms as +infidelity, irreligion, rationalizing tendencies, naturalism, contempt +for the Scriptures, etc., are freely used. Scientific men are called +infidel pretenders, and are charged with a secret conspiracy to +overthrow the faith of the Christian world. A respectable religious +weekly paper in this country, in noticing Sir Charles Lyell's work, +while carefully withholding from its readers the slightest notion of the +array of evidence adduced in the book, is prompt to inform them that the +learned author shows his want of respect for the Word of God. Another, +in noticing the account of the last hours of Mr. Buckle, is almost ready +to exult in the fact that in the wreck and prostration of his great +powers he whined out piteously: 'I am going mad!' and intimates that his +mental sufferings are to be attributed to the judicial visitation of +God, inflicted as a punishment for the employment of those powers in the +service of infidelity. An able, though generally absurd quarterly +journal, in reviewing Hugh Miller's 'Testimony of the Rocks,' finds in +some of his gorgeous speculations premonitions of that mental aberration +which ended his life, and does not hesitate to attribute the final +catastrophe to the overworking of his powers in the service of +pretentious and unsanctified science. Noble and true-hearted son of the +Church though he was, and though laboring with herculean strength to set +the Bible and science in harmony, he has not escaped the envenomed +shafts of a portion of the religious press. By some he has been openly +branded as a traitor in the camp.</p> + +<p>Now this unseemly heat and this unbecoming spirit and temper may be +cloaked under a zeal for religion. It may be said that we are to +'contend earnestly for the faith.' We answer, verily, but never with the +weapons of malice and wickedness. This mode of treating science, if +persisted in, must end only in chagrin and defeat to the parties +employing it, for the simple reason that it does violence to reason, +nature, and all the laws of man's being. Science cannot be turned aside +in her strenuous and ever-successful progress by any such impediments +thrown in her way. The clear, calm, cogent facts and inferences of the +philosopher cannot be met successfully by the half-suppressed shriek of +the mere Biblicist. And it must be at once perceived that any such +treatment of science, any such half-concealed fear of the progress of +science, any such unfair and spiteful bearing toward scientific men, +argues a secret distrust of the system or doctrine which is assumed to +be held and professedly defended. These petulant and much disturbed +editors and divines must be really afraid that the ground is being +undermined beneath their feet. If a man <i>really believes</i> the +inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures, he may feel perfectly +at ease as to any facts present or past in the wide universe. But if he +is not so sure of them, and wishes, for some personal or interested +motive, to believe them, he will be easily disturbed by anything which +seems to militate against them. If the Scriptures are true, they can +never be shown to be false—if they are not true, we ought not to wish +to believe them.</p> + +<p>The spirit and temper above indicated are wholly out of harmony with the +general spirit of Protestant Christianity. It has ever been the boast of +Protestantism that it seeks the light, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> it seeks discussion, that +it asserts the right of private judgment, that it courts investigation, +and is willing to expose all its claims to the broad light of day. It +claims to be an everlasting protest against priestly tyranny, and +monkish authority, and abject spiritual servitude in the laity. Strange, +if in this new phase of its history it should fail to be true to itself!</p> + +<p>After the Christian world came generally to accept the statement of +Chalmers that the writings of Moses do not fix the antiquity of the +world, and before science had begun to moot seriously the questions of +the unity of the race, the universality of the Noahian deluge, and the +antiquity of man, it was the custom of clergymen generally to reëcho the +true Protestant strain. They claimed science. They expected much of her. +They wished full and free discussion in order that still stronger +ramparts might be erected around the citadel of their faith. Why should +the tone be changed now? In the year 1840, the Rev. Albert Barnes, of +Philadelphia, who has long occupied a highly respectable and influential +position among the clerical body in this country, in an address on the +'Progress and Tendencies of Science,' delivered before the literary +societies of one of the colleges of Pennsylvania, gave utterance to the +following noble sentiments:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'It has cost much to overcome this'—that is, the panic fears of +Christian people at the amazing progress and discoveries of +science—'and to restore confidence to the Christian world that the +researches of science will never permanently clash with the +doctrines of revelation. But the Christian world has come to that; +and science is to receive no more obstruction henceforth from any +alarm that its discoveries will contravene the revealed truth of +God. No future Galileo is to be imprisoned because he can look +farther into the works of nature than other men; and the point +which we have gained now, is that no obstruction is to be thrown in +the way of science by any dread that any scientific truth will +infringe on any theological system. The great truth has gone forth +at last, not to be recalled, that the astronomer may point his +glass to the heavens as long and as patiently as he pleases, +without apprehending opposition from the Christian world; the +chemist may subject all objects to the action of the crucible and +the blowpipe, 'with none to molest him or make him afraid;' the +geologist may penetrate to any part of the earth—may dig as deep +as he pleases, and no one may be alarmed.' </p></div> + +<p>This exhibits true Christian courage and confidence, and has the genuine +Protestant ring. It is based, however, on the supposition that no +possible conflict can arise between science and his understanding of the +Scriptures, and it is doubtful whether the same equanimity could be +maintained even in the author's mind if the 'progress and tendencies of +science' should take an unexpected direction. Thus, in the same address, +he says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'One fact is remarkable. The geologist proves that the world has +stood many thousands of years, and we cannot deny it. He points to +fossil remains, and tells us of orders of animals that lived many +years before the Mosaic period of the creation of man. The Bible +tells us that <span class="smcap">MAN</span> was created about six thousand years +ago. Now, the material fact is, that amid all the fossil remains of +the geologist, and all the records of past times, there is no proof +that <i>man</i> has lived longer than that period; but there is abundant +proof to the contrary. Amid all on which the geologist relies to +demonstrate the existence of animals prior to the Mosaic account of +the creation, he has not presented us with <i>one human bone</i>, or +with one indication of the existence of man.' </p></div> + +<p>This is one of the facts, among others, upon which 'the friends of +science and revelation have equal cause to congratulate themselves and +each other.' But what if the fact should change? What if not only one, +but many fossil human bones should be found? How is a divine, who has +already said that the <i>Bible teaches</i> the modern origin of man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> to +avoid panic fears? Science is cumulative in its evidences, and it is +somewhat hazardous to undertake to say, at any point, that the <i>ultima +thule</i> of discovery has been reached.</p> + +<p>We reiterate now, in the conclusion of these preliminary matters, the +sentiment of Mr. Barnes that science must be free and untrammelled. No +matter what discoveries may be made, what traditions overturned, what +faiths unsettled, science must have a free rein and an open course. It +must be so; unless we return to mediæval darkness and despotism. +Science, to be science at all, must establish its conclusions by its own +methods, and its methods must be intact and supreme, no matter what +facts they force upon the belief of mankind. It cannot accept any +extraneous authority. It cannot admit any foregone conclusions. It +cannot accept the statements, for instance, of the first chapter of +Genesis as astronomical, meteorological, geological, or ethnological +<i>facts</i>, as the able but absurd Review before referred to would insist. +It must verify its own facts. It cannot heed the caveat of any number or +body of clergymen, or orthodox weekly newspapers, who might come forward +and say, respecting the unity of the race, or the antiquity of man: +'Gentlemen, that question is settled. It is put beyond the purview of +your science. An absolute and infallible authority has determined it. To +moot it is profane.' Any such attempt would be both preposterous and +useless. The age will defend the freedom of science; and let all +reasonable and right-thinking men take comfort in the conviction that in +the long run the conclusions reached will be right, in accordance with +fact, in accordance with truth, and that no permanent interest of +religion or morals can suffer.</p> + +<p>But we beg pardon for holding the reader so long by the button, while +Sir Charles Lyell and his book have been kept in the background. These +thoughts have been upon our mind for many months, and we have felt +impelled to give utterance to them here.</p> + +<p>The publication of this work we regard as an eventful matter in the +history of modern thought. The time could not have been far distant when +what we may call the geological history of man on this planet, must have +come before the popular mind; and it is certainly a matter of +congratulation that one of the most venerable, indefatigable, cautious, +and successful investigators of modern times has undertaken the task of +giving to the public a full and labored <i>résumé</i> of the evidence which +has accumulated on the subject. Not unfrequently are the bigotry and +prejudice of well-meaning religious people intensified by the imprudent +zeal of the Hotspurs of science. True science can always afford to bide +its time, and make haste slowly.</p> + +<p>Respecting the work itself, we begin by saying that the theme proposed +is a perfectly legitimate one for science. It is entirely pertinent to +science to undertake to search for the hidden traces of man's former +history, if there be any. It is no dreamland or cloudland which it +proposes to explore. It is no Quixotic adventure which it has gotten up +to astonish and alarm the vulgar. If our human ancestors have lived +fifty or one hundred thousand years longer on this planet than was +generally supposed, it is quite likely they have left some traces behind +them. And if so, it is perfectly legitimate for science to gather, +collate, and interpret those traces. And from what we know of her past +achievements, we may assure ourselves that if man has had such a +pre-historic existence, science will most undoubtedly prove it. She has +proved beyond all sane contradiction the great age of the earth. She has +proved in like manner the vast extent of the universe in space. She has +proved the existence of manifold forms of animal life on this planet for +countless ages before the incoming of man, according to the popular +chronology. She has proved, approximately,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> the order and succession of +animal life as it arose, and the forms it assumed as the long cycles of +ages rolled on. All these were legitimate themes for science; and all of +them were opposed to the popular belief at the time—as much so as is +the antiquity of man now. And further, we say that the mere suspicion +that any such thing may be—the mere surmise of any such fact—the +merest inkling which scientific men may get of a secret yet hidden +beneath the veil, and waiting to be revealed—is a sufficient +justification of those <i>tentative</i> efforts of science which often result +in the attainment of some grand discovery. Let no timid religionist +charge upon scientific men that they are conspiring with malice prepense +to undermine the popular creeds and overthrow the Bible. This is sheer +nonsense. They follow where nature beckons them. If man has had a high +antiquity on this earth, science will find it out and prove it beyond a +doubt. If he has not had such antiquity, science will discover that too, +and prove it. All we have to do is to let science have her way.</p> + +<p>Another remark which we make here, is respecting the power which a +<i>single fact</i> may have in this investigation. It is not often that great +questions in history, or social polity, or jurisprudence are determined +by a single fact. The great results of history, economics, and law are +effected by the converging power of many facts. So also in science. Its +great results are determined by the accumulated power of multitudinous +facts. Its final categories are fixed by abundant certainties and +manifold inductions. And yet it may sometimes occur that a single fact +may be of such a nature that there is no escaping the conclusion which +it forces upon the mind. It may concentrate in itself all the elements +of certainty usually obtained from many sources. It may be determinative +in its very nature, and admit of scepticism only at the expense of +rationality. A single human grave, with its entombed skeleton, +discovered in some uninhabited waste, where it was never known the foot +of man had trod, would prove conclusively that human footsteps had once +trod there. The discovery of a single weapon of the quality and temper +of the Damascus blade amid the ruins of a buried city, would prove as +fully as would the discovery of a thousand that the people of that age +of the world understood the methods of working steel. One canoe found +moored to the bank of the Delaware, the Schuylkill, or the Susquehanna, +when the white man began to penetrate this continent, would have been +sufficient to prove that the aborigines understood, to that extent, the +art of navigation. So in science, one fossil of a different species from +any found heretofore in a certain deposit is sufficient to add another +to the forms of life represented by that deposit. One fossil found lower +in the geological scale than life was supposed to have begun on this +planet, is sufficient to prove that it had a still earlier beginning. So +with regard to contemporary forms of life, one fact may be sufficient to +warrant or compel a conclusion. Hugh Miller cites the instance of fossil +dung being found as proving to the anti-geologists that these fossils +were once real living creatures, and not mere freaks of nature. The +instance might not be thought conclusive, for if the Author of nature +saw fit to amuse himself by making the semblances of huge iguanodons, +elephants, and hippopotami, in the solid rocks, it might readily be +supposed that He would extend His amusement to the making of fossil +dung.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> But now, if in the fossil entrails of the cave hyena the bones +of a hare should be found, it would prove conclusively to any but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> an +anti-geologist, that the hare lived contemporaneously with the hyena.</p> + +<p>These remarks are not thrown in by way of apology for the paucity of +facts adduced by Sir Charles Lyell to prove the antiquity of man, but +merely to illustrate the force which it is possible, in certain +circumstances, for a single fact to have. Thus, for instance, the Scotch +fir is not now, nor ever has been in historic times, a native of the +Danish isles, yet it has been indigenous there in the human period, for +Steenstrup has taken out with his own hands a flint implement from +beneath one the buried trunks of that species in the Danish peat bogs. +Again, if an implement of human workmanship is found in close proximity +to the leg of a bear, or the horn of a reindeer, of extinct species, in +an ancient cavern, and all covered by a floor of stalagmite, we see not +how the conclusion is to be avoided that they were introduced into the +cave before the stalagmite was formed; and in that case the inference +that they were contemporaneous, or nearly so, may well be left to take +care of itself. The attempt has been made to treat with levity the whole +subject of the antiquity of man because of the numerical meagreness of +the facts adduced in support of it. But as to this, it need only be +observed that as a new theme for investigation, its facts must +necessarily be meagre, as must be the facts of any science in its +inchoate condition, and that they are steadily growing in volume, so +that it is not safe to venture a final verdict against it on that score. +The facts in support of the globular form of the earth, or the +Copernican theory of the heavens, or the great age of the earth, were at +one time meagre—they are not so now. Sir Charles Lyell is a pioneer +explorer in a new and mysterious realm: the time may come when, amid the +abundance of the treasure gathered from it, the scanty hoard which he +opens to his reader may seem meagre enough.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Sir Charles Lyell is fully a believer in the doctrine of +the high antiquity of man. His book is not merely a debating-club +discussion of the pros and cons, the probabilities for and against the +doctrine, but rather the earnest pleading of the advocate fully +persuaded that the truth is on his side. Not that it displays any +forensic heat;—it is calm, cautious, dispassionate; but it has the air +of one governed by conviction, and he often assumes the entire truth of +his conclusions with the quiet <i>nonchalance</i> of a man seemingly +unconscious that what he regards as matters of established certainty +will be viewed by the great majority of his fellow beings as startling +novelties.</p> + +<p>The main stream of the geological evidence of the antiquity of man tends +to one point, viz., <i>that man coexisted with the extinct animals</i>. There +are collateral branches of proof, but this is the main channel. The +remains of man and of man's works and the remains of extinct races of +animals lie side by side, and claim from the geologist the same meed of +antiquity. This is the burden of the book before us. We offer the reader +a brief outline of this evidence. In doing so, we will follow the order +of Sir Charles Lyell's work, and merely state the leading facts which +geological investigations have brought to light.</p> + +<p>In the Danish islands there are deposits of peat from ten to thirty feet +thick, formed in the hollows or depressions of the northern drift or +bowlder formation. These beds of peat have been examined to the bottom, +and they reveal the history of vegetation in those localities, and the +contemporaneous history of human progress. Beginning at the top, the +explorer finds the first layers to contain principally the trunks of the +beech tree, along with implements and tools of wood and iron. Below +these is a deposit of oak trunks, with implements mainly of bronze. +Farther down still he finds the trunks of the <i>Pinus sylvestris</i>, or +Scotch fir, together with implements of stone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> This clearly indicates +that in the lapse of centuries the pine was supplanted by the oak, and +the oak by the beech, and that man advanced contemporaneously from the +knowledge and use of stone implements to those of bronze and iron. Now +the known fact is that in the time of the Romans, as now, the Danish +isles were covered by magnificent beech forests, and that eighteen +centuries have done little or nothing toward changing the character of +the vegetation. How many centuries must have elapsed to enable the oak +to supplant the pine, and the beech to supplant the oak, can only be +vaguely conjectured. Yet the evidence is clear that man lived in those +old pine forests—leaving his implements of stone behind him, as he did +his tools of bronze and iron in the succeeding periods. Along the coast +of Denmark, also, are found shell mounds mixed with flint knives, +hatchets, etc., but never any tools of bronze or iron, showing that the +rude hunters and fishers who fed on the oyster, cockle, and other +mollusks, lived in the period of the Scotch fir, or, as it has been +called, the 'age of stone.'</p> + +<p>In many of the Swiss lakes are found ancient piles driven into the +bottom, on which were once erected huts or villages, the lacustrine +abodes of man. This use of them is proved by the abundance of flint +implements and fragments of rude pottery, together with bones of +animals, which have been dredged up from among the piles. The implements +found belong to the 'age of stone,' or the period of the Scotch fir in +Denmark, and the bones of animals are all, with one exception, those of +living species.</p> + +<p>Passing over the fossil human remains and works of art of the 'recent' +period, as found in the delta and alluvial plain of the Nile, in the +ancient mounds of the valley of the Ohio, in the mounds of Santos in +Brazil, in the delta of the Mississippi, in which, at the depth of +sixteen feet from the surface, under four buried forests, superimposed +one upon the other, was found, a few years ago, a human skeleton, +estimated by Dr. B. Dowler to have been buried at least fifty thousand +years—in the coral reefs of Florida, in which fossil human remains were +found, estimated by Professor Agassiz to have an antiquity of ten +thousand years—in the recent deposits of seas and lakes, in the central +district of Scotland, which bears clear traces of an upheaval since the +human period, and in the raised beaches of Norway and Sweden—passing +over these for want of space for minute detail, we go back to the +post-pliocene period, and find the bones of man and works of art in +juxtaposition with the fossil remains of extinct mammalia.</p> + +<p>In the cavern of Bize, in the south of France, and in the caves of +Engis, Engihoul, Chokier, and Goffontaine, near Liége, human bones and +teeth, together with fragments of rude pottery, have been found +enveloped in the same mud and breccia, and cemented by stalagmite, in +which are found also the land shells of living species and the bones of +mammalia, some of extinct, and others of recent species. The chemical +condition of all the bones was found to be the same. Quite a full +account is given of the researches of MM. Journal and Christol in the +Bize cavern, and of Dr. Schmerling in the Liége caverns, and every +effort made, apparently, by the author, to weigh candidly and honestly +the evidence for and against the contemporaneous existence and +deposition of the human and mammalian remains. And while he admits that +at one time he was strongly inclined to suspect that they were not +coeval<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>, yet he has been compelled by subsequent evidence, especially +in view of the fact that he has had convincing proofs in later years +that the remains of the mammoth and many other extinct species, very +common in caves, occur also in undisturbed alluvium, imbedded in such a +manner with works of art as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> leave no room for doubt that man and the +extinct animals coexisted, to reconsider his former opinion, and to +assign to the proofs derived from caves of the high antiquity of man a +much more positive and emphatic character.</p> + +<p>In chapter fifth we have a minute and interesting account of such fossil +human skulls and skeletons as have been found in caves and ancient +tumuli, and a careful endeavor made to estimate their approximate age. +In 1857, in a cave situated in that part of the valley of the Düssel, +near Düsseldorf, which is called the Neanderthal, a skull and skeleton +were found, buried beneath five feet of loam, which were pronounced by +Professor Huxley and others to be clearly human, though indicating small +cerebral development and uncommon strength of corporeal frame. In the +Engis caves, near Liége, portions of six or seven human skeletons were +found, imbedded in the same matrix with the remains of the elephant, +rhinoceros, bear, hyena, and other extinct quadrupeds. In an ancient +tumulus near Borrely, in Denmark, a human skull was discovered which was +adjudged by its surroundings to belong to the 'stone period' of Denmark, +or the era of the Scotch fir. The careful anatomical examination and +comparison to which these skulls have been subjected, have led to +important discussions, not only as to their age, but also as to their +relation to existing races.</p> + +<p>Next comes an extended account of the flint implements and other works +of art, found so abundantly in juxtaposition with the bones of extinct +mammalia, in various localities—in a cave at Brixham, near Torquay, in +Devonshire; in the alluvium of the Thames valley; in the gravel of the +valley of the Ouse, near Bedford; in a fresh-water deposit at Hoxne in +Suffolk; in the valley of the Lach at Icklingham; in a cavern in +Somersetshire; in the caves of Gomer in Glamorganshire, in South Wales; +and especially in the gravel beds of Abbeville and Amiens, in France, +and various localities of the valley of the Somme. As to these flint +implements, they are chiefly knives, hatchets, and instruments of that +sort, and they have been found in such large numbers, and such diverse +localities, and so uniformly in close proximity with the remains of the +same species of extinct mammalia, that the evidence derived from them +is, to say the least, of a very weighty character, and in the opinion of +Sir Charles Lyell clearly establishes the fact that <i>Elephas +primigenius</i>, <i>Elephas antiquus</i>, <i>Rhinoceros tichorrhinus</i>, <i>Ursus +spelœus</i>, and other extinct species of the post-pliocene alluvium, +<i>coexisted with man</i>.</p> + +<p>Attempts have been made to throw doubt upon these implements, first upon +their nature, and next upon their genuineness; but we think no one who +weighs the evidence candidly and carefully, can award to these doubts +the merit of respectability. That they are works of art and not native +forms, is, we think, as fully established as human observation can +establish anything; and though frauds have been recently detected, it +would be no more absurd to attribute the whole phenomena of fossil +remains to fraudulent manufacture, than to refer to the same source the +whole series of flint implements. In many cases the flint tools were +taken out of their position by the hands of scientific men themselves, +and in others the excavations were made under their immediate +supervision. M. Gandry, in giving an account of his researches at St. +Acheul, in 1859, to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, says: 'The +great point was not to leave the workmen for a single instant.'</p> + +<p>But the most remarkable, not to say startling revelations of the whole +book, are those pertaining to the discovery of an ancient place of +sepulture at Auvignac, in the south of France. Here we seem to be +brought, as it were, face to face with the denizens of the departed +ages, and to have them start up from their ancient tombs to tell the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> +story of their death and sepulture. We enter this old burial place with +feelings of more strange and solemn awe than we could have in threading +the catacombs of Rome. An obscure village at the foot of the Pyrenees +reveals in its precincts a more astounding history than all the +monuments and mausoleums of the 'eternal' city.</p> + +<p>In the year 1852, a laborer named Bonnemaison, employed in repairing +roads, observed that rabbits, when hotly pursued by the sportsman, ran +into a hole which they had burrowed in a talus of small fragments of +limestone and earthy matter lodged in a depression on the face of a +steep escarpment of nummulitic limestone which forms the bank of a small +brook near the town of Auvignac. On reaching as far into the opening as +the length of his arm, he drew out to his surprise one of the long bones +of the human skeleton; and his curiosity being excited, and having a +suspicion that the hole communicated with a subterranean cavity, he +commenced digging a trench through the middle of the talus, and in a few +hours found himself opposite a heavy slab of rock, placed vertically +against the entrance. Having removed this, he discovered on the other +side of it an arched cavity, seven or eight feet in its greatest height, +ten in width, and seven in horizontal depth. It was almost filled with +bones, among which were two entire skulls, which he recognized at once +as human. The people of Auvignac flocked in astonishment to the spot, +and Dr. Amiel, the mayor, having first ascertained as a medical man and +anatomist that the relics contained the bones of seventeen human +skeletons of both sexes and all ages, ordered them all to be reinterred +in the parish cemetery.</p> + +<p>In 1860, M. Lartet, a distinguished French savan, examined thoroughly +the remaining contents of the cavern and its surroundings and +approaches. He found, on removing the talus which filled up the +depression on the face of the rock, a level terrace leading to the mouth +of the cave. On this terrace was a layer of charcoal and ashes, eight +inches thick, containing fragments of broken, burnt, and gnawed bones of +<i>extinct and recent mammalia</i>, in all some nineteen species, and some +seventy or eighty individuals. Also in the same deposit were +hearthstones, and works of art, flint knives, projectiles, sling-stones, +and chips. Many of the bones of the extinct herbivora were streaked, as +if the flesh had been scraped off them by a flint instrument, and others +were split open, as if for the purpose of extracting the marrow. Inside +the grotto were two or three feet of made earth mixed with human and a +few animal bones of extinct and recent species. None of them, however, +burnt or gnawed; and numerous small flat plates of a white shelly +substance made of some species of cockle, perforated in the middle as if +for the purpose of being strung into a bracelet; also some mementos and +memorials of the chase and the sepulture. Did no opposing traditions +stand in the way, we are quite sure the evidence elicited from this +examination would at once fix its character as a burial place, of an +antiquity coeval with the existence of the great extinct mammalia of the +post-pliocene period. It, however, contains some features of special +interest. In the words of Sir Charles Lyell:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The Auvignac cave adds no new species to the list of extinct +quadrupeds, which we have elsewhere, and by independent evidence, +ascertained to have once flourished contemporaneously with man. But +if the fossil memorials have been correctly interpreted—if we have +here before us at the northern base of the Pyrenees a sepulchral +vault with skeletons of human beings, consigned by friends and +relatives to their last resting place—if we have also at the +portal of the tomb the relics of funeral feasts, and within it +indications of viands destined for the use of the departed on their +way to the land of spirits; while among the funeral gifts are +weapons wherewith in other fields to chase the gigantic deer, the +cave lion, the cave bear, and woolly rhino<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span>ceros—we have at last +succeeded in tracing back the sacred rites of burial, and, more +interesting still, a belief in a future state, to times long +anterior to those of history and tradition. Rude and superstitious +as may have been the savage of that remote era, he still deserved, +by cherishing the hopes of a hereafter, the epithet of 'noble,' +which Dryden gave to what he seems to have pictured to himself as +the primitive condition of our race: </p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">'As Nature first made man,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When wild in woods the noble savage ran.'</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<p>The remainder of the book, so far as it relates to the evidences of +man's antiquity, is mainly occupied with the consideration of the +glacial period, in its relation to the indications of man's first +appearance in Europe. It bears evidence throughout of the hand of a +master. The gigantic phenomena and wonderful agencies of that marvellous +period in geological history—its vast icefields and glaciers, with +their movements, drifts, and denudations—its coast ice and glacial +lakes and rivers—the risings and sinkings of level of islands and +continents, are all considered and discussed in a thoroughly intelligent +and scholarly manner. And here, also, amid the debris of this +far-distant and inhospitable era, has man left the traces of his +existence, as indubitably, according to Sir Charles Lyell, as the great +icebergs themselves. Not only is it proven that man coexisted with the +extinct animals, but also that he coexisted with the extinct glaciers. +We have not space, however, to follow out in detail this evidence.</p> + +<p>The last five chapters of the book are devoted to the discussion of +certain subjects of vital interest and great moment just now in the +scientific world—the theories of progression, development, +transmutation, and variation of species. It seems, however, to be the +intention of the author to give us, not so much his own views as a +general résumé or outline of the tendencies and conclusions of the +scientific world upon these subjects. This he does with his usual +fulness, candor, and impartiality; and the reader at the same time +gathers from him that he is strongly inclined to accept the doctrine of +the origin of species by 'variation and natural selection,' and to +accord vast periods of time for the workings of that law of development +and transmutation which he believes to pervade all mundane affairs. +Considerable space is devoted to the consideration of man's place in +nature, and especially to the discussions arising out of the comparison +of the human and simian brain; and while the author fully admits the +vast gulf placed between man and the animal creation below him—a gulf +which science cannot bridge—by virtue of the moral and religious nature +of man, yet he pointedly protests against confounding distinct orders of +ideas, and insists that man as a physical being is clearly of the same +order as the gorilla and ape; and he does not shrink from accepting the +possibility that they all may have sprung by successive stages or +'leaps' from the same primordial form. His concluding words are, that +'so far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction +into the earth at successive periods of life—sensation, instinct, the +intelligence of the higher mammalia, bordering on reason—and lastly the +improvable reason of man himself, presents us with a picture of the +ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter.'</p> + +<p>To our mind one thing is certain. The whole scientific world is drifting +slowly, but steadily and surely, to the verification and +acceptance—with certain and in some cases important modifications—of +the development hypothesis of Maillet, Lamarck, La Place, Owen, and the +author of the 'Vestiges<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> of Creation.' The movement reminds one of +the motion of one of the great Greenland glaciers, so slow, quiet, +almost imperceptible, yet inexorable as fate—heedless of all obstacles. +As in the case of all great, genuine revolutionary or formative ideas, +it is curious to watch the incidents of its career—to note the alarm, +indignation, scorn, and holy horror occasioned by its first +announcement—to observe these subsiding gradually into patient +endurance and permissive sufferance, and these again giving place to a +certain curiosity and wakeful interest, culminating at last in downright +advocacy and championship.</p> + +<p>We are inclined to think that great injustice has been done the +development theory in the name of morals and religion. There has been no +end to the railing against it on the part of clergymen, Biblical +interpreters, theological Professors, and orthodox editors. It was held +to put infinite dishonor upon the Creator, not only to suppose that He +should take many millions of years to make a world, but that He should +employ the same lengthened period to make man, instead of speaking him +into existence by a word. It was held to put infinite dishonor upon the +Scriptures to suppose that they should be understood in any but the most +literal sense. And it was held to put infinite dishonor upon man to +suppose that he was kith and kin with the monkey—bone of the bone and +flesh of the flesh of the unreasoning quadrupeds, over which in his +god-like royalty he was to sway his imperial sceptre—and this, too, by +a class of teachers who could never have enough of thundering in the +ears of men their degradation, their lost, debased, insensate, and +damnable condition, worse than that of beasts or devils.</p> + +<p>Now, with all deference, we beg to say that this development theory does +not strike us as so fraught with dishonor, either to the powers in +heaven or the beings upon earth. It has for many years impressed us with +its grandeur as an intellectual conception. We doubt whether anything so +grand has dawned upon the mind of modern civilization since the days of +Sir Isaac Newton. And we cannot see what dishonor it can work to either +God or man—especially if it be proved to be true. We regard it, so far +as there is truth in it, as one of those great germinant seed-thoughts, +which at long intervals are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> dropped into the soil of the human mind; +and though the mind of the age, in its first impulses of joy, may play +wild gambols with it, it is destined in the end to mould and control the +thinking of the civilized world. But apart from its truth or falsity, in +whole or in part, regarded simply <i>as an intellection</i>, it strikes us as +one of the grandest of modern times. Spreading itself over almost +illimitable space, grasping back through almost illimitable time, +claiming for itself the boundless multiplicity of type, and form, and +life, and law of the organic world, and unfolding to the wondering gaze +the vast prophetic possibilities of the future, it possesses all the +attributes of grandeur, magnificence, sublimity, and mystery. If it is a +phantasm, it is more gorgeous than the most splendid creations of +poetry. If it is a mirage, it is more beautiful than any that ever +bewildered the vision of enchanted traveller. If it is an <i>ignis +fatuus</i>, it is more potent than any ever raised by the spell of the +sorcerer. But whether phantasm, mirage, <i>ignis fatuus</i>, or sober but +grand reality, will assuredly be found out by science before another +half century. And the ultimate finding of science, whatever it may be, +must and will be believed.</p> + +<p>It is, of course, not to be expected that the evidence thus adduced by +Sir Charles Lyell in behalf of the antiquity of man, will be accepted as +conclusive by the religious and thinking world in general without a +thorough sifting and an earnest struggle. It is too novel and +revolutionary in its tendencies. And indeed it ought to be subjected to +the severest ordeal of fact and reason. It is in this way alone that the +golden grains of truth are separated from the dross of crude conjecture +and hasty generalization. We are not prepared ourselves to say that the +evidence itself is final and conclusive. We have sketched it for the +purpose of giving the distinguished author a full hearing, and affording +the reader an opportunity to judge for himself. We await the logical +sequences of time, knowing full well that the laws which regulate the +progress of science are as stable and infallible as the laws which +control the motions of the solar and planetary systems. One thing, +however, we may be excused for saying: All the attempts we have seen to +parry the force of this evidence, and to account for the acknowledged +phenomena and facts within the schedule of the received chronology, +strike us as singularly and painfully feeble. One suggestion is that the +bodies of the extinct mammalia may have been preserved in ice until the +recent period, and their bones deposited contemporaneously with those of +modern species and man. Another is that the geologists may be vastly +mistaken as to the date of the extinction of species, and that in fact +the mastodon, mammoth, and other species found in juxtaposition with +human remains and works of art, have probably survived until a very +recent period. Without entering into detail on these points, we would +venture the prediction that when weighed in the balance they will be +found utterly wanting. One type of discussion will survive, if it +survive at all, as a most curious fossil of the layers of modern +thought. It is that represented by the book referred to in a note on a +former page, by Mr. Davies. Believing that all mineral fossils were +never living animals at all, but the types simply of animals that were +to be, stamped instantaneously upon the rocks as prophetic symbols of a +work of creation to be afterward accomplished, he is prepared to hear +without surprise that man should some day be found as a fossil. We refer +to it as a most curious mental product. If it is not unanswerable, we +presume it will at least remain unanswered.</p> + +<p>What now, in conclusion, is to be the effect of this new development of +science on the received and traditionary thinking of the time? What +readjustments will be necessary in case the doctrine of the antiquity of +man comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> by and by to take its place, in the creed of science, +alongside of the doctrine of the great age of the earth? Can it be made +to harmonize with what is now known as orthodox and evangelical +Christianity?</p> + +<p>That it cannot be made to harmonize with that sort of orthodoxy which +asserts that 'the Bible teaches' that man began to exist upon the earth +about six thousand years ago, we need hardly aver. Eminent theologians +may say, 'if science does not agree with the Scriptures, so much the +worse for science,' but we opine that the minds which will be able to +stand upon this platform in the face of overwhelming evidence will be +few and far between. But it must be remembered that the Scriptures have +adjusted themselves, in the popular and orthodox mind, to several things +which were once considered opposed to their teachings. The Copernican +theory of the solar system was once regarded and treated as a palpable +and dangerous heresy; yet now-a-days the boldest literalist would not +venture to insist that the Bible teaches a system opposed to that. +Within living memory, it is well known that the doctrine of the recent +creation of the earth was regarded as indubitably a part of the teaching +of the first chapter of Genesis, yet it is now fully conceded in high +orthodox quarters that the opposite doctrine does no violence to the +letter or spirit of the Mosaic writings. Here the adjustment has been of +the interpretation to the fact. It is up to this time largely believed +that the Bible teaches the doctrine of a general deluge, yet Hugh Miller +could advocate, with all the elegance of his superb intellect, and all +the power of his unanswerable science, the opposite doctrine of a +partial or limited deluge, without being outlawed for heresy in the Free +Church of Scotland. It is now held almost universally that the doctrine +of the unity of the race is essential to Christianity; and we, for +ourselves, cannot see that it is otherwise than essential to a properly +organic Christianity, and yet we begin to see a blinking in certain +quarters toward the opposite view;—and we may mention that the curious +book of Mr. Davies before mentioned, which is written in the special +interest of the most literal orthodoxy, advocating the doctrine of +immediate creation in six literal days, and other equally indigestible +matters, insists on the doctrine of <i>diversity of origin</i> in the human +race, because it is taught in the Scriptures! And he does not fail to +find proof texts. He rightly avers that several important assumptions +are needed in order to extract the doctrine of unity from the Mosaic +record.</p> + +<p>We have not adduced these instances of the variations of orthodoxy for +the purpose of intimating that the Bible is a nose of wax, which can be +twisted into any shape without injury—that it is a book which can be +made to mean anything or nothing, as the circumstances of the case may +require—but that it has a vital elasticity and power of adjustment to +all veritable findings of the human mind in every sphere; as indeed it +must have, if it is in any important respect such a communication to +mankind as it is claimed to be. Whatever may be said of the +infallibility of the Scriptures, it is certain that interpretation is +not infallible—a distinction that is not always kept in mind by those +zealous defenders of the faith who are ready to make the inspiration of +the Scriptures stand or fall with a given interpretation of a particular +passage.</p> + +<p>But can the doctrine of man's antiquity be made to harmonize with the +essentials of Christianity and the inspiration of the Scriptures? If +Christianity be a religion for man, as the present writer believes, we +answer emphatically in the affirmative. Not the smallest feature that is +essential to make Christianity a religion for man, if it be such, will +be imperilled by this or any other well-established doctrine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> of +science. But precisely how much modification of existing opinion, how +much sepulture of traditionary relics, how much clearing away of rubbish +will be indispensable, it is now not easy to say. It is certain that it +must be conceded that we have as yet attained to no infallible +chronology. And it is equally certain that a larger amount of allegory +must be infused into the first chapters of Genesis than would have been +digestible by the theologians of the last generation, if we would ever +have theology and science stand upon the same plane. The question in the +child's catechism, '<i>Who was the first man?</i>' will by and by be easier +asked than answered. If, moreover, the narrative in Genesis refers to +some imaginary being supposed to have existed upon the earth about six +thousand years ago, it seems clear that this being cannot be regarded as +the 'federal head' of the human race, from whom 'all mankind have +descended by ordinary generation.' And we strongly suspect that a very +large amount of theological machinery will need to be readjusted; and +amid many pangs and with much tribulation will not a few canons of +orthodoxy pass away to the region of fossil forms.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, we take leave of this work of Sir Charles Lyell with the +conviction that however obnoxious it may be to orthodox editors and +superannuated doctors of divinity, it is destined to stimulate greatly +scientific inquiry and active thought. It is impossible that when such a +mine has been sprung, and promises to yield such tangible results, it +should suddenly cease to work, because the note of alarm is raised by +affrighted theologians. We predict for science in this department a rich +and rapid progress of discovery. And we are profoundly gratified that +the subject has been broken to the popular mind in such a cautious and +unexceptionable manner as to the tone and spirit of the work—the author +holding with philosophic steadfastness to the subject matter in hand, +and, in the true scientific spirit, eschewing all side issues, and +exhibiting throughout a candor, impartiality, and honesty, worthy the +well-earned fame of this Nestor of geologists.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AENONE" id="AENONE"></a>ÆNONE.</h2> + +<h3>A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME.</h3> + + +<h4><a name="AENONEIII" id="AENONEIII"></a>CHAPTER III.</h4> + +<p>The thoughts of Ænone followed her into sleep, and colored her dreams +with pleasant memories of the past; and when the morning sun, pouring +its beams through the window, awakened her, there was a momentary +struggle before she could throw off the fancies of the night and realize +that she was no longer in her cottage home. But distinct perception soon +returned as she glanced around her and recognized the paintings which +adorned her chamber, and the marble goddess still holding forth a +welcoming hand, as though in greeting for the return of another day.</p> + +<p>Throwing open the window, she sat down for a moment to enjoy the soft +breeze, which, laden with perfume, came gambolling fresh from the Alban +Hills. The window at which she placed herself looked out upon a central +courtyard, formed by the intersection of the main body of the palace at +right angles with the two wings. This court was paved from one side to +the other with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> marble flags of different shades, excepting in the +middle, where played the fountain—a circular basin of water, upon a +rock, in the centre of which two bronze satyrs struggled for a tortoise, +from whose mouth the supplying stream poured forth. From the end of each +wing of the palace the line of the sides was continued by a straight +stone wall of considerable height, leading across the whole breadth of +the Cælian Hill to the slope of its farther side, and enclosing an area +thickly planted with such flowers, shrubbery, and trees as the taste of +the period considered most essential to a well-appointed garden.</p> + +<p>For the moment the central court was almost deserted, the only +appearance of life being a little Nubian slave, who sat upon the edge of +the fountain, and lazily played with a tame stork. But all at once Ænone +heard mingled voices, and distinguished among them the tones of her +husband—deeper than the others, and marked with that quicker and more +decided accent acquired by a long course of undisputed authority. At +first the sounds seemed stationary, as though the speakers were tarrying +in one place for discussion; but in a moment they approached nearer, and +the disputants stood in full sight upon a balcony which ran around the +interior wall of the palace and overhung the sides of the court.</p> + +<p>Foremost and tallest of the group stood Sergius Vanno, recognizable at +once by his athletic and graceful figure, reflective face, commanding +eye, bright with intelligence, and his agreeable, refined, and +attractive presence, as the leading spirit of the group. At his side +leaned the poet Emilius, whose weak and slender figure and mild, girlish +expression would hardly appear to sustain the reputation he enjoyed of +devoting half his time to the invention and elaboration of new forms of +profligacy, and thereby carrying his exploits into realms of vice +hitherto undiscovered even in that age of unbridled indulgence. Behind +these stood three others—a captain of the prætorian guard, a tribune of +the law, and a comedian of the school of Plautus—each probably carrying +the palm of excellence in his especial calling, and all of them +doubtless endowed with superior capacities as boon companions in a +night-long revel. They had evidently but just left the banqueting hall, +and bore indications of having passed a somewhat unquiet night, though +in different degrees; for while the captain and comedian still staggered +confusedly and displayed haggard faces and disordered dresses, the +superior tact, constitutional strength, or recuperative powers of the +others enabled them to maintain such a demeanor of proper sobriety, that +but for a slight flush and the companionship in which they were placed, +their late excesses might have passed unnoticed.</p> + +<p>'It was the choice of all the slaves, both male and female, I tell you,' +said the comedian, evidently resuming an unfinished dispute. 'The choice +of all the slaves, Sergius.'</p> + +<p>'Hear you now this man!' exclaimed Sergius, turning toward his friend +Emilius with a quiet smile. 'Thrice already have I told him the truth of +the matter, and still he persists; well knowing that, if now he can +scarcely sustain himself from falling over into the area below, he +certainly could not, three hours ago, have been able to tell what play +he made, or whether he made any play at all. Nay, Bassus, it was only of +the male slaves that I spoke.'</p> + +<p>'Yet listen to me,' insisted the comedian, placing his hand upon the +other's shoulder and leaning heavily upon him, 'You do not deny that we +gamed?'</p> + +<p>'Of a surety I do not.'</p> + +<p>'Nor that I won money of you?'</p> + +<p>'Ten sestertia. I acknowledge it.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, twenty sestertia, was it not?'</p> + +<p>'Twenty sestertia be it, then. What matters the amount, when I paid you +upon the moment, and you now have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> the sum, whatever it may be, in your +own purse?'</p> + +<p>'True, true,' rejoined the other, nodding his head with an air of sage +gravity; 'whatever it was, of a certainty I now have it. And then, +Sergius, you offered against the ten—no, the twenty sestertia—to play +the choice of all your new slaves.'</p> + +<p>'Of my new male slaves, certainly.'</p> + +<p>'No, of the slaves both male and female. I will tell you how it is that +I so especially recollect. It was because I had heard from our lawgiver +here about the beautiful Samian girl you have borne home among your +share of the spoils. You did not think, perhaps, that I knew of her; but +when I offered to throw the dice, I held her in my mind. And then, when +I had won, and told you that I would select her, you said—'</p> + +<p>'Exactly what I had said to you before, that you could take your choice +from the male slaves,' interrupted the other impatiently. 'And I have +brought you directly hither to make your selection, for fear that when +you became sober you would forget the matter altogether, and thereby +cheat yourself out of a fairly won prize. Am I not right, comrades? Was +not the play as I have stated it?'</p> + +<p>'Neither more nor less,' the poet answered; and the tribune and the +prætorian captain spoke to the same effect. The comedian still looked +unconvinced, and, for the moment, gazed inquiringly from one to the +other, in the hope that some newer recollection would come to the mind +of either of them and lead to a recantation. But in that desire he was +disappointed, and at last he reluctantly gave up the contest, not daring +to protract it longer for fear of provoking a quarrel, and thereby being +thrust out of the society to which he was aware his social talents, +counteracting his low birth and calling, were his sole passport. And +after all, though he had too carelessly made his wager, he had won +twenty sestertia and a male slave, and that was something.</p> + +<p>'Well, be it so,' he assented, with a sigh. 'A male slave, since you say +it. I had supposed I had spoken more particularly, but it seems that my +poor brain was careless and at fault. Only bring the slaves hither +quickly, that I may choose and go home, for I must play Castorex this +morning, and this head of mine seems likely to split.'</p> + +<p>'Let it split, then,' retorted Sergius with a laugh. 'It may save our +cracking it some day with a goblet. Ho, there, Drumo!'</p> + +<p>He was not obliged to call a second time, for, at the first ring of his +voice, the obedient armor bearer emerged from one of the lower entrances +into the court. He also, as well as his master, had been convivially +celebrating his return, and now bore the evidences of his frolic in a +sad combination of inflamed features, tangled hair, and disordered +clothing.</p> + +<p>'What ho, master?' he cried, stretching his huge limbs in a yawn and +looking up. 'Am I wanted?'</p> + +<p>'You have been drinking,' said Sergius; 'go to the fountain basin there +and cleanse yourself. If there were fish in it, I would feel half +inclined to cast you in to feed them. After that, come back to me.'</p> + +<p>The giant grinned, knowing that his master placed too high a value upon +him ever to make a dinner of him for the carp, though he might now and +then inflict a stripe or two in anger upon his broad shoulders. Then +kneeling down at the fountain, he quickly splashed the water into his +face and eyes, ran one finger from his forehead to the crown of his head +in order to part his disordered locks, pulled away a loose straw from +behind his neck, gave his tumbled tunic one jerk to straighten it, and, +with the air of a person who had made an elaborate toilet, and could +afford to be well satisfied with the result, presented himself for +inspection.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span></p> + +<p>'So! Were my new slaves sent in last night?'</p> + +<p>The armor bearer nodded.</p> + +<p>'The whole allotment?'</p> + +<p>'I suppose so, master. Fifty there should have been, the lictor said, +when he brought them, but one had died, and they had thrown him into the +Tiber to the fishes. Ho, ho, master, we shall all go one day to feed the +fishes or the dogs or the worms, both you and I alike.'</p> + +<p>'Silence, you hound!' said Sergius, more by way of habit than because he +really minded a familiarity to which he had gradually grown accustomed.</p> + +<p>'The others came a little before midnight, and I locked them up below,' +the Gaul added, pointing to a low range of buildings at the foot of the +garden. 'They are a well-looking lot, master, but among them all you +will not find one to take my place; so, for this time, I am safe, and +can yet say and do what I please. Ho, ho! And here is the list of them +which the messenger brought.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind the list. It is doubtless all correct,' said Sergius, waving +the papyrus aside. 'Go, now, and bring the slaves hither.'</p> + +<p>The man nodded, and taking a large key from a nail over his head, +disappeared down the garden walk, and in a few moments returned, driving +before him the whole body of captives which had fallen to the share of +his master. As he had reported, they were of good quality, the best of +the prisoners of war having naturally been reserved for the commander of +the expedition. The men were mostly stout and athletic, while the women +were of healthy and properly agreeable appearance. Of the whole number +there were none who seemed to be at all sickly or ill favored; while the +only one who exhibited any signs of deformity was a dwarf, whose +withered and twisted figure imparted to him that peculiar grotesque and +ape-like appearance which, at that period, was certain to commend him to +the taste of wealthy purchasers, and render him of more value than a man +of correct proportions. Moreover, as a general thing, the captives +seemed more cheerful than they had been the day before, having had the +advantage of several hours' rest and of better food than had fallen to +their lot at any time during the journey. There were a few who +manifested sorrow at having been separated from relatives or friends +with whom they had succeeded in travelling to the very gates of the +city; and some others, as yet unbroken to misfortune, maintained a +rebellious and intractable demeanor. But the majority had already made +up their minds that slavery was henceforth their inevitable fate, and +that their highest future happiness must be looked for in its +alleviation rather than in its abolition; and they now appeared to take +pleasure in the thought that their fortune had led them to a wealthy +household, where they would probably experience kind treatment and have +easy tasks allotted to them.</p> + +<p>Now, having reached the paved court, the captives rested and awaited the +inspection of their owner—some sitting upon the marble border of the +fountain, some standing by in groups, and through a sort of sympathy +holding each others' hands, as though that would give protection. A few +gazed moodily upon the ground; and one or two, oppressed with sorrow or +nervous apprehension, quietly wept. But the greater portion, impressed +with a dim consciousness that their future lot might depend upon their +present conduct and appearance, endeavored to assume an air of pleased +satisfaction, and thereby possibly win the favorable notice of the group +which stood surveying them from the balcony, or at the least the +friendly compassion of the older slaves of the household, who began to +pour forth from the different doors upon the ground floor of the palace, +and join unbidden in the inspection. Most of these, in the early days of +their captivi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>ty, had stood up in the centre of similar gaping and +curious crowds, and now in their turn they sated their curiosity upon +the new comers. A few, remembering their own sorrows of those former +times, seemed compassionate; others manifested careless indifference; +some wondered whether enough of the present reinforcement would be +retained to materially lighten their own labors; and others, who had +been known to fail in attention to their peculiar departments of +industry, trembled lest their places might now be supplied by the new +comers, and themselves be again driven off to market. Whatever their +thoughts and feelings, however, no one ventured to approach too near or +speak aloud, excepting the armor bearer, who, as the privileged slave of +the household as well as the marshal of the occasion, moved hither and +thither among the captives, encouraging some with rude jokes, shoving +others back or forward into suitable positions, and generally +endeavoring to set forth the merits of the whole mass in as favorable a +light as possible.</p> + +<p>'Now stand forward where the noble imperator and his friends can see +you,' was his command to a well-featured, strong-limbed Rhodian. 'Do you +think to better your lot by slinking out of sight among the women, and +so perhaps be sent off unnoticed to the market, and there be purchased +for hard labor in the quarry pits? Who knows but that if my master sees +you, he may make a gladiator of you; and then you can fight before +emperors and consuls.'</p> + +<p>'What care I for your master?' retorted the man. 'Let him give me back +my wife and my child, whom I yesterday had, and who now are gone.'</p> + +<p>The armor bearer shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>'Is that all?' he said. 'Wives are plenty in this city of Rome. When I +first came from Gaul, I too had a wife, and, like you, lost her. What +then? I suppose that she is happy, wherever she may be; and I—I have +not allowed myself to be lonely since. But neither did I let myself +slink behind, when I stood in the market; but I pressed forward and +struck upon my chest, and called to the highborn and the rich to look +upon me, and see how a man could be made, and what he could be good for. +And here am I now, a slave, indeed—that cannot be helped—but for all +that, a ruler over the other slaves, and my master's favorite and +companion. By the immortal gods! there is more manliness in yonder +dwarf, with his open face, than in you, with your whimpering and your +tears. I will call him forward to teach you a lesson how to act.'</p> + +<p>At the first beck the dwarf pressed forward with a smile, alternately +stretching up to make the most of his diminutive proportions, and then +bowing low to crave the good will of the spectators. His appearance +brought him instant commendation; and more particularly did the +prætorian captain break forth into expressions of appreciation.</p> + +<p>'A proper dwarf! a most excellent dwarf! Smaller and more ugly by a +quarter than one which I have known to be sold for forty sestertia! And +see, Bassus, how he bows and rubs his hands and shows his teeth at +yourself. He has perhaps been the buffoon in a Grecian theatre, and in +you now recognizes a brother in the art. Take him, therefore, for your +choice. At the very least, he will be of value to carry your bag of +plays before you, and he may even help you act.'</p> + +<p>The comedian forced a sickly smile upon his features, not daring to +quarrel with his companion, yet not insensible to the sneering tone with +which he was addressed. He had, at the first, been struck with the +dwarf, and half inclined to choose him. But now the mocking speech +deterred him.</p> + +<p>'You are disposed to be merry,' he said; 'nor do you reason well. It is +not an ape that an actor wants to carry his plays. There are enough such +to listen to them. I will leave the dwarf, therefore, for you to +purchase. Per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>haps, after all, there may be a place found for him +somewhere in your own household. I will make another selection for +myself.'</p> + +<p>And descending from the piazza, he moved in among the captives for the +purpose of entering upon a more careful inspection. Eager as he was at +all times to make the best of a bargain, he was the more especially +anxious now; for the contemptuous tones of his companions rankled in his +heart, and he felt that the more he evinced a capacity to benefit +himself, the more he would be likely to disappoint them. Passing +deliberately about the slaves, therefore, he scrutinized each face and +form before him with the most exact attention; carefully lifting the +eyelid of one, and examining the teeth of another—now pressing his +knuckles into an expanded chest, then twisting a muscular arm—causing +some to stoop, and others to bend back—and generally practising all +those arts and expedients which a professional slave dealer would employ +to guard himself against imposition. Nor was it until the lapse of many +minutes that he settled upon his prize.</p> + +<p>'I will take this man,' he said, dragging the Rhodian forth by the +shoulder. 'He shall be my slave.'</p> + +<p>'It is well; take him,' responded Sergius, in his most courtly tone. And +for the moment or two, during which his companions yet tarried, he +maintained a demeanor so studied and controlled that it would have +required a keen glance to detect in his face his bitter sense of +disappointment at the selection which the comedian had made.</p> + + +<h4><a name="AENONEIV" id="AENONEIV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h4> + +<p>As Sergius turned and entered the house, those who had seen him saluted +as the favorite of the emperor and the idol of the crowd, and thence had +believed unbounded happiness must be his never-varying lot, would have +been astonished to know how many things there were which rankled +painfully in his heart, and, for the moment, made him discontented and +fretful.</p> + +<p>Thoroughly jealous in respect to his military fame, he was suspicious +that the cheers of the crowd upon his ovation had been elicited more by +the perfection of the pageantry than by a proper appreciation of his own +merits; while it was certain that the Senate, though meeting him with +the customary congratulations, had delivered them with more form than +enthusiasm. And though the emperor had given audience, he had bestowed +no new honors upon him. To these disappointments was added the unhappy, +self-accusing consciousness of having failed in duty to his own dignity, +by having passed the night in wild revelry and among companions, many of +whom were beneath him in every quality except their talent for ribald +jesting and buffoonery. Moreover, though reputed wealthy, he was at +present pressed for money, and had added to his embarrassments by losing +at the gaming table during the past night more than he could well afford +to part with; while, to add to all other vexations, the comedian Bassus +had not only increased the loss by selecting the most valuable slave, +but had performed the action in a cool and calculating manner, which was +particularly exasperating.</p> + +<p>'The low buffoon!' Sergius muttered to himself. 'Who would have thought +that, half drunken as he was, he would have had the wit to select a +slave worth double the sum which had been staked against him, and one +whom I had obtained with such trouble, and for my own purposes? Can it +be that he pretended his intoxication the more easily to outwit me? I +had no fear, but believed that he would be sure to select some slim +youth who could be taught to play the flute before him or act as +cupbearer. What demon put it into his head so suddenly to look for bone +and muscle rather than for girlish graces?'</p> + +<p>This last suspicion of having been made the victim of artful +dissimulation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> added fuel to his vexation, more especially as, turning +his head and glancing into the courtyard, he saw the comedian slipping +through a side passage, and the Rhodian obediently following at his +heels. This filled up the measure of Sergius's wrath. To his excited +fancy the actor bore upon his face an insultingly satisfied smirk of +triumph, while the Rhodian appeared larger and stronger than ever. With +an exclamation of unavailing anger, Sergius pushed open the door, and +stood in the presence of his wife.</p> + +<p>It was into the dining hall that he had plunged. Upon a small table was +placed the wine and bread and fruits which formed the customary morning +meal among the richer Romans; and beside the table stood Ænone, in an +attitude in which hope and fear and surprise and disappointment were +equally blended.</p> + +<p>Clad in the manner which she knew had always best pleased his fancy, +wearing the adornments which, as his gifts, he would most naturally +prefer to see upon her, with her curling locks parted as in former days +he had liked her to dress them, even striving to impart to her features +the peculiar radiant expression which, in other times, had most won his +heart—she had impatiently awaited his approach, with a vague fear +whispering poisonous surmises to her soul, but yet with a joyful and +hopeful assurance of good predominating over all. As soon as these +friends of his had departed—she had said to herself—he would no longer +delay coming to her. He would meet her with extended arms and the same +joyous welcome as of old. He would utter kind and pleasant words +expressive of his happiness, and would fold her to his heart. There +would she nestle and forget her foolish fears and suspicions of the past +night, and would only remember that she was loved. As, however, she now +saw the frown upon his face, her heart and courage failed her; and in +proportion as she had previously fortified her mind with hopeful +confidence, a terrible reaction of apprehension overcame her. Could it +be that the angry look was for her, and that it could be justified by +any word that she had ever spoken or any duty that she had neglected? +With one hand lightly resting upon the table, her right foot thrown +forward in impulsive readiness to spring into his extended arms, but her +whole form drooping and shrinking with dismay, her face pale, and the +smile which she had called upon it now faintly and painfully flickering +in a deathlike manner about her whitened lips, as it glided from her +control and began to give place to an utter and undisguised fear, she +stood awaiting his first word or action.</p> + +<p>'Ha, Ænone!'</p> + +<p>'My lord—'</p> + +<p>Then remembering what was due to her upon their first meeting, he +smoothed the frown from off his face, held out his arms, and tenderly +embraced her, uttering kind and loving words. It was the same gesture +with which he had parted from her when, six months before, the state had +called upon him to arouse from the ease and tranquility of his wedded +life and do new service upon the field. Those were the same gentle and +affectionate words which he had been wont to utter. And yet to her +quickened apprehension, urged on by some secret instinct, it seemed as +though the soul of the tender greeting was gone, leaving but the mere +form behind. Could it be that during those few months of absence he had +learned to think less dearly of her? At the thought, the last faint +gleams of the flickering smile died away from her face; while he, +unobservant of her distress, and still goaded by the remembrance of his +losses, released her from his embrace and threw himself heavily down +upon the nearest lounge.</p> + +<p>'I am thirsty,' he said. 'Give me some drink.'</p> + +<p>She poured some wine into a goblet,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> and timidly presented it to his +lips. The liquid, cooled with snow from the mountains, was refreshing to +his palate, and he drank it to the last drop. As he parted with the +goblet—rather tossing it away than setting it down—he noticed how she +stood before him with whitened face and frightened features, and with +the attitude of a shrinking slave rather than of a wife joyous to be of +service. His heart smote him for his negligent greeting, and he rose up +from the lounge and placed his arm about her.</p> + +<p>'Not with you, Ænone, am I vexed,' he said, partly comprehending the +cause of her emotion. And drawing her nearer, he commenced toying with +her waving locks, telling her how for months he had been longing to meet +her, and how her looks more than ever delighted him, and otherwise +uttering such pleasant and reassuring words as soonest came into his +mind. As she began to perceive that it was not for any fault of hers +that he had displayed anger, her face gradually lost its expression of +dread. But still she could not fail to notice that the words which he +spoke were not such as are commonly prompted by a true and +unpremeditated affection; but were rather the labored and soulless +result of a mere good-natured desire to make atonement for a neglect, +and were uttered in all the careless spirit with which one tries to +soothe an improperly aggrieved child; and the old smile but feebly +played upon her features, struggle with it as earnestly as she would.</p> + +<p>'Nay, not at your sweet face is my anger excited, Ænone,' he said; 'but +at that scurvy dog, Bassus. He should himself be a slave and the +companion of slaves, were his true station meted out to him.'</p> + +<p>'He with whom you passed the night?' suggested Ænone.</p> + +<p>'Ay, he was one of us,' Sergius answered, taking a position nearer the +table, and commencing to pick off a crumb of bread as the incentive to a +more extended repast. 'He was with us, as there always will be some rude +and unmannerly intruder in every company; but there were also others, +the associates of Emilius. There was Sotus, the Egyptian, a learned +astronomer, and Cyope, the renowned Greek dramatist, and Spoletius, who +is now writing a history of the empire, and, if what he says is true, +has already brought his work down to the time of the Emperor Nero—'</p> + +<p>'And will carry it on until he reaches the present day! And will then, +in their proper place, tell about your achievements, my lord!' exclaimed +Ænone, a flush of expectation glowing upon her face, as she thought that +here were her conjectures of the preceding evening about to be realized.</p> + +<p>'Ay!' responded Sergius; 'I presume that he will speak of me and of what +you dignify as my achievements, foolishly fond child; and therefore it +was meet that I should not neglect the opportunity of being in his +presence, in order that he might speak well of me rather than the +reverse. Otherwise, you well know that I would have preferred to let +revelling have the go-by, and to have come at once to gather you to my +heart. But we men, whom the world calls celebrated, must be watchful, +and learn to resign pleasure to duty, and guard our fame, or else it may +go out like a wasted lamp, and leave it in the darkness of oblivion. We +cannot spare our time to give free scope to our love, as though we were +poor and unknown.'</p> + +<p>Ænone reproached herself for her suspicions. Surely she had done wrong +in distrusting him for the coldness of his greeting. He may have meant +nothing but love and kindness, and have been weighed down by cares and +anxieties which she could not comprehend. Had he not said that something +had made him angry? He, the great imperator, to have been ruffled by the +conduct of a low comedian, whose company his interest obliged him to +toler<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>ate! She would yet be patient and wait.</p> + +<p>'And not only Spoletius, the historian, but also others, poets and +philosophers, whose good will it is proper to secure, and whose +conversation would be improving to the gods themselves,' continued +Sergius, almost blushing as he remembered how little philosophy had been +spoken during the past night, excepting that shallow doctrine which +inculcates full enjoyment of the passing pleasure of the world, lest +death might come and too suddenly end them; and how little poetry had +been recited, except as roared forth in the form of bacchanalian +choruses. 'And even this Bassus it were worth my while to condescend to, +lest the notion might seize him to satirize me upon the public stage. +And it was to conciliate him that I lost to him twenty sestertia and a +well-favored slave. May it not be that I paid too high a price for his +friendship, and hence have a right to be angry?'</p> + +<p>'But let my lord reflect that he has many slaves—more than he well can +find use for; and that, therefore, one less may not be of great +consequence to him.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, but such a slave!' responded Sergius; 'tall, almost, as my armor +bearer, and strong as an elephant! A man who was worth to me all those +others, thrice over, for the use to which I could have put him. The rest +will doubtless be of good account in their way. Some of them will go and +dig in my quarries, and a few will be exposed in the market, and will +bring their proper price. But this Rhodian—listen! You know that in a +few weeks the new amphitheatre of our emperor will be opened with grand +spectacles lasting many days. At my audience with him last evening he +spoke thereupon, and of the wild beasts he had sent for to give dignity +to the occasion; but of this anon. You know that for months all Rome has +been preparing for that time?'</p> + +<p>Ænone nodded assent. Even had she desired, she could not have remained +ignorant that the great colossus of all amphitheatres was approaching +completion, since, from her window, she could look down the Appian Way +and watch every stone being laid, while, in all societies, the magnitude +and magnificence of the approaching games were the theme of universal +conversation.</p> + +<p>'Well,' continued Sergius, 'months ago—I hardly remember how many—I +wagered with the proconsul Sardesus that I would furnish for the games +the superior gladiator of the two. Fifteen purses of a hundred sestertia +each; a large sum, but the larger the better, since I had my armor +bearer in my mind, and felt certain to win. But since then I have become +attached to this Drumo. The dog has twice saved my life, and hence has +become too precious to be risked; for though he would most likely win +the day, yet a chance thrust might destroy him at the end. I therefore +looked around for a substitute, and found him—this Rhodian slave. Day +after day I marked him in the opposite ranks, fighting against us, and I +gave orders to capture him alive. Twice we thought we had secured him, +and as often did he break away, killing many of our men. But at last the +commander of one of my cohorts obtained possession of his wife and five +children, and sent him word that each day, until he delivered himself +up, one of them should be put to death.'</p> + +<p>'Surely that thing was not done?' exclaimed Ænone, horror struck.</p> + +<p>'As I live, it was not ordered by me, nor did I learn of the scheme +until it was too late to arrest it,' responded Sergius; 'else would I +have forbidden it. But what would you expect? War has its practices, and +mercy is not exactly one of them. And cruelties will happen, do what we +may. Whatever transpired, therefore, was the work of the commander of my +first cohort, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> whom I had given directions to take the man alive, and +who knew that it must be done, and without troubling me about the +process. Perhaps you do not care to hear the rest?'</p> + +<p>'Go on,' said Ænone, shuddering with a sickening apprehension of what +was to come.</p> + +<p>'Well, the first day his oldest child was slain, and the body sent to +him; and the next day the second one slain, and in like manner sent to +him; and so on until but his wife and one child were left. Then he came +in and gave himself up.'</p> + +<p>'And this brave man—fighting for his country—you have made a slave +of!' exclaimed Ænone, impetuously. 'He has been stripped of his family +one by one, and now you would place him in the arena, to be the victim +of wild beasts, or at the best, of other slaves!'</p> + +<p>'What else would you wish? The man is of a warlike nature; and it were +better for him to bravely contend for his life in the presence of the +emperor himself, than ignominiously to wear it out in the base labor of +the quarries. And I will tell you what I meant to have done. I know +where are his wife and remaining child, with whom he yesterday entered +Rome; and if in the amphitheatre he had won the victory for me, I would +have restored them to him and given him his freedom besides. But all +that is past now. In the heat of the moment I forgot him, and suffered +this drunken dog, Bassus, to take his choice; and he has had too good an +eye for what is valuable not to select the Rhodian. Strange, indeed, +that I should have been so careless. But throughout all, I never dreamed +that his taste would lead him to do more than choose some slight-built +boy, who could assist him in his trade. Once, indeed, I feared for the +moment that he would select amiss, and take a rarely precious dwarf, +whom, both for his appearance and for his knowledge of armor, I had +reserved as a gift for your father; and when that danger was past, I +breathed freer, not calculating upon any further mischance.'</p> + +<p>Ænone remained silent. Ready as she was at all times to give her utmost +sympathy to her husband for the slightest annoyance which he might +experience, it seemed to her now that his complaining was puerile and +unjust, so utterly had the sense of his disappointment been swallowed +up, in her thoughts, by the real and tragic woe of the Rhodian captive. +Finding day after day his dead children laid at his very door—then +separated rudely from all who were left—and in the end brought chained +into the arena, and obliged to fight to the death for the pleasure of +his conquerors, and perhaps against his own countrymen: why should such +things be? Ænone was no nerveless creature to faint at the sight of +blood. The education of all Romans of that day was adapted to a far +different result, and she could look with enjoyment upon the contests of +wild beasts, or even view without disapprobation the struggles of +gladiators trained to their work as to a profession, and, of their own +free will and with full knowledge, taking its risks upon themselves. And +yet, for all that, she could not but feel that every hour there were +being enacted around her, and as a part of the daily workings of the +social system, abuses of power, which, like the present, nothing could +justify; and she wondered whether it would last forever, or whether, on +the contrary, the outraged gods would not some day arise and pour down +upon this imperial Rome the vengeance due to the oppressed.</p> + +<p>Sergius partially read her thoughts, and set himself to work to reverse +their current and turn it into a more cheerful channel. Drawing his seat +closer to her, he began to speak to her of more pleasant topics, telling +of the enlivening incidents of his campaign, rehearsing the exploits of +those about him, and dwelling upon the few occasions in which, by some +unusual departure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> from martial customs, mercy had been shown to the +weak and helpless, and captives who were not fit for slaves had not been +crucified. The gift of fascination was one of his distinguishing traits; +and when he chose, he could charm, with his winning speech, the most +obdurate and unloving. Therefore, as he now softly whispered these +narrations into Ænone's ears, mingling gentle words of endearment with +them, it was not long before she began to yield to the pleasant +influence, and was almost ready to believe that she had judged rashly, +and that everything upon earth was not so very wrong. Why, after all, +should she presume to criticize matters which did not arouse the +discontent of the wisest of men? And if the gods felt really outraged, +why did they let their thunders sleep so long? At the least, it was not +the duty of herself, a weak girl, to strive to right the world. Her only +domain must be her lord's heart—her only rule of life, his will.</p> + +<p>Leaning upon his shoulder, and looking up into his face as she listened, +she thought upon the old times, when she had first met him, and how he +had then, as now, so successfully exerted his powers of charming, that +it had seemed as though no mere earthly love could be good enough reward +for him. Could it be that in her distrust she had been the victim of a +momentary delusion, and that he would always exert himself hereafter, as +now, to please her? Might it not be, after all, that this great +happiness, with its tender whisperings and caresses, would ever continue +unbroken, as in past times?</p> + +<p>'But, aha!' he suddenly exclaimed, in the tone of one newly awakened to +the existence of a fact whose comparative unimportance had led to its +forgetfulness by him. 'Let not my own losses make me indifferent to your +pleasure, love, for I have not been so. For you, and you alone, I have +reserved a gift fit for the palace of the Cæsars.'</p> + +<p>'A gift, my lord? And for me?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but ask me no questions now. You shall see it to-morrow. A few +hours only of mystery and waiting must yet elapse before I will bring it +to you. Until then you can enjoy a woman's pleasure and nurse your +greedy curiosity—hopeless of solving the enigma until I myself choose +to give the clew.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_YOUNG_AUTHORS_DREAM" id="THE_YOUNG_AUTHORS_DREAM"></a>THE YOUNG AUTHOR'S DREAM.</h2> + + + +<p><br /><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>'<i>One more Unfortunate.</i>'</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alone in a garret where cobwebs hang thick</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Over walls that display the bare mortar and brick,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose windows look down on the roofs of back sheds,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From a height that would dizzy the coolest of heads,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A young author sits by a rickety stand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a broken-backed chair, with a pen in his hand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And patiently toils ere the sunlight shall fade</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To black the last quire of a ream of 'white laid.'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The shadows have deepened that hang on the wall;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But the Finis is written, the pen is let fall;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, glad of a respite from labors complete,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His hands and his head press the last written sheet.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sleep comes not alone; for the goddess of dreams</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is accustomed to visit this blacker of reams.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like the man that sits under a monster balloon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And soars o'er the earth halfway up to the moon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now stepping at once into Fancy's fair car,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He sails from the dusky old garret afar;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, leaving the world with its practical crowds,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such visions as these meet his gaze in the clouds:</span><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>THE DREAM.</b></span><br /><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty large editions</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of the 'thrilling tale;'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty thousand dollars,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Net proceeds of sale.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty smiling critics</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lavishing their praise;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty famous florists</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bidding for the bays.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty thousand maidens</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sitting up at night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Poring o'er the volume</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With intense delight.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty thousand letters</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From the country sent,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blurred by frequent teardrops,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Filled with sentiment.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty scheming mothers</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anxious for a match;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty blushing daughters,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each a glorious catch.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty generations</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reverence his name;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty future ages</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fortify his fame.</span><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>THE REALITY.</b></span><br /><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty dunning letters</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Coming every day;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty cents for washing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which he cannot pay.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty jokes malicious</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cracked by forty wags;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty pert young misses</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sneering at his rags.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty old companions</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wondering at his mood;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty friends officious</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Preaching fortitude.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty days of sadness;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty nights of sorrow;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty dark forebodings</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hanging o'er the morrow.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty hempen inches</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Borrowed from a friend;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rafter at the upper,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Neck at lower, end.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty earthy spadefuls</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the green hillside;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forty lines of 'local,'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Telling now he died.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_GREAT_LAKES_TO_ST_PAUL" id="THE_GREAT_LAKES_TO_ST_PAUL"></a>THE GREAT LAKES TO ST. PAUL.</h2> + + +<p>Toward the close of July, 1860, our party gathered at Canaudaigua, that +beautiful piece of Swiss overland scenery, transported to Western New +York. Its Indian name, signifying 'the chosen place,' was not inapt for +our meeting ground.</p> + +<p>By the 31st of July we were at Cleveland, Ohio, over the Buffalo and +Lake Shore Railway and New York Central. It was a beautiful day's ride, +the most of the way skirting the lake, whose broad expanse gleamed in +the sunshine, and bore many a sail and propeller to the great havens of +its commerce. The railway borders fine towns and farms, formed by the +dense settlement of the oak openings and groves of the Western Reserve +of Ohio, which was purchased from the Holland Land Company, by a company +from Connecticut, of whom General Cleveland, who names the present city, +was the agent.</p> + +<p>Cleveland city, with about forty thousand population, lies on Lake Erie, +at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, which forms its harbor. It is well +built, chiefly of the light graystone of the vicinity, upon a declivity +shaded with trees, among which the buckeye hickory abounds, has many +fine dwellings, and presents a fair front to the lake view.</p> + +<p>On the evening of the 31st July we embarked on the North Star for +Superior City. She is of first class, eleven hundred and six tons, and +bore an immense freight from the East to the remote peninsula, in +exchange for its precious minerals. The entire sail from Cleveland to +Superior is nine hundred and sixty-four miles.</p> + +<p>As these boats are the only means of commerce and intercourse for the +dwellers on the upper lakes above Detroit, very frequent are their stops +and calls, taking and leaving much freight, consuming much time on their +way. However, our voyage was speedy: we arrived at our distant terminus, +Superior City, very early on the morning of the 5th of August, making +the running time about seventy-five hours.</p> + +<p>Leaving Ohio, one of the earliest settled States of the Western Valley, +and organized sixty years since, our course from Cleveland stretched +northwesterly across the wide lake, passing the island scene of Perry's +splendid triumph, and thence northerly, by its river, to Detroit, a sail +of one hundred and twenty miles, arriving early on the 1st of August.</p> + +<p>The city lies extended along its beautiful river, at one extremity +guarded by its old fort, and at the other are the extensive +copper-smelting furnaces, where the ore from the Superior mines, brought +by the steamers, flows in liquid copper. It is comparatively an ancient +town, settled as early as 1701 as a French frontier post; and some of +its land titles, always protected at each national change, with some of +its old families, derive their origin from these early French pioneers.</p> + +<p>Our afternoon sail was up Detroit River and the St. Clair, threading our +way among its many verdant islands and rich shores graced with numerous +pretty villages. At 9 p.m. we reached Port Huron and its Canadian +opposite neighbor, Sarnia. At this point is the southern outlet of Lake +Huron, distant seventy-three miles from Detroit. Sarnia is also the +western depot of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, while Windsor, +facing Detroit, terminates the Canadian Great Western. From Sarnia, +passing old Fort Gratiot, over to Port Huron, the railway ferry boat, +propelled by the current only, transfers its passengers to the cars of +the Grand Trunk line, on Michigan soil, and by a short<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> branch +intersects the Michigan Central Railroad, a few miles west of Detroit. +For over twelve hundred miles this iron road, fitly named the Grand +Trunk, transports our Western products. Entering Lake Huron, with its +innumerable islands and almost wilderness shores, our sail through it, +of two hundred and seventy-five miles in all, brought us early, on the +2d of August, off Saginaw and Thunder Bays, its western arms, with +Presque Isle, the Great Manitoulin Island, bearing north by east; and by +noon, we reached Point de Tour, at the outlet of St. Mary's River, three +hundred miles from Detroit, lying opposite to Drummond's Island.</p> + +<p>Point de Tour has but a solitary dwelling, from whose roof rises the +light tower. Its inmates are said to have preferred this solitude to the +crowded refinement of a New England city. Shortly after, and still +coasting the western side, we stopped at Church's Landing, where an +enterprising New Englander has built his log houses in the forest, amid +the Indians, and drives an active commerce in <i>raspberry jam</i>. His trade +has prospered, and he had just completed a new and handsome dwelling. +Fourteen miles farther brought us to Saut Sainte Marie, or the rapids of +the eastern outlet of Lake Superior.</p> + +<p>Lake Huron is at an average height of five hundred and seventy-five feet +above the sea level, and one hundred feet in depth below Lake Superior, +with a length in direct line of two hundred and seventy-five miles, from +Port Huron to Saut Sainte Marie. Georgian Bay, to the east of the Great +Manitoulin Island, is its broad eastern expansion; while, on the west, +the Straits of Mackinaw open into the vast expanse of Lake Michigan, +extending a length of four hundred and forty-six miles to Chicago. The +borders of Lake Huron are sparsely peopled. The primitive forest bends +over the lake's clear waters, and surrounds the log cabin or infant +settlement with the wigwam and canoe of the Indian half breeds, who are +still fishing and hunting round the graves of their ancestors-once the +fiercest of all the warrior races that scarce forty years ago as +sovereigns roamed its wilds.</p> + +<p>The majestic solitudes of these lakes first received the white man in +1679, when the discoverers La Salle and Hennepin, in the vessel of sixty +tons, which they had built with their Indians at Cayuga Creek, sailed up +Niagara River, Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, to Mackinaw, and thence +through Lake Michigan to the mouth of Green Bay. Entering Lake Erie on +the 7th of August, 1691, they arrived at Green Bay on the 2d of +September following, encountering many storms and cautiously seeking +their untried way. After gathering a rich cargo of furs, the vessel, in +charge of the pilot and five men, started to return, and was heard of no +more. She doubtless perished with her crew in a gale on Lake Huron. She +carried seven cannon, was well manned and armed, adorned with carved +griffin and eagle heads, and bore the banner and religion of France amid +all the border tribes.</p> + +<p>Surely the voyage of Columbus, discovering Hispaniola, while sailing +before and obeying the trade winds, did not surpass in real adventure +this simple expedition of those half-warrior pioneer voyageurs, Fathers +Hennepin and La Salle. The memory of their visit is yet immortal in the +local names given by them and still cherished; while the influence of +France still lingers at Detroit and many other prominent points in this +wide region, once the empire of Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>We reached the Saut Sainte Marie about 4 P. M. of the 2d of August. Here +the River St. Mary, or the eastern outlet of Lake Superior, after a wide +course of fifty miles, gathers the multitude of its waters into a narrow +channel of less than a mile in width and length, of swift and impassable +rapids.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span></p> + +<p>The grand Ship Canal, with its stone banks of about eighty feet width +and three locks, transports the largest tonnage around these rapids. +This great work was completed in 1857 by the contractors, Erastus +Corning, of New York, Fairbanks, and others, for a contract price of +seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, chiefly mineral, in the +State of Michigan. During our steamer's canal passage of about two +hours, we were interested by the picturesque scenery, untenanted save by +the wigwam and the bark canoe. As usual, upon the arrival of the +steamer, the long canoe, steadily held by a single boy and paddle, in a +current swift as the Niagara, shoots out into the Saut, while the +Indian, standing erect in the canoe, poising his harpoon and scrap net, +strikes or swoops in the large and delicious white fish, assured of a +capacious basketful and more, before the steamer leaves the canal.</p> + +<p>And thus we floated onward to the bosom of great Superior.</p> + +<p>Our course was along the St. Mary outlet, northwesterly toward White +Fish Point, on the main south shore, projecting far out into the lake. +We were hence carried miles away from sight of the famed-pictured rocks +or of any land. Tending southerly and still westward, we steamed on over +the dark waters, during a serene night, until daylight showed us the +beautiful town of Marquette. Scarce seven years old, the fruit of the +iron mining in its vicinity, it spreads its neat white cottages around +the crescent of its bay and river on an amphitheatre of hills. The rail +train destined to Bai de Noc, on Green Bay, and finished to Marquette +Mines, in all some eighteen miles, was starting upon our arrival. +Marquette, though so young, a mere group of cottages, fronting a +wilderness, from its rich mines of the best iron, has become at once a +scene of industry and large outlay of capital; while the beauty of its +position and its unrivalled climate, surpassing all others on Lake +Superior, have already made it the most attractive summer resort, as +well for the pleasure traveller as the pulmonary invalid. Its climate, +without the sea air, has a cool, silken softness, reminding one of +Newport, Rhode Island. It is more equable and certain; the summer +average is 66°, and the winter 41°; while the lake wind and evaporation +secure it from the rapid changes of the sea shores.</p> + +<p>Marquette is the lake port and entrepot of the short range of iron +mountains which adjoin their sisters, known as the Porcupine Mountains, +in whose depths lies the famous copper ore, not unmixed with silver and +other precious deposits. This great mountain fortress extends from +Marquette to Montreal River, beyond Ontonagon, the western boundary of +the State of Michigan, in a line of about twelve to eighteen miles south +of the lake, and often approaches two thousand feet in height, lifting +its forest sides in constant view for more than two hundred miles. +Leaving Marquette and the iron range at 7 <span class="smcap">A.M</span>., on the 3d of +August, we sailed for Portage, the first harbor in the copper mountains, +arriving about noon.</p> + +<p>Portage is a shallow bay or mouth of the river of the same name, on the +east shore of Keewaiwonah Promontory, or, as it is commonly called, +Keweenaw Point. The mines and town of Portage lie at the mountains, +about sixteen miles inland. A few huts were the only signs of settlement +at the bay. Tugs landed the freight and passengers, and we soon left the +wooded bank for the broad expanse of the lake, turning the head of the +promontory, and at 5 <span class="smcap">P.M</span>. reaching Copper Harbor on its +northwest shore. Here we lay till morning. The village is small, at the +base of a lower range of mineral mountains, spurs of the main chain.</p> + +<p>The Clarke Copper Mine is within two miles of the wharf. This mine, like +many others, has had many owners. It had just gone through the +experiments<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> of a French company, which expended its capital, as +alleged, in building fine roads, bridges, and residences for its agents, +while the mining had scarcely reached one hundred and twenty feet deep, +and then employed only six Frenchmen as its miners, whose ore product +was little over three per cent. of copper. In other hands, perhaps, it +may now yield a better reward.</p> + +<p>We were much amused with the description given by these Frenchmen of the +mishaps of their ill-directed enterprise. Persistent as Chinese, +resembling many others of the French nation in their ignorance of our +country, language, or customs, they had passed through many droll +blunders, which rendered their narrative highly entertaining.</p> + +<p>Copper Harbor, although so small, only then claiming about seventy legal +voters in the entire township, including the mines, was promised the +unusual treat of a political address that evening, as duly placarded, +from a gentleman, who was then candidate for Governor of Michigan, and +came in our boat. The apathy and indifference of the free and +enlightened electors of Copper Harbor were remarkable. A small, dingy +room, adjoining the only store, was the destined arena; and therein, +dimly lighted by some tallow candles, long sat the candidate—alone: a +rejected Timon, whose reflections were never published. The only +interest taken in the meeting (that came under my notice) was an anxious +inquiry by the owner of the building for his rent and expense of +candles, etc., payment of which was alleged to have been refused by the +candidate.</p> + +<p>Singularly happy Copper Harbor! your contented equanimity is unruffled +by all the stormy strife of politicians.</p> + +<p>Its lake front is graced by a fort, now and long since a water-cure +establishment. All these Western forts, erected many years ago, seem not +intended for offence, but rather as stockades or blockhouses of shelter +from the Indians. They are arranged as extensive tenements within, +pierced for musketry, and only in some cases with terraces for cannon. +These frontier forts, long the dwelling of the hunter or his family in +the wilderness, were guarded by the company of troops who protected the +settlers and maintained the sovereignty of our flag and nation over +these remote wilds. They are always placed in the most eligible and +commanding positions, and seem as if by design to have secured the +settlement of these points, which in all cases have become the thronged +cities or favorite towns of the ever-growing West. Thus, in Europe, the +ancient Roman fortified camps on their frontiers founded Cologne, +Chester, Vienna, Milan, Verona, and other cities, once their military +outposts against barbarism.</p> + +<p>About 7 <span class="smcap">A. M</span>. of the 4th August, we left Copper Harbor on our +course, and soon reached Eagle River. This is another copper-mining +settlement, straggling along its poor harbor, somewhat larger than +Copper Harbor, and more picturesque. Landing a few of our company, we +sailed to Ontonagon, the largest of these copper-mine towns (perhaps two +thousand in population), and situated upon a sand reach at the mouth of +its river, which leads to the Great Minnesota Mine, eighteen miles +distant.</p> + +<p>Early in the clear morning of the 5th of August, we were moving up +Allouez Bay. Sounding slowly over its bar, and passing Minnesota Point +and Island, between the mouths of the Rivers St. Louis and Nemadji, we +arrived at Superior City, our destined haven.</p> + +<p><i>Superior City</i>, by its pretentious name, great distance, and our +expectations, had risen to much importance in our imagination, but the +actual scene presented a wide contrast. A large town—or metropolis—on +a poor harbor, without interior resources or communications, had been +hastily projected. It is called the head of ocean navigation, and the +terminus of many pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>posed but as yet imaginary railroads. While the +titles to all the land are still in litigation, the wilderness shades +its streets, and, saving the rare arrival of the Indian mail carrier on +snow shoes, during six months of intense cold, they are isolated from +all humanity. Its grand prospectus, some five years before, had drawn +there about three thousand people; and soon afterward, starved and +disappointed, nearly all, save perhaps five hundred, had deserted. About +two miles of streets, planked from the mud, with frame dwellings, had +been constructed, and they had already attained the first municipal +blessing—<i>taxes-</i>-to the total of $45,000, payable by this feeble +remnant of a settlement, mainly of abandoned dwellings. Should the +railroads so frequently surveyed and designed to terminate here be +really built, Superior City may see, to some extent, in future years, +somewhat of that prosperity which its projectors, blinded by their +hopes, had thought already realized.</p> + +<p>Few positions are more picturesque. In front, the shores of Portland and +Minnesota rise in beautiful grandeur, and the bay and harbor, although +imperfect, are richly wooded and very graceful; while, all the way +thither, from La Pointe, the lake's waters, lying among the mountains, +shadowed by their heavy foliage, remind one much of the scenery of the +Lower Danube. This <i>ghost of a city</i> had not much left of interest, and +we passed our day in arranging for the journey across the country +southward to St. Paul.</p> + +<p>And here we found ourselves really <i>pioneers</i>. No road or transport was +alleged to exist. We persevered. Indians and trappers beset us with +their projects of tracking and portage by the St. Croix and other +rivers, requiring a camp life with strange companions of nearly a month +to accomplish the distance of only one hundred and sixty-three miles, +equivalent to that of Albany from New York. A military road direct +through the wilderness had been often surveyed, and once cut through, of +about eighty feet width, to near Sunrise City, fifty miles from St. +Paul; at which point the dense forest spreads into oak openings and +beautiful prairies. This single cutting, long overgrown in lofty pines, +with the frequent surveys and contracts, from the year 1852 to 1857, had +cost the United States Government, for this distance of about one +hundred and twelve miles, $150,000; and no actual road had ever yet been +made. Fortunately for our enterprise, we met a gentleman who had just +groped through safely on horseback. We were reassured, and engaged the +only available wagon and team—a small, frail affair, devoid of cover, +seats, or springs; and, with ample provisions, perched upon our luggage, +we rolled out of Superior City that evening, and, passing its +significantly large cemetery, we at once entered the forest. These woods +are chiefly of pine, cedar, tamarack, or hemlock, gigantic in size, a +dreary solitude, unvisited by any bird or game, save an occasional hawk +or owl. They are but the southern outposts of that forest army which +begirds Hudson's Bay, and spreads its gloomy barrier of the same trees +around the dominions of the Ice King, while it is the only forest to be +met with in all the Mississippi Valley.</p> + +<p>The width of about eighty feet—that theoretical road for which the +United States had paid so often and so well—was seen between the +mightiest sentinel trees; but in the midst had sprung up a fresh growth, +often nearly one hundred feet high, surrounded by huge stumps, and heavy +undergrowth of the renewing forest, varied with hopeless mudholes and +swamps, and only at intervals of about twenty miles was there any +habitation.</p> + +<p>Such was the <i>great military road</i>. Perhaps its progress equalled the +actual wants of this region; for population had not yet crowded any of +the forest borders. It was then by the adjoining townships, under State +laws, feebly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> commencing to be really made as a road; and frequently we +halted at the camps of these hardy sons of toil. Our first twenty-one +miles to Twin Lakes, at the best speed, with good horses, occupied eight +hours, three of which, in the middle of the night, were passed under +deluging rain accompanied by thunder and lightning of the most appalling +grandeur, thumping in the shelterless wagon over stumps and bogholes +through the dreary woods.</p> + +<p>Twin Lakes—or the isthmus between two small lakes, in the depths of the +forest—is a solitary log house and stable. Its proprietor and our +landlord for the night's shelter was, I believe, named John Smith. With +his family he had lived there, keeping this <i>hotel</i> for some years, +owning <i>several lots</i> in the paper <i>City of Twin Lakes</i>, rich in the +anticipated tide of gain to flow from the crowded thoroughfare of the +great military road.</p> + +<p>Happy man! we were the first party <i>on wheels</i> that had yet essayed the +road. Perhaps his posterity, by patience, may win their reward.</p> + +<p>Our rain deluge, with sheeted lightning and pealing thunder, was +ceaseless throughout the night. Its echoes amid the forest solitudes +were awful; and our fitful sleep was varied by the rain dripping between +the logs of our shelter.</p> + +<p>However, morning came at last, bright, clear, and calm; and early we +resumed our wagon and way-picking among the familiar logs and stumps, +contesting as for life with legions of mosquitoes, sandflies, etc. And +thus we made thirty miles farther (halting at a camp for dinner) to the +<i>City of Chengwatana</i>, which is so named on the large and beautiful map +thereof, prepared in New York. It is laid out in Broadways, Fifth +Avenues, Lydig Avenue, and, I believe, Daly Square, so named from J. +Daly, of New York, with parks, colleges, etc., etc., adequate for a +million of inhabitants. This fine imaginary picture proved unavailing to +sell the land. It still remains a swamp bordering Snake River, in the +bosom of the wilderness; and its entire population was only one German +and his family—really indefinite in number of children—and two log +houses, between which he vibrated at pleasure.</p> + +<p>Our arrival was in another violent rain, lasting far into the night; but +we considered ourselves, by this time, road and water proof. On the +river shore, by the red glare of the fire light a wigwam and some +Indians were visible; and frequently we heard their rifle shots. To our +surprise, in the morning, instead of deer, they brought in a large +basket of lake trout, each pierced through the head with a bullet when +approaching the fire light.</p> + +<p>Morning found us early on our hard way to the famed <i>City of Fortuna</i>, +whose picture displayed a similar origin and imagination, and its +reality was even more doleful.</p> + +<p>Fortuna City, on Kettle River, in the woods, contained three log cabins, +and no inhabitants. A boy came hither, perhaps from Superior, the day +before, to meet our party. After repelling some furious charges of the +mosquito cavalry, who displayed their vigor after long starving, we gave +up the contest, and attempted sleep.</p> + +<p>To our log cabin had come that day several engineers, who formed a +surveying party for another railroad project, passing through this +forest from St. Paul, whence they had started a month before with an +ample wagon train. The Indians had murdered the drivers and captured the +wagons with their entire property; and in their destitution they sought +this only shelter. We took them forward with us into St. Paul, and were +greatly indebted for their intelligent society and kind attentions.</p> + +<p>Fortuna City had one peculiar interest to us; it was the <i>last halt</i> and +lodging in the forest. Our next day's ride—if such it may be +called—brought us to the oak openings at Folsom's, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> clearing on the +southern skirt of this wilderness, and shortly after to Sunrise City.</p> + +<p>Our forest journey to-day was varied by the utter collapse of the wagon +in a vain charge upon an obstinate stump; and perforce we walked for +miles, till reaching a camp of the road workers on the farther bank of +Grindstone River, we joyfully forded and found shelter from the noontide +heat and mosquitoes; while the German sutler, who alone remained, busied +himself in his primitive <i>al fresco</i> cookery, which we enjoyed, and +then, exchanging to another wagon, hastened on to our destination.</p> + +<p>The oak openings—those grand parklike expanses and rolls of land, with +stately groups of giant oaks—far surpassing all culture of man, set out +by the Creator on such a noble forest background, never looked more +majestic and beautiful. They were vocal with singing birds, and filled +with life; at their foot thronged the grouse or prairie chicken, darting +through the high flowering grasses (richer than all garden flowers) in +such numbers that but a few feet from our wheels we shot them in great +abundance.</p> + +<p><i>Sunrise City</i>—a village but of yesterday (public lands, for sale by +proclamation, adjoining)—is beautifully placed on Sunrise River, and +might have then contained about five hundred inhabitants, whose neat +white cottages and pleasant streets, bordering a romantic river and +bridge, made a picture not unlike the scenery of Warwickshire, England.</p> + +<p>We reached here—fifty miles still north of St. Paul—to pass the first +night of our ride in a comfortable dwelling.</p> + +<p>Many a fine farm, just cleared and broken, attracted us here, and hence +along the prairie road into St. Paul, where we arrived at the close of +the following day, which proved to be, as we kept no calendar, Thursday, +the 9th of August.</p> + +<p>Our drive this last day led past numerous linked lakes, with their +borders of the tall Minnesota rice grass in flower, the home of the +canvas back, pelican, and swan. Passing through the village of Little +Canada, we rode on to Minnehaha Prairie along its gentle, verdant slope, +and lapse of shining waters of Twelve Lakes, graced with the names of +Como, Garda, etc., and adorned with many a pretty boat and sail. A few +miles further brought us to the upper terrace of beautiful St. Paul.</p> + +<p>As pioneers of this wilderness route, we met with marked attention from +all, and passed some agreeable days at St. Paul, Fort Snelling, +Minneapolis, St. Anthony, and their numerous points of interest. Our +homeward route was by the Mississippi River to Prairie du Chien, where +old Fort Crawford, then a mere tenement, commands the confluence of the +Wisconsin River with the Father of Waters. This sail of three hundred +miles consumed forty-eight hours.</p> + +<p>The river banks recede and advance in lake-like expanses along its +winding course, and their richly wooded heights, crowned with red +sandstone, resemble the ruined Rhine castles. The sail through Lake +Pepin, and between the States of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, was +varied by frequent and thriving towns and villages.</p> + +<p>From Prairie du Chien—a picture of straggling despair—by the Milwaukie +and Prairie du Chien Railroad, and the Northwestern Railroad, two +hundred and twenty-two miles, we reached Chicago, and passed through a +crowd of beautiful towns, in a State scarce a generation since reclaimed +from the Indians. Familiar railroads transported us from Chicago to +Detroit, Niagara, Albany, and New York.</p> + +<p>Our whole distance of travel in three weeks was thirty-four hundred and +forty-one miles. It was brief, but spiced with adventure, and over a +field of vast interest, present and future.</p> + +<p>Our beautiful country, made one and indivisible by the great and good +Author of its existence, through its mighty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> natural features, has, +among its chief grandeurs, this water system of the great northern +lakes, the frontier of the ever-progressive and patriotic West and +North. In dimensions, sublimity, and beauty, by the consent of all, it +is without parallel on earth.</p> + +<p>A volume of the purest fresh water is gathered in Lake Superior, without +visible, adequate supply, to a depth of one thousand feet, with a length +of near five hundred miles, and average breadth of one hundred and sixty +miles, on a bottom lifted six hundred feet above sea level.</p> + +<p>This incalculable mass of water moves its limpid wave through the Saut +Sainte Marie into its twin seas, Lakes Michigan and Huron, then by St. +Clair and Detroit Rivers is poured through Lake Erie, ever gradually +descending, till, at great Niagara, 'The Thunder of the Waters,' it +tosses in fury along its rapids, leaps the cataract in glory, at a rate +of one hundred millions of tons of water the hour, and then sweeps away +into Lake Ontario, to form that northern Mississippi, the River St. +Lawrence, which, for over one thousand miles, holds on its ever +increasing and widening current, in majesty to the broad Atlantic. By +the canals at the Falls and Saut Sainte Marie, direct and continuous +ship and steam navigation for sea-going vessels from the Atlantic to +Superior City, the extreme Northwest, or Chicago on the Southwest, over +three thousand miles through the heart of the continent, is open, while +the American coast line along these great waters, exceeds thirty-two +hundred miles. Complete in itself, the source of life, health, fine +climate, fertility, wealth, and countless blessings to all its shores +and valleys, it is divided by lofty barriers from all the other chief +water systems of the United States. The Mississippi rises in the +highlands of Minnesota at Lake Itasca, more than one hundred miles west +of Lake Superior, and gathers in its course all the rivers of its +valley. Still loftier mountains separate the sources of the Hudson and +Connecticut, and the other rivers of the Atlantic slope.</p> + +<p>Blessed with soil and climate unsurpassed, and a Government the nearest +to perfection, this region, watered by a mighty inland ocean, is already +the chief granary of the world, as well as its great mineral store, +although its railway system is not yet extended to its utmost limits; +and beyond Michigan it is scarce thirty years since the Americans gained +a settlement in its borders.</p> + +<p>The greatness of ancient Europe, Asia, and Africa gathered along the +shores and harbors of the Mediterranean; all beyond was barbarism, bound +to the sovereigns of the Midland Sea only by terror of arms. Even to +this day, the laws and literature of those master nations are yet +dominant in all the learning and social polity of Europe. This great +northern water system is geographically the Mediterranean of the North +American continent, and Minnesota, the actual centre, is its <i>omphalos</i>.</p> + +<p>The geographical centre of North America in the heart of Minnesota is +also the pinnacle of its watershed—the central source of the majestic +rivers whose vast basins determine the physical contour, climates, +products, commerce, industry, and political destiny of two-fifths of the +whole continent.</p> + +<p>With such a theatre for development, the future of this great area, in +near grasp, surpasses conception. Egypt, with it endless renown, +dwindles into insignificance in comparison. The paramount supremacy of +any nation depends wholly on its utility to the rest of mankind.</p> + +<p>The warrior nation yields in turn to a stronger foe, while all alike are +willing tributaries to the natural arbiter of commerce and source of +food supply. Wars, by the laws of Providence, attend the convulsions of +national change and growth; but all alike ever welcome the white-winged +doves of commerce as the ministers and messengers of national glory and +prosperity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ENGLISH_AND_AMERICAN_TAXATION" id="ENGLISH_AND_AMERICAN_TAXATION"></a>ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TAXATION.</h2> + + +<p>There have been few more striking circumstances connected with the +transcendent changes which have taken place in this country during the +past three years than the steady verification, amid every change, of +those great principles of political economy which, during the past half +century, have been the practical guides of European legislation. In +fact, under the pressure of war we are slowly coming to realize our +fellowship with the communities of the Old World in the laws of social +change. Step by step the nation is now passing through all the changes +in its internal and domestic condition that took place in Great Britain +in the wars with Napoleon. Struck with the novelty and apparent +anomalies of our condition, we have been inclined to feel that it was +without parallels in history. But in that period of English history +which beheld a suspension of specie payment protracted twenty years, an +enormous expansion of the currency—the appreciation of gold—a rise in +prices unparalleled in any country—a wild spirit of speculation—and, +with all, an appearance of astonishing prosperity in the midst of a most +exhausting war, we see the reflection of our own condition, and find the +lessons by which we should be governed. We have now, for the first time, +become a people conscious of taxation. It is clear that the burdens of +the future must be still greater than anything we have yet borne in the +past. The questions as to the best modes of taxation have already begun +to call forth the anxious deliberation of the nation. The question is +asked by some if we have not already reached that limit where taxation +ceases to be a contribution from the surplus of society, and beyond +which it will become a draught on the vital, productive energies of the +country. It cannot be unprofitable, at such a time, to examine the +history of English taxation in the great periods of similar trial +through which that nation has passed.</p> + +<p>The great rebellion marks the era of the adoption of a regular system of +taxation in Great Britain. 'From a period of immemorial antiquity,' says +Macaulay, 'it had been the practice of every English Government to +contract debts; what the Revolution introduced was the practice of +honestly paying them.'</p> + +<p>The change is significant of the triumph of the people. It was found, on +the breaking out of the rebellion, that not even an army of Puritans +could be sustained without money. The plan of weekly assessments was at +first adopted. It was unequal and frequently oppressive. In 1643 it was +proposed, in the republican Parliament, to place a tax on the +manufacture of beer and cider. The proposition was not at first +favorably received. That solemn body had no objection to checking the +abominations of beer drinking, but it hesitated to inaugurate a species +of taxation which seemed to infringe upon some of the most cherished +rights of Englishmen. After much discussion the bill was carried, though +with the express declaration that it was compelled by the necessities of +the state, and should not be renewed. The tax was soon found too +convenient to be dispensed with. In spite of the good resolutions of +Parliament, the act was again and again renewed. As the necessities of +the state increased, the list of articles was enlarged, and the rate of +duty gradually augmented. Thus the excise was introduced to the English +people, and thus, almost before they had ceased to look upon it as an +intruder, it had acquired a foothold in the budget, from which it has +never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> since been possible to shake it. The burden of the excise at this +period, however, was not oppressive. During the Commonwealth and the +reign of Charles II. a tax, which has since produced to the state an +annual income of $90,000,000, did not probably average more than +£500,000. It gives us a singular picture of the simplicity of that +period that even this small sum made up one third of the whole royal +revenue for the year. The other two thirds were drawn in about equal +proportions from the customs and crown lands.</p> + +<p>We now approach one of the most important eras in the financial history +of England. The nation was yet unaccustomed to taxation, and was weighed +down by no national debt. In the Revolution of 1688, and the events that +grew immediately out of it, we find, however, the origin of nearly every +species of tax now in use in Great Britain. In the same agitated period +we find also the beginning of the national debt. Louis XIV. espoused the +cause of James, and England entered upon a war with France. In a +conflict with the greatest monarchy of Europe, the Government soon found +itself forced to adopt a scale of national expenditure which the +preceding generation would not have conceived possible. At once, as in a +night, a harvest of strange taxes sprang up on every hand. The list of +excisable articles was increased. The tax on houses and windows, that +had been so unpopular in the preceding reign, was again introduced, and +a new appraisement was made of all the real estate in the kingdom. A +degenerate age might take exceptions to some of the other taxes now +instituted. An act was passed placing a tax upon bachelors and widowers, +fixing, at the same time, 'certain rules and duties on marriages, +births, and burials, for the term of five years, for the carrying on the +war against France with vigor.' Men were not even permitted to enjoy the +subtile luxury derived from having a title attached to the name without +taxation. Persons of the present day, wishing to know the relative value +of the titles, will be interested in the following law, passed at this +time:</p> + + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="Value of a title"> +<tr><td align='left'>Every person bearing the title of</td><td align='left'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>esquire, or reputed, or owning, or</td><td align='left'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>writing himself such, shall pay</td><td align='right'>£5</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Every gentleman, or reputed gentleman,</td><td align='left'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>or owning himself such,</td><td align='left'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>shall pay</td><td align='right'>£1</td></tr> +</table> + + +<p>These, however, were by no means the most burdensome forms of taxation. +A man would willingly pay for the distinction of writing himself an +esquire, who would grumble with dissatisfaction at the duty on his salt. +But to meet the increasing expense of the state, and 'carrying on the +war with vigor in France and Ireland' (the propitiating clause with +which nearly all the acts of taxation of the period close), the most +minute articles, both of necessity and luxury, were required to bear a +portion of the common burden. The nation bore its unaccustomed load with +singular patience. A license duty on hackney coaches, imposed in 1693, +called forth, however, opposition from an unexpected quarter. The +outraged wives of the hackmen assembled, and, to express their +indignation at the tax, mobbed the offending members of Parliament on +their way from the House. It should be mentioned, as showing the +intrepidity of that body, or, more probably, the great necessities of +the state, that the tax remained unchanged. In spite of all these taxes, +the greatest difficulty was experienced in procuring funds to carry on +the war. A general lack of confidence in the stability of the Government +prevented men from taking up readily the loans which the Government was +forced to call for. Various expedients were adopted to attract the +cupidity of capitalists. Among these the most successful was the custom +of receiving loans upon tontines. This was a species of annuity. Twenty +or thirty persons united in the purchase from Govern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span>ment of an annuity +upon the joint lives of their whole number. At the death of each his +share went to those who remained, and was distributed equally among +them. The final survivor took the whole annuity. No inducements, +however, were sufficient to overcome the popular distrust. The national +debt had already begun to accumulate. Exchequer bills sold on the street +at forty per cent. discount; while, at the same time, a wild spirit of +speculation and adventure, such as is too apt to be produced by the +unnatural excitements of a state of war, had seized upon the popular +mind, and threatened, in its reaction, to bring the whole nation to +ruin.</p> + +<p>It was at this time of excitement and danger that the National Bank was +established. It was not at first favorably received. But the effect of +its steadying influence soon began to be felt in the whole financial +condition of the state. It even checked for a time the frenzied spirit +of stock jobbing, which was absorbing the strength of the nation, and +with which a few years later, when the whole country ran wild with the +South Sea Bubble, it was so nearly involved in a mortal struggle. Under +the influence of the Bank, the business of the nation gradually acquired +an evenness and stability which was unknown to any former age.</p> + +<p>But while the establishment of this National Bank supplied the +Government with a ready and economical method of procuring funds, it did +not do away with the necessity of taxes. A new form of taxation was now +furnished by the Dutch. This small and ingenious people, in the defence +of their liberty, had been early forced into extraordinary expenditures, +and were in advance of every other nation in the perfection of their +system of taxation. The English Parliament had, in the preceding age, +borrowed from them the excise. They now took from the same source the +idea of stamp duties. This species of tax had been invented in a +competition for a prize offered by the Dutch Government for the +discovery of a new form of tax, which should press lightly on the +people, and, at the same time, produce a large revenue to the state. +Stamps were introduced in England in the year 1693. The nation was now +in possession of the four most important methods of taxation: customs, +excise, licenses, and stamps. The first had existed in the island from a +period of immemorial antiquity. The second was introduced by the Great +Rebellion. The third and fourth came in with the wars attendant upon the +accession of William and Mary.</p> + +<p>Of these different forms it may be said, that the second is most +obnoxious to the people, and the third most unequal. We should add, +perhaps, to this list the land tax, which, founded on the new assessment +made by William, became from this time a regular source of revenue. In +this period, we see, was laid the foundation of the whole system of +taxation now in use in this country and in Great Britain. The hundred +years that followed produced no new species of tax. The five forms which +we have mentioned, however, were diligently cultivated. In the nine +years which immediately followed the accession of William and Mary, +about forty distinct acts of taxation were passed by Parliament. Still +it was impossible for a nation counting less than six million +inhabitants to pay the expenses of a vast and protracted war by +immediate taxation. In 1697 a debt existed of about one hundred million +dollars. This is the foundation of that national debt which, with +trifling exceptions, has been constantly increasing for more than two +centuries, and which now occupies a position of influence not second to +that of the throne itself. The importance of the Bank increased with the +growth of the debt, and the effects of their combined influence appeared +on every hand. They were the national pledges for the stability of the +Government.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span></p> + +<p>Every fresh rumor of preparation on the part of the exiled Stuarts to +enter England, filled the people with alarm for the safety of the Bank. +And when, in 1745, Charles Edward landed in Scotland, and made his +romantic advance into the kingdom, an enormous run was begun on the +Bank. It was prevented from doing harm only by the patriotism of the +London merchants. In this brief rebellion the people realized the +important financial interest which each citizen had acquired in the +permanency of the existing Government and the stability of the reigning +house.</p> + +<p>At first Parliament had proceeded in the imposition of its taxes on the +principle that a tax, to be equitable and easy, should be distributed +over a great variety of articles. It was argued that a man would pay a +small duty on a large number of things with less inconvenience and +consciousness of burden than if the same tax was levied upon a few +prominent articles. The pettiness of the tax would keep him in a kind of +deception as to the total amount he was paying, which not even the +frequency with which he was called upon to pay it would entirely remove. +This theory, together with a condition of state in which the wants of +Government were constantly increasing, produced, in the time of William +and Mary, a constant multiplication of petty taxes. In the early part of +the following reign many of these were consolidated in separate funds, +which were designated to pay specific parts of the national debt.</p> + +<p>But the number of articles subject to taxation was not reduced. The +restlessness of the people under the numerous exactions of the excise +soon, however, suggested the necessity of a change. Government now +passed to one of those extremes which were only too common in an age +when political economy had not yet risen into a science, and legislation +was only an art of shifts and expedients. In 1736 a tax of five dollars +upon the gallon was imposed on all English-made spirits, with a +corresponding protective tariff on those of foreign manufacture. The +result of this extraordinary tax proved the folly of its originators. It +failed as a source of revenue, and, so far from removing these articles +beyond the reach of the poor, which had been one of the designs of the +bill, it was estimated that the business of smuggling was so stimulated +by the enormous bounty offered upon its labors, that the amount of +spirits consumed in the kingdom during the existence of this tax was not +sensibly diminished. After a short trial the tax was removed.</p> + +<p>The work of reducing the list of excisable articles was nevertheless +begun, and from this time it went slowly, and, except as interrupted by +extraordinary demands upon the state, steadily forward. Stamps, however, +were governed by a different law. Its inoffensiveness, the economy of +its mode of collection, together with its ready availability, caused +this species of tax to be brought into more and more extensive use. In +fact, a constant increase of taxation in some form had become necessary +in order to meet the increasing expenses of the state. After the close +of the war in 1697, strong efforts were made to pay off the national +debt, the rising greatness of which filled all classes with alarm. No +corresponding efforts since have been rewarded with similar results. In +the brief period of peace that followed, the national debt was reduced +one fifth. Four expensive wars, following each other in rapid +succession, overwhelmed the petty labors of the sinking fund, put an end +to the work of diminution, and left the nation, at the beginning of the +war with her colonies in this country, oppressed with a debt of +$600,000,000. It came out from this struggle with $500,000,000 added to +the burden of the state. This point of time may be fixed as the close of +the second epoch. A new class of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> changes now begin, which have had, if +possible, a greater influence on the financial condition of England, as +it exists at the present, than those we have already described.</p> + +<p>In 1793, notwithstanding its enormous debt, the country boldly entered +upon its great conflict with France. It is impossible to look without +admiration upon the obstinate energy displayed by the English nation +during this conflict, which lasted, with slight intermissions, for more +than twenty years, and by which the annual tax was quadrupled, and the +national debt increased beyond a chance of final extinction. In the +astonishing revolution which it wrought in the financial condition of +the state, as well as in much of the social phenomena with which it was +accompanied, this conflict strongly resembles that in which the States +of the North are engaged against the South. The first effects of the war +appeared in the tax system.</p> + +<p>Great changes had taken place in Great Britain since the time of the +introduction of a regular system of taxation in 1688. Land was no longer +the most important source of income to the citizen. Profits from other +sources had sprung up. Commerce had discovered the riches of the Eastern +trade, and manufactures, stimulated by new inventions, had begun to +assume an importance and exert an influence which already threatened to +revolutionize the whole condition of society. Unconsciously to itself, +the nation had reached a point where any large increase in the demands +of the state must produce a new species of taxation. The war with France +supplied the impulse required. In 1797, Government attempted to meet the +extraordinary expenses of the year by tripling the tax on houses and +windows, etc. The experiment failed. It was found that these taxes, +which had been the 'towers of strength' of a preceding generation, could +no longer be relied on in the changed circumstances that had been +brought about by time.</p> + +<p>It was in many respects one of the darkest periods in English history. +The Austrian armies, exhausted by repeated defeats, hoped only to be +able to defend themselves if attacked. Spain and the Netherlands had +joined themselves to France. Against the power of Napoleon England stood +up alone. At this critical juncture, a mutiny broke out in the English +navy. The whole fleet in the channel refused to do duty. The fleet at +the Nore, catching the spirit of revolt, also raised the red flag. The +doctrines of the French Revolution were sedulously scattered throughout +the kingdom, and in several counties of Ireland actual uprisings had +taken place. Added to these were financial difficulties. The enormous +outlays demanded for the prosecution of the war were very naturally +weakening the public confidence in the final ability of the Government +to pay the extravagant sums it was obliged to borrow. Under the +influence of the distrust thus engendered stocks fell. Three per cents., +which had sold at 98, went down to 53. Many of the loans effected by the +Government at this time and during the war were made with a discount of +forty per cent. on the nominal value of the stock. Gold was scarce, and +rapidly rising. The pressure on the Bank for redemption was greater than +it had been since the rebellion of 1745, and threatened, unless +corrective measures were at once adopted, to bring that institution to +actual bankruptcy.</p> + +<p>The undaunted courage and resolution of the Government, in the midst of +this accumulation of difficulties, saved the country. The writ of habeas +corpus was suspended. By an admirable mingling of firmness and +conciliation the mutiny was quelled in the navy without serious +consequences resulting to the state. To meet the financial difficulties, +an act was passed by Parliament permitting the Bank to suspend specie +payment—thus delivering the country, for a period of more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> than twenty +years, over to a wholly inconvertible paper currency. From these strong +measures the enemies of the country anticipated the most disastrous +results. They were, however, doomed to disappointment. Even Napoleon at +length grew weary of prophesying the bankruptcy of a nation which every +year, from this time, gave more and more effective proofs of the +stability of its finances. It was the singular fortune of Great Britain +to have at the head of its finances, at this juncture, a man, who in a +different sphere, exhibited a spirit scarcely less bold, indomitable, +and comprehensive than that of the First Consul himself. This man was +Mr. Pitt. The finances of Great Britain, even at the present day, bear +witness to the extraordinary changes instituted by this statesman. The +tax on houses, windows, etc., had failed. In 1798, Mr. Pitt, with a +characteristic fertility of invention, brought forward a bill laying a +tax on incomes. By this bill, which is the foundation of all those that +have since followed, no tax was imposed on incomes that were less than +$300; on incomes above this sum a small tax was laid, which gradually +increased until it became one tenth of all incomes over $1,000. The +income tax was designed by Mr. Pitt to be simply a war tax. According to +his plan the interest upon the national debt, which he kept funded as +far as possible, was to be provided for solely from the indirect taxes, +leaving the direct tax to meet the extraordinary expenses of the war. +The most original feature of the financial system instituted by this +statesman, however, was the sinking fund. To prevent the rapid +accumulation of the national debt, Mr. Pitt, even before the breaking +out of the war with France, had obtained from Parliament permission to +set aside six million dollars, with an addition, afterward made, of one +per cent. of all the loans made by Government, as a fund to be expended +in the purchase of Government stock. The rapid growth of this fund from +the constant compounding of interest would, he declared, be sufficient, +ultimately, to consume the entire debt of the state. The result seemed +to justify his prediction. Constantly in the market, the sinking fund +saved the state, by its timely purchases many times during the war, from +the disastrous depreciation to which the public stock was liable at +every unfavorable turn of the conflict. In 1815, so enormous had been +the financial transactions of the state that this fund amounted to about +$75,000,000.</p> + +<p>In 1802 the income tax was discontinued; and, in the following year, was +renewed under the name of the property tax. The expenses of the state +continued to rise, and it became necessary that this tax should be +largely increased. During the last ten years of the war the property tax +required ten per cent. of all the incomes of the kingdom—with a few +exceptions—to be paid into the national treasury every year. Never +before had such a burden been laid on Englishmen. All classes groaned +under the exactions of a tax every penny of which they were made +conscious of by direct collection. In comparison with the property tax +all other burdens seemed easy. It is now clear, however, that the nation +could never have passed successfully through the great struggle in which +it was engaged without the assistance of the tax upon incomes. It stood +next in order of productiveness to the excise. In the year 1815 the +property tax produced seventy-five millions of dollars. Still the people +remembered with pleasure that the word of Parliament had been given that +it should not continue longer than the return of peace. The time was +eagerly looked forward to when that promise should be redeemed. Early in +1816 the question of the continuance of the tax came up before +Parliament. A strong party, impressed with the importance of diminishing +the national debt, advocated its continuance. Every night, for two +months,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> the subject was anxiously discussed. The motion for its +abolition was at last carried. The vast crowd which had assembled +without the Parliament House to await the result, caught the sound of +cheering in the chamber, and, receiving it as a signal of success, rent +the air with shouts of joy. The enthusiasm spread with the news. Bells +were rung as for a great victory, and bonfires in all parts of the +kingdom proclaimed the joy of the nation at its release from what was +regarded the moat oppressive burden of the war. Twenty-five years later +the income tax was again revived.</p> + +<p>The national debt at the close of the war with France amounted to a +little more than $424,000,000,000. Of this, $300,000,000,000 had been +added by the war. During the last years of the contest the annual +expenditures of the state were $585,000,000. The population of the +island was at this time 13,400,000, from which $360,000,000 was annually +collected in taxes. It is important to notice the condition of the +people during this epoch. For nearly twenty years the country had been +under the uncontrolled influence of a paper currency. It had been a +period of remarkable prosperity, coupled with unparalleled changes. And +here we find many points of resemblance with the present condition of +our own country. The rapidly expanding currency, the enormous demands of +the war, and the spirit of speculation engendered by the sharp +alternations of hope and fear, and the extraordinary fluctuations of the +markets had stimulated in every branch of business a preternatural +activity. Manufactures, which the beginning of the war had found just +rising into prominence, rapidly developed in an age of financial +profusion. No such progress had ever been made in a corresponding +period. Exports were doubled. The shipping rose from one to two and a +half million tons. The whole nation exhibited the singular spectacle of +a country constantly advancing in wealth and prosperity in the midst of +one of the most exhaustive wars that the world has ever seen.</p> + +<p>To this, however, there was apparently, at least, one exception. Prices +rose steadily from the beginning of the war. This was true not merely of +unimportant articles, or those which, by the exercise of a more severe +economy, could be in part dispensed with. The cost of the necessaries of +life doubled. Wheat rose from forty-nine shillings per quarter in 1797 +to one hundred and forty shillings in 1813; while the beef which was +sold in Smithfield market, at the beginning of the war, at three +shillings per stone, constantly advanced in price, until the same +quantity in 1814 could only be bought for six shillings. Malt, coal, +wages—everything rose proportionately. Few questions have been the +subject of more discussion than the cause of this remarkable rise of +prices. Two diverse explanations have been given, each put forth by men +whose habits of thought and opportunities for observation qualify them +to speak on the subject with authority. One large party attribute the +rise of prices that took place at this period, entirely to the influence +of the suspension of specie payment by the Bank, which, as they say, +flooded the country with an inflated and depreciated paper currency, and +thus necessitated a corresponding rise in the price of the articles +given in exchange for it. So strongly does this reasoning commend itself +to the minds of those familiar with the first principles of political +economy, that it has been very generally accepted. And it is worthy of +notice that these are almost the only arguments which can be heard in +explanation of the similar rise of prices now going on in this country. +A more subtile but very important class of influences were brought to +notice by another party, under the able leadership of Mr. Tooke. By +these the rise of prices is, to a large degree, attributed to the +excited spirit of speculation pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>duced by the war, which, as they show, +twice during this period brought the country to the brink of ruin. In +favor of this explanation it may be further said that the fall of prices +began immediately on the close of the war, and at no time was greater +than in 1817, two years before the resumption of specie payment by the +Bank. In 1819 the Bank of England resumed the payment of specie. Gold, +which had been at one time at a premium of twenty-five per cent., now +fell rapidly, and in 1821 was again at par.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to say which has exerted the largest influence on the +finances of Great Britain—the Revolution of 1688, or the wars with +France in the beginning of this century. The first gave to England its +system of taxation, but the last developed the capabilities of that +system, and adapted it to the wants of a growing and commercial people.</p> + +<p>The nation came out of its long conflict with taxes pressing upon nearly +every important branch of industry. In the sixteen years that followed +the war with France, taxes to the amount of nearly $200,000,000, were +taken off from the country. These changes gave opportunities for many +important reforms. While the national debt was slowly reduced, the tax +system underwent great changes. Many taxes which had checked the growth +of important branches of business were entirely removed. Efforts were +made to reduce the excise, which was always an unpopular form of +taxation. In carrying forward these changes, it was found that one +really productive tax might be made to take the place of a large number +of small duties which pressed with peculiar severity upon the people. +Government now turned longingly to that 'splendid source of revenue,' as +it was aptly called, which it had so reluctantly relinquished in 1816. +In 1842, Sir Robert Peel suddenly brought forward a plan for a new tax +upon incomes. It was at once adopted. This income tax differed, however, +in many important particulars, from the one which the Government had +been compelled to make use of in the wars with France. By it incomes +under $750 were exempt. A discrimination of very great importance was +also made, which has been the occasion since for much refined +discussion, and is founded in sound reason, but which has hitherto been +wholly overlooked in the legislation in this country. A discrimination +was made between salaries and the incomes divided from realized capital. +Taxable incomes, partaking of the nature of a salary, and upon which a +tax would have the character of a duty on capital, were required by the +provisions of this new act to pay only one half as much as those incomes +which arose from, and would be therefore added to, wealth already +acquired.</p> + +<p>The income, or property tax, as it is now called, completes the system +of taxation which is now relied upon to supply the varying but always +enormous wants of Great Britain. Through these various sources during +the past year the English Government has collected an income of three +hundred and fifty million dollars—about the same it obtained through +the same channels from a population of thirteen million inhabitants in +the closing years of the war with Napoleon. With the same system of +taxation, our own Government has, during the past year, obtained an +income of one hundred and eleven million dollars. If we examine +particularly the sources of the English revenue at these two epochs, and +compare them with the corresponding branches of taxation with us, we +find that in the year closing in 1815, the receipts from customs +amounted to about fifty-six million dollars—a sum, it will be noticed, +considerably less than that drawn from the same source in this country +for the past year, but only about half the amount derived from customs +in Great Britain in the year ending September, 1863. From the property +tax was obtained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> about seventy-five million dollars—the modified form +of this tax now in use in Great Britain produces about fifty million +dollars per annum. Either of these sums is probably much larger than it +would be advisable to attempt to produce by a direct tax in this +country. Stamps, in 1815, yielded an income of thirty million dollars. +During the past year this simple and productive source of revenue +produced in Great Britain forty-five million dollars. It seems probable +that this species of tax might be extended in this country much farther +than it now is, without oppression to the people, and with a handsome +increase of the revenue.</p> + +<p>But the excise has ever been the most productive fountain of revenue in +Great Britain. The income from this tax in that country, during the year +ending September, 1863, was eighty-four million dollars. In the year +1815, when, on account of the smaller population, the other sources of +revenue were less productive than at the present day, the excise yielded +an income of not less than a hundred and thirty-five million dollars. It +is worthy of notice that, of this income, the tax upon the various forms +of spirituous liquors supplied a large element. English spirits, which, +in the experiment of 1736, it had been found could not carry a tax of +five dollars per gallon, it was now found easily bore the more moderate +but still large tax of ten shillings sixpence sterling. Aside from this +tax was the duty on beer, cider, and malt, the last of which alone +yielded an income of thirteen million dollars annually.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>We have lingered on these details, which to many will be dry and +uninteresting, because they supply a kind of guide to the changes which +must ultimately take place in the tax laws of this country, and because, +further, they furnish an answer to all those objections which +periodically disturb the minds of the timid and doubtfully patriotic in +our midst. But these lessons we must leave the reader to extract for +himself. We close simply with saying that, while excessive and +undiscriminating taxation is always a curse, yet taxation, properly +imposed, although severe and long continued, may be far from +disadvantageous. We have seen the English people slowly arising, through +two centuries, from a nation comparatively free from taxation and +without a national debt, to one bearing an annual tax of three hundred +and fifty million dollars, and holding absorbed in its midst a national +debt of nearly four thousand million dollars. We have seen it during +this period constantly advancing in prosperity and greatness—the +national debt adding stability to the Government, and taxation giving +caution and stability to the transactions of private life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APHORISMS" id="APHORISMS"></a>APHORISMS.</h2> + +<h4>NO. I.</h4> + +<p>One of the most sublime of all facts beneath that of the Divine Being, +appears in the existence of an immortal soul. There it stands—once for +all, once forever. The earth might be wasted away, at the rate of a +single grain in a century, without passing the very infancy of our +spirit's life. How insignificant, in the comparison, a world like our +own, in all its temporal aspects. What the future duration of the earth +may be, we have no means of knowing; but if less than endless, it is of +little moment in the presence of the least capacious human soul.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_LOVE_LUCIFER" id="THE_LOVE_LUCIFER"></a>THE LOVE LUCIFER.</h2> + + +<h4><a name="LUCIFERII" id="LUCIFERII"></a>CHAPTER II.</h4> + +<p>I find myself writing upon matters connected, at least, with, religion, +with the thought of saying something useful—of presenting a valuable +experience, if not a valuable congeries of new ideas. Most readers +deeply interested in religion are, by this time, demanding that I show +my colors—present my creed; otherwise they will shut themselves up from +my influence. As I write, church bells are ringing. I know that many of +those who now assemble to hang with a deathly solemnity upon the lips of +preachers—while death, hell, heaven, eternity, atonement are the +themes—will say: 'He treats lightly the most serious matters: he treads +with dancing pumps on holy ground.' Now I claim to be, above all things, +an earnest, solemn person. Yet do I verily believe that there is a +humorous side to all subjects, that is not ignored by even the loftiest +beings; and that, in a restricted sense, it may be said of all +well-balanced persons, as a philosopher has said of children: 'Because +they are in innocence, therefore they are in peace; and because they are +in peace, therefore all things are with them full of mirth.' It must be +admitted, however, that if the 'orthodox' creed is wholly correct, we +find in the Puritans and their existing imitators the only consistent +Christians. In view of the inevitable damnation of a majority of the +race, they set their faces against all mirth; would eat no pleasant +bread, and wear no beautiful raiment. I followed them to the letter, +till, the 'naked eye' not being wholly blinded, nor the ear deafened by +theologic din, I saw that nature, in all her guises and voices, was +firmly opposed to all such gloomy dogmas.</p> + +<p>In a word, then, as to creed, I find no satisfactory platform save that +of the broadest eclecticism. The motto of the old Greek, 'Know that good +is in all,' is mine. I am aware that the danger accruing from this style +of creed is, that one often gets, in the effort at impartiality, into +the meshes of pantheism; and then your list of gods many and lords many +comprises all the chief divinities, from Brahm and Buddh to Thor; you +priding yourself the while upon the consideration shown for 'local +prejudices' by your not putting Christ at the end of the list. But, +after life-long investigation, I am not ashamed to say, in the words, +though not in the spirit of Emperor Julian, 'Galilean, thou hast +conquered;' with Augustine, 'Let my soul calm itself in Thee; I say, let +the great sea of my soul, that swelleth with waves, calm itself in +Thee;' with De Staël, 'Inconcevable énigme de la vie; que la passion, ni +la douleur, ni le génie ne peuvent découvrir, vous revelerez-vous à la +prière;' with practical Napoleon, 'I know men, and Jesus Christ was not +a man;' with a Chevalier Bunsen and a Beecher, 'Jesus Christ is my God, +without any ifs or buts.' I can assent more decidedly than does +Teuflesdröck, in the 'Everlasting Nay,' to the doctrine of regeneration. +I narrow the whole matter down to these plain facts: Of all religions, +Christianity is best calculated to elevate man's nature; and of all +Christians, they reach the highest spiritual condition who regard Christ +as utterly divine.</p> + +<p>On this other matter that enters so largely into my narrative—the +conjugality of disembodied spirits—I cannot forbear some further +discourse before proceeding historically. The absurd idea is still +prevalent that there is no sex in heaven. Those who retain this notion, +despite the revelations of science concerning the universality of sex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> +throughout creation, cannot reason very candidly. When we find in the +earth positives but no negatives, light but no heat, strength but no +beauty, action but no passivity, wisdom but no love, intellection but no +intuition, reflection but no perception, science but no religion, then, +at last, may we expect to see in the heavens men but no women.</p> + +<p>Take the conjugal element from human creatures, and you have Hamlet +without the ghost. Excepting, perhaps, the religious, it is the most +powerful, prominent, exacting part of our nature. In 'man's unregenerate +state,' at least, the love story is the most interesting book, marriage +the most interesting ceremony, true lovers' dalliance the most +interesting sight. For the beloved, one relinquishes all else—performs +the greatest prodigies. Marriage is the subject most thought of, most +talked about. Around it cluster all the other events of life. Rejoice, +then, O 'romantic' youth and maiden, now in the days of thy youth; for +this flitting romance—so soon interrupted by care and grief, by shop +and kitchen and nursery, by butcher, baker, tailor, milliner, and +cordwainer—is about the most genuine experience you will have in this +world. Therefore, say I, cultivate romance. Devour a goodly number of +the healthier novels. Weep and laugh over them—believing every word. +Amadis de Gaul, even, is a better model than Gradgrind. Adore each the +other sex—positively worship! Both are worshipful (in the 'abstract').</p> + +<p>What healthy-minded person loves not to behold the eye-sparkle of pure +admiration between young man and maid? 'They worship, truly, they know +not what.' In bowing down to their ideal, they bow to the <i>real</i> +human—the purified man or woman of the better land. The recluse is ever +the true prophet and seer, in this as in still higher matters. Your +modest-eyed student, stealing glances of unfeigned admiration at +ordinary maidens, is not such a simpleton as some suppose. His seclusion +has cleared his vision. He sees on through the eons—sees things as they +will or may be—regards the objects of his adoration as he will in the +angelhood. Why will so many decry this admiration?—when they see that, +not till the youth passes the purely romantic age—fourteen to sixteen +or eighteen—and begins to have commonplace thoughts of the other sex, +does mischief arise.</p> + +<p>The idea of eternal conjugality should lighten all faces with hope, and +should have a most conservative influence in society. Those who are not +very well matched, and yet are conscious that the very highest earthly +bliss comes of a right mating, are not content to pass through this life +without enjoying this bliss, if they suppose that it appertains solely +to earth. So, many of them break bounds and bonds. Let these but accept +the idea that conjugality is one of the chief features of the heavenly +life, and they can settle down steadily to the apparent duties of this +sphere, content with 'peace on earth,' since now they feel sure of +rapture in heaven—a rapture, too, mind you, of a kind with which they +are somewhat acquainted. It is all very well to anticipate the fact +which 'eye hath not seen,' etc. But men need the prospect of an eternal +joy they know of, as much as they needed that awe-inspiring Jehovah +should outwork in love-inspiring Christ. In view of this, among other +joys set before him, the extra-earnest worker, in public or private, can +more easily deprive himself of that amount of social intercourse with +the other sex which he craves. Such can suffice themselves with +occasional glances of the complementary portion of mankind; and as they +hurriedly pass seraphic faces in the street, they wave the hand of the +spirit after them, saying: 'I prithee, O thou wonder, art human or no?' +'O you sweet beautiful! 'the king's business requires haste. Providence +has set our lives so far apart we cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> hear each other speak.' But +you will be a woman, and I will be a man, forever. In paradise, I will +read wonderful things in those and other such eyes, and wonder at you +forever. <i>Vale! vale!</i>'</p> + +<p>There is a poet claiming to be of the supernal life—especially of the +supernal conjugal—who has written 'epics' and 'lyrics,' of which I must +honestly say, as Emerson, I believe, once honestly said of some of the +writings of Swedenborg: 'I read them with an unction and an afflatus +quite indescribable.' They lift one to the empyrean like nothing else I +know of outside the Bible. There is such a saintly purity; such a +wondrous, rich, mellow joyousness; such bounding elasticity of spirit; +such an evidently irresistible gush of song in the heart; such broad +catholicity of religion, that, to some, it seems impossible that they +could have been written anywhere but under the perpetual midsummer skies +of paradise. It may show poor taste, but to me, in those regions of the +upper ether wherein Tennyson, Mrs. Browning, and Shelley grow +wing-weary, he soars on strong, free pinion. His 'imaginings,' if such +they are, of immortal life, as much surpass in plausibility and +naturalness those of Milton, Dante, and Virgil, as the acting of a +first-class theatre surpasses that seen in the old monkish 'mysteries.' +This writer, T. L. Harris, has won much recognition in both hemispheres; +would win much more if he appeared simply as a poet, and did not claim a +seer faculty, making many positive statements that cannot be verified. +He certainly comes up to Aristotle's standard, where he says: 'The +object of the poet is not to treat the True as it really happened, but +as it should have happened.'</p> + +<p>And now the story. I left myself indulging in reveries concerning the +expected sight of my invisible charmer. The appointed hour came. I was +quite excited. I knew that the land was already full of people who +claimed to see the sights of the other world as spirits see them, and +fully expected to have my clairvoyant faculty opened. But I saw no +'sudden Ianthe;' and to this day have never seen even a kobold, a +wraith, or a döppelganger! This was doubtless fortunate; for I was +nearly driven into lunacy by the things I <i>heard</i> before I reached the +end of this 'youthful adventure.' I should have gone 'clean daft' if the +bugaboo had been permitted to show me the sights they presently +promised.</p> + +<p>Soon came again my collocutor with explanations.</p> + +<p>'You were in such a state of excitement that the united efforts of more +than forty of your spirit friends were utterly unavailing for the +opening of your sight. We, too, became so excited that we lost all +control of ourselves, and could only weep to hear your mournful appeals +followed by your surrender of all claims upon me.' ... 'Do not think +that I could ever hope to bask beneath the sunshine of your smile after +having intentionally deceived you.'</p> + +<p>Then followed much similar feminine beguilement; the faculty for which +seems to be rather increased by the Jordan bath.</p> + +<p>It began to be a noticeable fact that their magnetic power over me was +such that they could cast me down to the borders of despair, and raise +me thence to rapture at will. Thus a few moments of such ordinary +blandishments as the following were the only apparent means of raising +my usually slow-moving spirits from a very low to a very high pitch. I +was complaining of the waste of paper, in writing words of letters three +or four inches high; did not think any law, even a law of nature, +justified the imposition of such an expenditure upon a spouse in a +separate sphere. 'She' promised to tone down the expressions of +attachment until she could talk as largely as she pleased; and to some +further suggestions, replied:</p> + +<p>'Really, you are quite impertinent,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> considering the short time we have +been married.' ...</p> + +<p>Slightly singular as it may seem to those who think that this narration +is 'all gammon,' I had gone through the usual course of acquaintanceship +with this airy nothing; was first distant and reserved; then slightly +thawed, though still horrified at the thought of having all my thoughts +read; and finally, after I felt that the invisible eyes had read, in my +memory, every page of my history, was perfectly familiar and at ease in +the presence this finite searcher of hearts.</p> + +<p>I find, next in order, the following:</p> + +<p>'So you wish me to <i>prove</i> that we were married, do you? Well, when you +become a denizen of this higher, but none the less practical sphere, you +may read, if you please, where, with wonder and strange emotion, I read, +in the heavenly records of marriages.' ... [It was dated about the time +of my birth.] 'Your banter is not so agreeable as your tenderness.' ... +'You are incorrigible. It will take me many a long age to bring you to a +due sense of my importance,' etc. 'Some of my friends are beside +themselves with mirth, at my vain attempts at taming a spirit so rude.' +Then came another promise of opened vision. 'A truly solemn scene is at +hand. Spend the interval in prayer.'</p> + +<p>But again there was something wrong about the spiritual zinc or acid, +and the electrical machinery would not work. The fair or foul deceiver +(who knows?) came up very solemn after this failure.</p> + +<p>''Though all men forsake thee,' said Peter, 'yet will not I forsake +thee.' So now, when the highest spirits of heaven have fled in terror +and dismay, your poor darling will not forsake you. Well might I sit, +like Job's friends, seven days, ay, seventy times seven, in silent +contemplation of him who—woe is me!—fears that I am but another +Delilah, commissioned by his enemies to betray him into their hands. +What can I say? what do? Oh that I had never seen the glorious light of +the sun or the pure myriads of my happy home, rather than I should have +beheld that sight last night. How can I explain the fact that he, whom +I, at least, believe to be heaven's most supreme (string of adjectives) +favorite, is sitting here with his unutterable but unrepining sorrow +looking forth from his ... eyes.'</p> + +<p>Just here I caught a glimpse of my divinity, and turning in wrath and +scorn to my Titania, said, mockingly:</p> + +<p>"While I thine <i>amiable</i> cheeks do coy!"</p> + +<p>To this she replies: 'Do not heap additional reproaches upon me, by any +such awfully ludicrous quotations.' ... 'So you think that your Delilah +is striving to gain time by all these pious and otherwise interesting +remarks?' ... 'Nay, do not with loathing cast me from you as an an +unholy and hateful thing! for then, oh, what I should then do or be, I +cannot, dare not even think.' ... 'Again you see my woman's heart cannot +suppress its emotions toward one who still hopes that he has been +talking with ——; and who says that, for him to be convinced of +this, is to be convinced that she who has been talking with him has not +intentionally deceived him.'</p> + +<p>She then wrought upon my feelings by portraying her sufferings, until, +in my maudlin condition, I was casting about to find how I should help +her; just as you sometimes see a drunken tramp striving to pull his +drunken pal out of a ditch.</p> + +<p>'So, most self-forgetful, you begin to think that you ought to help me +bear my burden; as you have planned sitting there, with your little +friend encircling you in her so warm embrace. But why should I inform +you of such fact, as this last, until you are convinced that all you +have heard is not the wily utterance of seducing and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> hellish spirits? +Try not to entertain such awful suspicions. As to the cause of these +lamentable failures, I can only suppose that the Lord wishes to make us, +who wrongly prophesied, sensible of our inability to foretell future +events.'</p> + +<p>Then came some bungled Scriptures about my 'mission,' which roused my +ire. My taunts drew forth this response:</p> + +<p>'Why do you love to ridicule my tenderness, and speak so awfully to one +who has no other human source of perfect happiness?'</p> + +<p>The day following, the solemn dodge was again resorted to. I began to +feel a sort of awe creeping over me. My affectionate friend thereupon +wrote:</p> + +<p>'What a change a few minutes have wrought in you. Yes! yes! the morning +light is breaking. The fiery trial is complete. As I write there rests +upon your now placid brow a glorious and marvellously beautiful crown. +The cup is drained. 'To him that sat in the valley and shadow of death +light has sprung up.' And now awe seizeth me: for there standeth, as yet +a long way off, one whose form is like to that of the Son of Man. In a +very little while, now, the great event must inevitably occur. He who +stands upon the holy mount prepares to open your sight, and give you +your commission. How can we see him face to face and live! Let not a +passing suspicion of further delay disturb you. Already you begin to +feel the influence of his approach. Well may you heave a sigh—as one +who experiences a sudden and unlooked-for relief. In less than ten +minutes the Lord will appear to you. So make ready, in solemn meditation +and prayer, for the most solemn event of your or any other man's life is +at hand.'</p> + +<p>'If the vision tarry, wait for it,' is the only scripture that seems +applicable to my visions: for still they came not. Yet some very serious +and substantial experiences now fell to my lot, which shall be the theme +of another chapter.</p> + + +<h4><a name="LUCIFERIII" id="LUCIFERIII"></a>CHAPTER III.</h4> + +<p>As manager of this exhibition, I would request the orchestra to play +something gloomy and grand, during the remainder of the performance; +something weird, mysterious; something in which you can hear the +soughing of the wind through the pines of the Hartz Mountains or the +Black Forest. A passage from a <i>Faust</i> opera or <i>Der Freischutz</i> might +meet the case; for it began to be intimated to me, now that I was +sufficiently clairaudient to be able to dispense almost entirely with +the pencil, that his Satanic Majesty was no indifferent spectator of the +preparation of the man who was about to interfere so signally with his +plans and pursuits. Thereupon there began to steal over me for the first +time,</p> + +<p class='center'> +'A sense of something dreadful, something near. +</p> + +<p>However it was managed, from this moment till the end of this phase of +life I am narrating, I had an almost constant sense of the presence of +'genii of the pit,' of vast intelligence, cruel as ever Satan was +imagined, relentless as fate, cold as Dante's ice hells could make them. +At first, some influence led me to review the traditional history and +prospects of my supposed distinguished visitor, at some length. I +discussed the state of his case with no little unction, though shaking +in my boots, and in momentary expectation of being gobbled up, body and +soul, and whisked off in sulphurous smoke, with only a sulphur-burnt +hole in the carpet to mark the spot where I saw the last of earth.</p> + +<p>Presently my inseparable companion broke in with:</p> + +<p>'He hears you! he hears you! and never may it be my lot again to look +upon—' ... 'There he is again, glaring with inexpressible rage upon the +comparatively insignificant man who just now so plainly revealed to him +'the true state of the case.' I am almost afraid to look upon that +awful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> visage. 'The state of the case is it?' he exclaims. 'We will see +what is the state.''—</p> + +<p>There is a break here in the manuscript, which is resumed thus: 'You +have conquered! frantic with rage he has fled, never, I trust, to +return.'</p> + +<p>How will I remember what happened during that awful pause? It was spent, +I suppose, in a hand-to-hand conflict with the Prince of Darkness; the +agreeableness of which was not enhanced by my vivid recollection of the +'bit of a discooshin' between Christian and Apollyon depicted in the old +family Pilgrim's Progress. We are truly 'the stuff that dreams are made +of.' What mattered it to me, on that bland summer afternoon, since I was +of this opinion, whether it was Beelzebub himself or some departed +'blazing tinman,' with a suit of his majesty's old clothes on, while +himself, all snug at home,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Sat in his easy chair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Drinking his sulphur tea.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>That was certainly one of the most awful moments of my life, in which I +felt the first dreadful rush of this invisible tiger. It seemed as if he +swooped toward me to annihilate me in a moment; but was restrained by a +higher power. His coming was like the rush of a fifteen-inch shell past +one's head.</p> + +<p>As soon as I saw that the first onset did not destroy me, I gathered +strength to face the monster; for a tongue combat seemed all that was +permitted him. He put me through my theological paces at an awful +rate—using the Socratic dialectic—growling out questions in the tones +of a cathedral organ, that made me shiver. Oh that I could remember that +fearful catechism! It would make a tract for which the Tom Paine +Association would pay a high price. He drove me—partly, I suppose, by +magnetic force—step by step, from my cherished religious opinions. My +reasons for believing in the cardinal doctrines of Christianity seemed +to burn like straw before his fiery rhetoric, and to turn to dust +beneath the ponderous blows of his iron logic. He pushed me away from +all I had esteemed reliable in the universe, till I seemed to stand on +the verge of creation. There I hung with the strength of terror. Then I +found poet Campbell true to nature, where he speaks of hope standing +intact ''mid Nature's funeral pyre.' I insisted upon 'hoping,' in spite +of all his fiery hail.</p> + +<p>After he had beaten down all my defences, he began to jeer at me with +fierce sneers and goblin laughter that froze my blood. 'So <i>I</i> was the +contemptible manikin who dared to entertain the idea of equality with +him—the Star of the Morning—one breath of whose nostrils would wither +me into nonentity. So <i>I</i> presumed to stand up and face him, who had, in +his time, scattered the hosts of heaven! If it were not for those +cursed, white-livered <i>things</i> (angels) that stood in the way, he would +swoop down and destroy me in an instant.'</p> + +<p>Having found and maintained foothold for several minutes on the rock of +hope, I began to consider how weak things had of erst confounded the +things that were mighty, and soon the wirepullers behind the scenes +(whoever they were) had me smiting him hip and thigh. I 'began in +weakness, but ended in power.' At first a few muttered remonstrances, +but finally whole Ironsides broadsides, with the result above named. The +words of my antagonist, during this encounter, rang through my brain +with awful distinctness. For a day or two I had been communicating +partly with the pencil, and partly by clairaudience, eked out by writing +in the air with my forefinger. But this demon, or demon <i>pro tem.</i>, +needed not to write his words: his 'trumpet gave no uncertain sound.'</p> + +<p>The thoughtful reader will perceive what a strong point my magnetizers +gained by this scene. After disappointing me so many times, they could +not, with all their power over me, have kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> me from throwing the whole +thing overboard, without resorting to some such <i>coup d'état</i>. Being, +doubtless, on better terms with the infernal than with the supernal +regions, these denizens of the Intermediate Limbo (we will suppose that +my strange guests were mostly of this sort of nondescripts) had perhaps +induced some <i>bona fide</i> demon to act the part of the king of them all, +'for this night only.' It certainly was an immense success. I, to be +sure, had not received the expected commission: but had I not fought the +great red dragon, and, like another St. George, pinned him to the earth, +through supernatural aid? Here was a substantial success. I write this +merrily enough now; but was not often merry then—was indeed acting +great, real tragedy.</p> + +<p>I was not long to enjoy this triumph. The word came: 'Again he comes!' +Then I had another long, hard fight; but this time was not pushed so +near the wall. I was then told by my spiritual adviser and Circe of the +unbounded admiration expressed for me by those who had listened to this +'ever-memorable' disputation.</p> + +<p>The attempt to craze me, or—putting the best face on it—to show me +<i>how spiritists are generally crazed</i>, now began in downright earnest. +All that night, despite my entreaties to be permitted to sleep, I was +kept awake, and busied with a variety of 'extremely important' business. +I am naturally a solid, regular sleeper, and do not prosper upon +Napoleon or Humboldt portions of repose; but now could only suit my +persecutors by rising on one elbow in bed, and 'wrestling' for the +salvation of my next neighbor. They sedulously poured into my mind all +manner of apocrypha concerning this gentleman's shortcomings—about the +necessity of praying for and at him, and about the effects of my +efforts, i. e., bringing a streak of celestial light upon him—until I +was almost ready to wish that he might be ——, rather than that I +should have any such unseasonable work to perform in his behalf. But +they kept me at it, straight through the night and a large portion of +the next day; and finally induced me to go, much against my will, to +reveal to him some of my experiences, and to endeavor to force from him +an acknowledgment that what I had heard about him was true.</p> + +<p>The attempt to cause at least a temporary aberration of my intellect now +becomes very plain in the manuscript. Every idea is uttered in the most +exciting manner. All statements and prognostications about my neighbor +having proved false (he was amazed at my procedure), the invisible +busybodies boiled over thus:</p> + +<p>'He has lied! he has lied to you! and if you would preserve your reason, +go and read the papers to him. He had schooled himself to show no +emotion, and you showed enough to excite his worst, most hideous fears. +So go, for Heaven's sake! He quailed once, and only once, before your +not sufficiently steady gaze. Woe! woe! woe! Now what shall be done?' +... [Evidently trying to get up a teapot tempest.] 'Do not strive to +unravel this mystery in that fiercely keen way, or this evil spirit will +have to give place to a more expert deceiver. God will certainly do +something soon to set these matters straight, or I shall cease to be!' +[She had said annihilation was possible!] 'Your father wishes to speak +to you.'</p> + +<p>A fatherly spirit it was truly—was for driving me mad off hand, but +overshot the mark.</p> + +<p>'Son, this is awful! I can only say to you, be calm and cool, for you +will need to be both to get free from this snare of Satan, so well +conceived. Better go to supper now (for appearance sake): after that, +pray for help. When you took away those books [after reading extracts to +the neighbor], the whole crew of devils,' etc., etc.</p> + +<p>This exciting language 'brought me up with a round turn.' I saw at once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +the object of the person who was talking with me. So I brought the +affair to a full stop, as far as the use of my hand was concerned. I +simply added, on that leaf—speaking now for myself:</p> + +<p>'I will hear no further. This part of my discipline is finished.'</p> + +<p>But I was forced to hear, whether I wrote or not. I had come to this +wisdom too late. I fully believe that, as far as my ability to prevent +the catastrophe was concerned, I was then and there a possessed +person—<i>a slave of spirits</i>—as utterly bound to do the will of my +magnetizers as ever a 'subject' was. Though I cannot be persuaded that +all these beings, from whom unseen I had heard so much, were 'only evil +continually,' no 'harmonialist' can persuade me that those who now began +to play with me, as a cat plays with a mouse, were other than evil. In +all imaginable ways, they strove to show me how utterly I had lost +self-command and self-control. (I am esteemed obstinate by nature.)</p> + +<p>What is very singular, I now lost sight of my 'prima donna.' It would +seem natural that a Delilah would, at least, have come with a jeering +'The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.' But no, not till this great +tribulation was over did I hear from 'her.'</p> + +<p>That evening and night were spent, mostly, in showing me that I was no +longer my own master. There was not, however, that continuous hell-blast +upon me that so scorched my soul on the following afternoon. The cats +were tossing me in their velvet paws—only occasionally protruding a +sharp claw as a reminder, until they could feel surer of their victim. +They would say to me: 'Now we will exalt you to heaven;' and up I went, +higher, higher, higher into the empyrean, until I heard the music of the +spheres, and all things were ablaze with light and glory. Again they +would say: 'Now go down into hell;' and the scene changed as suddenly as +do those of a ten-cent panorama, when a midnight storm at sea or a +volcanic eruption is about to be rolled in view: I went down <i>ad +imis</i>—'down to the bottom of the sea—the earth with her bars was +around me forever.' Blank horror and anguish seized me. Hope fled to its +impregnable corner of my heart, till the calamity was overpast. A hushed +agony was upon me, as before I had known its boundless bliss. And thus +variously I fared through all that second night of sleeplessness. They +probably sent me up and down this scale of sensation twenty times during +eight hours. This night I was not at all sleepy. A few more such would +have finished the business; and there would have been 'another awful +effect of the spiritual delusion' to chronicle. The honest verdict of +the first century would have been: 'Another possessed of devils or +devil-crazed.' The wretches well knew that insomnia is an excellent +preparation for insanity.</p> + +<p>Toward morning a new scheme was invented. Some ostensible good friend +informed me, in a business-like way, that the work of the morrow for +me—the new Saul of Tarsus—was to set out for a certain town in +Vermont, where I should find my Ananias; who 'would show me what things +I should do.' So the faithful slave of the genii prepared to obey. I +packed a carpet bag, and went early to the residence of a medical +friend, who had been dabbling in the same arcana. I gave him a sketch of +what I had experienced; yet, for some reason, did not start for Vermont, +but remained with him all the morning. My invisible monitors sent me out +into the street several times, to find people who could not be found. +(Anything to keep up their influence.)</p> + +<p>Toward noon the fact came plainly to me that an effort was being made to +disturb, if not destroy, my reason. I began to find my ideas becoming +incoherent in spite of hugest effort. I called my friend, and said to +him, through set teeth, but as coolly as possible:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span></p> + +<p>'I find myself to be thoroughly and utterly a magnetic subject, an +abject subject of mischievous spirits. They are striving to derange my +faculties. I am exceedingly alarmed to find that they are trying, with +much success, to render my ideas incoherent. It is only by a very great +effort of will that I am enabled to speak these words distinctly to you. +As far as my private power of resistance is concerned, I am gone. Do +exert your powerful magnetism; perhaps you can drive them off.'</p> + +<p>He was much distressed, and exerted himself mightily (he was a professed +electrician), combining will power with that ancient agent, prayer, to +exorcise the evil influence. But his efforts were useless, as the +vagabonds well knew, before they brought me there on exhibition. They +had not spent the week in vain. I had sold myself to them as squarely as +fools ever did in German legend.</p> + +<p>When dinner was announced, the doctor wished me to accompany him. I +refused, and he left me, to take a hasty meal. Finding, when he was +gone, that I was growing worse, I went into the street, determined that +if I was to be crazed, I would not sit there and let him watch the +operation. I walked on, vowing that I would not turn toward home until +my faculties were restored; and execrating <i>my folly in permitting the +enslavement</i>! On, on I rushed, my head all ablaze with 'od' that had no +business there, and praying as I never had prayed before. I took the +Gowanus road toward Greenwood. Perhaps it was some defunct rogue there +interred, who was leading me on to 'rave among the tombs.'</p> + +<p>Arrived at a spot where a little tree-capped promontory overhangs the +beach, I turned aside, beneath the projection, and sat down on a +log—like Jonah under the gourd—and, gazing out on the rippling waves +of the bay, desired that death or relief might come. I was determined to +sit there until God or Satan made good his claim upon me. Suddenly +relief came. The fierce onset upon my intellect ceased. I was made +whole. I 'leaped and walked.' The means of my relief I never knew.</p> + +<p>But my lesson was not complete. I had but just informed my medical +friend of my deliverance (he had scoured the neighborhood, and informed +several of the cause of his fears), when there were mutterings and +growlings of another approaching storm. The messengers of Satan sent to +baffle me gave me to understand that they had not abandoned their prey, +but were sure of it yet. They poured the wrath of hell upon my +defenceless head that afternoon. I have not, hitherto, attempted to +offer much direct proof to the uninitiated that my experiences, in this +connection, were other than hallucination. That which now occurred is, +as it seems to me, in the nature of such proof. Here was I thoroughly +alarmed for my safety, and extremely anxious to get rid of my +tormentors. Yet, not for a single moment now, could I close my mental +ears to their horrid clangor of threats and imprecations; for, throwing +off all restraint, they flooded me with Billingsgate. They cursed and +damned me, and all persons, things, and ideas esteemed by me, in the +most approved style. Indeed, the swearing exceeded anything I ever heard +on the Mississippi and Alabama river boats, when forced, for lack of +room, to sleep on the floor of the saloon, almost under the feet of the +chivalry, during their midnight gambling carousals.</p> + +<p>The mode of speech is not easily described. Sometimes the words came +slowly and distinctly. Again there would be merely thought-panorama +presented. A complete statement or view of things can be flashed into +the mind in an instant. Therefore the language of spirits is of vastly +greater compass than that of men. These immortal blackguards could vomit +more oaths and other blasphemy in five minutes, than a mortal one could +in an hour. If it is difficult to translate from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> one earth-language +into another, how much harder must it be to bring the ideas of an inner +sphere into outward forms of expression!</p> + +<p>They told me that it was their intention to open my clairvoyant faculty +now with a vengeance. For, having fairly accomplished it, they would +worry me to death or madness by the continual sight and hearing of all +that hell could show or conjure up. I only wish that a few of those +Sadducees who philosophize all this sort of thing into moonshine, could +be, for a while, as sore beset as I was on that eventful day! It would +need but a few minutes' parley with these 'fierce Ephesian beasts' to +induce them to repeat the language of an older sceptic, who returned +from the dead to the friend who had discussed immortality with him, and +who exclaimed, as he passed from sight:</p> + +<p>'Michael! Michael! <i>vera sunt illa!</i>'</p> + +<p>The scheme of the diabolians seemed so feasible that I was greatly +perplexed. They had shown themselves able to keep me awake the two +preceding nights; and I knew that, if permitted, they could accomplish +their purpose in that way alone. How much, then, would the perpetual +sight of fiery flying dragons, horned satyrs, and other hideous +half-human creatures, tearing around, with mouths agape to take me +in—while other lost souls flitted about as flying serpents, bats, and +owls—hasten the evil work. I thought over all the horrible forms +portrayed in the Catholic purgatory pictures, and described by delirium +tremens subjects, until I was a thousand times more anxious to have the +eyes of my spirit kept shut, than I ever had been to have them opened.</p> + +<p>I tried to exorcise the foe by reading the Bible; but this only +increased their jeering at the '—— fool,' whom they had worked hard to +get, had got, and meant to keep, in spite of 'hell, book, and candle.' +Truly 'their mouths were full of cursing and bitterness.'</p> + +<p>Did space permit, and were it not that the printing of oaths, which has +become so fashionable even in respectable periodicals, is hurtful to +morals, I could fill pages with their jeers, taunts, blasphemies, +threats, and execrations.</p> + +<p>I left my private room, and went among the household, in hopes that, +amid busy outer scenes, the hold of the invisible tigers would be +loosed. But then, while conversing on commonplace subjects, I realized +more fully than ever upon what a <i>fearful precipice</i> the heedless +spiritist is ever sporting. For, clearer, more distinct, came threats, +curses, goblin laughter; and 'Fool! dolt!' was the cry.</p> + +<p>'Simpleton, etc., think you that the company of women and children will +save you, when the mightiest spirits (angels they call themselves) +cannot now rend you from our grasp? As soon as we choose, we will tear +your silly soul out of your carcase; and <i>then</i> we will make a veritable +Lucifer of you. '<i>Lucifer</i>! <span class="smcap">Lucifer</span>! star of the morning! how +art thou fallen, and become as one of us!' Ha! ha! ha! yes! yes! you +must go with us. We fancy you. For a callow priest, you have a deal of +music in you. Would-be Samson, you must grind in our prison house and +sport in our temple; the pillars whereof you can never cause to +tremble.'</p> + +<p>They said that I was a 'coward—dared not face a set of shadows, +figments of the brain, empty nothings.' I saw that 'vain was the help of +man;' and, retiring to my room, had an awful season of worse than +'temptation combats.'</p> + +<p>Then came the last scene in the tragic part of my unromantic experience. +One of the artful dodgers, having transformed himself into an angel of +light (in my hearing, not in my sight), informed me, at about eight +o'clock in the evening, that, though my destruction appeared imminent, +there was one way of escape left. My own prayers were useless: but if I +would get down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> on my knees, and repeat a confession and supplication at +his dictation, it might avail. Enslaved as I was, I of course complied; +and then underwent a humiliation that, even in my horrified state, was +very bitter. I had always, in my most puritanical days, kicked at the +doctrine that we are all such abominable, hell-deserving, +<i>self</i>-degraded creatures, responsible for our own ruin, that it is the +wonder of creation that God would give our souls any least chance of +heaven. I had always felt with Tennyson:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Thou wilt not leave us in the dust;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou <i>madest</i> man, and Thou art <i>just</i>.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>But now I was forced to change all this; and for once I uttered a +perfectly orthodox prayer. Slow and distinct came the words, which I +must perforce repeat as slowly, though every one was a bitter pill. I +was made to say that I was entirely mistaken in supposing myself a +Christian (in the 'evangelical' sense); that I had been a fool, a +braggart, a sort of impostor; that my life had been one series of shams +and follies; that I had disgraced my religious profession, etc., etc., +<i>ad nauseam</i>, winding up with the abject declaration that I deserved to +go straight to 'the city of Dis, and the three-headed dog;' and that if +I was spared, it would be 'a miracle of mercy.'</p> + +<p>The higher powers must have thought that I had swallowed enough of this +hell-broth; for, at this juncture, the dictation and compulsion suddenly +ceased. I stood upon my feet, no longer a slave. It seemed as if some +grand, calm Ithuriel had touched with his spear-point the venomous toad +that sat by my ear, or the wily serpent that 'held me (enchanted) with +his glittering eye.' From that moment to this, I have not been, for an +instant, seriously annoyed by invisible disturbers of the peace.</p> + +<p>A sweet quiet came over me; I went to bed and slept soundly. The next +day I determined to complete the exorcism by walking a dozen miles into +the country, to visit a relation. The only trace of the fearful scenes +through which I had passed, consisted in the fact that my head was still +all ablaze with the foul, gross magnetic fluids of my ex-tormentors; and +was so hot that I found it agreeable to walk with my hat off. I was two +days getting rid of the heat.</p> + +<p>Though I had no more sulphur tea to drink, I was not yet weaned from the +invisible milk and water. I was at once informed, by 'respectable +appearing' spirits, that my trials had appeared necessary, because I had +thrown myself open to promiscuous communication with the other world—a +thing peculiarly dangerous in my case; and that I could now see the +propriety of never again surrendering my manhood, my individuality, and +my common sense to any brigand in or out of the body. I was also told +that it never had been intended to use me for any important mediumistic +purpose, except so far as my experience might be useful. So I gradually +let the thing drop. Regarding the new light as scientific rather than +religious, I long since pigeon-holed it among my sciences. I +sardonically tell total Sadducees that I have placed it among the +<i>exact</i> sciences.</p> + +<p>I am sorry that I am unable to enlighten the novel-reading reader +further concerning the 'prima donna;' but that is a delicate subject +under existing circumstances. So presenting, herewith, the bright and +sulphurous end of the Lucifer Match under the nose of a discerning +public, I will watch the upcurling and dilating of nostrils. As I pen +these last lines, the live body looking over my shoulder smiles +scornfully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SKETCHES_OF_AMERICAN_LIFE_AND_SCENERY" id="SKETCHES_OF_AMERICAN_LIFE_AND_SCENERY"></a>SKETCHES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND SCENERY.</h2> + +<h4><a name="SKETCHESIII" id="SKETCHESIII"></a>III.—MOUNTAIN WAYS. +</h4> + + +<p>'Lucy D——,' said Aunt Sarah Grundy, 'I really cannot conceive what you +and Elsie find to entertain you in the desolate, out-of-the-way places +where you are in the habit of wasting your summers. Why can you not be +content with the ordinary highways, where people travel comfortably in +good boats and rail cars? Why must you leave tolerably convenient +hotels, regular meals, and agreeable, proper people, to bury yourself in +some mountain fastness, where the inns are poor, the food plain, and the +people—well! such as are totally unfit associates for two well-bred +young women?'</p> + +<p>'O auntie! auntie! we thought you called yourself a democrat!' said +Elsie.</p> + +<p>'Politically, my dear, but not socially,' was the reply.</p> + +<p>'And a Christian!' added Lucy D——.</p> + +<p>'I see,' continued Mrs. Grundy, 'that, by raising other issues, you hope +to escape an explanation of the mystery to which I have referred.'</p> + +<p>'A mystery indeed!' replied Lucy D——. 'The mystery of nature, of +creation, of the communion of the creature with the infinitely bountiful +Creator. Have you never wandered away from the beaten track, from +tiresome dinners, with mercenary waiters and elaborate courses, from +yawning, <i>blasé</i> men, and over-dressed, artificial, weakly women, and, +resting upon some quiet hillside, suffered the glories of external +nature to fill your soul as you drained the cup of beauty, until +sunrises and sunsets, storm clouds and morning mists, broad bands of +light and darksome shadows, steep mountains and curving valleys, +hurrying brooks and tidal oceans, dusky pine forests and tremulous +bluebells, dreamily floated before the vision, soothing care and the +petty wounds inflicted by the human denizens of this nether world? I +love my kind, I share their faults and follies, I pity their sorrows, +and would do my utmost to succor or to soothe; but I do not understand +them as I do the woods: their faces I readily forget, but never the +forms of mountain crag, of noble tree, or of first spring wild flower. +Among men I may be misunderstood, disliked perhaps, or, more generally, +simply ignored and overlooked; but among the hills I fear no harsh, no +indifferent word: each treasure of beauty breathes to me of One who +knows my every heart-beat, One whom I can love without fear of wound or +disenchantment. The mountain clefts have no unkind words, no +fault-finding, no ridicule, no rash judgments for the sons of men. They +offer clear springs, fresh fruits, and festal flowers, peace and rest +and pure joy!'</p> + +<p>'Really, Lucy,' said Aunt Sarah, 'I am not sure your rhapsody has made +the mystery any plainer than before. May I not, in my turn, ask if your +feelings are quite Christian? Are you not afraid you entertain a species +of repulsion toward your fellow men?'</p> + +<p>'Aunt Sarah, I nearly always feel more for them than they for me. +Perhaps they hurt my vanity by overwhelming me with the sense of my own +insignificance. Be that as it may, their everlasting wrangling among +themselves is more than I can endure. When people begin to quarrel, even +to disagree warmly, the blood rushes to my brain, and I long for a cool +breeze from some piny height, a mossy seat by some calm lake, that +mirrors only the blue of heaven, the measured flow of falling waters, +the rustle of leaves, the hum of bees, or the song of birds.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span></p> + +<p>'You are not strong, and have grown nervous, I fear,' said Aunt Sarah. +'I can remember when you greatly enjoyed a good discussion, and never +shrank from an encounter of opinions.'</p> + +<p>'I was young then,' replied Lucy; 'I am older now, and have less +confidence in my argumentative powers. I love truth as well, but doubt +my capacity to lift her veil, the willingness of mortals to seek her +humbly, or the certainty of their yielding to conviction, even were she +bodily, in unclouded radiance, to stand before them. I hope I may always +have courage sufficient to support my honest convictions, but I must +confess the effort has become a painful one, and I instinctively fly all +wrangling as I would the plague.'</p> + +<p>'Do you then desire to lead an isolated life?' asked Mrs. Grundy.</p> + +<p>'By no means,' replied Lucy. 'Duty and affection both bind me to active +service in the ranks of the world, and, to return to the subject of a +retired country sojourn, the freedom from <i>gêne</i>, the absence of hurry, +the <i>confidentiality</i> of nature, lead us in a week to a better +comprehension and appreciation of the few persons surrounding us than +could be obtained in years of ordinary city acquaintance. Bricks and +mortar and cut stones tend to the revelation of but few secrets, but the +evening twilight, the crescent moon, the morning dawn, the forest shade, +and the noonday repose are persuasive openers of hearts and weavers of +sympathy. A walk with Elsie is far more to me than a solitary ramble. +Then, too, the country population frequently exhibit an originality and +individuality of development more often missed than found in the +assimilating atmosphere of cities.'</p> + +<p>'I should weary in a week of such a dull, sentimentalizing mode of +existence,' said Aunt Sarah, with a significant shrug of her prettily +drooping shoulders.</p> + +<p>'Sentimentalizing!' cried Lucy; 'nothing can be more healthfully real, +more conducive to strength and will to work, when the last red leaf has +fallen, and the gray November clouds remind one that Paradise is not yet +gained, and that a world of toil and strife and passion has a claim upon +each mortal's earnest labor. Also, the comic side of life is by no means +wanting among the hills, and many an innocent laugh is to be enjoyed +with, not at, one's fellow creatures. Humor I love dearly; satire is +simply hateful—filled with pain. I can always see the victim (if he +only knew!) writhing and blenching beneath the bitter glances and +blasting words of fiendish tormentors.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, indeed,' said Elsie, 'many a merry evening have we spent laughing +over the day's adventures. The singular coincidences and strange +incongruities of American life are nowhere more strikingly exhibited +than among the hills and lakes bordering the great thoroughfares of +travel. Do you remember, Lucy, the transit of our friends, the foreign +professor and the artist, from the Catskill Mountain House to the head +of the Kauterskill Falls?'</p> + +<p>'Can I ever forget it?'</p> + +<p>'What transit was that, Lucy?' asked Mrs. Grundy.</p> + +<p>'You know, Aunt Sarah, that midway up the Clove, nestled against the +side of the South Mountain, is Brockett's, and two miles up the ravine, +at the head of the Kauterskill Falls, stands the Laurel House, where we +passed a portion of last summer. Two miles farther east is the steep +brink of the Pine Orchard, crowned by the White colonnade of the +Mountain House. Early one morning, a much-esteemed friend, one of our +best artists, left Brockett's, and, climbing the ravine, passed our +house on his way to the North Mountain, whence a sketch was desired. We +had had nearly four weeks of continued rain, the brooks were full, the +falls magnificent, the roads in some parts under water, and every +pathway a running stream. We were daily expecting the arrival from +abroad of a gentleman whom I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> never seen, but who was well known to, +and highly regarded by, sundry members of our family. He had written to +announce his coming, but we had failed to receive his letter, and, +consequently, when he, on the afternoon of the day already mentioned, +arrived at the Mountain House, he found no one waiting to receive him, +and no carriage to convey him to his final destination. No vehicle was +to be obtained at the great caravansary, and he was vainly endeavoring +to have at least a note despatched to our address, when the artist, who +had meantime finished his sketch and descended the North Mountain on his +way home, entered the office. He was weary from a toilsome walk under +heavy trappings, but hearing a fellow mortal in distress, and partially +learning the cause, his habitual kindness of heart induced him to say to +the stranger that he was about to walk over to the Laurel House, and +would lead the way, if he chose to follow. The professor, despairing of +his ability to make any more comfortable arrangement, accepted the +offer, and prepared to follow his guide.</p> + +<p>'Our foreign visitor was a tall, athletic man, with a noble forehead and +piercing black eyes. His attire was irreproachably neat, his +patent-leather boots rather thin for so rough a walk, especially as he +was just then much out of health, and he carried a heavy basket of +fruit, which he had kindly brought from a tropical clime to give +pleasure to his friends. He added to a generous and affectionate +disposition profound learning in languages, science, and philosophy, and +was a devoted patriot and lover of liberty. He had, however, landed in +New York during the terrible riots of last summer, and had hence imbibed +no very exalted idea of the orderliness of our population. He was of +course totally unaware of the frank confidence placed by man in his +brother man among our Northern mountains.</p> + +<p>'When the outside door was reached, the artist paused to gather together +his pointed staff, sketching box, and other <i>traps</i>. These implements +were evidently not familiar objects in the professor's experience, as he +supposed they might be part of the gear of a peddler, and hence +conceived a certain distrust of his guide. The artist was tall and +handsome, with a vigorous frame, a long, waving beard, a slouched hat, +and garments rather the worse for much exposure to the suns, winds, and +rains of a summer spent in the open air. One who did not examine the +clear eyes raying the essence of truth, and the high-cut features +bearing the unmistakable impress of manly honor, might perhaps have +erred with the stranger, and have supposed it possible that 'the man' +(as the professor invariably called his guide when he related the +adventure) might be a brigand intent upon luring travellers into byways +for sinister purposes. This idea was strengthened by the character of +the pathway chosen by the artist as the shortest route between the two +hotels. It passed through a dense forest, and was ankle deep in water. +Fallen trunks lay across its sinuous track, and no sound save a +twittering bird or crackling branch broke the silence of the rugged, +lonely way. The active guide strode on from stone to stone, returning +short answers to his companion, whose doubts began to take the form of +questions as to 'the man's' knowledge of the road, and the certainty of +finding the Laurel House at the end of this will-o'-the-wisp journey. +Weariness from a long day's walk and work, and the dawning perception of +the stranger's suspicions, were not calculated to induce a very bland +frame of mind or tone of manner, and the replies received confirmed the +professor's determination to keep a watchful eye upon his leader. He +fell behind a few paces, and prepared his only weapon, a strong +penknife, in case the enemy should suddenly turn upon him, meantime +consoling himself that, should matters culmi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span>nate in a hand-to-hand +fight, he was rather the stouter and heavier man of the two. The thin +boots had soon been saturated with water, the basket of fruit grew +heavier and heavier, and the way seemed interminable. The guide, now +fully awake to the absurdity of the situation, and perhaps as much +provoked as amused, strode rapidly on, and, at a fork in the pathway, +momentarily struck into a wrong route. He was forced to retrace a few +paces, and the stranger's dismay was now complete—the way was surely +lost, and a night in the damp wood the least evil to be anticipated.</p> + +<p>'A wide meadow was soon after reached, but no sign of human habitation +greeted the longing eyes of the expectant traveller. Another band of +woodland was entered, and a deserted charcoal hut for a moment cheered +the heart and then dashed the hopes of our weary friend. The woodland +crossed, an open field and a cheery farmhouse broke upon his view. +Suffering the artist to hasten on, he eagerly bent his steps to the +farmhouse door, and there inquired concerning the way to the Laurel +House. He was in fact rather surprised to learn that he was on the +direct route, and now not far away. Narrowly escaping the fangs of a +cross dog, he hurried on, and overtook the now thoroughly amused artist +before the latter reached the long-expected Laurel House. That goal won, +the two gentlemen entered the office, and, as the rest of the family +were out walking, the professor sent to me the note already prepared at +the Mountain House. Not knowing that he had himself brought it, I went +into the bar room, where the first person I saw was the artist. I gave +him as usual a cordial greeting, noticing his travel-stained appearance +as bearing honorable evidence to a good day's work, and said I had come +to order a carriage for a foreign friend just arrived at the other +hotel. The artist asked a question or two, then said he presumed he had +brought over the very gentleman, and, with a quizzical expression, +offered to introduce me. The professor meantime had been watching the +interview with some surprise. He recognized me from my resemblance to +other members of my family known to him, and wondered to see 'the man' +so high in my esteem. He afterward remarked that he had thought it +strange that when he invited 'the man' to a joint punch at the bar +counter, the stranger should have drawn forth a two shilling note, and +insisted upon paying the whole scot. Night was rapidly approaching, and +the artist hastened down the glen while the summer twilight might serve +to illuminate the somewhat intricate way.</p> + +<p>'Bursts of laughter greeted the comical recital of the adventure as +good-naturedly given by the professor. The only drawback upon our mirth +was the fear lest wet feet and over fatigue might perhaps have increased +his malady.'</p> + +<p>'You see now,' said Aunt Sarah, with an ominous shake of the head, 'if +you will go to such forlorn, wild places, what may be expected to +happen. Had I been in your friend's place, I should never have forgiven +you for causing me such an uncomfortable, and, in one sense, dangerous +walk.'</p> + +<p>'Oh yes, you would,' cried Elsie; 'the remembrance would have added a +zest to the monotony of your every-day life, you would never willingly +have resigned.'</p> + +<p>'I presume, then, Elsie, you also have had adventures?'</p> + +<p>'Have I not?' replied Elsie; 'from the young Southerner who informed me +he would like the mountains very much if the roads were not so terribly +up and down, to the infuriated bull that took especial offence at my +white umbrella, and came charging toward me, with flashing eyeballs, +horns tearing up the sod, and hoofs threatening a leap over a low stone +wall, the only barrier dividing us.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose you call that pleasure,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> too!' said Aunt Sarah. 'Well, I must +confess I am more mystified than ever.'</p> + +<p>'I presume, Aunt Sarah, you could as little appreciate the attractions +to be found in a walk of over twenty miles in ten hours?'</p> + +<p>'Very well for men, my dear Elsie, but I think such excursions scarcely +fitting for ladies, especially for young and pretty ones. One of Lucy's +wild-goose chases, I doubt not! However, I am quite ready to listen to +your experience.'</p> + +<p>'One morning, at nine o'clock, Lucy and I left the Laurel House, +intending to visit the valley of the East Kill, a fine trout stream that +rises near the North Mountain, and flows into the Schoharie. The first +three miles being well-known ground, we preferred to drive, but left the +little carriage on the stony road to East Jewett, soon after that road +branches from the main Clove stage route. The day was magnificent, and +the view from the fir-garlanded sides of the Parker Mountain novel and +bewitching. The North and South Mountains, Round Top, the jagged peaks +bounding the Plattekill Clove, the narrow cleft of the Stony Clove, and +the terraced slope of Clum's Hill swept across the horizon bathed in a +soft September shimmer. A few birds were still piping, golden rods and +purple asters lighted up the wayside, and luscious blackberries, large +as Lawtons, hung in great clusters, from which no mortal hand had as yet +plucked a single berry. There they grew all for us and the birds, and +you may be sure we enjoyed this feast so lavishly spread in the +wilderness. The crown of the hill passed, we left the lovely view +behind, and began the descent into the valley of the East Kill. The +forest growth was here dense and of various species, and the road, +although solitary, apparently well worn. An ominous rustling among the +trees was the only sound we heard until we again reached the open +country, where a market cart, driven by a woman, assured us of some near +habitation. A long, broken valley lies between the hills bordering the +Schoharie, and the river range, and contains the settlements of East +Jewett, Big Hollow, and Windham Centre. Near the first-named place (a +scattered collection of farmhouses), we struck the East Kill, and began +to follow it up toward its source. It is a clear, rapid stream, and we +did not wonder the trout still loved to linger in its cool waters. On a +rustic bridge we sat down and ate our simple lunch of gingerbread, +crackers, plums, and almonds. The sun was in the meridian, and +counselled return, but curiosity led us on to further explorations.</p> + +<p>'The winding road crossed and re-crossed the stream. It was bordered by +lofty summits, and led through many a clearing and past many a +farmhouse. At one of these we met a man hiving swarms of bees. He lived +below, and told us we were eight miles from Cairo, a town near the +eastern foot of the Catskills. The friendly mistress of the cottage +informed us that the pass at the summit was only three miles distant, +and we hence concluded to return home by descending the eastern slope of +the mountains, crossing the lower portion of the intervening spur, and +reascending by the Mountain House road. Mountain miles are proverbial +for their length, and so we found them, as we wandered on until +civilization and the last good piece of road was left behind at a large +steam sawmill. Our way now skirted the near hills, and passed through an +upland bog of apparently interminable width. Fortunately, the last few +weeks had been comparatively dry, and hence it was possible to make +one's way by springing from clump to clump of rank grass, or more +frequently from hurdle to hurdle, as long stretches of half-decayed +branches covered the partially hidden quagmire. The air had become +close, the sun hot; a dense, low growth of wood shut in the devious way; +desolation and neglect marked the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> environs, and we were by no means +sure we were on the right road. Even Lucy began to doubt the prudence +and final success of the expedition. A very suspicious circumstance was +the fact that this road, by which we expected to cross the mountain top, +had lately made very little of an ascent.</p> + +<p>'At length a fresh, cool breeze began to fan our cheeks, such a breeze +as is never felt except upon mountain heights, and steep piles of rock +rose upon our left. The road had shortly before become hard and dry, +and, as it now commenced to descend, we could not doubt the summit of +the pass was reached. Fine trees, however, so closely hemmed us in that +we could see nothing beyond, and not until we were some distance down, +did we come to an opening whence the lower country was visible, with the +Berkshire hills, the river, the city of Hudson directly opposite, and +Kiskatom Round Top lying to our right. We exchanged glances, for we knew +something of the distance signified by this situation of landmarks. +However, there was nothing to be done except to press on, which we did, +down a road at first enchanting, but finally detestable, where it had +been neglected, and had become the rocky bed of a stream then dry. We +could fancy it in the spring, at the melting of the snows, with the wild +water dashing down the steep pathway, and the white foam gleaming and +glittering, as a newly risen Undine, in the sight of the astonished, +far-off beholders.</p> + +<p>'Lovely vistas over the rolling lands beneath, and up to the mountains +we were leaving behind, charmed away fatigue, and made the way like +fairyland. Near the first cottage we again sat down to rest and consider +our route. We hoped to find some near wood road leading over the wide +base of the North Mountain into the Mountain House road; but never a +wood road was to be seen. On and on we walked, descending lower and +lower into the valley, and coming nearer and nearer to Kiskatom Round +Top. At a turn in the way we asked a party of carpenters working on a +house, if this was the right route to the Mountain House tollgate. Some +laughed, all stared, and one answered, 'Yes.' On and on we plodded along +a dusty highway, till we reached a house by a brook, with ducks and +geese, a garden filled with autumn flowers, and a pleasant old lady +sitting near the door. She also opened her eyes at our question, and +said the distance to the tollgate was eight miles. Eight miles to the +gate, three thence up the steep mountain, and then again two to the +Laurel House! This, added to the many miles we had already walked, and +the lateness of the hour, was indeed alarming. She added, we might +obtain fuller information at a red farmhouse to be found some distance +on. Again we walked and walked, passing through a wild region, Kiskatom +Round Top continually most provokingly near, the road evidently leading +due east, and sinking lower and lower toward the river. At the end of +two or three miles we reached the red farmhouse, and were glad to rest +in a neat sitting room, with a cheerful woman and two bright, handsome +children. The harvest work being nearly done, the husband was absent on +a day's hunt, but the aged father was soon called in to give us the +desired information. The distance to the tollgate was only two miles, +and while the boy made ready the team to take us over, the honest, +intelligent farmer gave us a few sketches from his life history. His +daughter wished him to don his better coat, but he replied that he had +never been able to think that clothes could make or unmake a gentleman. +He also observed that early adversity had been the greatest boon he had +ever received, as, had he never failed in his city trading projects, he +never would have come to the country, or have enjoyed his present health +and happiness. He was a good patriot, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> eagerly asked the latest news +of the war. He had also pleasant reminiscences to relate of a Carolina +Senator, who, with his family, had one summer beneath his roof sought +health and strength under the shadow of the Catskills.</p> + +<p>'A lively lad and fleet team soon placed us at the gate, which the stage +from the boat was just passing. The little rest and drive had greatly +invigorated us, and we bravely pushed on to the summit, outstripping the +heavy coach, and reaching the top of the mountain just as the red rays +of the setting sun were flushing the hills with crimson. The hour was +too late to risk the dark path through the wood, and we continued upon +the main highway, making but one deviation down a stony road, and over +Spruce Creek, until we reached the Laurel House, where the twilight was +still lingering, and where we found our friends a little anxious.'</p> + +<p>'I do not wonder,' said Aunt Sarah. 'Such vagaries are enough to keep a +whole household in a chronic state of anxiety. And I really cannot see +what you had gained!'</p> + +<p>'I have only given you a simple statement of the facts,' replied Elsie; +'to know our feelings by the way, the delight we experienced, all we +learned, including geography and topography, and the life and health we +drank in at every step, you must take that very same walk.'</p> + +<p>'More inscrutable mysteries!' returned Aunt Sarah.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' said Lucy D——, 'inscrutable, and yet subtilely vivifying as the +breath of their Author, the Great Architect of this glorious universe.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="OUR_GOVERNMENT_AND_THE_BLACKS" id="OUR_GOVERNMENT_AND_THE_BLACKS"></a>OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE BLACKS.</h2> + + +<p>All thoughtful minds are profoundly conscious that the problems of war +are not the last and most important to be solved in our national +affairs. It is clear enough that this great convulsion must end; and +end, too, in the total extinction of that stupendous system of iniquity +in the interests of which it was projected. President Lincoln's +Proclamation of emancipation throughout rebeldom, and the recent order +to enlist the slaves throughout the Border States in military service to +the Government, emancipating all thus enlisted, whether slaves of loyal +or disloyal masters, with the certainty that there is to be no cessation +to the grand achievements of our arms short of the completest success, +all conspire to assure us that the dreadful <i>disorder</i> hitherto +consuming our national vitals is to pass finally away in the convulsive +<i>disease</i> of its last throes, so distressing to us all. It being thus +certain that this consecrated crime is to be dismantled, dishonored, and +abandoned forever, the question is forced upon us: 'What is to be done +with the negroes?' Some four millions of human beings, doomed to +remorseless servitude, denied the static force of social law, forbidden +by positive law the rights of education, through which alone are +attained the culture and refinement of real manhood—these are the +'freedmen' just emerging from the most insignificant nonage to the +sublime personality of citizenship in a Government of the people. Such +being practically their attitude, what are the real demands and needs in +the case?</p> + +<p>Reputed statesmen, journalists, public speakers, and politicians are all +ready enough to determine the matter. 'Let them alone,' say they. 'They +are needed where they are; and the respective wants of capital and labor +will regu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span>late the intercourse between these simple and uncultured +people and the powerful and shrewd men who henceforth are to buy their +service.' Such, in our humble opinion, is not the wisdom of sound, +healthy statesmanship. Let us see.</p> + +<p>We cannot get a complete handling of this matter without first +determining the purpose and character of government as a principle; and +we cannot determine this without a clear understanding of the laws of +the human mind in its historic evolution. We must understand, then, that +government is legitimately only an institution in the service of +universal man. It is subjective, ministerial, instrumental always ways; +<i>aiming only at the interests of the governed</i>; else it contains an +element hostile to the Divine order that peacefully directs all +movement, and must therefore be disturbed with a commotion that will +either restore or destroy it.</p> + +<p>We may not hereupon assume that government must necessarily assume only +one form; for, being thus subservient to human use, to manly culture, to +complete social state, it must infallibly assume forms precisely +proportioned to the human conditions to which applied; hence, we must +understand the laws of the human mind, which display its <i>varied</i> +conditions in the course of its evolution from infancy to manhood, +before we can have a clear, scientific conception of the principles, +operations, and organic forms of human government. Let us, then, inquire +briefly as to these laws.</p> + +<p>Hereupon we find the mental conditions of the Grand Man—the human race +at large—precisely analogous to those of the small man—the individual +person. And by exhibiting the mental conditions with principles of +government properly related, which rule in one sphere, we infallibly +present the corresponding conditions and forms in the other sphere.</p> + +<p>The human mind, then, is a three-fold form, each fold having its own +distinct character, in consequence of which it is broadly and very +definitely individualized. Childhood, youthhood, and manhood, constitute +this triple form. The slightest consideration will readily confirm one +as to the propriety of this analysis; for, one cannot fail to see that +the distinct characteristics of each are broad and marked, and therefore +necessarily discriminate to any completeness of thought upon this +subject. Childhood is a form of total inexperience and unlimited +dependence. Youthhood is a form of growth from the helplessness of the +child to the strength and completeness of the man; involving the trials +of experimental endeavor, attended with the numerous buffs and rebuffs +so surely the witness of vital efforts toward fulness. Manhood is the +form of fulness, completeness, maturity. It is the form of luscious +juices ultimated in the perfectly rounded and glowing fruitage; juices +that pressed the tender bud into the thousand charms of floral beauty, +and thence moulded and urged the growing form to its crowning +excellence.</p> + +<p>Childhood, therefore, is a form in which activities are commanded from +without; as the parent commands the child, knowing that the child's best +interests—the ultimate realization of true, manly freedom—are only to +be realized through such arbitrary tutelage. Youthhood is a form of +rational freedom, wherein the subject's moral freedom is stimulated +under various forms of appeal in behalf of right doing. Here the careful +parent keeps the reins firmly in hand, but still slackens them to allow +the plunging steed to determine his own career; overjoyed if he choose +rightly and make his course with vigor and safety; sad and anxious if +forced to draw rein and urge anew the proper direction. It is evident +that the subject's activities here are partly self-determined or free, +and partly coerced or outwardly imposed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span></p> + +<p>Manhood is a form that repudiates all methods of external appliances, +scales the bounds of parental dictation, and finds only life's fulness +in a freedom all aglow with the soul's adoration. It knows no law but +that of attraction; feels no impulse but that of love. Its activities +are perfectly free or spontaneous. The human mind thus falling under +this triple order of development, inevitably projects governmental forms +strictly proportioned or related thereto. And this is true regarding any +of its organized forms, from the individual to the human race at large: +hence the infantile condition of a people or a nation demands a +perfectly absolute, arbitrary, or commanding form of government; while +the youthful condition demands a mixed form; wherein the ruled are +partly free or self-determined, and partly subject or directed by the +reigning authority; and the manly condition demands a system of pure +self-government, wherein the law is written on the heart.</p> + +<p>It must be borne in mind that government is solely instrumental or +ministerial to human use; being designed to mould and fashion unfolding +human powers to higher and still higher social conditions, tending all +to that perfect ultimate wherein life and law are both spontaneous and +exactly balanced, and nothing detrimental to the dearest interests of +manhood can by possibility exist.</p> + +<p>Government, then, of whatever kind, must always be administered with +strict regard for the interests of the governed; and it is the endeavor +to subvert and overcome this legitimate principle of government, through +the mistaken selfishness of ruling powers, which attempt to administer +in behalf of their own lusts and in violation of universal ends, which +has kept and is keeping up now the convulsions that shake and try civil +institutions to their utmost.</p> + +<p>The theory or declaratory form of our Government stands out, boldly and +distinctly, as that of the highest order. In theory it is the form +proportionate to full manhood; planting and fostering institutions +tending to promote the free play of all that is great and glorious in +human character. It does not thus far practically realize its theory, +because, without regard to this incongruous system of inhumanity, which, +by its very nature, can find no harmony nor peace in connection, nations +themselves wear the human form, and must, therefore, realize the various +states of infancy, youthfulness, and manhood—of germ, growth, and +fruitage. This is true of whatever national form. Nationalities founded +upon the principles of absolutism, embody and express the same laws and +conditions. Their principle of supreme external authority is first a +condition of germination, then of growth or labored effort toward +maturity, and lastly of fruitage, in which the whole form is matured in +perfectly organic completeness, manifesting despotism in government, in +orderly or scientific proportions.</p> + +<p>Our nation, then, has not realized its highest conditions, because it is +as yet only germinal, or the national child-man; or, at best, is but the +vigorous blade, or national youth-man; while the corn, fully ripe in the +ear—the national man-man—is reserved unto the glory of the approaching +future, whose rays already dawn upon us and illustrate the clouds, that +have hitherto hung over us and darkened our way, with the power and +great glory of the coming of the Son of Man.</p> + +<p>Let us now try to draw nearer to the mark at which we principally aimed +in projecting this article. We said that the 'let-them-alone' system, +concerning the nation's 'freedmen,' is not the system of sound +statesmanship. Why not? Because they are a people in a state of +infantile weakness and inexperience; whom, from the irrepressible laws +and conditions of the human mind, we <i>must</i> govern and control, either +wisely and beneficently or otherwise. To unloose the chains that have +bound them, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> set them adrift to contend and compete under our +methods of individualism or isolated interests, is to doom them to +conditions hardly to be preferred to those from which they are about to +escape. This is certainly true with respect to a large majority. Witness +the state of our weakest white laborers, particularly in all our large +cities, and some few years back. See them by thousands and tens of +thousands imploring for employment, and only too happy if they may find +it at the most repulsive and unwholesome labor, sufficient to stay their +famished frames and adjourn for a time the pangs of hunger and frosts. +Driven in despairing hordes to beggary, prostitution, and crimes of +every kind, how fearfully threatening are the neglected duties and +obligations that confront us in their behalf! What, then, shall we say +to those who propose to swell the frightful tide by turning loose +millions more, weaker and more incompetent, it may be, besides being +subject to the evils of the reigning prejudices against color? No, no; +it must not be done. The Government must become the visible providence +of these weak children. It must organize and direct their efforts and +interests. It must, at least, organize them into industrial legions, and +carefully direct all their educational interests. This work, too, must +assume paternal form. Government is rightfully the foster parent of all +its tender, weak, or by any means incompetent children; and unless it +acknowledge and fulfil its functions as such, it is not Divinely +administered, and stands accountable before Supreme Wisdom for all +remissness. To meet all the demands, an especial commission must be +established, and organized with a completeness that will meet all the +educational and industrial needs of these dependent children. This +commission must have a wise head and <i>tender heart</i>. It must be fully +alive to the great issues involved, and must be healthy and vigorous in +its extremities, where will come the immediate points of contact with, +the great power it is to operate—the organized freedmen. The expense of +this commission must not be a tax upon the Government, nor must +Government derive any profit therefrom. Such an organized directory, +with extremities all complete, may be amply paid from the freedmen's +labors; at the same time, those labors being doubly remunerative to +themselves, in consequence of the wise adjustment of the organized +machinery of such a commission. For the weak and uneducated to be in +complete subjection to the stronger and more cultivated is in strict +accordance with the divinest order; only this relation must be that of +dependence and providence, without a taint of selfishness. It must be +humanitary or beneficent in its aims, and not inhuman and malevolent, as +is always the case when the weak are subjected to distinguish, +aggrandize, and enrich those who subject them. That the freedmen may be +organized and directed upon such humane and economical principles and +according to the strictest method and order—an order amounting to +definite science—will be practically demonstrated when the Government, +in the full consciousness of its mission, calls to its aid competent men +for this commission, and moves vigorously in the work. The principles of +government which we have briefly suggested as the basis of movement in +this matter, based upon the laws and consequently applying to the needs +of the human mind, enable us infallibly to estimate the whole relations +of Government and people. Our Government being in its theory the highest +form—the form proportioned to manhood, or the human mind so matured as +to have the intelligence to perceive and the virtue to execute the +right—proceeds, of course, upon the declaration that 'all <i>men are +created</i> free and equal;' but in the only practical sense of free or +self-government, which, in its very nature, can only rest upon the +virtue and intelligence of its subjects, men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> cannot be regarded as +'created' until they are made whole or complete in the crowning +intelligence and virtue of the loftiest human attributes. But as +government, of whatever kind, follows the laws of the human mind, is +first a germ, then a growth, and then a fruitage—shoot, blade, and +ear—our Government can only realize this greatness and perfection +(unlimited intelligence and virtue) in its matured or organic state; +when the declared principles of its form shall have become livingly +combined or organized in institutions of unlimited excellence and +power—institutions that will perpetually embody and express the exalted +human force that inspired them. That our Government has thus far failed +to exhibit such completeness, only argues that it has heretofore been in +a formative condition—a condition of laborious trial, tuition, and +growth, fitting it to realize ultimately its fullness, wherein it will +stand related to previous conditions as the grand, symmetric beauty of +the ear of grain stands related to its various formative states.</p> + +<p>If now our Government is, as we fondly hope, approaching its third +degree, its matured condition, with a race of dependent children +emerging from the lowest condition, that of chattel slavery, it is plain +enough what the relation of these people and the Government should be. +They are simply minors, subjects of the Government, but not a part of +the Government. The right of suffrage is not to be extended to them, +because, from the nature and spirit of the Government, they are +necessarily excluded from the <i>highest</i> prerogatives of citizenship. +Their education and whole training are to proceed with a view to their +becoming ultimately a function in the government.</p> + +<p>If the principles thus stated amount to a <i>science</i> of government—and +we unhesitatingly aver that they do—then it is clear enough that +self-government—the highest form—does by no means necessitate, under +all conditions, <i>universal</i> suffrage. In truth, its orderly development +strictly forbids it. A government, founded and only healthily operated +on virtue and intelligence, must apply itself studiously to develop +these conditions in its subjects; thus, and only thus, may these +subjects become a part of the governmental power in its full, harmonious +development. Self-government must recognize the principle of universal +suffrage, because it proceeds upon, and, in its ripest form, must come +to that; but, as it is an operation or analytic before it is an ordered +form or synthetic in its character, it will, while forming or growing, +both restrict the rights of suffrage, and permit its subjects to a part +in government when they are not fully qualified therefor. Our freedmen, +then, are neither to be subjected contrary to the demands of their own +highest good, nor are they to become an element in government in +detriment to the public good. Hence they must not be controlled in <i>any +form</i> of servitude to interested and selfish superiors, nor must they, +by partaking of the elective franchise, become, at present, active +participants in the government.</p> + +<p>Our current national history must be regarded as singularly marked by +beneficent Providential design. At the same time that a people hitherto +despised and oppressed are emancipated from a dreadful thraldom, the +conditions attending such emancipation are forcing upon the nation a +system of industrial organization which we trust will not only prove +effective in all that pertains to their future welfare, but will, at the +same time, become the example of an organization that shall emancipate +and enthrone labor everywhere and in all conditions. Seeing thus the +light of day streaming in with unmarred radiance, dispelling every trace +of darkness and gloom, we cannot but thank God for His wise +dispensations, and with renewed hope and energy press onward toward the +glowing east to greet the rising sun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="OUT_OF_PRISON" id="OUT_OF_PRISON"></a>OUT OF PRISON.</h2> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From crowds that scorn the mounting wings,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The happy heights of souls serene,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I wander where the blackbird sings,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And over bubbling, shadowy springs,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The beech-leaves cluster, young and green.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I know the forest's changeful tongue</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">That talketh all the day with me:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I trill in every bobolink's song,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And every brooklet bears along</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">My greeting to the chainless sea!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The loud wind laughs, the low wind broods;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">There is no sorrow in the strain!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of all the voices of the woods,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That haunt these houseless solitudes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Not one has any tone of pain.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In merry round my days run free,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With slender thought for worldly things:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A little toil sufficeth me;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I live the life of bird and bee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nor fret for what the morrow brings.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor care, nor age, nor grief have I,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Only a measureless content!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So time may creep, or time may fly;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>I</i> reck not how the years go by,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With Nature's youth forever blent.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They beckon me by day, by night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The bodiless elves that round me play!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I soar and sail from height to height;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No mortal, but a thing of light</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">As free from earthly clog as they.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But when my feet, unwilling, tread</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The crowded walks of busy men,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their walls that close above my head</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beat down my buoyant wings outspread,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And I am but a man again.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My pulses spurn the narrow bound!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The cold, hard glances give me pain!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I long for wild, unmeasured ground,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Free winds that wake the leaves to sound,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Low rustles of the summer rain!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My senses loathe their living death—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The coffined garb the city wears!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I draw through sighs my heavy breath,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And pine till lengths of wood and heath</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Blow over me their endless airs!</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LIES_AND_HOW_TO_KILL_THEM" id="LIES_AND_HOW_TO_KILL_THEM"></a>LIES, AND HOW TO KILL THEM.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'I said, in my haste, all men are liars.'—<span class="smcap">King David</span>.</p> + +<p>'Ye said it in your <i>haste</i>, did ye, David? Hech, mon, were ye +leevin now, ye might say it at your <i>leisure</i>.'—<span class="smcap">Dominie +McPhail</span>. </p></div> + +<p>The Dominie was right. It's a lying world. It does not improve with age +either. The habit has become chronic, and the worst of all is, that the +world has told some lies so often, that it actually now believes them +itself. The wretched family propagates, too, at a terrible rate. Lies +breed, like other vermin, rapidly, and they are not at all modest about +intruding in any company.</p> + +<p>I meet them in the gossiping circle, and I meet them in the courts of +justice. I find lies in politics and lies in religion, lies in the +pulpit, 'nail't wi' Scripture,' lies in the counting room railed with +false entries, religious lies, told by Deacon Longface, for the +advancement of what the Deacon calls 'the gospel,' and irreligious lies +told by Bill Snooks, and clenched with an oath, lies in good books, and +lies in bad ones, lies written, and printed in the newspapers, and lies +whispered in the ear, and any number of lies sent by telegraph! And +then, there's the walking lies, going about on two legs, saying what +they do not believe, professing what they do not feel, the most +scandalous sort of lies extant.</p> + +<p>I meet them often, too, in 'the best society.' They are very impudent, +you know. I suppose they force their presence on people. At all events, +I know I find them in respectable company, and they seem quite at home +there.</p> + +<p>My friend Jones has just built what the newspapers call 'an elegant +mansion.' I was invited to the house-warming. Mrs. Jones's set is very +exclusive, and I was greatly complimented, of course. I went. Jones has +taste. I noticed the plaster walls. Jones had them colored to marble. +The wainscoting of the library was pine, but the pine lied itself into a +passable walnut. The folding doors of the parlor were pine, too, when I +came near. They pretended to be solid oak while I stood at the other end +of the room. Jones had succumbed to the demands of his time, and had +made his dwelling among lies. His 'elegant mansion' was a big, staring +lie from top to bottom. From the plated door-knob to the grained railing +round the garret stairs, he had 'made lies his refuge.' I was bewildered +that evening. It was impossible to say what was real. Miss Seraphina +Jones had a lovely color. Was it <i>done</i> like the folding doors? Mrs. +Smythe had the whitest of teeth when she smiled. Were they only a +pretence at teeth? Mrs. Robinson had beautiful masses of that chestnut +hair around her handsome neck. The bewildering 'mansion' of my friend +made me half doubt even that splendid hair. Tom Harris's magnificent +whiskers, I <i>knew</i>, were not colored by fancy to that depth of darkness. +At last I actually began to doubt the sincerity of every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span>body present. +Their warm expressions of delight with Jones's new house, their pleasure +in each other's society, their earnest inquiries after each other's +welfare, all began to affect me with a sense of unreality, owing to that +masquerading 'mansion.' I began to think, in such a house, there might +be more shams than the marbled plaster or the grained pine.</p> + +<p>Jones's church is not better. I occupied a seat in his 'eligible pew' +last Sunday. The lath and plaster walls pretended to be Caen stone. The +cheap deal was all 'make-believe' oak. The brick pillars were 'blocked +off,' and unblushingly claimed to be granite. As I entered, I observed +that the pulpit stood under the arch of a recess, roofed with carved +stone, with clustered columns rising on the sides and spreading into +graceful arches overhead. As I walked up the broad aisle, the recess +shifted strangely, and the clustered columns of 'carven stone' ran in +and out, at hide and seek. At last the truth flashed on me. The chancel +was only painted on the flat rear wall of the building! I don't know +what the sermon was about. It doesn't matter. How <i>could</i> a man preach +truth, framed in such a staring lie? I have no doubt he tried to, for, I +believe, he is an excellent man; but what a place to put him, Sunday +after Sunday, with that painted cheat behind him, mocking all he says!</p> + +<p>But lies are venerable as well as respectable. There are old, gray lies +that men half worship. The more toothless and drivelling, often the more +venerable. They have imposed their solemn emptiness on men for +generations. They have awed the souls of the fathers. They make the +children tremble. Men chant their praises, call them great names, and +tell each other the old scarecrows are better than any truths—they are +so ancient, so venerable, you see; and all the old women, male and +female, believe them.</p> + +<p>Then, there are powerful lies. Think on the wars men have fought for +lies, on the millions of followers lies have had—how from their lofty +seats they govern empires, convulse continents, and drive patient +nations mad. Think on the money they have made, the mouths they have +filled, the backs they have warmed, the houses they have built, the +reputations they have created, the systems they have propped, the books +they have sent out, the presses they have kept busy. Think of the +Donation of Constantine, the Forged Decretals, the South Sea Scheme, the +Mississippi Bubble, of Wild Cat Banks, and Joyce Heth! He is certainly a +bold man who will rashly measure his strength with this mighty family.</p> + +<p>As the world goes, the Father of Lies crowns himself and claims the +sovereignty. 'All these things will I give thee'—riches, honor, power. +It is the old Temptation of the Desert forever repeated. He lies when he +makes the offer. They were never his to give. But it's a lying world. +There are millions of us cheated. They take the old scoundrel at his +word.</p> + +<p>You and I, reader, do not, let us hope. We agree in believing that, +under any circumstances, lies are not good; that, at all times, they are +unsafe, unwholesome, and in every way bad, very bad; that, on the whole, +it is not safe to trust them, or go with them. That is a good creed. It +appears to me the only creed, on this subject, that will stand.</p> + +<p>For this is, after all, a very solemn sort of life. It has a very +serious ending. A great universe whirls away with its ebon-faced +mysteries piled from central caves to highest heavens—a universe, with +all its mysteries, of hardest reality and baldest truth. A man, looking +up to the cold, clear, unswerving stars, out yonder in the wintry night, +or down at the grave that lies, somewhere, for the digging across his +path, must feel that a lie for him, knowing his place, knowing himself, +that a lie for him is accursed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span></p> + +<p>We want the truth always—clear-eyed, sharp-cut, marble-faced truth. We +want to know the facts and realities of our position, just as they are. +The mariner sails away into the lonely sea. The mystery of the +unfathomed deep sways miles down beneath his passing keel. The mystery +of the overarching heavens swims far above with mazy constellation and +revolving sphere. Between the mystery of the sky and the mystery of the +sea he steers right on, in calm and tempest confident, in night and +noonday secure. For he there, on the trackless wastes that girdle in the +great wide world, alone with the silence of Nature and God, <i>knows</i> the +facts of his position, the realities of his place. The charts lie spread +before him. Island, continent, lone sea-rock, hidden shoal, they are all +mapped to his eye. The faithful needle points due north. The true sun +rises where he always has. The faithful, changeless stars look down at +midnight. The truth saves him, rocked in the arms of the wild sea. The +reality holds him secure. Ask him, looking out, in the night watch, over +the black sea and up to the inky deeps, and down to the dim-lighted +compass before him, ask him his opinion of <i>a lie</i>! What his honest +notion may be about a false light on yonder headland, a false latitude +on his chart for this island or that shoal, a mistaken measurement of +depth across this bay or through yonder straits! Ask him the nature and +effects of <i>a lie</i> in the chart he sails by!</p> + +<p>And we are all sailors. We want true charts. The false chart is our +ruin. The false beacon on the headland is kindled by the fiends. It +leads to death—a wreck-strewn sea, dashing white up the black cliffs, +and bubbling cries, rising above the tempest's roar and the surges' +boom, as, one by one, the swimmers sink to darkness through the foam!</p> + +<p>Nay, for us, sailors over life's seas, sailors into eternity's dimness, +the lie wears its Father's likeness. And the liar, the man who makes a +lie, or helps a lie to success, a lie of word or deed, a lying boast +merely, or a bad, vile, lying system, is my enemy, your enemy, +humanity's enemy. He has deserted God's army, has denied his human +brotherhood so far, has gone over, soul and body, to Satan. He is God's +enemy and man's thenceforward.</p> + +<p>That, I say, is, I trust, our creed about lies and liars too. We know +where the lie comes from. We know whither it tends. We have made up our +minds that it, and all its belonging, were best swept clean away and +pitched into the Big Fire. Blessed be the man, we say, who successfully +kills lies! He is a man to be honored and loved, no matter how rough he +is in the process. It is never very smooth business. It is not a thing +that can be well done in gloves. Let us not quarrel with how the +champion does it. The main end is to get the lies well choked somehow.</p> + +<p>But the one great difficulty in the way of such a man is, that so many +people believe in lies. My eager young friend, Philalethes, supposes +that, if he can only expose this falsehood, show up this sham, or sound +the emptiness of this piece of cant or pretence, he will do the state +some service, that men will thank him and call him benefactor. He does +the work, and lo! to his amazement, many excellent men count him their +deadly enemy.</p> + +<p>These good souls see what he sees, that lies, and shams, and cheats in +business, in science, in politics, in religion, in social life, are +often very successful and very powerful, and they come to <i>their</i> +conclusion, which is not his by a great deal. He thinks the lie ought to +be hated, with a hatred the more intense because of its success. They +conclude that lies, in this world at least, are necessary. They have +seen, with their own eyes, how powerful, venerable, or respectable lies +are, and they act on their knowledge. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span> take the lie into sleeping +partnership—Quirk and <i>Co</i>.</p> + +<p>There are men who do not believe plain truth can walk alone in this +world. She needs a pair of lies for crutches! Men will actually write +and print lies for the truth's sake. Men have piously written down and +copyrighted lies (I have their books on my shelves) for the sake of +religion! They have so little faith in God, they think they must wheedle +Satan over on His side, or the truth and the right will fail. It is very +easy to believe in God for the other world, but very hard to believe in +Him for this. He will be omnipotent lord and master there, but here, +now, in this bewildering world, in this confused and wretched time, +where wrong seems so prosperous and lies so strong, is He omnipotent +here? Hereaway, is not the Devil mightier? Can we get along without a +little of his help?</p> + +<p>Now lies can never end till this ends. While men think them necessary to +truth, in business, in politics, in social order, even in religion, they +will stand. People must be got to see that they are evil, that under no +circumstances can they be anything else, that there can be no alliance +between truth and falsehood, that the false thing must, in the end, be +the corrupting thing, Satanic and vile utterly. They must know that, +just so far as anything is incorporate with a lie, so far is it foul to +the nostrils of all angels, and ought to be to the nostrils of all men.</p> + +<p>Weave a lie into your social polity. It may prosper for a while, but +soon or late your social polity runs mad. Take a lie into your business, +as sleeping partner, try to live and prosper in that connection, and, +some time, you and your business will go to the dogs together. Adopt a +lie in your religion, make up your mind, piously as you think, to +believe what you do not believe and cannot believe, attempt to sanctify +falsehood and lie yourself into a faith, and your sham creed and your +lying religion will do you no good in this world or in the other.</p> + +<p>Because a lie is a respectable lie, believed and patronized by +respectable people, shall you respect it? Because some venerable sham +has imposed its emptiness on a score of generations, shall we go on +reverencing it, and pass the scarecrow and its trumpery trappings on for +the reverence of our children? Shall we, for any cause, that is, turn +liars ourselves, and use the tongues God gave us to speak honest truth +and simple meaning with, to deceive, in small matter or great, one human +brother of ours, and make him think Satan's black lie as good as the +Lord's white truth?</p> + +<p>It may be strong preaching, but how can one help it? Never yet did a +true-hearted, clear-headed reformer set to work to clear away some old +cankering sore of falsehood from a people's life that he did not meet +with opposition. And never yet did that opposition come from those who +loved the lie for the lie's sake or the bad for the bad's sake. It came +from those who love Truth, but who could not trust her, who loved Good, +but had no faith in its success, who wanted to see the right side +triumph, but had no confidence in the right—who really believed, that +is to say, that Satan was almighty and the Lord's cause could not +prosper, in this world at least, without his help! The opposition came +from those who would deal gently with respectable lies, not because they +are lies, but because they are respectable; who trembled before powerful +lies, not because they were lies, but because they were powerful; who, +seeing shams and cheats so prosperous, so venerable, so strong, got the +notion into their poor cowardly hearts that they are strongest, and +wanted the reformer to come humbly, cap in hand, and ask them to let a +little truth live, a little modest, humble, unaggressive truth—it will +be very orderly, very quiet, very deferential, if they, the powerful, +the venerable, the respectable lies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> will let it stay here, in some +corner, out of charity!</p> + +<p>These are the men who, in all ages, have built barriers against heaven, +the cowards, the faithless, the unbelieving. They dare not trust truth +because it is truth, and good because it is good, leaving consequences +with Him whose special business it is to take care of consequences. No, +it is not love for the lie, but want of faith in the truth, that blocks +the chariot wheels of the golden year.</p> + +<p>For men do not love the lie after all. There's comfort in that. They do +not like being cheated. They never get quite used to it, as, they say, +eels do to skinning. They sometimes turn on the man, or the system, that +tries it on them, in a very terrible and savage manner, with fury as of +a mad lion, and take swift, fearful vengeance. The big, dumb heart of +humanity, in the long, run, can be trusted. It is often imposed upon, +its blind trust shamefully abused. Scoundrels exist and prosper on its +patience and credulity. But only for a time. There is a reckoning for +all such deceptions, if need be, in blood and fire. The dull heart +throbs, the dull eyes open, the great brain stirs in its sleep, and +humanity, true to its origin, rises to crush the lie with its million +arms of power. And earth-born Briareus, when his thousand hands turn to +right his wrongs, is not delicate in their handling. The echoes of a +French Revolution will ring for some generations yet.</p> + +<p>The man who turns to combat error needs the assurance of the true +instincts of his race, for he enters on a task that must seem hopeless +often.</p> + +<p class='center'> +'Truth crushed to earth will rise again;' +</p> + +<p>so Mr. Bryant tells him, and he is much obliged to Mr. Bryant. But will +not error do just the same? He killed a lie yesterday, and buried it +decently. He finds it alive again and prosperous to-day. Cut a man's +head off, and he dies. There's no help for it, unless he is a St. Denis, +and then he can only take a walk with his head in his hand. But, if he +is not a St. Denis, he dies. That is the law. Cut the head off a lie, it +does not die at all. It rather seems to enjoy the operation. You will +meet it, like fifty St. Denises, on every morning walk, during your +lifetime. They have a marvellous vitality. I meet lies every day that, +to my certain knowledge, were put to death a hundred years ago, by +master hands at the business, too. They ought, in decency at least, to +look like pale ghosts 'revisiting the glimpses of the moon,' but they +don't. They are smug, comfortable, and somewhat portly, as from good, +solid living.</p> + +<p>Now this is discouraging somewhat. But there is no good in shutting +one's eyes to the fact. That is what I am going against. It is best to +know that lies die hard. They will bear at least as many killings as a +cat, and that's <i>nine</i>. Still, much depends upon the manner of the +operation. How is it best performed? Knowledge is needed in all +pursuits. There is a science undoubtedly in killing lies. If you wish to +go into the business, and I trust most honest men do, you need to study +it somewhat. Otherwise you will waste much effort, and get few results. +It is not easy to kill one wolf with a stick, but, call science to your +aid, and an ounce of strychnine, well administered, will do the business +for a pack. Instead of going into a rough-and-tumble fight with some +coarse, rude, vile lie, and mauling it to death by sheer force of +muscle, it is better to use science and put it to death neatly, cleanly, +and delicately, with unsoiled hands. Let us see if we can find the +science of killing lies.</p> + +<p>'The greater the lie the greater the truth.' Take that with you. A lie +must, somewhere, have a truth to prop it. In the heart of every big +successful lie you will find some reality. Of course you cannot build a +house on <i>nothing</i>. A pyramid cannot be con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span>structed in the air. Now a +lie is <i>nothing</i>, the very definition of nothing. It is what <i>is not</i>. +So, of course, no pure and simple lie exists. It always builds itself on +some truth. It always roots itself into some fact. And there is the +secret of its vitality. You batter the lie with your logic, but the +blows rebound from the iron truth beneath. You assail it with the +flashing darts of your rhetoric, the points fly harmless from the marble +reality below. There is truth there somewhere. That is why your rhetoric +and your logic fail. That, too, is why one so often sees that most +bewildering and despairing sight, men clinging to a lie, honoring it, +trusting it, defending it, in all sincerity, against all assailants. It +is not the lie they defend, but the truth in the lie. What a relief it +was when I first made that discovery! I was ready to think meanly of my +kind, to distrust humanity's instincts for truth. The lookout was on +despair. But, when I understood the nature of the lie, I learned to +think better of my brethren, I learned to have more hope in their Maker. +No, there is no building on nothing. Every lie has a substratum of +truth. In fact, look closer, and is not a lie only a distorted truth?—a +truth torn from its connections, its features twisted out of all +symmetry, its outlines battered out of all shape?</p> + +<p>A man tells a true story to-day, in the hearing of one who has this +distorting power, an essentially untrue soul. He hears the same story +to-morrow, the very same, but so deformed, so mangled, so patched, that +it is, now, every inch a lie—the truth gone crazy. That is, a truth +half told is a lie, a truth added to is a lie, a truth distorted is a +lie, a truth with its due proportions changed is a lie. And a lie may +always be defined as a lame, deformed, or crazy truth.</p> + +<p>And it is the truth in the lie that gives it its power, that makes +honest men so often accept, love, and help it. Their conscious design is +to work for the truth's sake. It is the truth in the lie that makes so +many logic shafts, so many rhetoric arrows glance off, as from the hide +of a rhinoceros.</p> + +<p>And the bigger the lie the bigger also the truth. That is another bit of +science. If Mrs. Tattle tells Mrs. Tittle a lie about Mrs. Jenkins, she +knows very well Mrs. Tittle will not believe her unless her lie has some +spice of fact to go on, unless it has <i>vraisemblance</i>, truth-likeness, +an appearance of foundation at least. Mean little lies, like those she +sets going, do not need much salt of truth to keep them from spoiling; +still they require their due modicum, and they usually have it. As for +instance, she says, with a long face, to Mrs. Tittle: 'Mrs. Jenkins, the +widow Jenkins, you know, it's <i>awful</i>. She went over to Pinkins's last +evening; I saw her go, and I do believe she stayed till twelve, and Mrs. +Pinkins is away, you know. Isn't it terrible?' and she raises her eyes +in pious horror at the depravity of the world, and of handsome young +widows in particular. That is the <i>lie</i>. Now here is the <i>truth</i>. Mrs. +Jenkins <i>did</i> go across the way to Pinkins's, because one of his little +ones was suddenly taken with some baby ailment, and the poor fellow, in +his wife's absence, was scared out of his few wits in consequence. He +sent for the kind-hearted widow, and begged her help for Johnny. She +came, nursed the young scamp like a mother, and returned at nine, with +her conscience glowing under the performance of a kindly and neighborly +act.</p> + +<p>Now, without this much of truth, the amiable Mrs. Tattle would never +have manufactured this particular lie. All liars understand the +principle. They scarcely ever, until they become blind and stupid liars, +invent a falsehood out of mere fancy. They pay tribute to humanity's +instinct for truth so far as to tell as much of it as possible without +ceasing to lie. They get in as great an amount of truth as convenient, +to save their lie from swift, sure death.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span></p> + +<p>But a rousing big lie!—not one of these small neighborhood affairs, +that buzz about like wasps in every community—but a grand and +magnificent lie, imposed on a nation, imposed maybe on half a world, +must have a corresponding truth to make it prosper. It takes less salt +to cure the small pig, more to cure the large hog. So, the greater the +weight of dead lie, the greater the amount required of preserving truth.</p> + +<p>Mohammed imposed a lie on half a continent. That lie has lived and, in +some sort, prospered to this day. All sorts of babblement have been +written and spoken about that wonderful fact. The truth is, Mohammed's +great lie was founded on, and propagated with, an equally great truth, a +truth amply sufficient to carry it. In the midst of abominable idolatry, +of stupid polytheism, Mohammed proclaimed: 'There is no God but God!' +His wild and foolish fictions were based on that grand, unalterable +truth. That truth is big enough to bear up more lies than even he +ventured to cover it with. The human heart leaped up to grasp the great +fact that props the Universe—'GOD IS!'—and, in its love for that, +accepted also the falsehoods woven into its proclamation.</p> + +<p>In all the universe the evil roots itself into the good. Evil never has +an independent life. Like an idol, 'it is nothing in the world.' An evil +nature is a good nature, only turned from its aim. Death exists only +because there is life. Disease feeds on rosy health. Devils are, by +nature, angels. The foulest fiend is only the loftiest seraph spoiled. +The evil is always a parasite. All things were made 'very good.' An evil +thing is only one of those good things corrupted. The lie, therefore, +grows out of the truth. The clearest heaven's truth, half told, +distorted, patched upon, is the vilest lie thenceforth.</p> + +<p>Now, when one wants to kill lies successfully, he must remember all +this. He may turn, as many have done, to the work of proving +Mohammedanism a cheat. He sees it is. He wants to get others to see it. +He brings his logic artillery and the rifle brigades of his flashing +rhetoric to the battle. But, let him not be surprised if his heavy shot +is powdered, and his Minié bullets glance harmless, as from a Monitor's +turret, for beneath lies the iron truth that 'God is God,' and that +saves the lie that 'Mohammed is His prophet.' He is not to rush, like a +madman, at the lie, and try to maul it to death by sheer force of arm +and hand. There is a hard truth beneath it, and he will only lame his +knuckles. Let him go at the thing scientifically. They say of slander, +which is one kind of lie, that, if left alone, it will sting itself to +death. It is so somewhat with all falsehood. One should pay less +attention to the lie and more to the truth. And the best way to destroy +the false is to teach simply the true, and leave the false no room to +stand on.</p> + +<p>It is possible to destroy one lie by another. They are cannibals, and +eat each other. Voltaire tried to conquer the lie of a corrupt church by +establishing the greater lie of the denial of any church. That is a very +unfortunate process, and yet it is common enough. The best way is to set +out the truth, plain, and simple, and whole, and so kill lies in flocks. +Positive teaching will be found the most effective teaching. The man who +takes up the business of combating error, may originate quite as many +errors as he destroys. There are a hundred prominent examples. Negative +teaching is barren business at best. Better show what <i>is</i> the truth +than worry oneself to show what is <i>not</i> it.</p> + +<p>For, as I have shown, all lies have some truth in them. That is why they +kick, and struggle, and die so hard. Now, take the truth, tear away the +lies patched about it, tell it all, and you have quenched that +particular lie that worried you, do you not see? and every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span> lie that +roots itself in that given truth, or lives on its distortion. Declare +your one truth convincingly, clearly, warmly as if you loved it, and the +work is done. All that does not agree with that is, of course, false, +without further breath wasted.</p> + +<p>I might spend one day in proving that two and three are not four, +another in proving that nine and six are not four, and so on <i>ad +infinitum</i>. How much more sensible to prove that two and two are four, +and so end the thing! How much simpler to show what is the truth than, +laboriously, to expose the claims of a thousand pretenders that are +<i>not</i> it! Here are five hundred John Smiths. They each pretend to be +<i>our</i> John, the man we know and esteem so highly. I could set to work +with infinite labor, and, by having commissions appointed all over the +world to take evidence, and by employing a hundred or so of my friends +the lawyers, I might, after a lifetime of investigation, prove the +negative, that four hundred and ninety-nine of them are not John. But +how much easier to walk out the real John at once, prove the positive, +and let the rest pack! By proving that one truth, you see, I kill four +hundred and ninety-nine lies—a good day's work that.</p> + +<p>There is altogether too much of this negative style in all our defences +of truth, too much attempt to destroy what is wrong, and too little to +build what is right. And, after all, the business of the destructive, +though many times very necessary and very useful, is not the highest +style of work. You are never sure of your ground till, on the ruins of +the towers of injustice and wrong, you erect the fortresses of justice +and right.</p> + +<p>The wise way is to let truth fight her own battles. She will render a +good account of all her foes. Our humble duty is to stand by her, merely +as seconds in the strife, to help her to her feet should she fall, to +burnish her armor if the rust come to dim its brightness or spoil the +keenness of her weapon's edge, knowing that she, as with the sword of +the cherubim, will scatter, at the last, the evil legions and their dark +array, as the whirlwind scatters the chaff.</p> + +<p>I have written of a war that, as far as this world is concerned, is +endless. As long as the world exists lies will exist. Truths will always +be half told, half learned, half understood. The man who girds himself +to do battle with falsehood and wrong should understand that 'there is +no discharge in this war.' It will last his life out. He must accept the +inevitable condition of his place, and must be content to do his best, +hopefully and bravely, in this world-work, though he surely know that it +shall be said of him, as of those faithful ones who saw only in vision +the coming Christ: 'These all died in hope, not having obtained the +promise.' I have attempted here some hints for the truth-lover. I warn +him, on the start, that his work is endless, his discouragements many +and great. Often and often it will seem that the evil is omnipotent, the +false all-conquering. Again and again his heart must sink in half +despair before the world's triumphant wrongs, before its overwhelming +lies. In many a dark time the heavens will seem brass and the earth +iron, and the evil victorious over all. He must be prepared for this. +There is no good in cheating men with false hopes. In a world that +crowns its saviors with thorns, such things are, and it is just as well +to know it.</p> + +<p>But there are encouragements too. The conviction is perennial among men, +that, on the whole, the false must go down. That is one strong +encouragement. This is another, that, after all, men are truth-lovers. +The true instincts of the race will give themselves voice some time, and +when they speak they shake the world. On the whole, they are for the +right thing and the true thing. All history, I believe, will bear them +that testimony.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the great encouragement is, that the Lord is King, that a true God +owns creation, that He is on the side of truth, and armed against every +lie. I think, between ourselves, that is encouragement enough. The side +that Jehovah is on is a pretty strong side, no matter who is on the +other. In the long run it will be the safe side, and the successful +side.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="WAS_HE_SUCCESSFUL" id="WAS_HE_SUCCESSFUL"></a>WAS HE SUCCESSFUL?</h2> + +<h3><i>PART THE LAST.</i></h3> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Do but grasp into the thick of human life! Every one <i>lives</i> +it!—to not many is it <i>known</i>; and seize it where you will, it is +interesting.'—<span class="smcap">Goethe</span>.</p> + +<p>'<span class="smcap">Successful</span>.—Terminating in accomplishing what is wished +or intended.'—<span class="smcap">Webster's</span> <i>Dictionary</i>. </p></div> + +<h4><a name="SUCCESSFULX" id="SUCCESSFULX"></a>CHAPTER X.</h4> + + +<p>The reader must imagine a lapse of five years.</p> + +<p>Hiram Meeker sits by an open window of his front parlor. It is the first +week in June; and, although early in the afternoon, the avenue is +beginning to be thronged with the fashionable world.</p> + +<p>Hiram sits, idly regarding the passers by. If you observe particularly, +you will perceive that the chair in which he is sitting is of a peculiar +construction. It is made so as to be wheeled from one point to another, +without disturbing the occupant.</p> + +<p>If you regard his countenance with a little more scrutiny, you will find +it greatly changed. There is no longer that firm texture of the skin +which indicates the vigor of health, and which shows that the muscles +are under full control. One side of the face is a very little out of +shape; not enough, however, to affect the appearance of the mouth, and +probably not to interfere with articulation.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Reader, the 'evil days' have come to Hiram. They <i>have</i> come, but, as +one might say, gently, without aggravating circumstances or attending +misfortunes. Still, the evil days have come. The 'years,' too, draw nigh +when he shall have no pleasure in them.</p> + +<p>It is a twelvemonth now since the fatal, long-dreaded <i>paralysis</i> came. +The stroke was a mild one, but there it was. All that care, and +forethought, and the best medical advice could accomplish, had been put +in requisition, and not without effect; but the millionnaire could not +neglect his vast interests, nor fail to mature plans which his fertile +brain originated.</p> + +<p>The machine gave occasional token of the wear and tear to which it was +subjected. Then Hiram would intermit his labor; would ride farther and +sharper of a morning; would subject himself to an extra amount of +friction. Presently the brain would work bravely on again, as of yore, +just the same—exactly the same. Hiram could perceive no +difference—none. Then would come another premonitory symptom, which +would be followed by other extra rides and various new courses of +treatment, till all worked well again. During these periods, Doctor +Frank, under whose charge Hiram had at length placed himself, would urge +on his brother the necessity of some relief from his self-imposed +labors. But,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> as I have intimated, the advice was heeded only while +danger was apparent.</p> + +<p>When the fearful visitor <i>did</i> appear, Hiram bitterly regretted tasking +his brain so severely. He was now quite willing to obey every injunction +and follow every suggestion of his physician.</p> + +<p>To this is owing his present comfortable state and tolerable degree of +health. But privately let me tell you that he is failing—not fast, but +gradually, surely failing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Let us return to the window.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Meeker's carriage is at the door. In a few moments Arabella herself +comes out and enters it, and drives away. Positively she does not appear +in the least changed since we last saw her. In fact, her health was +never so good as at present.</p> + +<p>'She will outlive me,' mutters Hiram—'she will outlive me, though she +is more than two years older than I am. Let me see, from April to +November is seven months. Yes, it is nearer three years than two. She +will outlive me, though.</p> + +<p>'I say, Williams!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir.'</p> + +<p>'Williams, have you heard how Mr. Hill is to-day? I am told he is not +expected to live.'</p> + +<p>'No more he wasn't sir; but I met his man this morning, at market, and +he says as how Mr. Hill is very much better, sir, very much better.'</p> + +<p>'Humph!</p> + +<p>'Williams, who was that young man I saw come to the door this morning?'</p> + +<p>'I really couldn't say, sir—I didn't know of any, sir—oh, now I +recollect, sir: it was a messenger from the Doctor, sir, with the new +friction gloves.'</p> + +<p>'Humph!—</p> + +<p>'You understand, Williams, if <i>that</i> young man ever comes near the +house—you know who I mean—I say, you—you understand what I told you?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, sir—certainly, sir.'</p> + +<p>'That will do, Williams.—Hill is getting better, is he?' pursues Hiram +to himself. 'Let me see—Hill must be at least four years older than I. +Yes, I recollect perfectly when he was at Joslin's, the time I came down +from Burnsville. Why, I was a mere boy, then, and Hill—Hill was a young +man of five-and-twenty. Yes, I recollect perfectly'—and Hiram smiled, +as if his encounter with Joslin and his clerk was fresh in his mind. 'So +Hill is better to-day,' he continued. 'He will outlive me too. Yet he is +certainly four years older—four years older.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There may be some of my readers who have taken sufficient interest in +'that scapegrace Hill' to wish to know something about him during these +last thirty years.</p> + +<p>I will say, therefore, that when Hiram jilted Emma Tenant, Hill took a +perfect disgust toward him. He presently quit drinking and swearing, and +married a pretty—indeed, a very charming—rosy-cheeked girl, whose only +fault was, as he said, that she was foolish enough to love him. This +girl was the daughter of his landlady, and not worth a penny—in money. +Till Hiram's 'affair' with Emma Tenant, he had exercised sufficient +influence over Hill to prevent his committing himself. That resulted in +Hill's throwing off the yoke, and announcing his independence. Hill was +no fool. The fact is, Hiram, to a certain extent, was in his power. The +parties never quarrelled. But all accounts were closed between them the +following season. I am constrained to add Hill continued in the liquor +business, in which he amassed a pretty large fortune. He was afterward +made President of the Globe Bank, one of the largest in the city, as all +know, which office he continues to hold. He has proved a good husband, a +kind father, and a useful member of society. The phrase is a stereotyped +one, but it is true of Hill.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span></p> + +<p>Leaving Hiram Meeker to pursue his soliloquy, I will endeavor to put the +reader in possession of such facts as may be necessary for the better +understanding of the narrative, and the present situation of affairs in +Hiram's own house.</p> + +<p>After the departure of Belle, I remarked that Hiram was busily engaged +for more than a week in preparing his will. With the defection of his +son and the elopement of his favorite daughter, Hiram's ideas took a new +and distinctive turn.</p> + +<p>He at one time had considerable pride in the idea of building up the +family name in his children, 'even unto his children's children.' This +he thought a laudable ambition, since he found the phrase in Scripture. +But when Belle deserted him, and he found himself not only forsaken but +duped, his feelings underwent an entire change.</p> + +<p>When Harriet, in her anxiety to induce her father to bring back her +sister, said, 'Give her my share—I shall not require it,' there was +stirred in Hiram's heart the old demon of Calculation and +Acquisitiveness. It seemed as if something had been saved to him by +Harriet's untimely departure from the world. It is difficult fully to +understand this, since, while he lived, certainly he would retain +control of all his property; and after his death, what could it avail +him? Nevertheless, I but recount the simple truth.</p> + +<p>That night he conceived the idea of a magnificent disposition of his +vast estate, to take place on his decease. Now he began to regard his +afflictions in a providential light. These were chastenings, at present +not joyous but grievous; but they would work out for him a more eternal +weight of glory.</p> + +<p>The consequence was, that by his will be founded three distinct public +institutions, all bearing his name; and prepared, at the same time, +minute directions how to carry his bequests into effect. These +institutions were not what are called charitable, neither did their +establishment indicate a heart easily touched by human misfortune. They +were calculated, however, to adorn and ornament the city, and to blazon +forth <i>H. Meeker</i> to the world so long as they stood.</p> + +<p>One thing threatened to interfere with Hiram's arrangements. His wife +would have a right of dower in all his real estate, in case she survived +him. This annoyed Hiram greatly.</p> + +<p>He got along with the matter in a business way. Arabella herself was +called in. Hiram announced, in general terms, what he proposed to do, +and suggested that he was ready to leave her a sum certain, provided she +would relinquish her rights in the real estate.</p> + +<p>Under ordinary circumstances Arabella would have been indignant; but her +thoughts were of her son, now a wanderer from his home. She was +tolerably familiar with the laws which regulate property. She knew if +she insisted on her dower, which she had a right to do, that however +affluent she would be while she lived, she would have nothing to leave +her child. She did not give Belle a thought.</p> + +<p>After a good deal of haggling, it was agreed that Hiram should give her +by his will three hundred thousand dollars (just about the sum, by the +way, she brought her husband), together with the household furniture, +plate, horses, carriages, and so forth, and the use of the house during +her life.</p> + +<p>This settled, Hiram was left free to follow out his ambitious plans for +raising a monument to—himself.</p> + +<p>These occupy him entirely. So much so, that he has no time to look +forward to the great future which cannot now be very far off to him. +Indeed, strange as one may think, although Hiram feels well assured of +his title to the kingdom, he <i>thinks</i> very little about it; neither does +the prospect give him the least satisfaction.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Meanwhile, where is Harriet? What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> has become of Belle! How did Gus turn +out?</p> + +<p>Harriet survived longer than one would have imagined, considering the +progress disease had made when we first became acquainted with her. +While she lived, she could not fail to impart her influence—the +influence of a gentle and a chastened spirit—over the whole household.</p> + +<p>I have already intimated that there was a new tie between her and her +mother—the worldly minded and fashionable Arabella. It was in the +interest which both felt in Gus. It seemed to be the chief object of +Harriet in living, to bring back her brother to his home, and to see him +in the right path. The mother longed to bring about the same thing, but +probably for very different reasons from those which actuated the dying +girl. But here their sympathies met, and they could act in concert. Gus +had always been sensibly alive to Harriet's regard for him. He loved her +with real affection; and when, in a foreign land, he read her letters, +fraught with the strongest expressions of love and sympathy, and filled +with the most earnest appeals from his 'dying sister, whose every breath +was a prayer for him,' it was impossible for his nature to resist.</p> + +<p>In a few months, Gus had taken his resolution. He abhorred trade. His +four years in college were not altogether lost on him. He felt quite +sure that his father would never relent. He believed he discovered in +himself a taste for the medical profession. So, after a short period, +Gus established himself in a very quiet way in Paris, and became a very +persevering and devoted student. His mother, of course, managed to keep +him in funds; but his drafts on her were very moderate. His reformation +seemed complete.</p> + +<p>After devoting about eighteen months to the study of medicine abroad, he +returned to New York. This was the season before Harriet died. He said +he could not endure the idea of her passing out of the world without his +seeing her again, and telling her what was in his heart.</p> + +<p>Hiram all this time remained, or professed to remain, profoundly +ignorant of what was going on. He continued to speak of his 'reprobate +son,' among his acquaintances in the church. The least attempt on +Harriet's part to introduce the forbidden subject was met by the most +stern repulse.</p> + +<p>But Gus came back. He was obliged to enter his own home stealthily and +in secret, where he deserved to be welcomed back in honor and with +reward. But he came. What was the joy, the intense satisfaction of +Harriet, to see him again! And Arabella—it was a strange sight indeed +to see <i>her</i> give way to any real emotion.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, before this, you have guessed that Doctor Frank has had +something to do with Gus's return. He has had a great deal to do with +it. Doctor Frank is an old man. He has no boys—living. He wants Gus to +live with him. He will give him the benefit of his large experience, and +Gus in return will relieve the doctor of much of the hard work which is +constantly accumulating. This is Doctor Frank's plan. It has been +carried out, and Gus is now 'the young doctor.' Bravo Gus! God bless +you!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Poor Belle!</p> + +<p>At the end of a single year, she was obliged to quit her husband. Quit +her husband, did I say? I mean that her husband quitted her. After +spending a few weeks in travelling, the two set off for Europe; and, +going to Paris, they gave themselves up to the enjoyment of the gay +scenes which this remarkable city affords.</p> + +<p>'When the ocean shall be between us, papa will no longer hold out—I +know he will not.'</p> + +<p>So Belle said to her husband. But Belle was mistaken. Months passed, and +destitution stared the couple in the face. Then the various articles of +jew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span>elry went, one by one—and then the crisis arrived.</p> + +<p>When Signor Filippo Barbone became fully satisfied that his +father-in-law was not to be turned from his resolution: when it became +apparent that the mother was not to be influenced, he came to the +conclusion that he had made a bad bargain, and resolved to escape as +soon as possible from the consequences of it.</p> + +<p>Belle, on her part, began to be disenchanted. Then all the elements of +her imperious, passionate nature, broke out in the fiercest, most +vehement, most vindictive manner. She heaped reproaches, taunts, and +maledictions on the head of the signor, who bore them with more +equanimity than would be supposed, but who determined not to have +another such tempest. One night he decamped, taking with him the few +remaining valuables the miserable girl possessed.</p> + +<p>Belle had not communicated with Gus, or even permitted him to know her +whereabouts. Now she wrote him a note, imploring him to come to her. He +responded at once, and instantly made what arrangements he could for her +comfort. After a season, and by the joint efforts of Gus and Harriet and +Doctor Frank, Belle was enabled to go back to New York. Her father would +not see her; her mother would not permit her to enter the house; but a +small weekly stipend was allowed, to enable her to board in a +respectable place, and to dress decently.</p> + +<p>Her unfortunate marriage has had very little effect on her. She never +was so handsome in her life. She enjoys exciting the sympathies of those +by whom she is surrounded, including half-a-dozen gentlemen who are +constantly dangling around her. A young lawyer, who was boarding at the +same house, undertook to institute proceedings for a divorce against the +absent signor. He was successful in his application, and Belle is now +legally free. She will probably marry some man of coarse taste, who will +be attracted by her fine form and showy appearance, to say nothing of +the effect of the prevalent belief that she will certainly be provided +for 'on old Meeker's death.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>So much for the present situation of the Meeker family. While Arabella +is taking her drive, I have had time to tell the reader thus much about +it. The carriage is now approaching, and I must stop.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The shadows of evening begin to gather. Along the great artery of the +city press the crowd. Their steps tend homeward.</p> + +<p>Still Hiram sits by the window, but oblivious of the current which +sweeps by.</p> + +<p>His thoughts go back to Hampton. He is a clerk in the 'opposition +store,' making love to Mary Jessup.</p> + +<p>'What a pretty girl she used to be!—how much she always did for +me—what pains she took to please me!' he mutters to himself.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Now he is thinking of Burnsville. His mind seems principally to dwell on +what was formerly of secondary importance to him.</p> + +<p>'Those Hawkins girls—they were good girls—very kind to me always—nice +girls—handsome girls—both of them in love with me. The widow Hawkins, +too....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>'Sarah Burns—she was a different sort from the rest. I don't think I +ever cared so much about her—too independent—thought too much of +herself. How quick she broke the engagement! I remember it was +preparatory lecture—preparatory lecture....</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>'Emma Tenant—<i>she</i> wasn't proud—Emma really loved me—I always, knew +she did....'</p> + +<p>He raised his eyes.</p> + +<p>Was it through some species of traction, as believers in odic force<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span> +other peculiar affinities, attribute to their influences, that he did so +at that moment?</p> + +<p><i>There</i> was Emma Tenant—Mrs. Lawrence—passing in her carriage, +surrounded by blooming, grown-up children.</p> + +<p>Her attention, it seems, was directed for an instant to the window. +Their gaze met.</p> + +<p>No outward sign that they were ever acquainted was manifested. But there +was, on both sides, a <i>recognition</i>, instantaneous and complete.</p> + +<p>'Poor old man!' exclaimed Mrs. Lawrence, involuntarily.</p> + +<p>'Who, mamma?'</p> + +<p>'We have passed him now.' And no more was said.</p> + +<p>'She loved me once,' was the soliloquy. 'That was a great while ago, +too....'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Another carriage passed. A bow from a lady, accompanied by a pleasant +smile. It is Miss Innis (Mrs. Leroy), driving out with <i>her</i> children. +Though no longer young, she is still a most attractive and elegant +woman.</p> + +<p>'What a wife she would have made me! I should not be in this state if I +had her to look after me. She has a kind heart—always smiling, always +happy.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Meeker!'</p> + +<p>The shrill voice of Arabella is heard.</p> + +<p>Hiram groans in spirit.</p> + +<p>'Don't you think you had better be wheeled to your room? You know I dine +out to-day.'</p> + +<p>'I prefer to sit here. Tell Williams to come to me.'</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The shadows fall thicker and faster.</p> + +<p>Still Hiram Meeker sits by the window.</p> + +<p>Despite my real inclination, I have a morbid desire to linger by his +side.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>I hear the sharp ring of the prompter's bell! The curtain is about to +fall. I <i>cannot</i> stay in the gloom alone with that man!—Good by to you, +Hiram!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>I breathe again—in the cheerful streets, surrounded by bustling, +earnest, sympathizing humanity.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Reader, what think you? <span class="smcap">Was he successful</span>?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APHORISMS2" id="APHORISMS2"></a>APHORISMS.</h2> + +<h4>NO. II.</h4> + + +<p>One may effect an <i>absolute insurance against all real evil</i> by the +adoption of a single rule, i. e., <i>never to do anything against +conscience</i>. This must be applied in our treatment of ourselves, in body +and mind—especially the former; because there we are most apt to fail. +It must be kept strictly toward the soul, in view of its endless +welfare, and in all our relations to God and man. This, I admit, may not +save us from the invasions of apparent ill; but from the entire +<i>reality</i> of evil, the security thus furnished is absolute. Conscience +is the voice of God in the soul; and no one truly obeying this voice +will meet with permanent harm. This rule, let us further observe, is +most needed where it is least likely to be regarded, i. e., in +circumstances where the voice of conscience is not so decided as in the +case of temptations to palpable vice. Our danger is often greatest, +where we have to resist only an obscure sense of right and wrong, in +seeking the lower gratifications of life. So much the more scrupulous +must we there be.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BENEDICT_OF_NURSIA_AND_THE_ORDER_OF_THE_BENEDICTINES" id="BENEDICT_OF_NURSIA_AND_THE_ORDER_OF_THE_BENEDICTINES"></a>BENEDICT OF NURSIA AND THE ORDER OF THE BENEDICTINES.</h2> + + +<p>Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the celebrated order which bears his +name, gave to the Western monasticism a fixed and permanent form, and +thus carried it far above the Eastern with its imperfect attempts at +organization, and made it exceedingly profitable to the practical, and +incidentally also to the literary interests of the Catholic Church. He +holds, therefore, the dignity of patriarch of the Western monks. He has +furnished a remarkable instance of the incalculable influence which a +simple but judicious moral rule of life may exercise on many centuries.</p> + +<p>Benedict was born of the illustrious house of Anicius at Nursia (now +Norcia), in Umbria, about the year 480, at the time when the political +and social state of Europe was distracted and dismembered, and +literature, morals, and religion seemed to be doomed to irremediable +ruin. He studied in Rome, but so early as his fifteenth year he fled +from the corrupt society of his fellow students, and spent three years +in seclusion in a dark, narrow, and almost inaccessible grotto at +Subiaco.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> A neighboring monk, Romanus, furnished him from time to time +his scanty food, letting it down by a cord, with a little bell, the +sound of which announced to him the loaf of bread. He there passed +through the usual anchoretic battles with demons, and by prayer and +ascetic exercise attained a rare power over nature. At one time, Pope +Gregory tells us, the allurements of voluptuousness so strongly tempted +his imagination that he was on the point of leaving his retreat in +pursuit of a beautiful woman of previous acquaintance; but summoning up +his courage, he took off his vestment of skins, and rolled himself naked +on thorns and briers near his cave, until the impure fire of sensual +passion was forever extinguished. Seven centuries later, St. Francis of +Assisi planted on that spiritual battle field two rose trees, which grew +and survived the Benedictine thorns and briers. He gradually became +known, and was at first taken for a wild beast by the surrounding +shepherds, but afterward reverenced as a saint.</p> + +<p>After this period of hermit life, he began his labors in behalf of the +monastery proper. In that mountainous region he established, in +succession, twelve cloisters, each with twelve monks and a superior, +himself holding the oversight of all. The persecution of an unworthy +priest caused him, however, to leave Subiaco, and retire to a wild but +picturesque mountain district in the Neapolitan province upon the +boundaries of Samnium and Campania. There he destroyed the remnants of +idolatry, converted many of the pagan inhabitants to Christianity by his +preaching and miracles, and in the year 529, under many difficulties, +founded upon the ruins of a temple of Apollo the renowned cloister of +Monte Cassino,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span> the alma mater and capital of his order. Here he +labored fourteen years till his death. Although never ordained to the +priesthood, his life there was rather that of a missionary and apostle +than of a solitary. He cultivated the soil, fed the poor, healed the +sick, preached to the neighboring population, directed the young monks, +who in increasing numbers flocked to him, and organized the monastic +life upon a fixed method or rule, which he himself conscientiously +observed. His power over the hearts and the veneration in which he was +held is illustrated by the visit of Jotila, in 542, the barbarian king, +the victor of the Romans and master of Italy, who threw himself on his +face before the saint, accepted his reproof and exhortations, asked his +blessing, and left a better man, but fell, after ten years' reign, as +Benedict had predicted, in a great battle with the Græco-Roman army +under Narses. Benedict died, after partaking of the holy communion, +praying, in standing posture at the foot of the altar, on the 21st of +March, 543, and was buried by the side of his sister, Scholastica, who +had established a nunnery near Monte Cassino, and died a few weeks +before him. They met only once a year on the side of the mountain for +prayer and pious conversation. On the day of his departure two monks saw +in a vision a shining pathway of stars leading from Monte Cassino to +heaven, and heard a voice that said by this road Benedict, the well +beloved of God, had ascended to heaven.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>His biographer, Pope Gregory I., in the second book of his Dialogues, +ascribes to him miraculous prophecies and healings, and even a raising +of the dead.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> With reference to his want of secular culture and his +spiritual knowledge, he calls him a learned ignorant and an unlettered +sage.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> At all events he possessed the genius of a lawgiver, and holds +the first place among the founders of monastic orders, though his person +and life are much less interesting than those of a Bernard of Clairvaux, +a Francis of Assisi, and an Ignatius of Loyola.</p> + +<p>The rule of St. Benedict, on which his fame rests, forms an epoch in the +history of monasticism. In a short time it superseded all contemporary +and older rules of the kind, and became the immortal code of the most +illustrious branch of the monastic army, and the basis of the whole +Roman Catholic cloister life.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> It consists of a preface or +<i>prologus</i>, and a series of moral, social, liturgical, and penal +ordinances, in seventy-three chapters. It shows a true knowledge of +human nature, the practical wisdom of Rome, and adaptation to Western +customs; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span> it combines simplicity with completeness, strictness with +gentleness, humility with courage, and gives the whole cloister life a +fixed unity and compact organization, which, like the episcopate, +possessed an unlimited versatility and power of expansion. It made every +cloister an <i>ecclesiola in ecclesia</i>, reflecting the relation of the +bishop to his charge, the monarchical principle of authority on the +democratic basis of the equality of the brethren, though claiming a +higher degree of perfection than could be realized in the great secular +church. For the rude and undisciplined world of the Middle Age, the +Benedictine rule furnished a wholesome course of training and a constant +stimulus to the obedience, self-control, order, and industry which were +indispensable to the regeneration and healthy growth of social life.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>The spirit of the rule may be judged from the following sentences of the +<i>prologus</i>, which contains pious exhortations: 'Having thus,' he says, +'my brethren, asked of the Lord who shall dwell in His tabernacle, we +have heard the precepts prescribed to such a one. If we fulfil these +conditions we shall be heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Let us, then, +prepare our hearts and bodies to fight under a holy obedience to these +precepts; and if it is not always possible for nature to obey, let us +ask the Lord that He would deign to give us the succor of His grace. +Would we avoid the pains of hell and attain eternal life while there is +still time, while we are still in this mortal body, and while the light +of this life is bestowed upon us for that purpose, let us run and strive +so as to reap an eternal reward. We must, then, form a <i>school of divine +servitude</i>, in which, we trust, nothing too heavy or rigorous will be +established. But if, in conformity with right and justice, we should +exercise a little severity for the amendment of vices or the +preservation of charity, beware of fleeing under the impulse of terror +from the way of salvation, which cannot but have a hard beginning. When +man has walked for some time in obedience and faith, his heart will +expand, and he will run with the unspeakable sweetness of love in the +way of God's commandments. May He grant that, never straying from the +instruction of the Master, and persevering in His doctrine in the +monastery until death, we may share by patience in the sufferings of +Christ, and be worthy to share together His kingdom.'</p> + +<p>The leading provisions of this rule are as follows:</p> + +<p>At the head of each society stands an abbot, who is elected by the +monks, and with their consent appoints a provost (<i>præpositus</i>), and, +when the number of the brethren requires, deans over the several +divisions (<i>decaniæ</i>), as assistants. He governs, in Christ's stead, by +authority and example, and is to his cloister what the bishop is to his +diocese. In the more weighty matters he takes the congregation of the +brethren into consultation; in ordinary affairs, only the older members. +The formal entrance into the cloister must be preceded by a probation or +novitiate of one year (subsequently it was made three years), that no +one might prematurely or rashly take the solemn step. If the novice +repented his resolution, he could leave the cloister without hindrance; +if he adhered to it, he was, at the close of his probation, subjected to +an examination in presence of the abbot and the monks, and then, +appealing to the saints, whose relics were in the cloister, he laid upon +the altar of the chapel the irrevocable vow, written or at least +subscribed by his own hand, and therewith cut off from himself forever +all return to the world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span></p> + +<p>From this important arrangement the cloister received its stability, and +the whole monastic institution derived additional earnestness, solidity, +and permanence.</p> + +<p>The vow was threefold, comprising <i>stablitas</i>, perpetual adherence to +the monastic order; <i>conversio morum</i>, especially voluntary poverty and +chastity, which were always regarded as the very essence of monastic +piety under all its forms; and <i>obedientia coram Deo et sanctis ejus</i>, +absolute obedience to the abbot, as the representative of God and +Christ. This obedience is the cardinal virtue of a monk.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>The life of the cloister consisted of a judicious alternation of +spiritual and bodily exercises. This is the great excellence of the rule +of Benedict, who proceeded here upon the true principle that idleness is +the mortal enemy of the soul and the workshop of the devil.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> Seven +hours were to be devoted to prayer, singing of psalms, and +meditation;<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> from two to three hours, especially on Sunday, to +religious reading; and from six to seven hours to manual labor indoors +or in the field, or, instead of this, to the training of children, who +were committed to the cloister by their parents (<i>oblati</i>).<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>Here was a starting point for the afterward celebrated cloister schools, +and for that attention to literary pursuits which, though entirely +foreign to the uneducated Benedict and his immediate successors, +afterward became one of the chief ornaments of his order, and in many +cloisters took the place of manual labor.</p> + +<p>In other respects the mode of life was to be simple without extreme +rigor, and confined to strictly necessary things. Clothing consisted of +a tunic with a black cowl (whence the name <i>Black Friars</i>); the material +to be determined by the climate and season. On the two weekly fast days, +and from the middle of September to Easter, one meal was to suffice for +the day. Each monk is allowed daily a pound of bread and pulse, and, +according to the Italian custom, half a flagon (<i>hemina</i>) of wine; +though he is advised to abstain from the wine, if he can do so without +injury to his health. Flesh is permitted only to the weak and sick,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +who were to be treated with special care. During the meal some edifying +piece was read, and silence enjoined. The individual monk knows no +personal property, not even his simple dress as such; and the fruits of +his labor go into the common treasury. He should avoid all contact with +the world as dangerous to the soul, and therefore every cloister should +be so arranged as to be able to carry on even the arts and trades +necessary for supplying its wants.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Hospitality and other works of +love are especially commanded.</p> + +<p>The penalties for transgression of the rule are, first, private +admonition, then exclusion from the fellowship of prayer,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span> next +exclusion from fraternal intercourse, and finally expulsion from the +cloister, after which, however, restoration is possible, even to the +third time.</p> + +<p>Benedict had no presentiment of the vast historical importance which his +rule, originally designed simply for the cloister of Monte Cassino, was +destined to attain. He probably never aspired beyond the regeneration +and salvation of his own soul and that of his brother monks, and all the +talk of some later historians about his far-reaching plans of a +political and social regeneration of Europe, and the preservation and +promotion of literature and art, find no support whatever in his life or +in his rule. But he humbly planted a seed which Providence blessed a +hundredfold. By his rule, he became, without his own will or knowledge, +the founder of an order, which, until in the thirteenth century the +Dominicans and Franciscans pressed it partially into the background, +spread with great rapidity over the whole of Europe, maintained a clear +supremacy, formed the model for all other monastic orders, and gave to +the Catholic Church an imposing array of missionaries, authors, artists, +bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and popes, as Gregory the Great and +Gregory VII. In less than a century after the death of Benedict, the +conquests of the barbarians in Italy, Gaul, and Spain were reconquered +for civilization, and the vast territories of Great Britain, Germany, +and Scandinavia incorporated into Christendom or opened to missionary +labor; and in this progress of history the monastic institution +regulated and organized by Benedict's rule bears an honorable share.</p> + +<p>Benedict himself established a second cloister in the vicinity of +Terracina, and two of his favorite disciples, Placidus and St. +Maurus,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> introduced the 'holy rule,' the one into Sicily, the other +into France. Pope Gregory the Great, himself at one time a Benedictine +monk, enhanced its prestige, and converted the Anglo-Saxons to the Roman +Christian faith by Benedictine monks. Gradually the rule found so +general acceptance both in old and in new institutions, that, in the +time of Charlemagne, it became a question, whether there were any monks +at all who were not Benedictines. The order, it is true, has degenerated +from time to time, through the increase of its wealth and the decay of +its discipline, but its fostering care of religion, of humane studies, +and of the general civilization of Europe, from the tilling of the soil +to the noblest learning, has given it an honorable place in history and +won immortal praise.</p> + +<p>The patronage of learning, however, as we have already said, was not +within the design of the founder or his rule. The joining of this to the +cloister life is due, if we leave out of view the learned monk Jerome, +to <span class="smcap">Cassiodorus</span>, who, in 538, retired from the honors and cares +of high civil office in the Gothic monarchy of Italy,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> to a monastery +founded by himself at Vivarium<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> (Viviers), in Calabria, in Lower +Italy. Here he spent nearly thirty years as monk and abbot, collected a +large library, encouraged the monks to copy and to study the Holy +Scriptures, the works of the church fathers, and even the ancient +classics, and wrote for them several literary and theological text +books, especially his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span>treatise <i>De institutione divinarum literarum</i>, a +kind of elementary encyclopædia, which was the code of monastic +education for many generations. Vivarium at one time almost rivalled +Monte Cassino, and Cassiodorus<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> won the honorary title of the +restorer of knowledge in the sixth century.</p> + +<p>The Benedictines, already accustomed to regular work, soon followed this +example. Thus, that very mode of life which in its founder, Anthony, +despised all learning, became, in the course of its development, an +asylum of culture in the rough and stormy times of the immigration and +the crusades, and a conservator of the literary treasures of antiquity +for the use of modern times.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="HANNAH_THURSTON" id="HANNAH_THURSTON"></a>HANNAH THURSTON.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paul.</span> Well, Dorcas, now you have finished the book, what do you +think of it?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorcas.</span> I must confess, my expectations on the whole have been +agreeably disappointed. From the criticisms I had read, both favorable +and adverse, I was fully prepared to quarrel with it from beginning to +end. I find in it much power and sustained interest. The descriptions of +nature are admirable—fresh, unhackneyed, and vivid. Western New York, +with its blue lakes, sloping hills, shining brooks, quiet woodlands, +spring buds, autumn flowers, winding country roads, and laden grain +fields, stands before one, clearly pictured. The characters, with their +<i>isms</i>, seem like old acquaintances, and the seething, fermenting +condition of American society is most accurately represented. There is +pathos, too, in the story, and many will read it with moistened eyes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paul.</span> So far so good, but—?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorcas.</span> But there runs through the entire work a vein of +sentiment or philosophy, which wears a very suspicious resemblance to +that of a certain school just now popular in France. I need not tell +you, Uncle Paul, how distasteful to me is that school, nor how false I +think the premises upon which it is founded. I am convinced there is a +difference in the mental and moral constitution of men and women. I will +not bore you by any disquisition upon relative superiority or +inferiority, but will simply give you a portion of my idea as I find it +laid down by St. John Chrysostom: 'Do not confound <i>submission</i> with +<i>slavery</i>,' says the golden-mouthed Greek. 'The woman obeys, but +<i>remains free</i>; she is <i>equal</i> in honor. It is true that she is subject +to her husband; and this is her punishment for having rendered herself +guilty in the beginning. Mark it well; woman was not condemned to +subjection at the time of her creation; when God made and presented her +to her husband, He said nothing of domination; we hear nothing from the +lips of Adam which supposes it. It was only after having violated her +duty by leading him astray to whom she had been given as a support, that +she heard these words: 'Thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he +shall have dominion over thee.''</p> + +<p>Now, in the book under consideration, we are led to suppose that even +the 'exceptional women' find submission and dependence, not only +delightful, but absolute necessities of their being. They are only too +happy to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span> succumb to the powerful magnetism attributed to men by reason +alone of their manhood. (A doctrine too repulsive to admit of +discussion.) I fancy that thinking, sensitive, and high-spirited women +have not yet ceased to find submission and dependence a <i>punishment</i>. +They may take up their cross cheerily, and wear it gracefully, but none +the less do they feel it to be a cross. As for pecuniary dependence, so +long as all goes smoothly and matters are so arranged that the wife is +not obliged to ask the husband for funds, the power of custom and of +legal provisions may be sufficient to prevent any disquietude; but after +the first misunderstanding, the first unkind word, <i>his</i> money, as it +passes through <i>her</i> hands, burns like coals of fire, and the bitterness +of her heart, as she perhaps vainly longs for some means of employment +by which to procure at least sufficient for her own personal expenses, +would cause him a new and strange sensation, did she not deem it her +<i>duty</i> to suppress all evidence, even the existence, of such +self-assertion, and quietly shoulder this with the rest, as a portion of +the burden to be borne through the valley of humiliation into which she +has entered, and wherein, by reason of the especial power granted her of +knowing and loving God, she usually finds herself Heaven's own +missionary, the keeper and guide of souls. Now, do not misunderstand me, +Uncle Paul; when I say that marriage is a valley of humiliation, I +intend no reproach to men; I simply state a fact dependent upon the +nature of things, and upon the primal sentence passed against the pride +that, in spite of the prohibition of the Almighty, sought to know all +things, 'to become as gods.' Meekness, humility, self-abnegation, +affection, are the beautiful flowers that grow by the wayside; but the +pathway is not the less thorny, and no good can be accomplished by +denying or sugar-coating the fact.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paul</span>. I do not doubt the correctness of your views, Dorcas; but +your rather vehement statement of them somewhat surprises me, as you +yourself married of your own free will, and at an age when women, if +ever, are supposed to know their own minds.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorcas</span>. That my own marriage has been a happy one, and that my +good husband has striven, by recognizing my womanly as well as +individual idiosyncrasies, to render the yoke as light as it possibly +can be, is the very circumstance that gives me a right to speak and +offer my testimony against ideas which I think wholly unwarranted by the +facts in the case. The views of modern philosophers, attacking the +sanctity of Christian marriage, are to me perfectly abhorrent. Deprive +marriage of its mystical, sacramental, penitential character, and it +ceases to be the bulwark of a well-ordered society. I must again call +upon St. John Chrysostom to speak for me. He says: 'Marriage is one of +the most surprising mysteries, by reason of the sublime character which +belongs to it, of representing the alliance of Jesus Christ with His +Church. The necessary consequence of which is, that it should not be +contracted lightly and through interested motives. No, marriage is no +bargain; it is the union of the entire life.' This is what true marriage +should be; but in so far as mankind fall below the lofty standards set +before them, so far does actual marriage fail to reach its glorious +ideal. Meantime, reverence for maidenhood is one of the strongest +safeguards of the sanctity of wedded life, and no delusions of any +school, whether romantic, sentimental, Micheletic, humanitarian, or +Lutheranistic, should be permitted to obscure this reverence. Neither my +own experience, nor that of the young maidens best known to me, teaches +me that the idle hours of women are haunted by dreams of some human +lover, who must be found to save them from despair. I cannot think that +marriage is essential to, or even best for, the happiness of women. If +we enter the nearest insti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span>tution of Charity Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, +or of the Poor, we cannot fail to remark the contrast between the +healthful, cheery, unsolicitous countenances of the inmates, and the +nervous, suffering, careworn faces of the wives and mothers in our +midst. Both live in the conscientious performance of equally estimable +duties, but the pleasing of a Heavenly Master would seem to be a more +peaceful and less wearing task than the gratification of an earthly +lord. Let us hearken for a moment to an eloquent French theologian: +'Woman's nature, in some exceptional cases, rises to such a height of +intellect and sensitiveness, that it ceases to be capable of accepting +that subordination which constitutes the essence of Christian marriage. +Think you there are not women athirst for the ideal; who are crushed by +the commonplace of ordinary affections; who would go beyond that narrow +circle traced round them by domestic cares? Give to such natures as +good, kind, and conscientious a husband as you will, do you think he can +ever satisfy the ardent longings of their mind and heart? Do you think +they can find in the family the realization of the brilliant dream +caressed by them from the earliest years of infancy? Do you not believe +that they will constantly feel cruel disappointments, infinite tortures, +and the deepest anguish?'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paul</span>. But if such be a true statement of the case, what are +these good ladies to do?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorcas</span>. The world has always need of intellect and enthusiasm, +and these, directed by the spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice, +without which nothing good or great can be accomplished, will point the +way to the fulfilment of whatever may be the especial vocation of the +individual. The author above quoted continues: 'Some heroic virgins have +played so wonderful a part that, by the sublimity of their devotion and +the power of their intellect, they have occasionally eclipsed the renown +of the most illustrious men. A St. Catherine of Sienna was the light of +doctors, the ambassadress of nations, the counsellor of popes, and the +admiration of her age. A St. Rose of Viterbo, a charming and graceful +child, became the intrepid buckler of Rome against the pretensions of +the Ghibelline emperors. A St. Clara, by her ardent love for the poor +and the Cross, was worthy of aiding the Seraph of Assisi in his +admirable reform. A St. Theresa astonished the world by the grandeur of +her character in the age of the Loyolas, the Xaviers, and the Francis +Borgias.' To these few but striking instances we may add Joan of Arc, +whose patriotism and valor saved her country from the dominion of the +foreign invader, and, in our own day, Florence Nightingale and Miss Dix, +together with hosts of courageous maidens, who in every Christian land +yearly devote themselves to the service of suffering humanity. I should +weary you, uncle, were I to pursue this subject into farther depths: +suffice it to say that it is one which no man, however tender or +talented, could ever exhaust, for there are chords in the feminine +organization beyond his comprehension—strange chords, the resolution of +which will be found only in that heaven where there shall be no marrying +nor giving in marriage.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paul</span>. You mentioned Joan of Arc: did you observe that the +author of 'Hannah Thurston' notices the fact, that while she has been +poetized by Schiller, Southey, and others, no woman has ever yet made +her the theme of song?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorcas</span>. I was no little surprised to find such a reproach +issuing from the lips of one who must have known that no man had yet +sung her in his verse who had not violated the truth of history and +smirched the beauty of a noble character, devoted solely to her country +and her God, by picturing her as enamored of some mortal lover. +Shakspeare must here receive his share<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span> of blame, although the national +prejudices still existent in his age may offer some excuse. Voltaire is +not to be mentioned, Schiller twaddles through a tissue of sheer +inventions and impossible absurdities, and even Southey, who strives to +be faithful to history, thinks he must invest her with a 'suppressed +attachment' in order to render her sufficiently interesting to be the +heroine of a poem. (Inconceivable and insane vanity, that imagines no +woman can live her life through without laying her heart at the feet of +one of the 'irresistibles'!) The historic character of Joan of Arc has +been terribly maltreated and misrepresented by every man who has +attempted to portray it, with the single exception of the German +historian, Guido Goerres, whose work, by the way, has been reverently +done into English by two sister women.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Paul</span>. Well, and the final conclusion to all this?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorcas</span>. The final conclusion is, that a large portion of even +the worthier souls in this world, is drifting away into a sea of +materialism, shrouded in rose-colored mists of poetry and sentiment, and +it behooves every earnest friend of humanity to sound the alarm, and at +least strive to give warning of the danger.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GLORIOUS" id="GLORIOUS"></a>GLORIOUS!</h2> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Far how can a man die better,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Than in facing fearful odds.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the ashes of his fathers—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the temples of his gods!'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 6em;">Macaulay's</span> <i>Ballads of Ancient Rome</i>.<br /><br /></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alone—and widowed so early,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Aged only twenty-one—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Only so few of her years are past,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And yet her life is quite done!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quite concluded her life is—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nothing for hopes, or for fears;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nothing to think of, or look to see</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But a barren desert of years!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Slender, lithe little figure—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Graceful and yielding form,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Never again to be held in the close</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Clasp of a manly arm!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh the sweet oval face,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the wonderful violet eyes!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No more to be sealed with true kisses,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And opened to love's paradise!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And oh the sunny, brown hair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Which breaks into ripples and waves</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'er her sad brow—like the laughter</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of young children over graves!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Put it away under widow's weeds—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Draw it as straight as you can:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Never again will the dear little head</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Be held to the heart of a man.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dazed, she sits in the twilight</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of the funeral-darkened room,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her whole soul gathered to listen—alas!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For a voice that is stilled in the tomb.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dear voice, now silent forever!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">God help her! It seems a dream!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She hopes, even now she may waken;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But see yonder cruel sunbeam.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How it wanders over the carpet—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">It lights up the distant room—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It falls on his portrait—<i>his</i> portrait!—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">His face shines out in the gloom</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As warmly and loving as ever;—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But, oh, there hangs under its frame</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sword he has wielded so bravely—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The blade that has lettered his name</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the tablets of Glory—erected</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'er the bodies of thousands of slain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who have died to preserve the Republic!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Our</i> loss—but the nation's great gain.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wring the small, white hands together—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Clasp them close over the breast:—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prisoned heart, throbbing so wildly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Never again to know rest.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Can you not leap and be joyful,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Knowing the nation is free!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gentle-eyed Peace is but waiting</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sure of a welcome, to be.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ask not for pæans of triumph</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From 'only a woman's' heart:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alas! in the triumph of nations</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">She hath but an humble part!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hers to be patient, and suffer—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">While her soul goes out to the fray</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With the one who is dearer than heaven,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">To see him shot down by the way.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anguished, for drops of cold water</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That e'en to the vilest we give!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mangled and crushed and insulted!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">God! can I write it, and live!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fold the hands o'er the soft bosom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Baby hands never caressed—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hush into patience the sweet lips</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Never to man's to be pressed.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There on the altar of nations</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">She has given the soul out of her life:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holocaust greater was never:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">God help the poor, little wife!</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_ISLE_OF_SPRINGS" id="THE_ISLE_OF_SPRINGS"></a>THE ISLE OF SPRINGS.</h2> + + +<h4><a name="SPRINGSV" id="SPRINGSV"></a>CHAPTER V.</h4> + +<h4>HISTORICAL SKETCH.</h4> + +<p>Jamaica was discovered by Columbus himself, on the 3d of May, 1494, +while prosecuting his second voyage. On his fourth and last voyage he +was shipwrecked on its northern coast, and, through the cruel jealousy +of the governor of Hispaniola, was detained there nearly a year before +relief was sent. In the dearth of historical associations, I have +sometimes pleased myself with gazing at the high summit of Cape Clear +Hill, which is far and wide conspicuous along the northern shore, and +reflecting that the eye of the great discoverer may have often rested +upon it during his weary detention, endeavoring thus to raise present +insignificance somewhat by linking it with the one illustrious name in +the annals of the island.</p> + +<p>Sevilla d'Oro, the first settlement of the Spaniards in Jamaica, was +founded in 1509, near the place of Columbus's shipwreck. It soon became +a splendid city. Traces of pavement are still discoverable two miles +distant from the church and abbey around which the town was built. In a +few years, however, it disappeared as suddenly as it had arisen. Even +the cause of its destruction is not certainly known. It is supposed, +however, to have been a sudden irruption of the Indians. These were of +the same voluptuous and gentle race which peopled the other Great +Antilles, but, like them, might have been roused to temporary madness by +the diabolical cruelties of the Spaniards. If so, their brief revenge +availed them little, for by 1558, the sixty thousand Indians, who +inhabited the island when discovered, had been extirpated, it is said, +to the very last one. Near the seashore in the east of the island are +some caves, in which mouldering bones of the unhappy aborigines are +still found, who had taken refuge here, preferring to die of famine +rather than to fall into the merciless hands of the Spaniards.</p> + +<p>After the extirpation of the Indians, the labor of African slaves was +introduced. Some sugar was raised, but the greater part of the island +was devoted to the raising of cattle and swine. Besides the few whites +and negroes need<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span>ed for this, and a small number at two or three +seaports, the population was mainly gathered in the town of St. Jago de +la Vega. This was built on the south side, a few miles from the sea, +after the destruction of Sevilla d'Oro. At the time of the English +conquest in 1655, during Cromwell's protectorate, the population +consisted of twelve hundred whites and fifteen hundred negro slaves. +They were summoned by the English admiral to take the oath of allegiance +to England or to leave the island. But they declared that they could do +neither; that they were born subjects of the King of Spain, and knew no +other allegiance; and, on the other hand, that they were natives of +Jamaica, and had neither friends nor kindred elsewhere. They implored +him, therefore, not to exact an impossible oath, nor yet to turn them +adrift in the wide world. But the misfortunes of Spanish Papists were a +matter of little concern to English Puritans. They were expelled the +island, but leaving their slaves in the mountain forests of the central +ridge, they planted a seed which for generations bore bitter fruit to +their cruel enemies. These slaves became the nucleus of those formidable +Maroon communities which for generations were a terror to the island. +Their masters, having conveyed their families across to Cuba, returned +with a body of Spanish troops, hoping, in their turn, to expel the +invaders. They intrenched themselves in a natural fastness that appeared +impregnable, and an English messenger being sent to demand a surrender, +the venerable governor, Don Arnoldo Sasi, it is said, ordered him to be +shown around the fortification, that he might see that it was impossible +to take it, and then dismissed him with a handsome present. But the +English soldiers knew no such thing as an impregnable fortress; they +soon stormed the height, and, as the Spaniards were fleeing along the +cliffs, picked them off like so many crows. A few attendants hurried +down the aged governor to the sea, and conveyed him across to Cuba. And +thus perished the tranquil and happy colony of St. Jago de la Vega. The +victors took possession of the deserted town, which has finally become +the seat of government. But they changed its Popish appellation of St. +Jago de la Vega to the homely but unimpeachably Protestant name of +Spanishtown, which it still bears in popular use, although officially it +has resumed its former designation. There were two Roman Catholic +churches in the town, each of which gave the name of its patron saint to +the street on which it stood. But the Puritans would know them only as +Whitechurch street and Redchurch street—names which, I believe, still +remain, curious monuments of Puritan scrupulosity in that southern land. +Spanishtown has increased in population to about five thousand, and in +its palmy days of slaveholding prosperity exhibited doubtless much pomp +of vice-regal splendor. But this has long fled, and its sandy streets +are now almost as silent and sombre in the glittering sunshine as if +traversed only by the ghosts of the Spanish colonists who dwelt here in +peace until ruthlessly thrust forth by the English invader.</p> + +<p>After the conquest, the island filled up with English, partly by +voluntary emigration, and partly by a double deportation from home, +first of refractory Cavaliers during Cromwell's protectorate, and partly +of mutinous Puritans after the return of the Stuarts. These often +renewed in the streets of Spanishtown the brawls of the mother country, +and the exclamation, 'My king!' which the negroes are fond of using, is +said to be a genuine relic of the time when it was the watchword of the +outnumbered but courageous Cavaliers. Even after the Restoration, the +Puritans were for a while in the ascendant in the island which the +Puritan protector had wrested from the great foe of Protestantism; but +gradually all traces of that hardy sect dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span>appeared from a land which +an enervating climate and the rapidly advancing barbarism of slavery +rendered far fitter for another sort of inhabitants, namely, the +buccaneers. The buccaneers, it will be remembered, were not exactly +pirates preying indiscriminately upon all. They were rather English +corsairs, who took advantage of the long enmity between England and +Spain to carry on, in time of peace and war alike, perpetual forrays +against the Spanish settlements and commerce of the West Indies. They +were simply the jayhawkers and border ruffians of their day, and, with +some traits of chivalry, differed probably as little from pirates as +Quantrell and his fellow scoundrels differ from robbers. This villanous +crew early resorted in great numbers to Jamaica, which became as good a +base of operations against a power with which England was professedly at +peace as Liverpool and Greenock are now against another power with which +she is professedly at peace. Dr. Arnold, in one of his letters, says he +imagines the British West Indies have never recovered from the taint of +buccaneer blood. It is hard to say, for the universal corruption of +morals and justice induced by slavery, existing in the overwhelming +proportions which it had in the West Indies, renders it almost +impossible to measure how far any subsidiary influence of evil may have +helped to aggravate the mischief.</p> + +<p>Jamaica, like the other colonies, soon received a constitution. Like her +sisters on the continent, she opposed a spirited and successful +resistance to the early encroachments of the crown. When our Revolution +broke out, her Assembly passed resolutions declaring their entire +concurrence in the principles set forth by the Congress, and gave as the +reasons for not joining in our armed vindication of them, their insular +position, and the peculiar nature of their population. Had geography +permitted, Jamaica would doubtless have made one Slave State the more in +the original Union, and would have been one of the fiercest afterward in +the secession. We may well believe that nothing but the knowledge that +she would be crushed like an eggshell by the mighty power of England, +hindered her in 1834 from heading her sister islands in a revolt against +the impending abolition of slavery, and thus giving the world +twenty-seven years earlier the spectacle of a great slaveholders' +rebellion.</p> + +<p>The history of Jamaica, otherwise so monotonous and devoid of interest, +even to its own people, yet includes one awful event, the destruction of +Port Royal by the earthquake of 1692. This city, built by the English +soon after the conquest, on the tongue of land which encloses the +present harbor of Kingston, soon became the most splendid city of the +English in America. Its quays and warehouses, Macaulay says, were +thought to rival those of Cheapside. This wealth and splendor were not +wholly the fruit of lawful commerce, for Port Royal was the favored +resort of the buccaneers. Their lawless forrays against the Spanish +filled it with wealth, and filled it also with voluptuous wickedness.</p> + +<p>Tradition adds, perhaps to give emphasis to its doom, that just before +the earthquake, a successful expedition had filled the city with booty, +which loaded the warehouses, and even overflowed into the dwelling +houses and verandas. But the stroke of judgment came, and a few shocks +of an earthquake in a few seconds buried the greater part of the +dissolute and splendid city beneath the waters of its own harbor. The +decaying bodies that were thrown afterward on the shore produced a +pestilence which swept off three thousand of those who had survived the +earthquake. The sad remnant went over to the inside shore of the harbor, +and built Kingston. A poor village of some twelve or fifteen hundred +souls, adjoining the naval station, is now all that represents the once +wealthy and wicked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> city, the Sodom of the West, and smitten with a fate +like that of Sodom.</p> + +<p>The same earthquake which destroyed Port Royal, almost ruined the +island. Whole plantations changed their places. The mountains were +strangely torn and rent. In many parts the immense accumulation of earth +fallen from the mountains choked up the course of the streams for +twenty-four hours, and when at last they burst their way through, they +bore down on their swollen floods thousands of trunks of trees, +branchless and barkless, to the sea. The gorge of the Bocaguas, through +which the Rio Cobre winds in a glorious succession of cascades and +whirling pools, is said to have been entirely filled up, causing the +waters to overspread the upland basin of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale with a +lake, which lasted nine days before the waters tore loose from their +confinement, and swept over the plains to the ocean. There was evidence +of a slight subsidence over the whole island. The earthquake of 1692 is +undoubtedly the most desolating convulsion of nature which has ever +befallen any portion of the English race.</p> + +<p>For generations after the destruction of Port Royal, it was affirmed +that the spires and housetops of the sunken city could be discerned on a +clear day through the waters of the harbor. Even now there is a floating +belief that they may occasionally be dimly descried, though I have never +been able to ascertain whether it is worthy of credit.</p> + +<p>Since then, although there are often shocks of earthquake, sometimes +several in a year, and though some have occurred quite destructive to +property, there has been none to divide with that of 1692 its awful +preeminence of desolation. It is true, we know not at what time such a +one may come, and it has been truly said that 'this beautiful island may +be regarded as a gorgeous carpet spread over the deeply charged mines of +a volcano.' Hurricanes, though very much less frequent than in the +Windward Islands, have yet left their traces in the annals of Jamaica. +Particularly noted are those of the 28th of August, 1712, of the 28th of +August, 1722, and the series which, with the exception of two years, +annually ravaged the island from 1780 to 1786 inclusive. It was in one +of these that the town of Savanna-la-Mar was so completely overwhelmed +by the sea, driven over it by the force of the wind, that when the flood +rolled back to its home, not the slightest vestige of the place was +discernible. In such a region the petition of the Litany, as it is here +offered, 'From lightning, tempest, and <i>earthquake</i>, good Lord, deliver +us,' falls on the stranger's ear with unwontedly solemn force.</p> + +<p>The awful magnificence of these convulsions of nature is in strange +contrast with the insignificance of the record of human actions in this +island. Not that Jamaica was an insignificant member of the empire. Far +from it. The teeming source of wealth, she was, on the contrary, during +the whole of the eighteenth century, continually increasing in +importance. Even dukes were glad to leave England to assume the princely +state of a governor of Jamaica. Six hundred thousand African slaves were +introduced during the last century, of which number something over half +remained at the beginning of this. Human blood flowed in fertilizing +streams over the island, and out of this ghastly compost rose an +opulence so splendid as to silence for generations all inquiry into its +origin or character. It secured its possessors not only easy access, but +frequent intermarriages among the aristocracy of England, who thus in +time came to be among the largest West Indian slaveholders. Jamaica was +justly reckoned one of the brightest jewels in the British crown. But +the brilliancy was merely that of wealth, and as the ownership of this +was transferred more and more to Great Britain, the island itself at +length came to be of little more independent account than an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span> outlying +estate. Petty squabbles between the governors and the Assembly, +occasional negro conspiracies, soon suppressed and cruelly punished, and +the wearying contests with the remaining negroes, who, under the name of +Maroons, long maintained a harassing warfare from their mountain +fastnesses, and yielded at last to favorable terms, are almost all that +fills the chronicles of the colony.</p> + +<p>The island society, unrelieved by any eminence of genius or virtue, or +by the stir of great public interests, presented little more than a dull +monotony of sensuality and indolence, on a ground of inhumanity. It is +no wonder that Zachary Macaulay, from his experience in Jamaica as the +superintendent of an estate, formed in quiet sternness that resolution +to devote his life to uprooting a social system whose presiding +divinities he saw to be Mammon and Moloch, which he afterward so nobly +fulfilled. The graces and virtues of private character that lent some +relief to this dreary picture, I shall speak of hereafter.</p> + +<p>One relief to the prevailing dulness of Jamaica life was found in a bar +of first-rate talent. There was so much wealth passing from hand to +hand, and so many disputed titles in the continual mutations of +ownership among the estates under the reckless system of conducting them +prevalent, that the disciples of the law found a rich harvest, and it +was worth while for a first-rate man to settle in the island. It is +thought that the lawyers of Jamaica used to receive not less than +£500,000 annually. Whether this was reckoned in sterling money or in the +island currency, I do not know, but probably the latter, equivalent to +£300,000 sterling. Of men not lawyers, Bryant Edwards is the only one of +the last century or the early part of this of any note whatever among +those permanently settled in the island. His chief claim to distinction +is found in his carefully prepared and judicious 'History of the West +Indies.' Beckford, the author of 'Vathek,' and Monk Lewis, christened +Matthew, the patent ghost-story teller of half a century ago, and more +honorably connected with the history of the island as a proprietor, +whose inexperienced kindness toward his negroes had almost led to his +prosecution, both resided in the island for a while. Jamaica had almost +drawn to herself a name far more illustrious than any or all which had +appeared in her annals—that of Robert Burns. It is known that he had +already engaged his passage to the island, when the course of events +turned him from it. He celebrates his expected departure in some verses +more witty than moral, in which he addresses our islanders as follows:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Jamaica bodies, use him weel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hap him in a cosy biel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ye'll find him aye a dainty chiel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And fu' of glee;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He wadna wrang the very deil,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That's ower the sea.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Poor fellow! had he really gone, the admonition to 'Jamaica bodies' to +'use him weel,' would probably have been obeyed by making him drink +himself to death ten or twelve years earlier than he did in Dumfries, +and thus would one of earth's great, though stained names, have been +lost in the inglorious darkness of a Jamaica bookkeeper's short life, as +many a young countryman of his, perhaps not less gifted than he, had +perished before him.</p> + +<p>Among the distinguished personages of Jamaica, I ought not to omit +mention of the Duke of Manchester, governor soon after the beginning of +this century, who was able to boast that no virtuous woman had crossed +the threshold of the King's House in Spanishtown during his +administration. So that if Jamaica has never had her <i>parc-aux-cerfs</i>, +she can at least boast her Regent Orleans. There is small need of any +special <i>parc-aux-cerfs</i> in a slaveholding country.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span></p> + +<p>In brief, except a certain interest attached to the struggles of the +barbarous Maroons to maintain their wild freedom in the woods and +mountains, the human history of Jamaica, from the English conquest in +1655 to the abolition of slavery in 1834, is little more than a +monotonous blank.</p> + +<p>She had a vigorous bar, a sumptuous church establishment, and boundless, +though shifting wealth. But all these together, smitten as they were +with the palsy of voluptuousness and oppression, had not the power to +bring forth one great name, to achieve one heroic deed, or on the other +hand, to foster any growth of humble, diffused happiness. Her sin, +plated with gold, dazzled the eyes and confounded the consciences of +men, but, like the ornaments of a sepulchre, it only beautified +outwardly what within was full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.</p> + +<p>Those events of her history which bear on the abolition of slavery will +be specially noticed hereafter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_DEVELOPMENT_OF_AMERICAN_ARCHITECTURE" id="THE_DEVELOPMENT_OF_AMERICAN_ARCHITECTURE"></a>THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE.</h2> + + +<p>The rule held, anciently, that a nation's architecture was the exponent +of its national character, growing with and out of its social, civil, +and religious peculiarities, and modified by climate, habit, and taste. +In those early ages, the halcyon days of the art, men built with a +purpose, built what they wanted in a natural and appropriate way, +and—built successfully. So true was this, that to this day, most of +their relics proclaim their own origin, just as fossils determine the +relative positions of their enclosing strata, and history owes to +architecture the solution of many of her hardest problems. The ancient +Egyptians, for instance, gloried in the erection of the most magnificent +tombs that their genius could produce, and, ruined as they are, we find +that it is in their sepulchral monuments—the rock-wrought mausoleum, +and the stupendous pyramid—that their art-current found its readiest +flow. Compare these with the light and graceful structures of the Moors, +the cool, arcaded courts, and the tesselated pavements, the orange +trees, and the fountains. 'But no comparison,' says Fergusson, 'is +applicable to objects so totally different. Each is a true +representative of the feeling and character of the people by whom it was +raised. The plaster Alhambra would be totally out of place and +contemptible beside the great temple-palace of Karnak. No less would the +granite works of Egypt be considered monuments of ill-directed labor if +placed in the palace of the gay and luxurious Arab fatalist, to whom the +present was everything, and with whom the enjoyment of the passing hour +was all in all.'</p> + +<p>Still another idea, grander than any aspiration of Saracen or Egyptian, +we find, when Europe, slowly shaking off the lethargy of the Dark Ages, +was developing the idea of religion. It was material, however, as well +as spiritual. God was glorified, not only by repentance or holiness of +life, but also by the devotion of hand and heart and fortune to His +earthly temples and the jewelled shrines of His saints. All that impetus +which is now given to religion itself, was turned into the channels of +religious art. And yet, temporally speaking, how grand were the results! +Slowly but surely arose those vast and wonderful cathedrals, springing +lightly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span> out of the quaintly gabled streets, with their richly wrought +transepts and their pinnacled spires. Not trailing along the ground like +the Greek temple or the Arab mosque—of the earth, earthy—but leading +the soul heavenward with their upward flow of harmony. Vast Bibles of +stone, bearing on lofty façade and on buttressed flank the sculptured +details of Holy Writ—silent lessons, but not lost upon the rude though +reverent men who dwelt within their shadow. It is sad to think that +there can never be any more cathedrals. For they <i>grew</i> in those times: +now they would have to be built.</p> + +<p>But we are following a tangent. Our idea is, that architecture, to be +good, must be appropriate—expressive of the spirit of the age. It +should be an epitome of the nation's progress, an abstract of its +guiding principles, condensed, as it were, and crystallized into an art. +Of what use would a garment be, though ever so elaborate, if it did not +fit? Just so our houses, which are but a broader kind of clothing, +should be fitted to their purpose, or they will never yield us any +pleasure.</p> + +<p>Suppose that, in searching the ruins of ancient Greece, we found nothing +but pusillanimous, sham imitations of Egyptian art. Would we not despise +such a paltry method of making matter serve for mind—such a miserable +make-shift to save the labor of invention? And yet it is this same +servile imitation of classical and foreign models that is fettering the +progress of art in America. Instead of honestly constructing what we +want, and then decorating it with a style of ornament that should +assist, explain, and intensify it, we go wandering off to the ends of +the earth, building Grecian temples and Veronese palaces, some entire +and some in slices, dreary, indefinite-looking objects, devoid of all +constructive principles within, and ornamented with falsified gewgaws +without, stuck on in the hope of hiding rather than helping out the +flimsy design. Our 'national style' we are sure can never be born of any +such travesties. Borrowed architecture never fits well.</p> + +<p>The fact is, we ignore the first great principle—the essence and <i>sine +qua non</i>, of the art—DECORATED CONSTRUCTION. By construction is meant +that mechanical arrangement of parts which is best suited to convenience +and most conducive to stability. It is what the French would call the +<i>motif</i>, the end in view, while decoration is only the means. And the +moment we lose sight of it, in our anxiety to make room for some pet +ornament, that very ornament becomes an eyesore, and will persist in +spoiling the design, for the simple reason that the end is sacrificed to +the means. Set it down, then, at the start, that ornament must be +dependent upon construction, and not construction upon ornament. The +useful begets the beautiful, and the order cannot be reversed.</p> + +<p>But before proceeding to what American architecture might be, we must, +in all fairness, examine it as it is.</p> + +<p>Our great cities, of course, claim our attention first, for these +centres of wealth and intellect must necessarily be centres of art, and +there, if at all, are we to discover our prospects for a national style. +As a single example of what it has attained to so far, nothing can be +better suited to our purpose than Broadway, New York, our best-known and +most essentially American thoroughfare. But what to compare it to we +know not. Neither history nor geography affords a parallel. It resembles +neither the London Strand nor the Parisian Boulevard, nor is it like the +Ludwig Strasse of Munich, nor the Grand Canal of Venice; and yet it has +something or other in common with all of these. There is all the +incongruity of the English thoroughfare and the brilliancy of the +French, while the frequent succession of vast palatial structures allies +it still closer to the last-named examples. Perhaps, after all, the +Grand Canal—the silent highway of the City of the Sea—is more like it +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span> general effect than any other street in Europe. The one, it is true, +is as straight as an airline, and the other nearly the shape of an S; +the one a paved roadway, noisy with the rush of traffic, and, in the +other, the water washing the very walls of palaces that are mournful and +deserted—while, as regards style, there is scarcely a single specimen +of the Venetian in this country.</p> + +<p>But the resemblance is this: your prevailing impression from first to +last is the absence of all general arrangement, and the independent +elegance of each separate façade. Each tells the same story: it is the +wealth and enterprise of the citizen, and not the munificence of the +sovereign, that has added palace to palace, and made the dumb stones +eloquent. Remembering, then, that it is private taste and influence that +is to develop our art, we proceed to the analysis of the great +thoroughfare in question.</p> + +<p>Fancy yourself, patient reader, at one end of this street, so as to +command its vista. What do you see? Architecture? Very little, we +imagine. Save the buildings immediately at your right and left, all the +others are seen in profile, a contingency never reckoned on by their +builders. The decoration is all piled on the front, as elaborate a +design, often, as Palladio ever dreamt of, but at the side, every +cornice and stringpiece stops as short as if it had been sawn off, and +the whole side is a flat blank piece of brickwork. This is greatly +aggravated by the disparity in height, and the ponderous cornices. As to +construction, the prevailing type is a flimsy pile of brick and timber, +'put up,' apparently, by mutual connivance of the contractor and the +coroner, and screened off from the street by a thin veneer of +'architecture.' Now there is a certain merit, <i>sui generis</i>, in a clever +deception, but those in vogue here are too utterly transparent to claim +even this. The telltale wall of brick cheats you out of the pleasure of +cheating yourself, no matter how charitably disposed.</p> + +<p>Were it necessary to represent this street upon the stage, the decorator +would simply have to paint his scenes upon the edges, and leave the side +toward the audience bare. As you walk along you see a given building +sideways for five minutes or more, but you cannot see it as it was meant +to be seen—full in front—for as many seconds. We even know of churches +in the cross streets, though near Broadway, whose square towers are +stone-fronted after the usual fashion, but present nothing to the +crowded thoroughfare but undressed walls of brick! Yes, a Christian +church, <i>in flagrante delictu</i>.</p> + +<p>It will be objected to this that there is no use in finishing the sides +of city buildings, as they may afterward be hidden by others. This would +do well enough if they were all of the same height; but they are not, +and never can be. Indeed, a house is by many considered 'handsomer' than +its neighbors, just so far forth as it overtops them. The builder would +hardly think it a fair beat if the cornices corresponded. The successive +erections on a row of vacant lots, usually illustrate this popular +ambition. Some one secures the corner and builds his house. So far, so +good. Presently number two comes along, and, to secure himself from +invidious comparison, piles his house half a story higher than number +one. But his triumph is short, for the third aspirant soon arrives, who, +true to principle, takes another step in the ascending series. So it +goes till the block is finished, the whole thing looking as if +architecture was a sort of auction, in which the prize of success was +awarded to the highest builder.</p> + +<p>It being one of our social necessities that our houses differ in size, +we must pay some attention to their sides. Not giving them as decided a +treatment as the front, but something compatible with a plain surface. +And, above all,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span> the principal cornice and roof lines should be carried +round on the sides, at least as far as they can be seen. In some rare +instances, where this has been done, it is astonishing to note the +improved appearance and <i>finish</i>, that it gives.</p> + +<p>Did you ever consider the superior elegance of a corner house? Yet it is +not so much the position as the fact that the position is taken +advantage of. Being finished on both sides, it gives to the mind the +idea of thickness as well as length and breadth. It is, in short, a +<i>solid</i>, while the affair next door, overtopping it perhaps a story or +two, is merely a <i>superficies</i>.</p> + +<p>But this is only a side thrust. Our 'commercial palaces' challenge the +same criticism face to face. For the front, considered by itself even, +is generally incomplete. A supposititious formula determines that the +house must be in the Italian palace style, but the narrow lot forbidding +an entire design, the builder, as he cannot put in all, puts in all he +can, so that, instead of the house being a house, it is only a specimen +slice of a palace. It has no particular beginning or middle or ending, +and, with the long viscera of brickwork trailing off behind, it looks as +if just wrenched out of the side of some Florentine or Genoese mansion. +And, in very truth, is it not?</p> + +<p>The common cause of these errors and incongruities is our self-abasement +to a style which depends for its effect upon continuous uniformity of +design, while, from the very nature of our society, our houses must be +diverse in size and pretension. We are a social people, it is true, but +our individualities are strongly marked, and our dwellings, while +designed with reference to each other, should never be too uniform. How +frightful those white-shuttered brick piles which monotonize the streets +of Philadelphia! But to assert its individuality the house need not +shoot up like a vein of trap rock through a stratum of conglomerate: an +American rises, not through the mass, but out of it.</p> + +<p>Have you ever seen a street view of Bruges or Nuremberg, those fantastic +old cities of mediæval Germany? You remember them, the tall gabled +houses with projecting stories, the picturesque grouping of porch and +gallery and oriel, the curious old bridges and the Gothic fountains, the +grotesque carvings over the doorways, and the perfect population of +dormer windows and turrets and lanterns. And did you not, <i>entre nous</i>, +like it better than those stiff, formal views of the French and Italian +cities? Was not the poetry more pleasing than the prose?</p> + +<p>'Oh well,' you say, 'these turrets and gables and things look all very +well in pictures, but they would never do for our streets: we must build +in some regular style, you know.' The same old error again, the same +servile imitation of a vague something or other, which we call classic. +Do you think the old German burghers built in any regular style? Not a +bit of it. They built just what they wanted, in the most natural and +plain-spoken manner. If they wanted a porch over the door, or a bay +window at a certain corner, or a turret to enjoy some favorite +view—they made them, put them just where they were needed. Convenience +was everything, and precedent nothing.</p> + +<p>Is there not something about this individual originality, this perfect +freedom of thought and expression, that might be adapted to express the +American character? And if more pleasing, why cling to the effete and +cumbrous tyrannies of a soulless classicism? Why crush out all symptoms +of natural growth to make room for the unsightly exotic?</p> + +<p>Nature herself has made the law that beauty is <i>variety</i>. Monotony, +though magnificent, will become irksome, but variety is an unceasing +delight. Versailles, with its formal avenues of shorn foliage, and its +geometrical lawns and terraces, may please you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span> more at first sight than +an English park, because the mind feels a sort of pride in being able to +grasp such vast ideas at a glance. But you will find, upon a second or +third visit, that the unnatural arrangement of the French pleasure +grounds has something of staleness about it. Nature disdains such +bondage. Louis XIV, it is said, grew weary of his splendid plaything, +almost before it was finished. How different the English landscape +garden, where graceful sweeps and irregular masses of foliage meet the +eye with unlooked-for beauties at every turn! Well do we remember how, +after a few days spent in viewing the grand dullness of the Bavarian +capital, we looked wearily back to the delightful visit we made at +Nuremberg, with its curious old streets and fountains:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Memories haunt thy pointed gables like the rooks that round them throng.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>To claim the merit of variety for our streets is wrong, for they are not +varied, but only incongruous. Their variety is rather that of an +architectural museum than the result of any combination. We have styles +enough, in all conscience, but none that will tolerate any other.</p> + +<p>Against this may be urged the very argument with which we set out, that +a nation's architecture should be the exponent of its national +character, and as we are made up of every people and every class, that +this heterogeneous <i>mélange</i> is our normal style. But mark the +distinction: Although we are made up of so many diverse elements, yet +the component parts are severally and mutually held in solution. Each so +affects the mass as to give rise to a new element—not a mere union, but +a result—not an addition, but a multiplication. But with the +representative art, the materials have merely come in contact—nothing +more. Our houses lack that social element which characterizes our +people. Each is itself, and itself alone, ruining the appearance of its +neighbors, and ruined by them in turn. <i>Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo</i>, +is the only law; while we are a chemical solution, our architecture is +only a mechanical one.</p> + +<p>How proceed, then, to develop our national style, that unborn something +which a future age might refer to as American, just as we speak of +Byzantine or Gothic? Are we waiting for somebody to invent it? We think, +maybe, that it is to spring forth, ready made, like Minerva from the +brain of Zeus. If this is our idea, we might as well give up at once and +confess to the world our imbecility. Never, from Adam's day to this, did +anybody ever invent a new architecture. It is purely a matter of +genealogy. For just as we trace back a family line, can we trace the +generations of art. Spite of its complications, many an offshoot can be +followed up directly to the parent stock. Taking, for example, the +mediæval architecture of Spain, the brilliant 'Moresco,' we find it to +be a combination of the vigorous Gothic of the North with the beautiful +though effeminate Saracenic—the exotic of the South. And of these +latter, each is traceable, though by different lines, to the same great +prototype, the Roman. For when Rome was divided, the Dome fell to the +inheritance of the Eastern Empire, and the Basilica (which was only a +Greek temple turned inside out) to the Western. The former, joined to +the Arabian, and the latter to the Gothic, formed two great families, +from the union of whose descendants sprang the Moresco. But even the +Roman was a derivative style, leading us back successively through +Greece, Assyria, and Egypt. Each step is visibly allied to the +preceding, and yet how unlike the pyramid and the Spanish cathedral! Did +history permit, all the styles that have ever existed could be traced in +the same way; it is quite as easy to account for their diversities, as +for those of the nations that produced them. Ham and Japheth were of the +same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span> household, yet how different their descendants of to-day! As from +one man sprang all people, so was there an original germ of architecture +from which all successive styles have been derived.</p> + +<p>The composite forms that have arisen since commerce and civilization +have brought the ends of the world together, increase the complication. +There have been marriages and intermarriages, some good matches and some +bad ones, some with vigorous and some with sickly offspring, and some +hybrids of such monstrous malformation as almost to make us fear that a +new style can be invented. But the effect is impossible without the +cause. Save the mysterious Pyramids, every structure extant acknowledges +its ancestry. If physiologists are fond of claiming the history of the +race as one of their own chapters, architecture has at least an equal +claim.</p> + +<p>But all this does not mean that we are mere passive agents in the +matter. <i>We</i> are, in a great measure, the 'external influences' that +modify art. The motion exists, but it devolves upon us to give +direction.</p> + +<p>We have already alluded to Venetian architecture as being parallel in +origin and tendency to our own, and much can be gained, we believe, by a +careful examination of what it accomplished. Not that we ought to copy, +line for line, the doge's palace or the Casa d'Oro—the arabesque +arcade, or the Gothic balcony—that would only be following the +well-worn rut of imitation. We are not to study the result, but the +cause. For the causes that produced the style in question were not +unlike what we find at home to-day. A commercial republic, there was the +same liberty of expression—the same preponderance of the individual +over the national; and there, as here, are we attracted rather by the +elegance of independent units than by any general unity of design.</p> + +<p>But the growth of art in Venice (we ask special attention) was due to +her central situation, and the simultaneous influx of foreign elements. +It was her commerce that made Venice great: her glory came and departed +with it. Witnessing, as she did, the development of all the mediæval +styles, she became—geographically and historically—the metropolis of +architecture. 'The Greeks,' says Ruskin, 'gave the shaft, Rome gave the +arch, the Arabs pointed and foliated the arch.... Opposite in their +character and mission, alike in their magnificence of energy, they came +from the North and from the South—the glacier torrent and the lava +stream, they met and contended over the wreck of the Roman Empire; and +the very centre of the struggle, the point of pause of both, the dead +water of the opposite eddies, charged with embayed fragments of the +Roman wreck, is <i>Venice</i>.</p> + +<p>'The ducal palace of Venice contains the three elements in exactly equal +proportions, the Roman, Lombard, and Arab. It is the central building of +the world.'</p> + +<p>Truly, it was a glorious success that art achieved in the Italian +republic, Whether the old precedents were violated or not, the result is +unquestionably pleasing, and the pleasure-seeking tourist lingers there +as long as the critic.</p> + +<p>At this transition state, through which Venice passed so nobly, have we +now arrived. We have collected our materials, and piled them up +together, but just as all seems most propitious, <i>le mouvement +s'arrête</i>, the materials will not coalesce. The brass and the silver, +the iron and the gold, are all in the crucible, but there is no fusion, +only a discordant clash.</p> + +<p>Alas! there is no heat. We are not warmed, as yet, with any love for +art. We are too much absorbed in the rapid accumulation of wealth, or +the passing excitement of the hour, to attend to anything that is noble +or honest or beautiful. And now that devastating war is sweeping through +the land and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span> clogging the wheels of progress, we are learning terrible +lessons; but, with experience for our teacher, learning them well. Where +war prevails, civilization for the time must stand still. <i>Inter arma +silent—artes</i>. And so long as we consider art a marketable commodity, +and consign it, like merchandise, to soulless builders, so long will it +remain in hopeless embryo. Only by taking a personal interest in it can +we hope to make it our own.</p> + +<p>So much for what we have done. There is little to be proud of, and +little, we hope, that will influence our future art. To which we now +turn our attention.</p> + +<p>To begin with, great public buildings will never form a distinguishing +feature of American architecture. It is to be preeminently a domestic +style. Herein shall we differ from the European nations, for in art, as +in politics, the people are the rulers. It is discouraging, at first +thought, to reflect that no such magnificent architectural combinations +as those of the French capital can ever find place in an American city. +They are grand, they are superb, these endless successions of palaces +and gardens and triumphal arches, with groves and fountains all in +perfect symmetry, and well-balanced vistas radiating in all directions; +but they are the result of centuries of despotism—of the impoverishment +of the many and the aggrandizement of the few. This, we hope, is not to +be the fashion in America. It is true that the ground plan for the city +of Washington exhibits a design analogous to the above, but we think it +will be a long time before it exists elsewhere than on the map. The +Greeks and Romans, we know, confined their efforts to public buildings, +but that was their business. They served their Governments, but our +Government serves us: the spirit of the age points in an opposite +direction. Since we are so fond of the classic, why not have chariots +for carriages, and triremes instead of gunboats and steamers?</p> + +<p>Our real style will first appear in our residences and warehouses, in +our banks and hotels and railroad depots. It sounds odd, but it is +manifestly so to be. We are a commercial republic. Old European palaces +and cathedrals are doubtless very grand, and—for those who need such +things—most excellent models. But with us the private element already +predominates; we only need to begin honestly, and the thing is half +done.</p> + +<p>Our national dread of Gothic, except it be for church purposes, should +be done away with. The Gothic <i>principle</i>, we mean; the style we may +follow or may not. But to be sincere and constructive, to build with a +purpose, we must do as did the mediæval builders. In their hands, our +daguerrean sky-lights and shot towers, our factory chimneys and +signboards, would have become glorious objects, become useful objects. +Their art did not confine itself to one day in seven; it permeated the +commonest details of every-day life, because they were common. Hence +they ennobled everything.</p> + +<p>But the Romans, unfortunately, never had any shot towers, or hotels, or +railroad depots, and so we think such things exceptions to the ordinary +rules of architecture. But after all, perhaps, this is all the better +for their future, as it leaves them comparatively untrammelled. In the +matter of railroad depots, England has certainly stolen a march upon us, +the large city stations in that rail-bound country being perfect Crystal +Palaces in size and elegance, while those for the more rural places are +often the most exquisite little villas, unapproachable in neatness and +taste. In some parts of the Continent, the Swiss style has been pressed +into this service with notable success.</p> + +<p>In regard to fire-alarm towers, we rejoice to be able to make an +exceptional remark. New York city has actually produced two or three of +these of new and elegant shape, perfectly adapted to their purpose; and +yet, so far as we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span> know, not copied from anything else. Those in Sixth +and Third avenues have a grace of outline that is really elegant, and +show what we can accomplish if we only build what we want in a natural +and appropriate way.</p> + +<p>Nothing, however, is to exert a vaster influence on our style than the +hotel. This 'institution,' as we have it, is comparatively unknown in +Europe; beyond all nations are we a travelling and hotel-building +people. Our hotels have not grown up with the scant traffic of the post +chaise or <i>diligence</i>; they overleaped that feeble infancy, and started +at once with the railroad and steamboat. Large, luxurious, and well +appointed, they are usually the prominent buildings in all our large +cities.</p> + +<p>But as yet it is only their size and social importance that +distinguishes them, not their architecture. The recipe for a first-class +city house is simple: a vast square front of white, with ninety-six or a +hundred and forty-four windows, as the case may be, all alike, and all +equidistant. The variety afforded by this arrangement is much the same +as that of an uncut sheet of postage stamps. In such large masses, a +single color—white especially—is always disagreeable, unless treated +with some variety of form. Brick, with stone dressings, will almost +invariably produce a finer front than stone alone. But, after all, the +most desirable kind of variety is that which seeks to express exteriorly +the inner arrangement of the building, by giving some degree of +prominence to the principal rooms. As to interior, our hotels neglect a +grand opportunity in making no capital of the central space they +generally enclose. This, instead of being abandoned to cats and ash +barrels, might be made the feature of the establishment. Fancy such a +court roofed over with glass,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and surrounded with light arcades of +ironwork forming a continuous balcony at each story, arrange a garden in +the centre with a fountain, and give the whole a sort of oriental +treatment, and what a really elegant effect could be produced! The main +entrance in this case would be, not on the street, but on one of the +sides of this inner court, while an arched carriage way, to connect with +the street, would render vehicles accessible under cover. The arcades, +connecting all parts of the house, would take the place of halls and +corridors, besides forming delightful promenades. Some few hotels could +be named, in our large cities, which seem to have the germ of this idea, +but we know no instance of its complete development.</p> + +<p>Still we have great hopes of the hotel, because it is the place of all +others which it is to our interest to make look well. People go to the +post office all the same, be it a barn or a parthenon, but they will go, +other things being equal, to the best hotel. Here comes in the American +principle of Competition, the keynote of all our enterprise. Competition +is to do for us what the hope of earthly immortality did for the +builders of the Pyramids, what the desire to glorify God did for the +builders of the cathedrals. It is to be the soul of our art: what sort +of a body it is to put on, we shall presently see. Even now it is safe +to assume that no more such granite prisons as the 'Revere' or the +'Astor' will be built for hotels. Lightness, variety, and vivacity will +more probably characterize this style.</p> + +<p>The <i>shop front</i> is something that we must have in some shape or other, +and, if fairly treated, it would become as decidedly American as +business is. It is susceptible of great variety, but care must be taken +that it harmonizes with the superstructure. How often we see massive +structures of marble, five stories or more, supported on basements of +plate glass, apparently; while the real supports are carefully +concealed! The best method, so far tried, seems to be that in which the +columns are made sufficiently prominent to show their object, and are +surmounted by arches,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span> which give a good basis for what comes next +above, while affording sufficient window space to the store front.</p> + +<p>But we must make up our mind to part with those hideous signboards, +which trail their loathsome length across our best buildings, regardless +of console or capital or cornice. For the importance of the sign renders +it constructive, and it has as much right to take part in the design as +a door or a window. Instead of being pinned on like an afterthought, it +should be built into the wall, panel fashion, and by a little taste in +the selection of the style of letter, it might become one of the most +striking features of the whole front. Color would be better for the +letters than relief, being more economical and more easily altered.</p> + +<p>Our warehouses and even our factories might become imposing objects if +appropriately conceived, for is not labor ennobling? Anything that is +worth doing, is worth doing well; and if any of our manufacturing towns +are hideous, they are not necessarily so.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> There is a certain +grandeur about many such places, with their myriad chimneys and +ponderous wheels and whirling engines, that deserves a corresponding +grandeur of expression, and some of our Pennsylvania ironworks already +afford splendid examples of this. We have seldom been more impressed by +the grandeur of mechanical operations than on a recent night visit to +one of the large rolling mills of Scranton. The whole interior, vast as +a cathedral, was brilliantly lighted by the numerous operations in +molten and red-hot iron that were everywhere in progress, and, with its +gleaming furnaces, ranged on either hand down the long vista, and +glowing here and there from the galleries, really made us feel prouder +of our race than did many a dim, dilapidated temple of the Old World.</p> + +<p>As to churches, we cannot expect much, except that they will be tasteful +and commodious audience rooms, commensurate with the importance of their +congregations. The religion of to-day appeals to soul, and not to soul +and sense. The world is older and better educated than in the cathedral +era, and the apostles and prophets are read, not from sculptured doors +or painted windows, but from the printed page and the winged word. +Childhood, that cannot read, requires gaudily painted primers for its +instruction and amusement, but the world is a grown man now; the press +has superseded the cathedral, and if we imitate those structures in our +churches, we should bear in mind that it was their size that gave them +grandeur, and that they would be caricatures without it. We have heard +our American church interiors spoken of somewhere as divisible into two +classes—the charlotte-russe style and the molasses-candy style. This is +not true, we hope; but there is too much truth in it, for it shows the +influence of a too close imitation of European palaces and churches, and +the hard shamming that has to be done to make this imitation apparent.</p> + +<p>If our rural architecture has been more successful, it is because our +better class of country houses are planned with reference to the +landscapes they occupy. A rich level meadow with here and there a waving +elm requires a different style of house from a fir-clad bluff on a river +bank or a wild gorge in a mountain. No intelligent architect, we take +it, would design a country house without an intimate acquaintance with +the surroundings, and yet the same man, likely as not, would make you a +sketch for the elevation of your house in town, without even looking to +see what it was to adjoin on either side. Now this method may be +correct, but it seems to us that, by first putting on paper the existing +houses, say one or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span> two, on each side of the space to be built upon, the +new front could be much better planned, and much of that unnecessary +discord avoided which destroys so many of our best streets. This is what +is done in painting and other arts, and why not in architecture? +Particular situations require particular treatments. A front that would +appear well on a narrow street, would be inappropriate on a broad avenue +or a square. A corner, or the head of a street, are most responsible +situations. A tall marble front, placed in a modest row of freestone, is +hideous, and yet the unrelieved monotony of many such rows is quite as +bad. A dome, unless at the top of a street or on some open space, is +next to worthless. Who would ever notice Boston State House or the +Baltimore Cathedral, but for their elevated and central positions?</p> + +<p>We often find among the old masters elegant architectural paintings, +street views, taken from the picturesque cities they lived in. We should +like to find some one bold enough to paint a street view of Broadway or +Washington street or Chestnut street.</p> + +<p>It is a pity that our architects are unwilling to acknowledge the +importance of the <i>buttress</i>. Concerning this feature, it is not easy to +say whether beauty or utility is most apparent. It is the very +idealization of strength, and hence its inherent elegance. Suppose Nôtre +Dame or Milan Cathedral stripped of their double tiers of flying +buttresses. Would you not say that their glory was gone—their beauty +departed? And yet the old builders did not pile them up against their +naves for mere beauty's sake. By no means. But they knew the immense +weight of their vaulted roofs, and anticipated the outward thrust of the +walls. That was the problem, and most fairly was it met. They +counteracted the outward pressure from within by an inward pressure from +without, and there was the buttress. But what if they had said, We are +not going to spoil our fine churches by sticking props all around them, +and had resorted to concealed bedplates and invisible rods of iron, +would their structures have been better or nobler or more enduring? +Fortunately, they gave themselves no concern, as to how they would +look—for architecture was honest in those days—they simply built them, +allowing decoration to come in afterward in its proper order; and +thereupon the buttress became the distinguishing feature of Gothic art.</p> + +<p>Perhaps this is the very reason why we so neglect it; but symptoms are +already appearing which lead us to hope that gothophobia is on the +decline, and not the least of them is the outcropping of something that +would be a buttress if it dared to, but hides its real intention under a +classic mask, and passes off as a pilaster or a panel border. But it has +a guilty look, and the sooner it puts off its borrowed garments the +better. Certainly the demand for it is immense. So long as we are a +commercial people, vast warehouses, piled from cellar to roof with heavy +merchandise, must abound in all our cities. And yet how utterly +incompetent would many such buildings be to stand alone! So long, too, +as we are a manufacturing people, must we have huge mills crowded full +with heavy apparatus, vibrating machinery, and <i>human lives</i>. Have we +forgotten Lawrence? Let us not wait for another such holocaust ere we +learn wisdom. We can do without ornament, but we must have safety. A +mere increase of dead weight is no remedy; there should be a +well-studied mechanical disposition of material. If buttresses are +applied to warehouses and factories with sole reference to their +utility, elegance will grow upon them afterward as naturally as leaves +grow upon trees.</p> + +<p>Material must depend much upon locality, but iron is undoubtedly to hold +an important place in our architecture. Already it is extensively used, +but does not seem to command general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span> favor. The reason is that nearly +everything that has been done with it so far is not iron architecture, +but stone architecture done in iron. We do not let it speak its own +language; the truss, the tie rod, and the girder are kept out of sight, +while every possible display is made of consoles and cornices and +Corinthian columns and balustrades, and all sorts of foreign +expressions. No wonder that it is unable to give an account of itself +with all these false witnesses. Stone houses should be made of stone, +and if made of wood or iron or plaster, they are nothing but shams, +unenduring and unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>Now architecture requires the least amount of material that is +compatible with the greatest amount of strength. The forms of different +materials must be varied to suit their texture, according as it is +fibrous or crystalline, tough or brittle. Iron, of course, requires a +peculiar treatment. At the risk of being charged with pedantry, we say +that there have never been but two iron buildings, of any pretension, in +this country—the Niagara Suspension Bridge and the Crystal Palace at +New York. The first still speaks for itself; and of the latter, no one +who saw it can forget what an exquisite structure it was, so light and +airy and elegant, and yet so strong. It was but a bird cage, though, +compared with its enormous prototype at Sydenham. That is unquestionably +one of the wonders of the world; its internal <i>coup d'œil</i> is without +a parallel. Fancy a broad level vista, a third of a mile long, flanked +on either side by graceful groves of ironwork, and covered with a +continuous crystal arch, a hundred feet above your head; line it with a +profusion of tropical foliage and clambering vines, that grow as +luxuriantly as in their native woods, and interspersed with statuary and +vases gleaming everywhere through the rich masses of verdure, while here +and there fountains of rare and exquisite design, rising from broad +marble basins, relieve without lessening the immense length—and you may +have some faint idea of this peerless structure. 'No material is used in +it,' says Fergusson, 'which is not the best for its purpose, no +constructive expedient employed which was not absolutely necessary, and +it depends wholly for its effect on the arrangement of its parts and the +display of its construction.' It is in iron what Gothic is in stone.</p> + +<p>Details, if fairly studied, would do much to nationalize our +architecture. Why should we, in designing a capital or cornice, still +cling to the classic acanthus or honeysuckle ornament, or even the +English ivy, when we have such a fund of our own? The maize and the +sugarcane, the potato blossom and the cotton boll afford so many mines +of treasure, that it is surprising that they have not already been +worked. In the architecture of the Central Park, however, a decided +impetus has been given in this direction. The details of the grand +terrace at the end of the Mall are as elaborate as those of a European +cathedral, but they are all American—all our own.</p> + +<p>Another excellent feature of our city houses is that little strip of +garden in front, just within the sidewalk. For this, too, we think we +have some claim of originality. At least it is not European, for in +Berlin, Vienna, etc., some of the most palatial quarters are without so +much as a sidewalk—the paving stones reaching from wall to wall. Such +barrenness of arrangement cannot be relieved by any architecture, nor +was there ever a building so good that it could not be improved by a +setting of foliage. The power of mutual relief between art and nature is +wonderful. To this is owing much of the effect of the celebrated 'Place +Napoleon,' the court of the New Louvre at Paris. The contrast between +the richly wrought façades of Caen stone and the foliage in the centre, +is most grateful to the eye. Even the grand quadrangle of the Tuileries +seems dismal after it, grand as are its ogre-roofed 'pavilions' and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span> +triumphal arch, for it lacks the refreshing verdure. The eye wearies of +the everlasting buff color.</p> + +<p>Not to overstep the subject, we will say just one word about the street +plans of our cities. It is really shameful that these are not more +studied. No one seems to think of adapting them to the surface of the +ground, but everything must needs be graded flat, and rectangular blocks +laid out thereon. Our Western cities, particularly, appear to +crystallize in cubes—their monotony is painful. An occasional +introduction of the curved street, so common in Britain, would be a +delightful relief. The London 'Quadrant' is a superb example—the way in +which the houses come into view, one by one, as you follow the curve, is +not to be surpassed. But the chief secret of success in plotting a town +is to seize upon the natural irregularities of the ground, and make them +part and parcel of the design. The beauty of Edinburgh—the 'Scottish +Athens,' as Dugald Stewart called it—is entirely owing to this. The new +town is a 'wilderness of granite, magnificently dull,' and the old has +barely enough of the picturesque to save it from being hideous. But +there is a broad, natural ravine, dividing the two, which has been +retained in its original shape, and being tastefully arranged with +shrubbery and terraced walks, forms a fine park. Near one end of this +the Castle Hill rises abruptly against the old town, while at the other +end the view is closed by Calton Hill, with its classic monuments, and +Arthur's Seat rising grandly beyond. Two or three bridges afford a level +communication between the old town and the new, and Prince's street, the +thoroughfare of the latter, forms a fine terrace along the northern edge +of the ravine, passing midway the Scott monument, a superb spire of +Gothic. This latter is perhaps the only commendable feature <i>per se</i> in +the city—for the details of Edinburgh are notably poor, its pictorial +effect arising solely from the very happy manner in which they are +grouped, amphitheatre-like, around the 'Gardens.'</p> + +<p>Did such a vale lie in the track of one of our cities, we would consider +it an unlucky blemish, to be filled up at once to the general level. It +would be named in the contract as such-and-such 'sunken lots,' and as +the Castle Rock was digged down and dumped in, tax-payers would rejoice +over the saved cartage. Having thus killed off Nature, we would put up +squares of houses upon the dead level, while the local papers would +comment upon the 'improvement of property.'</p> + +<p>If we only had a Napoleon here, some think, his master mind might arrest +this Vandalism, infuse some system into our rag-bag cities, and make +each a Paris. But have we not Public Opinion, stronger than any despot? +Let a little of this current, guided by taste, be turned into the +channels of art, and the results will soon be forthcoming. We seem to be +hampered, as yet, with a kind of feudal system of architecture; this +will presently be done away with, for the American character is +eclectic, and naturally selects and combines the best in art, as in +politics and commerce. To combine English good sense without its +heaviness, French vivacity without its hollowness, and the exuberance of +German fancy without its inertia—to combine and reflect all these +should be the mission of our architecture.</p> + +<p>Neither is it too much to say that a genuine love for art may have its +bearing on that part of us which is immortal. Not that any of these +things will exist after this life, but as children are drilled by their +teachers in many studies which have no practical bearing on their after +life, so may we consider ourselves as only at boarding school with +Nature while in this present temporary state; and if she has set us some +lessons which do not appertain directly to our more exalted future, we +should remember that this is her method of <i>discipline</i>. But she has +done more; she has made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span> the very tasks delightful. Are not such studies +more beneficial and satisfactory than the idleness and play which fill +up so much of our lives?</p> + +<p>No student can succeed, however, who tamely copies his neighbor's work. +Let us hope, then, that our art will soon drop its clumsy costume, and +take to itself something natural and national; that it will become, as +it should, the type of our Western civilization—a civilization that +spreads itself, not by sword or sceptre or crozier, but by life and +liberty and light.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="JEFFERSON_DAVIS_AND_REPUDIATION_OF_ARKANSAS_BONDS" id="JEFFERSON_DAVIS_AND_REPUDIATION_OF_ARKANSAS_BONDS"></a>JEFFERSON DAVIS AND REPUDIATION OF ARKANSAS BONDS</h2> + + +<h3>LETTER NO. III OF HON. ROBERT J. WALKER.</h3> + +<p class='author'><span class="smcap">London</span>, 10 Half Moon Street, Piccadilly,</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 24em;"><i>January 28th</i>, 1864</span></p> + +<p>In two pamphlets, published by me last summer, Mr. Jefferson Davis was +clearly convicted of sustaining the repudiation of the Union Bank bonds, +and the Planters' Bank bonds of the State of Mississippi. These +pamphlets were most extensively circulated throughout the United States, +the United Kingdom, and upon the continent of Europe, and several +confederate writers have since referred to them; but no attempt ever has +been made, either by Mr. Davis himself, or by any of his agents or +friends, to refute any one of the facts or deductions contained in those +pamphlets. Indeed, the facts were founded upon authentic documents, +official papers, and Mr. Davis's own two letters over signature, plainly +and unequivocally sustaining the repudiation of Mississippi. It is true, +in the case of the Union Bank bonds of Mississippi, that Mr. Davis +justified their repudiation on the ground that the bonds of the State +were unconstitutional. But the utter fallacy of this position was shown +by two unanimous decisions of the highest judicial tribunal of the State +of Mississippi, before whom this very question was brought directly for +adjudication, affirming the constitutionality and validity of these +bonds. When it is recollected, also, that this was the Court designated +by the Constitution and laws of Mississippi, as the tribunal to which +the ultimate decision of this question was referred, the wretched +character of this pretext must be at once perceived. Mr. Davis's two +repudiating letters were published by him in the spring and summer of +1849, yet one of these decisions by the highest judicial tribunal of +Mississippi, quoted by me, affirming the validity and constitutionality +of these very bonds, was made in 1842, and again unanimously reaffirmed +in 1853. But still, Mr. Davis adhered to the same position. As to the +Planters' Bank bonds, however, the repudiation of which was shown to +have been justified by Mr. Davis, there never was even a pretext that +they were illegal or unconstitutional. Nor is there any force in the +suggestion, that these questions were decided before Mr. Davis came into +public life. They were <i>continuous</i> questions, constantly discussed in +the press and before legislative and judicial tribunals. And, we have +seen, even as late as 1853, four years succeeding Mr. Davis's +repudiating letters, the second decision was made by the highest +judi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span>cial tribunal of Mississippi, reaffirming the validity and +constitutionality of these bonds.</p> + +<p>But I will now cite another instance of the advocacy of repudiation by +Mr. Jefferson Davis, still more flagitious than that of Mississippi. It +was that of the State bonds of Arkansas, the validity and +constitutionality of which never has been disputed. A brief history of +this transaction is as follows: In 1830, James Smithson, an eminent and +wealthy citizen of London, in the kingdom of Great Britain, died, +bequeathing, by his last will and testament, the whole of his property +to the United States of America, in trust, to found at Washington, under +the name of 'The Smithsonian Institution,' an establishment 'for the +increase of diffusion of knowledge among men.' After some delay, the +Congress of the United States, in 1836, passed an act, accepting the +trust, and pledging the faith of the Government for the faithful +application of the money to the noble purpose designated by the +illustrious donor. Under this act, Richard Rush, one of our most +distinguished citizens, who had been minister to England and to France, +and had held the position of Secretary of State and of the Treasury, at +Washington, was sent by the Government to London, to obtain from the +Court of Chancery the fund, amounting to over $500,000. It is usual in +the proceedings of the English Court of Chancery, when funds, under +circumstances like these, are bequeathed to trustees for scientific or +charitable purposes, not to part with the money to the trustee, except +upon his filing in court absolute security for the faithful fulfilment +of the trust. In this case, however, the High Court of Chancery in +England, considering that to imply any laches or neglect of a trust so +sacred, on the part of the Government of the United States, was an idea +not to be entertained, did, by their decree, without any security, hand +over all the money to the Government of the United States, to be +appropriated to the purpose designated by the donor, receiving only the +pledge given by the Congress of the United States, for the faithful +appropriation of the money. Now, if there ever was any obligation, that +would be considered sacred by the whole civilized world, it was this, +and most faithfully has the Government of the United States executed +this trust. Nay, it has done much more; it has granted forty acres of +ground, belonging to the Government, in the city of Washington, +gratuitously, for the erection of the buildings upon them, erected by +the Government, are worth largely more than the whole bequest. Not only +has the Government done this, but, upon the whole fund received from Mr. +Smithson, it has always punctually paid an interest of six per cent. in +gold upon the whole sum, and pledged its faith for a similar perpetual +payment. It has also largely aided the institution by contributions to +its museum, collections, and library, and by the gratuitous services of +public officers in its behalf. Such was the bill passed by Congress in +1846, and which has always been most faithfully executed. So that the +institution is now established upon a permanent basis, and is fulfilling +all the great and noble purposes proposed by the illustrious donor. Now, +in 1837, this fund was received by the Government of the United States, +and invested by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Woodbury, in the six +per cent. bonds of the State of Arkansas at par, to the extent of over +half a million of dollars. During the same year Arkansas invested this +money in a bank, entitled 'The Real Estate Bank of Arkansas;' and of +which the State was the great stockholder. In 1839, this Bank, having +loaned out these funds to the citizens of Arkansas, became absolutely +and totally insolvent, and has never been able to pay one cent on the +dollar to any of its creditors. In 1839, the State<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span> of Arkansas failed +to pay the interest on its bonds, and from that day to this has never +paid one dollar either of interest or principal on any of these most +sacred obligations.</p> + +<p>On the 4th of March, 1845, I became Secretary of the Treasury of the +United States, and having taken the deepest interest in this Smithsonian +fund, and in its faithful application to the noble purpose of the donor, +and inasmuch as one of my predecessors had invested these funds in these +bonds, and the Government had made itself directly responsible for the +faithful execution of this trust, I endeavored to reclaim, as far as +possible, this money from the State of Arkansas, and to induce Congress +to appropriate its own moneys to redeem the pledge of the Government, +and fulfil this trust. My first official action on this subject was as +follows: By act of Congress, five per cent. of the net proceeds of the +sales of the public lands of the United States in Arkansas was payable +to that State, for certain purposes designated in the act. There was, +also, an act of Congress in force, authorizing the Secretary of the +Treasury, where there were mutual debts and credits between the +Government and any other person, to offset any debt due by any creditor +of the United States, against any debt, so far as it would go, due by +the United States to such creditor. I interpreted this act as +authorizing me to withhold this five per cent. fund from the State of +Arkansas and appropriate it, as far as it would go, in payment of the +interest which had accumulated on the bonds of the State of Arkansas, in +which my predecessor, Mr. Woodbury, on behalf of the Government, had +invested the Smithsonian Fund; thus saving a small portion of the +interest which had accrued on these bonds. For this act I was violently +denounced by the Senators and Representatives of Arkansas in Congress, +as also by the Legislature and Governor of the State, and strenuous +efforts were made, unsuccessfully, first to induce me to revoke my +action, and, secondly, to have it overruled by the Government. But I +adhered to it, and declared openly, that if such a breach of trust were +consummated, and my action overruled in the premises, I would resign my +seat in the cabinet. My official action, however, was sustained by an +almost unanimous public sentiment of Congress, and of the country. +Indeed, beyond the limits of the State of Arkansas, and the circle of +the repudiators of Mississippi, my course was sustained and approved.</p> + +<p>Now, then, let us see what was the action of Mr. Jefferson Davis on the +question of these Arkansas bonds. On reference to the journals of the +House of Representatives, of the Congress of the United States, it +appears that Mr. Jefferson Davis took his seat in that body, as one of +the members elect from the State of Mississippi, on the 8th of December, +1845. (P. 56.) When the bill was pending for organizing the Smithsonian +Institution, and making good for both principal and interest, the sum +bequeathed by Mr. Smithson that had been invested by the Government of +the United States in these Arkansas State bonds, Mr. Jefferson Davis, on +the 29th April, 1846, as appears by the official proceedings of the +House, page 749, moved an amendment: 'To add at the end of the section +the following'—'<i>Provided, however</i>, That if the Governor of the State +of Arkansas shall make it appear to the satisfaction of the +Attorney-General of the United States, that he has used suitable means +to obtain from the Real Estate Bank of the State of Arkansas, payment of +the debt due by said Bank to the State of Arkansas, but without success, +then, in that case, and until the arrears due by the said Real Estate +Bank shall have been received into the Treasury of the State of +Arkansas, the said State shall be and is hereby declared to be absolved +from the promises on the face of her bonds by which the said State<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span> +heretofore pledged her faith for the due payment of the principal and +interest of said bonds.' Now, then, it will be remembered, that the +legality and constitutionality of these Arkansas State bonds never has +been disputed. These bonds were issued by the State, under direct +authority of law, signed by the Governor, with the broad seal of the +State attached, and recognized by the Government of the United States, +by the investment of this sacred fund in these obligations. Nay, more, +this fund thus received by the State from the Government on these bonds, +had been invested, under the law of the State of Arkansas, in a Real +Estate Bank, created by that State, and the money loaned to the citizens +of the State. That State Bank, however, in 1839, became utterly and +notoriously insolvent, and never did or could pay one cent in the dollar +on its obligations. And, more especially, never did it pay, after 1839, +one single cent of the principal or interest upon these State +obligations. Now, then, this institution, in 1846, being absolutely and +totally insolvent, its funds having been wasted and squandered without +the possibility of recovery, either in whole or in part, Mr. Davis +offers this resolution to authorize the State to repudiate its bonds, +and that the Government should look only to this insolvent Bank for the +payment of the principal and interest on these bonds, amounting then to +over $700,000. It was not alleged by Mr. Davis, or by any other person, +that these bonds were unconstitutional. No such pretext was ever made +even by the State of Arkansas. It was a most atrocious case of open +repudiation. And here, it matters not, so far as this question is +concerned, what may have been the obligation of the Government of the +United States to make good these funds. That is a totally distinct and +independent question. The true and real issue in this case is this: Was +not the State of Arkansas bound to pay these bonds, both interest and +principal, as it fell due, in, which bonds, by the request and authority +of the State, the Government of the United States had invested this +Smithsonian fund? This obligation of the State of Arkansas, both moral +and legal, is undisputed and indisputable; and yet Mr. Davis moved the +resolution before quoted, absolving the State from the payment of the +principal and interest of these bonds, except so far as the assets of +her own Bank, then notoriously bankrupt, should avail to make good these +obligations. That is, the Congress of the United States, by solemn act, +was to authorize the State of Arkansas to repudiate her solemn +obligations. Recollect, this was not a case of Mississippi bonds, of +which State Mr. Davis was then a Representative in Congress, but it was +the case of Arkansas, another State, having on the floor of Congress its +own Senators and Representatives. But it is a very remarkable fact, that +Mississippi, for many years, had then repudiated her own bonds, that Mr. +Davis justified and sustained that repudiation, and that now he appears +on behalf of Arkansas to induce Congress, by solemn act, to authorize +that State to repudiate her obligations also. Thus was it that Mr. Davis +travelled out of his own State into another, to make the Government of +the United States a party to the repudiation of her bonds by the State +of Arkansas. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not mean to say, that Mr. +Davis proposed or intended that the Government of the United States +should repudiate its faith, plighted to the British Court of Chancery, +to make good this fund. That is not the question. It is entirely +collateral. But, what he did do was this, and there stands his own +resolution, offered by himself in the Congress of the United States, +which, if carried into effect, would have released the State of Arkansas +from these bonds, or, in Mr. Davis's own words, 'The said State shall be +and is hereby declared to be <i>absolved from the promises</i> on the face +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span> her bonds, by which the said State heretofore <i>pledged her faith</i> +for the due payment of the principal and interest of said bonds.'</p> + +<p>Why should Congress release Arkansas from the payment of her State +obligations? Why thus justify the repudiation of her bonds? Can any +other reason be assigned than this, that Mr. Jefferson Davis was looking +to the repudiated bonds of Mississippi, and was endeavoring to establish +a precedent, by solemn act of the Congress, by which, if adopted as a +principle, Mississippi, and every other defaulting State, could be +justified in the repudiation of their bonds also. It is to the credit of +the Congress of the United States, that Mr. Davis's resolution was +rejected without a division, and without a count. When it is +recollected, that at this very time, I, as Secretary of the Treasury, +was appropriating the five per cent. found payable by the Government to +the State of Arkansas toward the liquidation of these bonds against the +protest of that State, the further meaning of these movements will be +clearly perceived. Had this resolution of Mr. Davis passed the two +Houses of Congress, absolving the State of Arkansas from the payment of +these bonds, I could, of course, as Secretary of the Treasury, no longer +have withheld that fund from the State, and appropriated it, so far as +it went, toward the liquidation of the interest accrued and accruing on +these bonds. It appears, then, by conclusive and official evidence, that +Mr. Jefferson Davis's repudiation of State obligations, was not confined +to his own State, nor even to the State of Arkansas; but that he desired +to make the Government of the United States, by solemn act of Congress, +a party directly sanctioning such atrocious violations of State faith +and State obligations.</p> + +<p class='author'><span class="smcap">R. J. Walker</span>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APHORISMS3" id="APHORISMS3"></a>APHORISMS.</h2> + + +<h4>NO. III.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">Two Rules</span>.-To get safely and comfortably through the world, one +must observe two rules: first, keep your eyes open; second, keep them +shut.</p> + +<p>Not to see the actual realities of our daily existence, is the part of a +fool.</p> + +<p>Not to notice the thousand and one petty faults of others, and the +ever-recurring petty annoyances of our circumstances, is the part of a +wise man.</p> + +<p>Even injuries intentionally done to us, are often best disposed of by +resolutely ignoring them.</p> + +<p>So of evils that cannot be remedied—the less we know of them the +better. Not to see an ill sight, is often just as good as to remove it +from existence.</p> + +<p>We need only to add: This seeing and not seeing, depends very much upon +the will. The wolf that wills it can easily see the lamb disturbing the +water that he drinks, even while the lamb is below him on the bank of +the stream; and the lamb, by a stern resolve, can refuse to <i>see</i> the +injustice which it has no power to remedy. The will of man is little +less than omnipotent in the wide sphere of its appropriate power; and +that sphere is much wider than feeble-minded people may suppose.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LITERARY_NOTICES" id="LITERARY_NOTICES"></a>LITERARY NOTICES.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker</span>, Minister of +the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society, Boston. By <span class="smcap">John +Weiss</span>. In 2 volumes. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 443 & 445 +Broadway. </p></div> + +<p>A work of two large octavo volumes, containing 1,020 pages, with two +portraits of Mr. Parker, and some vignettes on wood. The author is John +Weiss, and the biography is exceedingly well written, a great deal of it +being given directly from Mr. Parker's own letters and journals. He was +born in Massachusetts in 1810, and died in Italy before he had completed +his fiftieth year. He was brought up on his father's farm, taught school +while in his teens to provide money for further progress, prepared +himself for the university, taught a higher school during his college +course, studied the classics, acquired German, French, and Spanish, +became a divinity student in Cambridge, added Danish, Swedish, Arabic +and Syriac, Anglo-Saxon and Modern Greek, was ordained a Unitarian +minister in 1837, and settled at West Roxbury. His labors were great: he +preached, lectured, translated, edited, and wrote. His health sank under +his arduous mental toil. He went abroad to regain it, and died in +Florence in 1860. Whatever we may think of his creed, as a preacher he +was able and earnest. He was a man of varied gifts, of wide and detailed +culture. He was opposed to slavery, and stood in bold antagonism to the +Fugitive Slave Law. He was blamed, perhaps maligned, during his +lifetime, but posterity will acknowledge him as a man of large brain and +generous heart. His letters are exceedingly interesting, touching upon +almost every subject now under discussion.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Would you be good, and fill each human duty?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One art's enough for that—the finest art—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See but the good in every human heart.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Was He Successful</span>? A Novel. By <span class="smcap">Richard B. +Kimball</span>, Author of 'St. Leger,' 'Undercurrents,' 'Romance of +Student Life,' etc. New York; Carleton, publisher, 413 Broadway. +Leipsic: Tauchnitz. 1864. </p></div> + +<p>The readers of <span class="smcap">The Continental</span> have been favored with the first +perusal of this monitory novel. It is an accurate delineation of men and +manners found too frequently in our midst, and the moral should be +deeply graven on every heart. We feel the more at liberty to recommend +this work, as it was commenced in our columns before the present corps +of editors had entered upon their labors, and we cordially wish every +species of success to Mr. Kimball.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Musical Sketches</span>. By <span class="smcap">Eliza Polko</span>. Translated from +the sixth German edition, by <span class="smcap">Fanny Fuller</span>. Philadelphia: +Frederick Leypoldt. New York: F. W. Christern. </p></div> + +<p>We think this book will become a favorite with our people. It contains +sketches, legends, and traditions of many of the great musicians. Bach, +Gluck, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Pergolesi, Schubert, Scarlatti, Weber, +Paganini, Gretry, Catalani, Malibran, Handel, Anderle, Haydn, Boieldieu, +Cimarosa, Beethoven, Lully, Berger, etc., float pleasantly through its +fanciful pages. Romance and reality mingle genially together, the +reality half persuading us that the romance is true. It is appreciative +and tender in the original, and the translation is well executed. The +vignette of the music-making cherubs is really beautiful.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Husks. Colonel Floyd's Wards</span>. By <span class="smcap">Marion Harland</span>. +New York: Sheldon & Co., 335 Broadway. </p></div> + +<p>Few young writers have attained so sudden a popularity as Marion +Harland. We believe it well deserved. Her plots are in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span>teresting, her +characters well drawn, her style natural, her morals unexceptionable. Of +the two tales composing the present volume, we prefer 'Colonel Floyd's +Wards.' The interest is well sustained, and Virginian society and +manners truthfully depicted.</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Diary</span>, from November 18, 1862, to October 18, 1863. By +<span class="smcap">Adam Gurowski</span>. Volume Second. New York: Carleton, +publisher, 413 Broadway. </p></div> + +<p>Has Count Gurowski's course toward his own unfortunate country, heroic +Poland, been sufficiently loyal and faithful to induce us to put much +confidence in his portraitures of the men and events of the land of his +adoption?</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Great Consummation. The Millennial Rest</span>; or, The World +as it Will Be. By <span class="smcap">Rev. John Cumming</span>, D. D., F. R. S. E., +Minister of the Scottish National Church, Crown Court, Covent +Garden; Author of 'The Great Tribulation,' and 'The Great +Preparation.' Second Series. New York: Carleton, publisher, 413 +Broadway. </p></div> + +<p>The writings of the Rev. Dr. Cumming are too well known to the public to +need any characterization at our hands. His style is clear and simple, +and we believe it is his desire to awaken and win souls. Although +frequently miscomprehending the dogmas of the Mother Church, he is +neither narrow nor bigoted in his religious views. In the volume under +consideration, he takes passages found principally in Isaiah and +Revelations as texts to describe the Millennium which he believes at +hand. He strives to inculcate the lesson, '<i>Be ye therefore ready</i>.'</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Cudjo's Cave</span>. By <span class="smcap">J. T. Trowbridge</span>, Author of +'Neighbor Jackwood,' 'The Drummer Boy,' etc. Boston: Tilton & Co. </p></div> + +<p>We believe Mr. Trowbridge has achieved a real success in his Cudjo. The +plot is well conceived and sustained, and the interest never flags from +the first page to the last. There is no dull reading in the book, no +interminable preludes or introductions. We are presented in the very +first chapter to the hero, the young schoolmaster, about to be tarred +and feathered by a brutal mob. And a real hero he proves himself in his +gentleness, conscientiousness, and manly moral and physical courage. +Carl, the German boy, is an inimitable picture of young German life and +character. Toby, the house negro, is, in his mingled stupidity, cunning, +and faithfulness, drawn to the life. Nor are the negroes of the cave +less excellent. Events hurry forward, different characters are strangely +grouped, new elements and capacities constantly developed, while truth +to the original conception is constantly adhered to. Graphic +descriptions and picturesque situations abound. If scenes of violence +occur, it is because they are true to the history of the hour. We close +by extracting the closing sentence of this loyal and natural novel: 'For +peaceful days, a peaceful and sunny literature: and may Heaven hasten +the time when there shall be no more strife, and no more human bondage; +when, under the folds of the starry flag, from the lake chain to the +gulf, and from sea to sea, freedom, peace, and righteousness shall +reign; when all men shall love each other, and the nations shall know +God!'</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">United States Wall Atlas</span>. Constructed and drawn under the +direction of <span class="smcap">A. Guyot</span>, by <span class="smcap">Ernest Sandoz</span>. New +York: Published by Charles Scribner, 124 Grand street. </p></div> + +<p>This is a physical map of the United States, giving the altitudes +(within certain limits) of the surface of the land, the height of the +principal mountains, the courses of the ranges and also of the rivers, +together with many other interesting particulars. The principal +political divisions and the chief towns are also indicated. The names of +that profound and earnest savant, Prof. A. Guyot, and of his talented +nephew, E. Sandoz, are a sufficient guarantee of the accuracy and +excellence of this useful work.</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">A Budget of Fun for Little Folks</span>. By <span class="smcap">Aunt Maggie</span>. +Boston: Loring, publisher, 319 Washington street.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jean Belin</span>; or, The Adventures of a Little French Boy. By +<span class="smcap">Alfred de Brehat</span>. Translated from the French. Boston: +Loring, publisher, 319 Washington street. For sale by O. S. Felt, +36 Walker street, New York. </p></div> + +<p>Two very pleasant books for children. The first contains the adventures +of a knitting society, interspersed with sundry novel fairy tales, and +the second is intended to supply the need felt by all the little ones +when 'Robinson Crusoe' and the 'Swiss Family Robinson' have been +exhausted. The tale is lively and well told, and the charac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span>ters natural +and ably sustained. We notice in both works an occasional inaccuracy of +expression. Such slight blemishes do not materially impair the +excellence of these sprightly volumes, but a little more attention would +have sufficed to render them entirely free from error. The examples of +language placed before youth cannot be too carefully revised. With this +minute exception, we heartily recommend the 'Budget of Fun' and 'Jean +Belin,' especially the latter, to all young people.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Carrot-Pomade</span>, with twenty-six Illustrations by +<span class="smcap">Augustus Hoppin</span>. 'Hair ten carats fine.' New York: James +G. Gregory, publisher, 46 Walker street. </p></div> + +<p>A ludicrous satire, and well deserved, on the general style of +advertisements. Hoppin is too well known to need laudation. His +illustrations are irresistibly comic. What could be happier than the +cupids of the brush and comb on the frontispiece? The poor 'krittur +which furnished the grease' is well conceived and executed.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Poems</span>. By <span class="smcap">Henry Peterson</span>. Philadelphia: J. B. +Lippincott. </p></div> + +<p>A volume of graceful verses. We quote its dedication: 'To the members of +that hard-working, poorly rewarded editorial profession, who make so +many reputations for others, and so few for themselves, this book is +respectfully dedicated by one of the fraternity.' 'Abra's Vision' is a +happy rendering of Leigh Hunt's 'Abou Ben Adhem.'</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Appleton's United States Postal Guide</span>; containing the +Chief Regulations of the Post Office; and a complete List of Post +Offices throughout the United States, with other information for +the People. Published Quarterly. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 443 & +445 Broadway. One dollar per annum. Price, 25 cents. </p></div> + +<p>This volume has been prepared with the sanction of Mr. Blair, Postmaster +General, and is an authorized medium of information between the Post +Office Department and the public. It meets a want very generally felt, +and will be welcomed by the community at large. Its table of contents is +a full one; we have space but for a few items: 'Officers, and recent +Orders of the Department; Rates of Postage to Foreign Countries; Rates +of Domestic Postage; Date of Sailing of Foreign Steamers; Establishment +of Post Offices; Mail Contracts; Penalties in certain cases; Suggestions +to the Public; Time occupied in the transmission of Letters; Local Post +Office Regulations; List of Post Offices in the United States, etc. We +regard the condensation of important and indeed almost necessary +information as of great value to our people.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Legends of the Birds</span>. By <span class="smcap">Charles Godfrey Leland</span>. +Illustrated by F. Moras. Philadelphia: Frederick Leypoldt, +publisher. New York: for sale by F. W. Christern, 763 Broadway. </p></div> + +<p>An exquisite volume, containing illuminated pictures of the Birds of the +Legends. Very beautiful are the legends, tenderly and simply told in the +golden words of a poet. They are calculated to teach us humanity toward +the winged creatures of the air, so often the victims of our cruel +sports. We have The Swallow, The Eagle, The Robin, The Cock, The Swan, +The Falcon, The Wood Dove, The Humming Bird, The Scarlet Tannager, The +Peacock, and The Owl, each bird occupying his own illuminated page; each +with his own simple and touching legend. Mr. Leland's little poems will +speak to many a heart, and many a mother will read them aloud to the +wild boys begging for guns to devastate our forests, to inspire them +with mercy for these flying flowers, these musicians of the air. Paper, +print, type, arabesques, and designs, are excellent. We heartily +congratulate Mr. Leypoldt on the beauty of the publication.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Hand Book of Calisthenics and Gymnastics</span>: A Complete Drill +Book for Schools, Families, and Gymnasiums. With Music to accompany +the Exercises. Illustrated from original designs. By <span class="smcap">J. Madison +Watson</span>. New York and Philadelphia: Schermerhorn, Bancroft & +Co. Chicago: George Sherwood. 1864. </p></div> + +<p>The American people are waking up to the importance of physical culture, +struggling to develop muscle, to strengthen weak nerves, and to build up +national bodily vigor. The purpose of the volume before us is to solve +this problem. The author "has aimed to make it a complete gymnastic +drill book, with words of command and classes of movements +systematically arranged, embracing all necessary exercises for the +lungs, the voice,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span> the organs of speech, the joints, and the muscles."</p> + +<p>Part 1st, under the head of <i>Vocal Gymnastics</i>, treats of Respiration, +Phonetics, and Elocution; concise and clear principles and rules are +given, accompanied by examples and exercises sufficiently numerous to +enable the student to bring them completely within his comprehension and +under his control. We regard this part of the work before us as +exceedingly important. To read aloud well is one of the rarest of +accomplishments, though one of the most desirable, and the training of +the voice is absolutely necessary to attain this end. When properly +pursued, such exercises are exceedingly invigorating. 'In forming and +undulating the voice,' says Dr. Combe, 'not only the chest, but also the +diaphragm and abdominal muscles are in constant action, and communicate +to the stomach and bowels a healthy and agreeable stimulus.' The poetic +selections are made with great taste, and are admirably fitted to +achieve the end for which they are designed.</p> + +<p>Part 2d, under the head of <i>Calisthenics</i>, exhibits a varied course of +exercises without the aid of apparatus. Pupils are taught to beat time, +and use is thus made of the magic power of rhythmical movement. Nineteen +pieces of piano music are given, which are well chosen, and +appropriately introduced.</p> + +<p>Part 3d, under the head of <i>Gymnastics</i>, presents a wider collection of +exercises for wands, dumb bells, Indian clubs, and hand rings, than any +of the books we have yet seen. All the exercises are arranged in +accordance with well-known principles of Anatomy, Physiology, and +Hygiene. 'In presenting a <i>new system</i> of Calisthenics and Gymnastics, a +series of illustrations from <i>original</i> designs is indispensable.' These +are remarkably well drawn and executed. Accent, quantity, with Iambic, +Trochaic, Anapestic, and Dactylic Rhythms, are <i>practically</i> given in +the work, which, should the student have poetic talent, would be of +great use to him in making his own verses, while to the reader of poetry +a knowledge of them is indispensable.</p> + +<p>We heartily commend this book to the notice of our readers—to all who +prize physical culture, health, and symmetrical education. We hope it +may find its way into our schools and families.</p> + +<p>Print, paper, and the mechanical execution of this valuable Hand Book +are really excellent.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Light on Shadowed Paths</span>. By <span class="smcap">T. S. Arthur</span>, Author +of 'Ten Nights in a Bar Room,' 'Steps toward Heaven,' 'Golden +Grain,' etc. New York: Carleton, publisher, 413 Broadway. </p></div> + +<p>The books of T. S. Arthur have had a very wide circulation both in this +country and in England. This volume is composed of thirty-three short +tales, well calculated to touch and soothe the popular heart. They are +tender, moral, and simple.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>JANUARY PERIODICALS RECEIVED.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Universalist Quarterly</span>. Boston: Published by T. +Tompkins & Co. New York: H. Lyon, 119 Nassau street. </p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Contents</span>: The Logic and the End of the Rebellion. The Eastern +Church and Council of Nice. Salvation in Christ not Limited to this +Life. Contributions of Science to Religion. History of the Doctrine of a +Future Life. Atheism and its Exponents. Formula of Baptism. The +Universalists as a Christian Sect. General Review. Recent Publications. +American and English Quarterlies.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The North American Review</span>, January 1st, 1864. Editors: +Prof. James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton, Esqs. Boston: +Crosby & Nichols, 117 Washington street. New York: H. Dexter, +Hamilton & Co., Sinclair Tousey, and D. G. Francis. </p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Contents</span>: Ticknor's Life of Prescott. The Bible and Slavery. +The Ambulance System. The Bibliotheca Sacra. Immorality in Politics. The +Early Life of Governor Winthrop. The Sanitary Commission. Renan's Life +of Jesus. The President's Policy. Critical Notices.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Christian Examiner</span>.—Contents: Weiss's Life of +Theodore Parker. Uhland. The Patience of Hope. Arthur Schopenhauer. +The System and Order of Christ's Ministry. Ticknor's Life of +Prescott. Our Ambulance System. The Two Messages. Review of Current +Literature. New Publications Received. Boston: By the Proprietors, +at Walker, Wise & Co.'s, 245 Washington street. </p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EDITORS_TABLE" id="EDITORS_TABLE"></a>EDITOR'S TABLE.</h2> + + +<h4>ARTISTS' RECEPTION.</h4> + +<p>The evening of February 4th, 1864, will long be remembered as the +occasion of one of the most delightful receptions ever given in the +Tenth-street Studio Building. The Committee deserve great praise for the +successful manner in which they filled without crowding the pleasant +exhibition-room and the many interesting studios. Their task was +certainly not an easy one, and merits imitation by all managers of +social entertainments.</p> + +<p>Want of space must for the present prevent any description of the fine +works exhibited; suffice it to say that the Committee—Whittredge, +McEntee, Thompson, as well as Gifford, Eastman Johnson, Bierstadt, +Beard, the Weirs, Hazeltine, William Hart, Dana, Leutze, Gignoux, +Shattuck, Brown, Suydam, etc., were all worthily represented. New York +has reason to be proud of her artists.</p> + +<p>Amusing incidents were not wanting. As we stood before Beard's +'Watchers' (an impressive representation of a company of crows watching +the last struggles of a dying deer), we heard a lady ask her attendant +the meaning of the picture and of its name. The reply was, 'Why—do you +not see? Those birds are owls, and they are asleep, and the deer is +asleep too, and so they are all watchers!' 'Ah!' returned the lady, as +if this lucid explanation had flooded the subject with light. We were +accompanied by a very bright young girl, who, desirous of visiting the +studio of Mr. Church, and disappointed at learning that it had not been +opened to the guests of the building, exclaimed, 'Heart of the Andes, +indeed! Where is his own?' No lover of the true and the beautiful could +have resisted the pleading of those earnest blue eyes. We also overheard +that 'the Tenth-street boys hold their heads mighty high!' Long may they +continue to do so, and long may success of every kind crown their +efforts, whether as artists or as conscientious, patriotic men!</p> + + +<h4>GOUNOD'S 'FAUST.'</h4> + +<p>This opera has attracted large audiences wherever it has been +represented, and has elicited much attention and criticism from the +musical public. Dwight's <i>Journal of Music</i>, Boston, January 23d, +contains the best review of its merits and defects which we have thus +far chanced to meet. Mr. Dwight gives M. Gounod ample credit for the +good judgment, common sense, science, taste, poetic feeling, rich and +highly dramatic orchestration, ingenious musical characterization of +individuals and situations, and the many passages of beautiful music +found in this elaborate work, but denies to him the <i>highest</i> +inspiration, the spontaneity of genius, and the attainment of any very +lofty ideal in the production of continuous, elevated, and +soul-entrancing melodies. We think this a pretty fair statement of the +facts in the case. Mr. Dwight, however, says: 'Not even Mozart in 'Don +Juan' had so great a subject;' and in this connection we feel compelled +to offer a few remarks. We think every great composer owes it to his own +God-gift, and to the human beings whom he is to influence, not to select +intrinsically repulsive subjects, and such have we found both 'Don Juan' +and 'Faust.' Now we are not morbidly fastidious, and we well know the +freedom that must be accorded to art, that it may have ample scope and +range in the delineation of human feeling and romantic situation; but +when we see a representation of 'Don Juan,' we instinctively strive to +ignore the plot, with its odious characters (the sensual Don, the +coarse-minded servant, the unwomanly, man-seeking Elvira, the vengeful +Anna, the insignificant Ottavio, the light-headed and shallow-hearted +Zerlina), and live only in the beautiful music which the prodigality of +genius has wasted upon so poor a theme. Not even <i>that</i> libretto could +degrade the pure, serious, and essentially innocent character of +Mozart's conceptions; but, in turn, his refined musical conception has +been unable to lift the subject from the mire of Da Ponte's delineation. +We know that page after page<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span> has been written to unfold the mystic +meanings and profound philosophy contained in the story, but our +observation has been, that the effect of the whole upon pure minds is +simply—disgust. The musical grandeur of the finale rarely saves its +becoming ludicrous in the representation, and the <i>good joke</i> of a life +of unblushing immorality is in no way lessened by the appearance of +demons, in whose existence half the world (at least of of opera goers) +has ceased to believe.</p> + +<p>The 'Faust' is nearly, if not quite, as bad. The undisguised sensuality +of Faust, both in Goethe's drama and in the operatic rendering, is such +that it nearly destroys our sympathy with Margaret, and scenes that +should be pathetic are either merely repulsive, or excite our +indignation to such a degree that we 'turn all our tears to sparks of +fire.'</p> + +<p>Nothing but loathing can attend the open, deliberate, and utterly gross +destruction of virtue as planned and executed by that miserable +libertine. Mephistopheles himself is scarcely more corrupt, and the +representation of these two great poisonous spiders, weaving their +meshes round their unfortunate and but too easy prey, can never in any +sense impress us as lofty specimens of <i>high art</i>.</p> + +<p>How different is the plot of 'Fidelio,' where one can yield oneself to +the beauty of the music and the pathos of the story without a single +jarring sensation!</p> + +<p>Let the masters then beware! Music is essentially pure, and should never +by great minds be wedded to coarse ideas. The subject must have an +influence upon the immortality of the work. The really noble and truly +art-loving men and women of all countries will, as they advance in +mental cultivation and comprehension of the higher aims of art, banish +such gross delineations and festering moral sores from the stage, and +fine musical works thus sullied will continue to live solely as +represented by such instrument or instruments as may best be calculated +to express their real value and meaning.</p> + +<p>We go to the opera for relaxation, improvement, and enjoyment, and none +of these can be found in the spectacle of noble means perverted to +corrupt ends. May the day soon come when such important channels of +public amusement and instruction may be guided by a refined taste and +correct views of the intimate connection between the Beautiful and the +Absolute Good!</p> + + +<h3>Ballads of the War.</h3> + +<h4>THE DEATH OF COLONEL SHAW.</h4> + +<p class='center'>By <span class="smcap">Isabella McFarlane</span>.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Loud rang the voice of the chieftain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">As the Fifty-fourth rushed on:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Charge on the guns of Wagner,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Charge—and the fort is won!'</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On—like a wave of the ocean,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Dashing against a rock!—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Back—ah! back—all broken,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Like a wave from the fruitless shock.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus from the guns of Wagner</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The Fifty-fourth surged back:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But the voice of their brave young chieftain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Checked not their backward track</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For there, on the sands by Wagner,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">The gallant Shaw lay low,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Midst a heap of his brave black soldiers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Left in the hands of the foe.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not a flag was lowered in his honor,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Not a gun its deep voice gave,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When, on the sands by Wagner,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Shaw was laid in the grave.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not a friend stood over his coffin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Shedding tears on his gory breast;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But instead, was curse and insult,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Cruel laughter, ribald jest.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wide and deep was the trench they hollowed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Where the gallant Shaw was laid,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With forty negro soldiers</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Piled over his noble head.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes, forty negro soldiers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Whose hearts were hearts of steel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who had fought in the cause of freedom,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Who had died for their country's weal.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was it then so great dishonor</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">For that chief so young and brave—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who had led them on to the battle—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To be with them in the grave?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nay—most just was the mandate</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">That in death they should not part,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For he loved his poor black brothers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">With a true and steadfast heart.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Move not his honored ashes—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Let him slumber where he lies,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till the voice of the great Archangel</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Sounds the trumpet-call to the skies!<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></span><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <span class="smcap">The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man</span>, +with Remarks on Theories of the Origin of Species by Variation. By Sir +<span class="smcap">Charles Lyell</span>, F. R. S. Author of 'Principles of Geology,' +Elements of Geology,' etc., etc. Illustrated by woodcuts. Philadelphia: +George W. Childs, 628 and 630 Chestnut street. 1863</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> If any one is disposed to doubt that the doctrine that +fossil forms are direct creations, and were never living animals at all, +is held by any respectable person, we refer them to a book entitled +'Cosmogony, or the Mysteries of Creation,' by Thomas A. Davies, and +published by Rudd & Carleton, of New York, of no longer ago than 1857.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Principles of Geology, 9th ed., p. 740.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Professor Louis Agassiz, the most patient, learned, and +acute investigator of embryology now living, finds in that science (upon +which, in truth, rests the final settlement of the so-called development +theory) <i>'no single fact</i> to justify the assumption that the laws of +development, now known to be so precise and definite for every animal, +have ever been less so, or have ever been allowed to run into each +other. The philosopher's stone is no more to be found in the organic +than the inorganic world; and we shall seek as vainly to transform the +lower animal types into the higher ones by any of our theories, as did +the alchemists of old to change the baser metals into gold.' He also +says: 'To me the fact that the embryonic form of the highest vertebrate +recalls in its earlier stages the first representatives of its type in +geological times and its lowest representatives at the present day, +speaks only of an ideal relation, existing, not in the things +themselves, but in the mind that made them. It is true that the +naturalist is sometimes startled at these transient resemblances of the +young among the higher animals in one type to the adult condition of the +lower animals in the same type; but it is also true that he finds each +one of the primary divisions of the animal kingdom bound to its own norm +of development, which is absolutely distinct from that of all others; it +is also true that, while he perceives correspondences between the early +phases of the higher animals and the mature state of the lower ones he +never sees any one of them diverge in the slightest degree from its own +structural character—never sees the lower rise by a shade beyond the +level which is permanent for the group to which it belongs—never sees +the higher ones stop short of their final aim, either in the mode or the +extent of their transformation.' He likewise ('Methods of Study in +Natural History,' page 140) discusses the matter of breeds as bearing +upon diversities of species in a manner to justify his conclusion, that: +'The influence of man upon animals is, in other words, the influence of +<i>mind</i> upon them; and yet the ordinary mode of argument upon this +subject is, that, because the intelligence of man has been able to +produce certain varieties in domesticated animals, therefore physical +causes have produced all the diversity existing among wild ones. Surely, +the sounder logic would be to infer that, because our finite +intelligence may cause the original pattern to vary by some slight +shades of difference, therefore a superior intelligence must have +established all the boundless diversity of which our boasted varieties +are but the faintest echo. It is the most intelligent farmer who has the +greatest success in improving his breeds; and if the animals he has so +fostered are left to themselves without that intelligent care, they +return to their normal condition. So with plants....'—<i>Ed. Con</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> In Latin, <i>Sublaqueum</i>, or <i>Sublacum</i>, in the States of the +Church, over thirty English miles (Butler says 'near forty,' +Montalombert, 'fifty miles') east of Rome, on the Teverone. Butler +describes the place as 'a barren, hideous chain of rocks, with a river +and lake in the valley.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Monasterium Cassinense.</i> It was destroyed, indeed, by the +Lombards, as early as 583, as Benedict is said to have predicted it +would be, but was rebuilt in 731, consecrated in 748, again destroyed by +the Saracens in 857, rebuilt about 950, and more completely, after many +other calamities, in 1649, consecrated for the third time by Benedict +XIII in 1727, enriched and increased under the patronage of the emperors +and popes, in modern times despoiled of ts enormous income (which at the +end of the sixteenth century was reckoned at 500,000 ducats), and has +stood through all vicissitudes to this day. In the times of its +splendor, when the abbot was first baron of the kingdom of Naples, and +commanded over four hundred towns and villages, it numbered several +hundred monks but in 1843 only twenty. It has a considerable library. +Montalembert (Monks of the West, ii. 19) calls Monte Cassino 'the most +powerful and celebrated monastery in the Catholic universe; celebrated +especially because there Benedict wrote his rule and formed the type +which was to serve as a model to innumerable communities submitted to +that sovereign code.' He also quotes the poetic description from Dante's +<i>Paradiso</i>. Dom Luigi Tosti published at Naples, in 1842, a full history +of this convent, in three volumes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Gregor. Dial. ii. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Butler, in his Lives of Saints, compares Benedict even with +Moses and Elijah. 'Being chosen by God, like another Moses, to conduct +faithful souls into the true promised land, the kingdom of heaven, he +was enriched with eminent supernatural gifts, even those of miracles and +prophecy. He seemed, like another Eliseus, endued by God with an +extraordinary power, commanding all nature, and, like the ancient +prophets, foreseeing future events. He often raised the sinking courage +of his monks, and baffled the various artifices of the devil with the +sign of the cross, rendered the heaviest stone light, in building his +monastery, by a short prayer, and, in presence of a multitude of people, +raised to life a novice who had been crushed by the fall of a wall at +Monte Cassino.' Montalembert omits the more extraordinary miracles, +except the deliverance of Placidus from the whirlpool, which he relates +in the language of Bossuet, ii. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> 'Scienter nesciens, et sapienter indoctus.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The Catholic Church has recognized three other rules +besides that of St. Benedict, viz.: 1. That of St. Basil, which is stilt +retained by the Oriental monks; 2. That of St. Augustine, which is +adopted by the regular canons, the order of the preaching brothers or +Dominicans, and several military orders; 3. The rule of St. Francis of +Assisi and his mendicant order, in the thirteenth century.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Pope Gregory believed the rule of St. Benedict even to be +directly inspired, and Bossuet (<i>Panégyrie de Saint Benoît</i>), in evident +exaggeration, calls it 'an epitome of Christianity, a learned and +mysterious abridgement of all doctrines of the gospel, all the +institutions of the holy fathers, and all the counsels of perfection.' +Montalembert speaks in a similar strain of French declamatory +eloquence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Cap. 5: 'Primus humilitatis gradus est obedientia sine +mora. Hæc convenit iis, qui nihil sibi Christo carius aliquid +existimant: propter servitium sanctum, quod professi sunt, seu propter +metum gehennæ, vel gloriam vitæ æternæ, mox ut aliquid imperatum a +majore fuerit, ac si divinitus imperetur, moram pati nesciunt in +faciendo.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Cap. 48: 'Otiositas inimica est animæ; et ideo certis +temporibus occupari debent fratres in labore manuum, certis iterum horis +in lectione divina.' vina.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The <i>horæ canonicæ</i> are the <i>Nocturnæ vigiliæ</i>, +<i>Matutinæ</i>, <i>Prima</i>, <i>Tertia</i>, <i>Sexta</i>, <i>Nona</i>, <i>Vespera</i>, and +<i>Completorium</i>, and are taken (c. 16) from a literal interpretation of +Ps. cxix. 164: 'Seven times a day do I praise thee,' and v. 62: 'At +midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee.' The Psalter was the +liturgy and hymn book of the convent. It was so divided among the seven +services of the day, that the whole Psalter should be chanted once a +week.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Cap. 59: 'Si quis forte de nobilibus offert filium suum +Deo in monasterio, si ipse puer minori ætate est, parentes ejus faciant +petitionem,' etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Cap. 40: 'Carnium quadrupedum ab omnibus abstinetur +comestio, præter omnino debiles et ægrotos.' Even birds are excluded, +which were at that time only delicacies for princes and nobles, as +Mabillon shows from the contemporary testimony of Gregory of Tours.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Cap. 66: 'Monasterium, si possit fieri, ita debet +construi, ut omnia necessaria, id est aqua, molendinum, hortus, +pistrinum, vel artes diversæ intra monasterium exerceantur, ut non sit +necessitas monachis vagandi foras, quia omnino non expedit animabus +eorum.'</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> This Maurus, the founder of the abbacy of Glanfeuil (St. +Maur sur Loire), is the patron saint of a branch of the Benedictines, +the celebrated Maurians in France (dating from 1618), who so highly +distinguished themselves in the seventeenth and early part of the +eighteenth centuries, by their thorough archæological and historical +researches, and their superior editions of the Fathers. The most eminent +of the Maurians are D. (Dom, equivalent to Domnus, Sir) Menard, +d'Achery, Godin, Mabillon, le Nourry, Martianay, Ruinart, Martene, +Montfaucon, Massuet, Garnier, and de la Rue, and in our time Dom Pitra, +editor of a valuable collection of patristic fragments, at the cloister +of Solesme.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> He was the last of the Roman consuls—an office which +Justinian abolished—and was successively the minister of Odoacer, +Theodoric, and Athalaric, who made him prefect of the pretorium.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Or <i>Vivaria</i>, so called from the numerous <i>vivaria</i>, or +fish ponds, in that region</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Comp. Mabillon, Ann. Bened. 1. v. c. 24, 27; F. de +Ste.-Marthe, Vie de Cassiodore, 1684.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> I take this anecdote on Mr. Underhill's authority.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> As in the Hotel du Louvre in Paris.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The great Bible-printing establishment at Oxford encloses +a spacious courtyard, which is laid out as a garden. The foliage is +agreeably disposed, and there are shrubbery walks, flowers, vases, and +parterres, all arranged in the best taste. Consider what a healthful +influence this must have on the character of the workman.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> 'Buried with his niggers.' Such was the answer of the +rebel commander at Charleston to General Gillmore's demand for the body +of Colonel Shaw, who commanded the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first +negro regiments organized, and was killed in an unsuccessful attempt to +carry Fort Wagner by assault.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 18820-h.htm or 18820-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/2/18820/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: July 13, 2006 [EBook #18820] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + + + + + + + +THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY: + +DEVOTED TO + +LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY. + +VOL. V.--APRIL, 1864.--No. IV. + + + + +SIR CHARLES LYELL ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.[1] + + +When Thomas Chalmers, sixty years ago, lecturing at St. Andrews, +ventured to announce his conviction that 'the writings of Moses do not +fix the antiquity of the globe,' he startled and alarmed, to no small +degree, the orthodoxy of the day. It was a statement far in advance of +the religious thinking of the time. That massive breadth and +comprehensiveness of intellect which soon placed him, _facile princeps_, +at the head of the clergy of Scotland, joined with a candor, and +ingenuous honesty, which made him admired and beloved by all, could not +fail to perceive, and would not hesitate to acknowledge, the force of +the evidence then for some time slowly but steadily and surely +accumulating from the investigations and discoveries of geological +science, which has forced back the origin of the earth to a vast and +undated antiquity. But nothing could have been farther from the +imagination of the great majority of evangelical, unscientific clergymen +of his day. They held that the writings of Moses fixed the antiquity of +the globe as surely as they fixed anything else. And it required no +little boldness in the lecturer to announce a doctrine which was likely +to raise about his ears the hue and cry of heresy. But fortunately for +the rising Boanerges of the Scottish pulpit, whatever questions might +arise in philology and criticism as to the meaning of the writings of +Moses, the evidence adduced in behalf of _the fact_ of the earth's +antiquity was of such a nature that it could not be resisted, and he not +only escaped a prosecution for heresy, but lived to see the doctrine he +had broached almost universally accepted by the religious world. + +If now some divine of acknowledged power and position in any branch of +the Christian Church were to put forth the statement that 'the writings +of Moses do not fix the antiquity of man,' he would startle the ear of +orthodoxy quite as much, but no more than did Chalmers in the early +years of the present century. And if he would fare more hardly than the +Scottish divine, and fall under the ban of church censure, which is not +unlikely, it would be because the evidence for the fact is still +inchoate and resistible by the force of established opinion. But it is +quite within the range of possible things that before the close of the +present century two things may happen: first, that the evidence for a +high antiquity of the human race may accumulate to such an extent as to +carry with it involuntarily the consent of mankind; and second, that the +sacred writings may be found to adjust themselves as easily to this new +finding in the sphere of induction, as they have already done, in the +general mind of the Church, to the doctrine of the great age of the +earth. The two statements are indeed very much akin in several respects. +They both traverse the accepted meaning of the sacred writings at the +time of their announcement. Both are considered, when first promulged, +as irreconcilable with the plain teaching and consequent inspiration of +the Scriptures. Both rest solely, as to their evidence, in the sphere of +inductive science, and are determinable wholly by the finding of facts +accumulated and compared by the processes of inductive reasoning. And +both, if thus established, are destined to be accepted by the general +mind of the age, without actual harm to the real interests of +civilization and religion. No _fact_, which is a fact and not an +illusion, can do harm to any of the vital interests of mankind. No truth +can stand in hopeless antagonism to any other truth. To suppose +otherwise would be to resolve the moral government of God into a +hopeless enigma, or enthrone a perpetual and hostile dualism, resigning +the universe to the rival and contending sway of Ormuzd and Ahriman. + +Before proceeding to the merits of Sir Charles Lyell's discussion, we +wish to glance at some preliminary matters touching the great debate now +pending between science and theology. We wish to review the posture and +temper of the parties; and particularly to refer to the tone and spirit +of the religious press and the pulpit, respecting the alleged +discoveries and claims of science, and their bearing upon the religious +opinion of the time. + +Moreover, in passing, the present writer begs permission to say that he +speaks from the orthodox side of this question; he hails from the +orthodox camp; he wears the clerical vesture of the Scottish worthies; +and is affiliated theologically with Knox and Chalmers, with Edwards and +Alexander, with the New York _Observer_ and the Princeton _Review_. This +much we beg to say, that what follows in these pages may be fully +understood. + +No one who has been attending to the subject with any degree of interest +can have failed to observe that science, in her investigations upon the +grand and momentous themes which have absorbed her attention in these +latter years, has exhibited, and does still exhibit, a steady and +well-defined purpose, and has pursued it with a singularly calm, sober, +unimpassioned, yet resolute temper. Its posture is firm, steady, +self-poised, conscious of rectitude, and anticipative of veritable and +valuable results. Its spirit, though eager, is quiet; though +enthusiastic, is cautious; though ardent, is sceptical; though flushed +with success, is trained to the discipline of disappointment. Its object +is to interrogate nature. It stands at the shrine and awaits the +response of the oracle. It would fain interpret and make intelligible +the wondrous hieroglyphics of this universe, and specially the mystic +characters traced by the long-revolving ages upon the stony tablets of +this planet Earth. It has in the first instance no creed to support, no +dogmas to verify, no meaning to foist upon nature; its sole and single +query is, What does nature teach? What _is_ fact? What _is_ truth? What +_has_ occurred in the past annals of this planet? What _is_ the actual +and true history of its bygone ages, and of the dwellers therein? These +are its questions, addressed to nature by such methods as experience has +taught will reach her ear, and it does not hesitate to take nature's +answer. It does not shrink, and quake, and grow pale lest the response +should overturn some ancient notion. It does not dread to hear the +response, lest morals or religion should be thereby imperilled. It +boldly and resolutely takes the teaching of nature, whatever it may be. +Its conviction is that truth never can be anything else than truth; that +fact can never be anything else than fact; and that no two truths or two +facts in God's universe can be in hopeless and irreconcilable +contradiction. + +In this spirit the genuine sons of science have exhibited, what has +seemed to some, a heartless indifference whether their discoveries or +theories harmonized with the Scriptures or not, or affected the received +opinions of Christendom on subjects pertaining to religion or morals. +They have been sublimely unconcerned as to results in any such +direction. They have investigated, examined, compared, collated, with +long-continued and patient toil, to gather from the buried past the +actual story of its departed cycles; they have not been troubled lest +they should impinge on the creeds of the religious world, or compel +important modifications in the lectures of learned Professors. This was +no care of theirs. They discovered facts, they did not make them. + +Now with all due respect for the opinions and feelings of religious +people, we hesitate not to affirm that this spirit is the only true one +in scientific men. Conceding, as we must, the supremacy of facts in +their own sphere, and granting that, as mundane and human affairs now +stand, the evidence of the senses, purged from fraud and illusion, must +be held to be conclusive, we cheerfully award to scientific men the +largest liberty to pursue their inquiries in matters of fact, utterly +regardless of the havoc which may be thereby wrought among the +traditional, beliefs of men. In no other way can science be true to +herself. She is the child of induction. She can acknowledge no authority +but what has been enthroned by inductive reasoning; and were she to +adjust her conclusions, and garble her facts, to suit the faiths, +beliefs, prejudices, or traditions of men, she would thereby falsify her +inmost life, and stultify herself before the world. And in this +connection we may premise that we regard as worthy of all commendation +the straightforward and unembarrassed manner in which Sir Charles Lyell +pursues his inquiries into the geological evidences of the antiquity of +man. He could not have been unaware that he was striking a ponderous +blow at one of the main traditions of Christendom; nay, that if +successful in establishing his conclusions, he must revolutionize, to a +large extent, the religious thinking of the civilization amid which he +moves; and yet he moves steadily and quietly forward, calm as Marius +amid the ruins of Carthage, not stopping to consider what Biblical men +will do with his facts; never more than touching upon their religious +bearings; intent only on ascertaining what the facts are, and what they +teach. This, we say, is the spirit and temper of the true +philosopher--this betokens the genuine son of science. As well might we +demand of Watt, or Fulton, or Davy, or Brewster, or Faraday, in pursuing +their inquiries into the nature and laws of steam, electricity, +galvanism, or light, to be careful that their discoveries impinge not on +the teachings of religion or the creed of orthodoxy, as to demand of +Lyell to investigate the antiquity of man in humble deference to the +well-established belief of the whole Christian world that he has no such +antiquity. Not a bitter thing is said in the whole book against any +traditional belief; the Scriptures are scarcely more than alluded to; he +seems scarcely conscious that he is attempting to establish conclusions +at variance with the cherished creeds of vast multitudes of men. To some +this may seem the callousness of infidelity; to us it seems the sublime +composure of science. To him, the fact in the case is everything; and he +is content to leave it to work its own results. + +What now, on the other hand, have been the spirit and temper of the +religious press and the pulpit touching the progress of science, and +especially its encroachments upon the ancient landmarks of traditional +belief? We are sorry to be compelled to say that, with some honorable +exceptions, the spirit manifested by religious journals and clergymen +generally, has not been worthy of unqualified admiration. In many +instances they have shown a dogged determination to hear nothing on the +subject. Assuming, with absolute confidence, not only that the +Scriptures are what the Church claims them to be, but that their +interpretation of them is infallible, they have affected to ignore all +the findings of science, and to treat them, in their bearing on Biblical +interpretation, as profane intermeddling with divine things. They seem +to imagine that their safety consists in not seeing danger, like the +ostrich hiding its head in the sand, and supposing that thereby its +whole body is protected. In other instances, while professing a +willingness to hear--to seek truth--to not be afraid of the light--to +boast of science even as the handmaid of religion--they have shown a +disposition to decry the alleged discoveries of science, to ridicule its +supposed facts, to make light of a whole concatenation of evidence, to +prate of the uncertainties and vacillations of science, to sneer at +'sciolists,' or 'mere men of science,' to warn against the 'babblings of +science' and 'philosophy falsely so called,' and meantime they have +betrayed a nervous sensitiveness with regard to certain alleged +discoveries and facts coming to the popular ear. They affect to sneer at +the 'wise week' of the meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science, and to turn the proceedings of that body into +ridicule, by caricaturing the importance attached to some minor organ of +the human or animal frame, in the determination of specific identity or +difference. While absolutely ignorant of the true state of the case as +it stands in the scientific world, they thunder from the pulpit in the +ears of their people--a position where they are safe from +reply--crudities and monstrosities of science at which the humblest +member of the aforesaid Association would smile. In other instances, +with a most unfortunate or misguided zeal, they would fain compel +Christian faith to override and traverse all those great laws of +evidence which regulate human belief in other matters. They do not +dispute the facts of science when clearly established--they will concede +to them an existence as facts in their own sphere--but they hold the +Scriptures, as being inspired and infallible, to be transcendent and +paramount, and not to be affected by any possible combination of facts. +That is to say, if the Scriptures teach the unity of the race, or the +universality of the deluge, or the modern origin of man--and if they +understand them to teach these things, they do teach them for them--they +hold that no amount of evidence which science may adduce can be of any +avail, even though it might amount to absolute certainty, did not the +Scriptures stand in the way. You may believe the facts of science, if +you choose, but the Scriptures must be believed to the contrary +notwithstanding. If science does not agree with the Scriptures, so much +the worse for science--that is its own affair. This is the sentiment, +distinctly uttered not long since by a learned American Professor. +Consistently with this view, they maintain that the Scriptures are to be +held as an _authority_ in scientific matters; that science must order +its conclusions in accordance with them; and that any facts are to be +distrusted which conflict with the declarations of the Bible. They would +thus place the Scriptures and nature in a posture of antagonism; and +require Christian faith to trample upon and triumph over the evidence +of the senses, as it is required to triumph over the world, the flesh, +and the devil. What must be thought of an otherwise educated body of men +who would willingly reduce the faith of the Christian world to such a +posture as that? + +Furthermore, in the general spirit and temper of the religious press +with reference to science and scientific men, there is much to criticize +and condemn. It is often snappish, petulant, ill-humored, unfair, and +sometimes malicious in the extreme. Such opprobrious terms as +infidelity, irreligion, rationalizing tendencies, naturalism, contempt +for the Scriptures, etc., are freely used. Scientific men are called +infidel pretenders, and are charged with a secret conspiracy to +overthrow the faith of the Christian world. A respectable religious +weekly paper in this country, in noticing Sir Charles Lyell's work, +while carefully withholding from its readers the slightest notion of the +array of evidence adduced in the book, is prompt to inform them that the +learned author shows his want of respect for the Word of God. Another, +in noticing the account of the last hours of Mr. Buckle, is almost ready +to exult in the fact that in the wreck and prostration of his great +powers he whined out piteously: 'I am going mad!' and intimates that his +mental sufferings are to be attributed to the judicial visitation of +God, inflicted as a punishment for the employment of those powers in the +service of infidelity. An able, though generally absurd quarterly +journal, in reviewing Hugh Miller's 'Testimony of the Rocks,' finds in +some of his gorgeous speculations premonitions of that mental aberration +which ended his life, and does not hesitate to attribute the final +catastrophe to the overworking of his powers in the service of +pretentious and unsanctified science. Noble and true-hearted son of the +Church though he was, and though laboring with herculean strength to set +the Bible and science in harmony, he has not escaped the envenomed +shafts of a portion of the religious press. By some he has been openly +branded as a traitor in the camp. + +Now this unseemly heat and this unbecoming spirit and temper may be +cloaked under a zeal for religion. It may be said that we are to +'contend earnestly for the faith.' We answer, verily, but never with the +weapons of malice and wickedness. This mode of treating science, if +persisted in, must end only in chagrin and defeat to the parties +employing it, for the simple reason that it does violence to reason, +nature, and all the laws of man's being. Science cannot be turned aside +in her strenuous and ever-successful progress by any such impediments +thrown in her way. The clear, calm, cogent facts and inferences of the +philosopher cannot be met successfully by the half-suppressed shriek of +the mere Biblicist. And it must be at once perceived that any such +treatment of science, any such half-concealed fear of the progress of +science, any such unfair and spiteful bearing toward scientific men, +argues a secret distrust of the system or doctrine which is assumed to +be held and professedly defended. These petulant and much disturbed +editors and divines must be really afraid that the ground is being +undermined beneath their feet. If a man _really believes_ the +inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures, he may feel perfectly +at ease as to any facts present or past in the wide universe. But if he +is not so sure of them, and wishes, for some personal or interested +motive, to believe them, he will be easily disturbed by anything which +seems to militate against them. If the Scriptures are true, they can +never be shown to be false--if they are not true, we ought not to wish +to believe them. + +The spirit and temper above indicated are wholly out of harmony with the +general spirit of Protestant Christianity. It has ever been the boast of +Protestantism that it seeks the light, that it seeks discussion, that +it asserts the right of private judgment, that it courts investigation, +and is willing to expose all its claims to the broad light of day. It +claims to be an everlasting protest against priestly tyranny, and +monkish authority, and abject spiritual servitude in the laity. Strange, +if in this new phase of its history it should fail to be true to itself! + +After the Christian world came generally to accept the statement of +Chalmers that the writings of Moses do not fix the antiquity of the +world, and before science had begun to moot seriously the questions of +the unity of the race, the universality of the Noahian deluge, and the +antiquity of man, it was the custom of clergymen generally to reecho the +true Protestant strain. They claimed science. They expected much of her. +They wished full and free discussion in order that still stronger +ramparts might be erected around the citadel of their faith. Why should +the tone be changed now? In the year 1840, the Rev. Albert Barnes, of +Philadelphia, who has long occupied a highly respectable and influential +position among the clerical body in this country, in an address on the +'Progress and Tendencies of Science,' delivered before the literary +societies of one of the colleges of Pennsylvania, gave utterance to the +following noble sentiments: + + 'It has cost much to overcome this'--that is, the panic fears of + Christian people at the amazing progress and discoveries of + science--'and to restore confidence to the Christian world that the + researches of science will never permanently clash with the + doctrines of revelation. But the Christian world has come to that; + and science is to receive no more obstruction henceforth from any + alarm that its discoveries will contravene the revealed truth of + God. No future Galileo is to be imprisoned because he can look + farther into the works of nature than other men; and the point + which we have gained now, is that no obstruction is to be thrown in + the way of science by any dread that any scientific truth will + infringe on any theological system. The great truth has gone forth + at last, not to be recalled, that the astronomer may point his + glass to the heavens as long and as patiently as he pleases, + without apprehending opposition from the Christian world; the + chemist may subject all objects to the action of the crucible and + the blowpipe, 'with none to molest him or make him afraid;' the + geologist may penetrate to any part of the earth--may dig as deep + as he pleases, and no one may be alarmed.' + +This exhibits true Christian courage and confidence, and has the genuine +Protestant ring. It is based, however, on the supposition that no +possible conflict can arise between science and his understanding of the +Scriptures, and it is doubtful whether the same equanimity could be +maintained even in the author's mind if the 'progress and tendencies of +science' should take an unexpected direction. Thus, in the same address, +he says: + + 'One fact is remarkable. The geologist proves that the world has + stood many thousands of years, and we cannot deny it. He points to + fossil remains, and tells us of orders of animals that lived many + years before the Mosaic period of the creation of man. The Bible + tells us that MAN was created about six thousand years + ago. Now, the material fact is, that amid all the fossil remains of + the geologist, and all the records of past times, there is no proof + that _man_ has lived longer than that period; but there is abundant + proof to the contrary. Amid all on which the geologist relies to + demonstrate the existence of animals prior to the Mosaic account of + the creation, he has not presented us with _one human bone_, or + with one indication of the existence of man.' + +This is one of the facts, among others, upon which 'the friends of +science and revelation have equal cause to congratulate themselves and +each other.' But what if the fact should change? What if not only one, +but many fossil human bones should be found? How is a divine, who has +already said that the _Bible teaches_ the modern origin of man, to +avoid panic fears? Science is cumulative in its evidences, and it is +somewhat hazardous to undertake to say, at any point, that the _ultima +thule_ of discovery has been reached. + +We reiterate now, in the conclusion of these preliminary matters, the +sentiment of Mr. Barnes that science must be free and untrammelled. No +matter what discoveries may be made, what traditions overturned, what +faiths unsettled, science must have a free rein and an open course. It +must be so; unless we return to mediaeval darkness and despotism. +Science, to be science at all, must establish its conclusions by its own +methods, and its methods must be intact and supreme, no matter what +facts they force upon the belief of mankind. It cannot accept any +extraneous authority. It cannot admit any foregone conclusions. It +cannot accept the statements, for instance, of the first chapter of +Genesis as astronomical, meteorological, geological, or ethnological +_facts_, as the able but absurd Review before referred to would insist. +It must verify its own facts. It cannot heed the caveat of any number or +body of clergymen, or orthodox weekly newspapers, who might come forward +and say, respecting the unity of the race, or the antiquity of man: +'Gentlemen, that question is settled. It is put beyond the purview of +your science. An absolute and infallible authority has determined it. To +moot it is profane.' Any such attempt would be both preposterous and +useless. The age will defend the freedom of science; and let all +reasonable and right-thinking men take comfort in the conviction that in +the long run the conclusions reached will be right, in accordance with +fact, in accordance with truth, and that no permanent interest of +religion or morals can suffer. + +But we beg pardon for holding the reader so long by the button, while +Sir Charles Lyell and his book have been kept in the background. These +thoughts have been upon our mind for many months, and we have felt +impelled to give utterance to them here. + +The publication of this work we regard as an eventful matter in the +history of modern thought. The time could not have been far distant when +what we may call the geological history of man on this planet, must have +come before the popular mind; and it is certainly a matter of +congratulation that one of the most venerable, indefatigable, cautious, +and successful investigators of modern times has undertaken the task of +giving to the public a full and labored _resume_ of the evidence which +has accumulated on the subject. Not unfrequently are the bigotry and +prejudice of well-meaning religious people intensified by the imprudent +zeal of the Hotspurs of science. True science can always afford to bide +its time, and make haste slowly. + +Respecting the work itself, we begin by saying that the theme proposed +is a perfectly legitimate one for science. It is entirely pertinent to +science to undertake to search for the hidden traces of man's former +history, if there be any. It is no dreamland or cloudland which it +proposes to explore. It is no Quixotic adventure which it has gotten up +to astonish and alarm the vulgar. If our human ancestors have lived +fifty or one hundred thousand years longer on this planet than was +generally supposed, it is quite likely they have left some traces behind +them. And if so, it is perfectly legitimate for science to gather, +collate, and interpret those traces. And from what we know of her past +achievements, we may assure ourselves that if man has had such a +pre-historic existence, science will most undoubtedly prove it. She has +proved beyond all sane contradiction the great age of the earth. She has +proved in like manner the vast extent of the universe in space. She has +proved the existence of manifold forms of animal life on this planet for +countless ages before the incoming of man, according to the popular +chronology. She has proved, approximately, the order and succession of +animal life as it arose, and the forms it assumed as the long cycles of +ages rolled on. All these were legitimate themes for science; and all of +them were opposed to the popular belief at the time--as much so as is +the antiquity of man now. And further, we say that the mere suspicion +that any such thing may be--the mere surmise of any such fact--the +merest inkling which scientific men may get of a secret yet hidden +beneath the veil, and waiting to be revealed--is a sufficient +justification of those _tentative_ efforts of science which often result +in the attainment of some grand discovery. Let no timid religionist +charge upon scientific men that they are conspiring with malice prepense +to undermine the popular creeds and overthrow the Bible. This is sheer +nonsense. They follow where nature beckons them. If man has had a high +antiquity on this earth, science will find it out and prove it beyond a +doubt. If he has not had such antiquity, science will discover that too, +and prove it. All we have to do is to let science have her way. + +Another remark which we make here, is respecting the power which a +_single fact_ may have in this investigation. It is not often that great +questions in history, or social polity, or jurisprudence are determined +by a single fact. The great results of history, economics, and law are +effected by the converging power of many facts. So also in science. Its +great results are determined by the accumulated power of multitudinous +facts. Its final categories are fixed by abundant certainties and +manifold inductions. And yet it may sometimes occur that a single fact +may be of such a nature that there is no escaping the conclusion which +it forces upon the mind. It may concentrate in itself all the elements +of certainty usually obtained from many sources. It may be determinative +in its very nature, and admit of scepticism only at the expense of +rationality. A single human grave, with its entombed skeleton, +discovered in some uninhabited waste, where it was never known the foot +of man had trod, would prove conclusively that human footsteps had once +trod there. The discovery of a single weapon of the quality and temper +of the Damascus blade amid the ruins of a buried city, would prove as +fully as would the discovery of a thousand that the people of that age +of the world understood the methods of working steel. One canoe found +moored to the bank of the Delaware, the Schuylkill, or the Susquehanna, +when the white man began to penetrate this continent, would have been +sufficient to prove that the aborigines understood, to that extent, the +art of navigation. So in science, one fossil of a different species from +any found heretofore in a certain deposit is sufficient to add another +to the forms of life represented by that deposit. One fossil found lower +in the geological scale than life was supposed to have begun on this +planet, is sufficient to prove that it had a still earlier beginning. So +with regard to contemporary forms of life, one fact may be sufficient to +warrant or compel a conclusion. Hugh Miller cites the instance of fossil +dung being found as proving to the anti-geologists that these fossils +were once real living creatures, and not mere freaks of nature. The +instance might not be thought conclusive, for if the Author of nature +saw fit to amuse himself by making the semblances of huge iguanodons, +elephants, and hippopotami, in the solid rocks, it might readily be +supposed that He would extend His amusement to the making of fossil +dung.[2] But now, if in the fossil entrails of the cave hyena the bones +of a hare should be found, it would prove conclusively to any but an +anti-geologist, that the hare lived contemporaneously with the hyena. + +These remarks are not thrown in by way of apology for the paucity of +facts adduced by Sir Charles Lyell to prove the antiquity of man, but +merely to illustrate the force which it is possible, in certain +circumstances, for a single fact to have. Thus, for instance, the Scotch +fir is not now, nor ever has been in historic times, a native of the +Danish isles, yet it has been indigenous there in the human period, for +Steenstrup has taken out with his own hands a flint implement from +beneath one the buried trunks of that species in the Danish peat bogs. +Again, if an implement of human workmanship is found in close proximity +to the leg of a bear, or the horn of a reindeer, of extinct species, in +an ancient cavern, and all covered by a floor of stalagmite, we see not +how the conclusion is to be avoided that they were introduced into the +cave before the stalagmite was formed; and in that case the inference +that they were contemporaneous, or nearly so, may well be left to take +care of itself. The attempt has been made to treat with levity the whole +subject of the antiquity of man because of the numerical meagreness of +the facts adduced in support of it. But as to this, it need only be +observed that as a new theme for investigation, its facts must +necessarily be meagre, as must be the facts of any science in its +inchoate condition, and that they are steadily growing in volume, so +that it is not safe to venture a final verdict against it on that score. +The facts in support of the globular form of the earth, or the +Copernican theory of the heavens, or the great age of the earth, were at +one time meagre--they are not so now. Sir Charles Lyell is a pioneer +explorer in a new and mysterious realm: the time may come when, amid the +abundance of the treasure gathered from it, the scanty hoard which he +opens to his reader may seem meagre enough. + +Nevertheless, Sir Charles Lyell is fully a believer in the doctrine of +the high antiquity of man. His book is not merely a debating-club +discussion of the pros and cons, the probabilities for and against the +doctrine, but rather the earnest pleading of the advocate fully +persuaded that the truth is on his side. Not that it displays any +forensic heat;--it is calm, cautious, dispassionate; but it has the air +of one governed by conviction, and he often assumes the entire truth of +his conclusions with the quiet _nonchalance_ of a man seemingly +unconscious that what he regards as matters of established certainty +will be viewed by the great majority of his fellow beings as startling +novelties. + +The main stream of the geological evidence of the antiquity of man tends +to one point, viz., _that man coexisted with the extinct animals_. There +are collateral branches of proof, but this is the main channel. The +remains of man and of man's works and the remains of extinct races of +animals lie side by side, and claim from the geologist the same meed of +antiquity. This is the burden of the book before us. We offer the reader +a brief outline of this evidence. In doing so, we will follow the order +of Sir Charles Lyell's work, and merely state the leading facts which +geological investigations have brought to light. + +In the Danish islands there are deposits of peat from ten to thirty feet +thick, formed in the hollows or depressions of the northern drift or +bowlder formation. These beds of peat have been examined to the bottom, +and they reveal the history of vegetation in those localities, and the +contemporaneous history of human progress. Beginning at the top, the +explorer finds the first layers to contain principally the trunks of the +beech tree, along with implements and tools of wood and iron. Below +these is a deposit of oak trunks, with implements mainly of bronze. +Farther down still he finds the trunks of the _Pinus sylvestris_, or +Scotch fir, together with implements of stone. This clearly indicates +that in the lapse of centuries the pine was supplanted by the oak, and +the oak by the beech, and that man advanced contemporaneously from the +knowledge and use of stone implements to those of bronze and iron. Now +the known fact is that in the time of the Romans, as now, the Danish +isles were covered by magnificent beech forests, and that eighteen +centuries have done little or nothing toward changing the character of +the vegetation. How many centuries must have elapsed to enable the oak +to supplant the pine, and the beech to supplant the oak, can only be +vaguely conjectured. Yet the evidence is clear that man lived in those +old pine forests--leaving his implements of stone behind him, as he did +his tools of bronze and iron in the succeeding periods. Along the coast +of Denmark, also, are found shell mounds mixed with flint knives, +hatchets, etc., but never any tools of bronze or iron, showing that the +rude hunters and fishers who fed on the oyster, cockle, and other +mollusks, lived in the period of the Scotch fir, or, as it has been +called, the 'age of stone.' + +In many of the Swiss lakes are found ancient piles driven into the +bottom, on which were once erected huts or villages, the lacustrine +abodes of man. This use of them is proved by the abundance of flint +implements and fragments of rude pottery, together with bones of +animals, which have been dredged up from among the piles. The implements +found belong to the 'age of stone,' or the period of the Scotch fir in +Denmark, and the bones of animals are all, with one exception, those of +living species. + +Passing over the fossil human remains and works of art of the 'recent' +period, as found in the delta and alluvial plain of the Nile, in the +ancient mounds of the valley of the Ohio, in the mounds of Santos in +Brazil, in the delta of the Mississippi, in which, at the depth of +sixteen feet from the surface, under four buried forests, superimposed +one upon the other, was found, a few years ago, a human skeleton, +estimated by Dr. B. Dowler to have been buried at least fifty thousand +years--in the coral reefs of Florida, in which fossil human remains were +found, estimated by Professor Agassiz to have an antiquity of ten +thousand years--in the recent deposits of seas and lakes, in the central +district of Scotland, which bears clear traces of an upheaval since the +human period, and in the raised beaches of Norway and Sweden--passing +over these for want of space for minute detail, we go back to the +post-pliocene period, and find the bones of man and works of art in +juxtaposition with the fossil remains of extinct mammalia. + +In the cavern of Bize, in the south of France, and in the caves of +Engis, Engihoul, Chokier, and Goffontaine, near Liege, human bones and +teeth, together with fragments of rude pottery, have been found +enveloped in the same mud and breccia, and cemented by stalagmite, in +which are found also the land shells of living species and the bones of +mammalia, some of extinct, and others of recent species. The chemical +condition of all the bones was found to be the same. Quite a full +account is given of the researches of MM. Journal and Christol in the +Bize cavern, and of Dr. Schmerling in the Liege caverns, and every +effort made, apparently, by the author, to weigh candidly and honestly +the evidence for and against the contemporaneous existence and +deposition of the human and mammalian remains. And while he admits that +at one time he was strongly inclined to suspect that they were not +coeval[3], yet he has been compelled by subsequent evidence, especially +in view of the fact that he has had convincing proofs in later years +that the remains of the mammoth and many other extinct species, very +common in caves, occur also in undisturbed alluvium, imbedded in such a +manner with works of art as to leave no room for doubt that man and the +extinct animals coexisted, to reconsider his former opinion, and to +assign to the proofs derived from caves of the high antiquity of man a +much more positive and emphatic character. + +In chapter fifth we have a minute and interesting account of such fossil +human skulls and skeletons as have been found in caves and ancient +tumuli, and a careful endeavor made to estimate their approximate age. +In 1857, in a cave situated in that part of the valley of the Duessel, +near Duesseldorf, which is called the Neanderthal, a skull and skeleton +were found, buried beneath five feet of loam, which were pronounced by +Professor Huxley and others to be clearly human, though indicating small +cerebral development and uncommon strength of corporeal frame. In the +Engis caves, near Liege, portions of six or seven human skeletons were +found, imbedded in the same matrix with the remains of the elephant, +rhinoceros, bear, hyena, and other extinct quadrupeds. In an ancient +tumulus near Borrely, in Denmark, a human skull was discovered which was +adjudged by its surroundings to belong to the 'stone period' of Denmark, +or the era of the Scotch fir. The careful anatomical examination and +comparison to which these skulls have been subjected, have led to +important discussions, not only as to their age, but also as to their +relation to existing races. + +Next comes an extended account of the flint implements and other works +of art, found so abundantly in juxtaposition with the bones of extinct +mammalia, in various localities--in a cave at Brixham, near Torquay, in +Devonshire; in the alluvium of the Thames valley; in the gravel of the +valley of the Ouse, near Bedford; in a fresh-water deposit at Hoxne in +Suffolk; in the valley of the Lach at Icklingham; in a cavern in +Somersetshire; in the caves of Gomer in Glamorganshire, in South Wales; +and especially in the gravel beds of Abbeville and Amiens, in France, +and various localities of the valley of the Somme. As to these flint +implements, they are chiefly knives, hatchets, and instruments of that +sort, and they have been found in such large numbers, and such diverse +localities, and so uniformly in close proximity with the remains of the +same species of extinct mammalia, that the evidence derived from them +is, to say the least, of a very weighty character, and in the opinion of +Sir Charles Lyell clearly establishes the fact that _Elephas +primigenius_, _Elephas antiquus_, _Rhinoceros tichorrhinus_, _Ursus +speloeus_, and other extinct species of the post-pliocene alluvium, +_coexisted with man_. + +Attempts have been made to throw doubt upon these implements, first upon +their nature, and next upon their genuineness; but we think no one who +weighs the evidence candidly and carefully, can award to these doubts +the merit of respectability. That they are works of art and not native +forms, is, we think, as fully established as human observation can +establish anything; and though frauds have been recently detected, it +would be no more absurd to attribute the whole phenomena of fossil +remains to fraudulent manufacture, than to refer to the same source the +whole series of flint implements. In many cases the flint tools were +taken out of their position by the hands of scientific men themselves, +and in others the excavations were made under their immediate +supervision. M. Gandry, in giving an account of his researches at St. +Acheul, in 1859, to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, says: 'The +great point was not to leave the workmen for a single instant.' + +But the most remarkable, not to say startling revelations of the whole +book, are those pertaining to the discovery of an ancient place of +sepulture at Auvignac, in the south of France. Here we seem to be +brought, as it were, face to face with the denizens of the departed +ages, and to have them start up from their ancient tombs to tell the +story of their death and sepulture. We enter this old burial place with +feelings of more strange and solemn awe than we could have in threading +the catacombs of Rome. An obscure village at the foot of the Pyrenees +reveals in its precincts a more astounding history than all the +monuments and mausoleums of the 'eternal' city. + +In the year 1852, a laborer named Bonnemaison, employed in repairing +roads, observed that rabbits, when hotly pursued by the sportsman, ran +into a hole which they had burrowed in a talus of small fragments of +limestone and earthy matter lodged in a depression on the face of a +steep escarpment of nummulitic limestone which forms the bank of a small +brook near the town of Auvignac. On reaching as far into the opening as +the length of his arm, he drew out to his surprise one of the long bones +of the human skeleton; and his curiosity being excited, and having a +suspicion that the hole communicated with a subterranean cavity, he +commenced digging a trench through the middle of the talus, and in a few +hours found himself opposite a heavy slab of rock, placed vertically +against the entrance. Having removed this, he discovered on the other +side of it an arched cavity, seven or eight feet in its greatest height, +ten in width, and seven in horizontal depth. It was almost filled with +bones, among which were two entire skulls, which he recognized at once +as human. The people of Auvignac flocked in astonishment to the spot, +and Dr. Amiel, the mayor, having first ascertained as a medical man and +anatomist that the relics contained the bones of seventeen human +skeletons of both sexes and all ages, ordered them all to be reinterred +in the parish cemetery. + +In 1860, M. Lartet, a distinguished French savan, examined thoroughly +the remaining contents of the cavern and its surroundings and +approaches. He found, on removing the talus which filled up the +depression on the face of the rock, a level terrace leading to the mouth +of the cave. On this terrace was a layer of charcoal and ashes, eight +inches thick, containing fragments of broken, burnt, and gnawed bones of +_extinct and recent mammalia_, in all some nineteen species, and some +seventy or eighty individuals. Also in the same deposit were +hearthstones, and works of art, flint knives, projectiles, sling-stones, +and chips. Many of the bones of the extinct herbivora were streaked, as +if the flesh had been scraped off them by a flint instrument, and others +were split open, as if for the purpose of extracting the marrow. Inside +the grotto were two or three feet of made earth mixed with human and a +few animal bones of extinct and recent species. None of them, however, +burnt or gnawed; and numerous small flat plates of a white shelly +substance made of some species of cockle, perforated in the middle as if +for the purpose of being strung into a bracelet; also some mementos and +memorials of the chase and the sepulture. Did no opposing traditions +stand in the way, we are quite sure the evidence elicited from this +examination would at once fix its character as a burial place, of an +antiquity coeval with the existence of the great extinct mammalia of the +post-pliocene period. It, however, contains some features of special +interest. In the words of Sir Charles Lyell: + + 'The Auvignac cave adds no new species to the list of extinct + quadrupeds, which we have elsewhere, and by independent evidence, + ascertained to have once flourished contemporaneously with man. But + if the fossil memorials have been correctly interpreted--if we have + here before us at the northern base of the Pyrenees a sepulchral + vault with skeletons of human beings, consigned by friends and + relatives to their last resting place--if we have also at the + portal of the tomb the relics of funeral feasts, and within it + indications of viands destined for the use of the departed on their + way to the land of spirits; while among the funeral gifts are + weapons wherewith in other fields to chase the gigantic deer, the + cave lion, the cave bear, and woolly rhinoceros--we have at last + succeeded in tracing back the sacred rites of burial, and, more + interesting still, a belief in a future state, to times long + anterior to those of history and tradition. Rude and superstitious + as may have been the savage of that remote era, he still deserved, + by cherishing the hopes of a hereafter, the epithet of 'noble,' + which Dryden gave to what he seems to have pictured to himself as + the primitive condition of our race: + + 'As Nature first made man, + When wild in woods the noble savage ran.' + +The remainder of the book, so far as it relates to the evidences of +man's antiquity, is mainly occupied with the consideration of the +glacial period, in its relation to the indications of man's first +appearance in Europe. It bears evidence throughout of the hand of a +master. The gigantic phenomena and wonderful agencies of that marvellous +period in geological history--its vast icefields and glaciers, with +their movements, drifts, and denudations--its coast ice and glacial +lakes and rivers--the risings and sinkings of level of islands and +continents, are all considered and discussed in a thoroughly intelligent +and scholarly manner. And here, also, amid the debris of this +far-distant and inhospitable era, has man left the traces of his +existence, as indubitably, according to Sir Charles Lyell, as the great +icebergs themselves. Not only is it proven that man coexisted with the +extinct animals, but also that he coexisted with the extinct glaciers. +We have not space, however, to follow out in detail this evidence. + +The last five chapters of the book are devoted to the discussion of +certain subjects of vital interest and great moment just now in the +scientific world--the theories of progression, development, +transmutation, and variation of species. It seems, however, to be the +intention of the author to give us, not so much his own views as a +general resume or outline of the tendencies and conclusions of the +scientific world upon these subjects. This he does with his usual +fulness, candor, and impartiality; and the reader at the same time +gathers from him that he is strongly inclined to accept the doctrine of +the origin of species by 'variation and natural selection,' and to +accord vast periods of time for the workings of that law of development +and transmutation which he believes to pervade all mundane affairs. +Considerable space is devoted to the consideration of man's place in +nature, and especially to the discussions arising out of the comparison +of the human and simian brain; and while the author fully admits the +vast gulf placed between man and the animal creation below him--a gulf +which science cannot bridge--by virtue of the moral and religious nature +of man, yet he pointedly protests against confounding distinct orders of +ideas, and insists that man as a physical being is clearly of the same +order as the gorilla and ape; and he does not shrink from accepting the +possibility that they all may have sprung by successive stages or +'leaps' from the same primordial form. His concluding words are, that +'so far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction +into the earth at successive periods of life--sensation, instinct, the +intelligence of the higher mammalia, bordering on reason--and lastly the +improvable reason of man himself, presents us with a picture of the +ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter.' + +To our mind one thing is certain. The whole scientific world is drifting +slowly, but steadily and surely, to the verification and +acceptance--with certain and in some cases important modifications--of +the development hypothesis of Maillet, Lamarck, La Place, Owen, and the +author of the 'Vestiges[4] of Creation.' The movement reminds one of +the motion of one of the great Greenland glaciers, so slow, quiet, +almost imperceptible, yet inexorable as fate--heedless of all obstacles. +As in the case of all great, genuine revolutionary or formative ideas, +it is curious to watch the incidents of its career--to note the alarm, +indignation, scorn, and holy horror occasioned by its first +announcement--to observe these subsiding gradually into patient +endurance and permissive sufferance, and these again giving place to a +certain curiosity and wakeful interest, culminating at last in downright +advocacy and championship. + +We are inclined to think that great injustice has been done the +development theory in the name of morals and religion. There has been no +end to the railing against it on the part of clergymen, Biblical +interpreters, theological Professors, and orthodox editors. It was held +to put infinite dishonor upon the Creator, not only to suppose that He +should take many millions of years to make a world, but that He should +employ the same lengthened period to make man, instead of speaking him +into existence by a word. It was held to put infinite dishonor upon the +Scriptures to suppose that they should be understood in any but the most +literal sense. And it was held to put infinite dishonor upon man to +suppose that he was kith and kin with the monkey--bone of the bone and +flesh of the flesh of the unreasoning quadrupeds, over which in his +god-like royalty he was to sway his imperial sceptre--and this, too, by +a class of teachers who could never have enough of thundering in the +ears of men their degradation, their lost, debased, insensate, and +damnable condition, worse than that of beasts or devils. + +Now, with all deference, we beg to say that this development theory does +not strike us as so fraught with dishonor, either to the powers in +heaven or the beings upon earth. It has for many years impressed us with +its grandeur as an intellectual conception. We doubt whether anything so +grand has dawned upon the mind of modern civilization since the days of +Sir Isaac Newton. And we cannot see what dishonor it can work to either +God or man--especially if it be proved to be true. We regard it, so far +as there is truth in it, as one of those great germinant seed-thoughts, +which at long intervals are dropped into the soil of the human mind; +and though the mind of the age, in its first impulses of joy, may play +wild gambols with it, it is destined in the end to mould and control the +thinking of the civilized world. But apart from its truth or falsity, in +whole or in part, regarded simply _as an intellection_, it strikes us as +one of the grandest of modern times. Spreading itself over almost +illimitable space, grasping back through almost illimitable time, +claiming for itself the boundless multiplicity of type, and form, and +life, and law of the organic world, and unfolding to the wondering gaze +the vast prophetic possibilities of the future, it possesses all the +attributes of grandeur, magnificence, sublimity, and mystery. If it is a +phantasm, it is more gorgeous than the most splendid creations of +poetry. If it is a mirage, it is more beautiful than any that ever +bewildered the vision of enchanted traveller. If it is an _ignis +fatuus_, it is more potent than any ever raised by the spell of the +sorcerer. But whether phantasm, mirage, _ignis fatuus_, or sober but +grand reality, will assuredly be found out by science before another +half century. And the ultimate finding of science, whatever it may be, +must and will be believed. + +It is, of course, not to be expected that the evidence thus adduced by +Sir Charles Lyell in behalf of the antiquity of man, will be accepted as +conclusive by the religious and thinking world in general without a +thorough sifting and an earnest struggle. It is too novel and +revolutionary in its tendencies. And indeed it ought to be subjected to +the severest ordeal of fact and reason. It is in this way alone that the +golden grains of truth are separated from the dross of crude conjecture +and hasty generalization. We are not prepared ourselves to say that the +evidence itself is final and conclusive. We have sketched it for the +purpose of giving the distinguished author a full hearing, and affording +the reader an opportunity to judge for himself. We await the logical +sequences of time, knowing full well that the laws which regulate the +progress of science are as stable and infallible as the laws which +control the motions of the solar and planetary systems. One thing, +however, we may be excused for saying: All the attempts we have seen to +parry the force of this evidence, and to account for the acknowledged +phenomena and facts within the schedule of the received chronology, +strike us as singularly and painfully feeble. One suggestion is that the +bodies of the extinct mammalia may have been preserved in ice until the +recent period, and their bones deposited contemporaneously with those of +modern species and man. Another is that the geologists may be vastly +mistaken as to the date of the extinction of species, and that in fact +the mastodon, mammoth, and other species found in juxtaposition with +human remains and works of art, have probably survived until a very +recent period. Without entering into detail on these points, we would +venture the prediction that when weighed in the balance they will be +found utterly wanting. One type of discussion will survive, if it +survive at all, as a most curious fossil of the layers of modern +thought. It is that represented by the book referred to in a note on a +former page, by Mr. Davies. Believing that all mineral fossils were +never living animals at all, but the types simply of animals that were +to be, stamped instantaneously upon the rocks as prophetic symbols of a +work of creation to be afterward accomplished, he is prepared to hear +without surprise that man should some day be found as a fossil. We refer +to it as a most curious mental product. If it is not unanswerable, we +presume it will at least remain unanswered. + +What now, in conclusion, is to be the effect of this new development of +science on the received and traditionary thinking of the time? What +readjustments will be necessary in case the doctrine of the antiquity of +man comes by and by to take its place, in the creed of science, +alongside of the doctrine of the great age of the earth? Can it be made +to harmonize with what is now known as orthodox and evangelical +Christianity? + +That it cannot be made to harmonize with that sort of orthodoxy which +asserts that 'the Bible teaches' that man began to exist upon the earth +about six thousand years ago, we need hardly aver. Eminent theologians +may say, 'if science does not agree with the Scriptures, so much the +worse for science,' but we opine that the minds which will be able to +stand upon this platform in the face of overwhelming evidence will be +few and far between. But it must be remembered that the Scriptures have +adjusted themselves, in the popular and orthodox mind, to several things +which were once considered opposed to their teachings. The Copernican +theory of the solar system was once regarded and treated as a palpable +and dangerous heresy; yet now-a-days the boldest literalist would not +venture to insist that the Bible teaches a system opposed to that. +Within living memory, it is well known that the doctrine of the recent +creation of the earth was regarded as indubitably a part of the teaching +of the first chapter of Genesis, yet it is now fully conceded in high +orthodox quarters that the opposite doctrine does no violence to the +letter or spirit of the Mosaic writings. Here the adjustment has been of +the interpretation to the fact. It is up to this time largely believed +that the Bible teaches the doctrine of a general deluge, yet Hugh Miller +could advocate, with all the elegance of his superb intellect, and all +the power of his unanswerable science, the opposite doctrine of a +partial or limited deluge, without being outlawed for heresy in the Free +Church of Scotland. It is now held almost universally that the doctrine +of the unity of the race is essential to Christianity; and we, for +ourselves, cannot see that it is otherwise than essential to a properly +organic Christianity, and yet we begin to see a blinking in certain +quarters toward the opposite view;--and we may mention that the curious +book of Mr. Davies before mentioned, which is written in the special +interest of the most literal orthodoxy, advocating the doctrine of +immediate creation in six literal days, and other equally indigestible +matters, insists on the doctrine of _diversity of origin_ in the human +race, because it is taught in the Scriptures! And he does not fail to +find proof texts. He rightly avers that several important assumptions +are needed in order to extract the doctrine of unity from the Mosaic +record. + +We have not adduced these instances of the variations of orthodoxy for +the purpose of intimating that the Bible is a nose of wax, which can be +twisted into any shape without injury--that it is a book which can be +made to mean anything or nothing, as the circumstances of the case may +require--but that it has a vital elasticity and power of adjustment to +all veritable findings of the human mind in every sphere; as indeed it +must have, if it is in any important respect such a communication to +mankind as it is claimed to be. Whatever may be said of the +infallibility of the Scriptures, it is certain that interpretation is +not infallible--a distinction that is not always kept in mind by those +zealous defenders of the faith who are ready to make the inspiration of +the Scriptures stand or fall with a given interpretation of a particular +passage. + +But can the doctrine of man's antiquity be made to harmonize with the +essentials of Christianity and the inspiration of the Scriptures? If +Christianity be a religion for man, as the present writer believes, we +answer emphatically in the affirmative. Not the smallest feature that is +essential to make Christianity a religion for man, if it be such, will +be imperilled by this or any other well-established doctrine of +science. But precisely how much modification of existing opinion, how +much sepulture of traditionary relics, how much clearing away of rubbish +will be indispensable, it is now not easy to say. It is certain that it +must be conceded that we have as yet attained to no infallible +chronology. And it is equally certain that a larger amount of allegory +must be infused into the first chapters of Genesis than would have been +digestible by the theologians of the last generation, if we would ever +have theology and science stand upon the same plane. The question in the +child's catechism, '_Who was the first man?_' will by and by be easier +asked than answered. If, moreover, the narrative in Genesis refers to +some imaginary being supposed to have existed upon the earth about six +thousand years ago, it seems clear that this being cannot be regarded as +the 'federal head' of the human race, from whom 'all mankind have +descended by ordinary generation.' And we strongly suspect that a very +large amount of theological machinery will need to be readjusted; and +amid many pangs and with much tribulation will not a few canons of +orthodoxy pass away to the region of fossil forms. + +In conclusion, we take leave of this work of Sir Charles Lyell with the +conviction that however obnoxious it may be to orthodox editors and +superannuated doctors of divinity, it is destined to stimulate greatly +scientific inquiry and active thought. It is impossible that when such a +mine has been sprung, and promises to yield such tangible results, it +should suddenly cease to work, because the note of alarm is raised by +affrighted theologians. We predict for science in this department a rich +and rapid progress of discovery. And we are profoundly gratified that +the subject has been broken to the popular mind in such a cautious and +unexceptionable manner as to the tone and spirit of the work--the author +holding with philosophic steadfastness to the subject matter in hand, +and, in the true scientific spirit, eschewing all side issues, and +exhibiting throughout a candor, impartiality, and honesty, worthy the +well-earned fame of this Nestor of geologists. + + + + +AENONE: + +A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME. + + +CHAPTER III. + +The thoughts of AEnone followed her into sleep, and colored her dreams +with pleasant memories of the past; and when the morning sun, pouring +its beams through the window, awakened her, there was a momentary +struggle before she could throw off the fancies of the night and realize +that she was no longer in her cottage home. But distinct perception soon +returned as she glanced around her and recognized the paintings which +adorned her chamber, and the marble goddess still holding forth a +welcoming hand, as though in greeting for the return of another day. + +Throwing open the window, she sat down for a moment to enjoy the soft +breeze, which, laden with perfume, came gambolling fresh from the Alban +Hills. The window at which she placed herself looked out upon a central +courtyard, formed by the intersection of the main body of the palace at +right angles with the two wings. This court was paved from one side to +the other with marble flags of different shades, excepting in the +middle, where played the fountain--a circular basin of water, upon a +rock, in the centre of which two bronze satyrs struggled for a tortoise, +from whose mouth the supplying stream poured forth. From the end of each +wing of the palace the line of the sides was continued by a straight +stone wall of considerable height, leading across the whole breadth of +the Caelian Hill to the slope of its farther side, and enclosing an area +thickly planted with such flowers, shrubbery, and trees as the taste of +the period considered most essential to a well-appointed garden. + +For the moment the central court was almost deserted, the only +appearance of life being a little Nubian slave, who sat upon the edge of +the fountain, and lazily played with a tame stork. But all at once AEnone +heard mingled voices, and distinguished among them the tones of her +husband--deeper than the others, and marked with that quicker and more +decided accent acquired by a long course of undisputed authority. At +first the sounds seemed stationary, as though the speakers were tarrying +in one place for discussion; but in a moment they approached nearer, and +the disputants stood in full sight upon a balcony which ran around the +interior wall of the palace and overhung the sides of the court. + +Foremost and tallest of the group stood Sergius Vanno, recognizable at +once by his athletic and graceful figure, reflective face, commanding +eye, bright with intelligence, and his agreeable, refined, and +attractive presence, as the leading spirit of the group. At his side +leaned the poet Emilius, whose weak and slender figure and mild, girlish +expression would hardly appear to sustain the reputation he enjoyed of +devoting half his time to the invention and elaboration of new forms of +profligacy, and thereby carrying his exploits into realms of vice +hitherto undiscovered even in that age of unbridled indulgence. Behind +these stood three others--a captain of the praetorian guard, a tribune of +the law, and a comedian of the school of Plautus--each probably carrying +the palm of excellence in his especial calling, and all of them +doubtless endowed with superior capacities as boon companions in a +night-long revel. They had evidently but just left the banqueting hall, +and bore indications of having passed a somewhat unquiet night, though +in different degrees; for while the captain and comedian still staggered +confusedly and displayed haggard faces and disordered dresses, the +superior tact, constitutional strength, or recuperative powers of the +others enabled them to maintain such a demeanor of proper sobriety, that +but for a slight flush and the companionship in which they were placed, +their late excesses might have passed unnoticed. + +'It was the choice of all the slaves, both male and female, I tell you,' +said the comedian, evidently resuming an unfinished dispute. 'The choice +of all the slaves, Sergius.' + +'Hear you now this man!' exclaimed Sergius, turning toward his friend +Emilius with a quiet smile. 'Thrice already have I told him the truth of +the matter, and still he persists; well knowing that, if now he can +scarcely sustain himself from falling over into the area below, he +certainly could not, three hours ago, have been able to tell what play +he made, or whether he made any play at all. Nay, Bassus, it was only of +the male slaves that I spoke.' + +'Yet listen to me,' insisted the comedian, placing his hand upon the +other's shoulder and leaning heavily upon him, 'You do not deny that we +gamed?' + +'Of a surety I do not.' + +'Nor that I won money of you?' + +'Ten sestertia. I acknowledge it.' + +'Nay, twenty sestertia, was it not?' + +'Twenty sestertia be it, then. What matters the amount, when I paid you +upon the moment, and you now have the sum, whatever it may be, in your +own purse?' + +'True, true,' rejoined the other, nodding his head with an air of sage +gravity; 'whatever it was, of a certainty I now have it. And then, +Sergius, you offered against the ten--no, the twenty sestertia--to play +the choice of all your new slaves.' + +'Of my new male slaves, certainly.' + +'No, of the slaves both male and female. I will tell you how it is that +I so especially recollect. It was because I had heard from our lawgiver +here about the beautiful Samian girl you have borne home among your +share of the spoils. You did not think, perhaps, that I knew of her; but +when I offered to throw the dice, I held her in my mind. And then, when +I had won, and told you that I would select her, you said--' + +'Exactly what I had said to you before, that you could take your choice +from the male slaves,' interrupted the other impatiently. 'And I have +brought you directly hither to make your selection, for fear that when +you became sober you would forget the matter altogether, and thereby +cheat yourself out of a fairly won prize. Am I not right, comrades? Was +not the play as I have stated it?' + +'Neither more nor less,' the poet answered; and the tribune and the +praetorian captain spoke to the same effect. The comedian still looked +unconvinced, and, for the moment, gazed inquiringly from one to the +other, in the hope that some newer recollection would come to the mind +of either of them and lead to a recantation. But in that desire he was +disappointed, and at last he reluctantly gave up the contest, not daring +to protract it longer for fear of provoking a quarrel, and thereby being +thrust out of the society to which he was aware his social talents, +counteracting his low birth and calling, were his sole passport. And +after all, though he had too carelessly made his wager, he had won +twenty sestertia and a male slave, and that was something. + +'Well, be it so,' he assented, with a sigh. 'A male slave, since you say +it. I had supposed I had spoken more particularly, but it seems that my +poor brain was careless and at fault. Only bring the slaves hither +quickly, that I may choose and go home, for I must play Castorex this +morning, and this head of mine seems likely to split.' + +'Let it split, then,' retorted Sergius with a laugh. 'It may save our +cracking it some day with a goblet. Ho, there, Drumo!' + +He was not obliged to call a second time, for, at the first ring of his +voice, the obedient armor bearer emerged from one of the lower entrances +into the court. He also, as well as his master, had been convivially +celebrating his return, and now bore the evidences of his frolic in a +sad combination of inflamed features, tangled hair, and disordered +clothing. + +'What ho, master?' he cried, stretching his huge limbs in a yawn and +looking up. 'Am I wanted?' + +'You have been drinking,' said Sergius; 'go to the fountain basin there +and cleanse yourself. If there were fish in it, I would feel half +inclined to cast you in to feed them. After that, come back to me.' + +The giant grinned, knowing that his master placed too high a value upon +him ever to make a dinner of him for the carp, though he might now and +then inflict a stripe or two in anger upon his broad shoulders. Then +kneeling down at the fountain, he quickly splashed the water into his +face and eyes, ran one finger from his forehead to the crown of his head +in order to part his disordered locks, pulled away a loose straw from +behind his neck, gave his tumbled tunic one jerk to straighten it, and, +with the air of a person who had made an elaborate toilet, and could +afford to be well satisfied with the result, presented himself for +inspection. + +'So! Were my new slaves sent in last night?' + +The armor bearer nodded. + +'The whole allotment?' + +'I suppose so, master. Fifty there should have been, the lictor said, +when he brought them, but one had died, and they had thrown him into the +Tiber to the fishes. Ho, ho, master, we shall all go one day to feed the +fishes or the dogs or the worms, both you and I alike.' + +'Silence, you hound!' said Sergius, more by way of habit than because he +really minded a familiarity to which he had gradually grown accustomed. + +'The others came a little before midnight, and I locked them up below,' +the Gaul added, pointing to a low range of buildings at the foot of the +garden. 'They are a well-looking lot, master, but among them all you +will not find one to take my place; so, for this time, I am safe, and +can yet say and do what I please. Ho, ho! And here is the list of them +which the messenger brought.' + +'Never mind the list. It is doubtless all correct,' said Sergius, waving +the papyrus aside. 'Go, now, and bring the slaves hither.' + +The man nodded, and taking a large key from a nail over his head, +disappeared down the garden walk, and in a few moments returned, driving +before him the whole body of captives which had fallen to the share of +his master. As he had reported, they were of good quality, the best of +the prisoners of war having naturally been reserved for the commander of +the expedition. The men were mostly stout and athletic, while the women +were of healthy and properly agreeable appearance. Of the whole number +there were none who seemed to be at all sickly or ill favored; while the +only one who exhibited any signs of deformity was a dwarf, whose +withered and twisted figure imparted to him that peculiar grotesque and +ape-like appearance which, at that period, was certain to commend him to +the taste of wealthy purchasers, and render him of more value than a man +of correct proportions. Moreover, as a general thing, the captives +seemed more cheerful than they had been the day before, having had the +advantage of several hours' rest and of better food than had fallen to +their lot at any time during the journey. There were a few who +manifested sorrow at having been separated from relatives or friends +with whom they had succeeded in travelling to the very gates of the +city; and some others, as yet unbroken to misfortune, maintained a +rebellious and intractable demeanor. But the majority had already made +up their minds that slavery was henceforth their inevitable fate, and +that their highest future happiness must be looked for in its +alleviation rather than in its abolition; and they now appeared to take +pleasure in the thought that their fortune had led them to a wealthy +household, where they would probably experience kind treatment and have +easy tasks allotted to them. + +Now, having reached the paved court, the captives rested and awaited the +inspection of their owner--some sitting upon the marble border of the +fountain, some standing by in groups, and through a sort of sympathy +holding each others' hands, as though that would give protection. A few +gazed moodily upon the ground; and one or two, oppressed with sorrow or +nervous apprehension, quietly wept. But the greater portion, impressed +with a dim consciousness that their future lot might depend upon their +present conduct and appearance, endeavored to assume an air of pleased +satisfaction, and thereby possibly win the favorable notice of the group +which stood surveying them from the balcony, or at the least the +friendly compassion of the older slaves of the household, who began to +pour forth from the different doors upon the ground floor of the palace, +and join unbidden in the inspection. Most of these, in the early days of +their captivity, had stood up in the centre of similar gaping and +curious crowds, and now in their turn they sated their curiosity upon +the new comers. A few, remembering their own sorrows of those former +times, seemed compassionate; others manifested careless indifference; +some wondered whether enough of the present reinforcement would be +retained to materially lighten their own labors; and others, who had +been known to fail in attention to their peculiar departments of +industry, trembled lest their places might now be supplied by the new +comers, and themselves be again driven off to market. Whatever their +thoughts and feelings, however, no one ventured to approach too near or +speak aloud, excepting the armor bearer, who, as the privileged slave of +the household as well as the marshal of the occasion, moved hither and +thither among the captives, encouraging some with rude jokes, shoving +others back or forward into suitable positions, and generally +endeavoring to set forth the merits of the whole mass in as favorable a +light as possible. + +'Now stand forward where the noble imperator and his friends can see +you,' was his command to a well-featured, strong-limbed Rhodian. 'Do you +think to better your lot by slinking out of sight among the women, and +so perhaps be sent off unnoticed to the market, and there be purchased +for hard labor in the quarry pits? Who knows but that if my master sees +you, he may make a gladiator of you; and then you can fight before +emperors and consuls.' + +'What care I for your master?' retorted the man. 'Let him give me back +my wife and my child, whom I yesterday had, and who now are gone.' + +The armor bearer shrugged his shoulders. + +'Is that all?' he said. 'Wives are plenty in this city of Rome. When I +first came from Gaul, I too had a wife, and, like you, lost her. What +then? I suppose that she is happy, wherever she may be; and I--I have +not allowed myself to be lonely since. But neither did I let myself +slink behind, when I stood in the market; but I pressed forward and +struck upon my chest, and called to the highborn and the rich to look +upon me, and see how a man could be made, and what he could be good for. +And here am I now, a slave, indeed--that cannot be helped--but for all +that, a ruler over the other slaves, and my master's favorite and +companion. By the immortal gods! there is more manliness in yonder +dwarf, with his open face, than in you, with your whimpering and your +tears. I will call him forward to teach you a lesson how to act.' + +At the first beck the dwarf pressed forward with a smile, alternately +stretching up to make the most of his diminutive proportions, and then +bowing low to crave the good will of the spectators. His appearance +brought him instant commendation; and more particularly did the +praetorian captain break forth into expressions of appreciation. + +'A proper dwarf! a most excellent dwarf! Smaller and more ugly by a +quarter than one which I have known to be sold for forty sestertia! And +see, Bassus, how he bows and rubs his hands and shows his teeth at +yourself. He has perhaps been the buffoon in a Grecian theatre, and in +you now recognizes a brother in the art. Take him, therefore, for your +choice. At the very least, he will be of value to carry your bag of +plays before you, and he may even help you act.' + +The comedian forced a sickly smile upon his features, not daring to +quarrel with his companion, yet not insensible to the sneering tone with +which he was addressed. He had, at the first, been struck with the +dwarf, and half inclined to choose him. But now the mocking speech +deterred him. + +'You are disposed to be merry,' he said; 'nor do you reason well. It is +not an ape that an actor wants to carry his plays. There are enough such +to listen to them. I will leave the dwarf, therefore, for you to +purchase. Perhaps, after all, there may be a place found for him +somewhere in your own household. I will make another selection for +myself.' + +And descending from the piazza, he moved in among the captives for the +purpose of entering upon a more careful inspection. Eager as he was at +all times to make the best of a bargain, he was the more especially +anxious now; for the contemptuous tones of his companions rankled in his +heart, and he felt that the more he evinced a capacity to benefit +himself, the more he would be likely to disappoint them. Passing +deliberately about the slaves, therefore, he scrutinized each face and +form before him with the most exact attention; carefully lifting the +eyelid of one, and examining the teeth of another--now pressing his +knuckles into an expanded chest, then twisting a muscular arm--causing +some to stoop, and others to bend back--and generally practising all +those arts and expedients which a professional slave dealer would employ +to guard himself against imposition. Nor was it until the lapse of many +minutes that he settled upon his prize. + +'I will take this man,' he said, dragging the Rhodian forth by the +shoulder. 'He shall be my slave.' + +'It is well; take him,' responded Sergius, in his most courtly tone. And +for the moment or two, during which his companions yet tarried, he +maintained a demeanor so studied and controlled that it would have +required a keen glance to detect in his face his bitter sense of +disappointment at the selection which the comedian had made. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +As Sergius turned and entered the house, those who had seen him saluted +as the favorite of the emperor and the idol of the crowd, and thence had +believed unbounded happiness must be his never-varying lot, would have +been astonished to know how many things there were which rankled +painfully in his heart, and, for the moment, made him discontented and +fretful. + +Thoroughly jealous in respect to his military fame, he was suspicious +that the cheers of the crowd upon his ovation had been elicited more by +the perfection of the pageantry than by a proper appreciation of his own +merits; while it was certain that the Senate, though meeting him with +the customary congratulations, had delivered them with more form than +enthusiasm. And though the emperor had given audience, he had bestowed +no new honors upon him. To these disappointments was added the unhappy, +self-accusing consciousness of having failed in duty to his own dignity, +by having passed the night in wild revelry and among companions, many of +whom were beneath him in every quality except their talent for ribald +jesting and buffoonery. Moreover, though reputed wealthy, he was at +present pressed for money, and had added to his embarrassments by losing +at the gaming table during the past night more than he could well afford +to part with; while, to add to all other vexations, the comedian Bassus +had not only increased the loss by selecting the most valuable slave, +but had performed the action in a cool and calculating manner, which was +particularly exasperating. + +'The low buffoon!' Sergius muttered to himself. 'Who would have thought +that, half drunken as he was, he would have had the wit to select a +slave worth double the sum which had been staked against him, and one +whom I had obtained with such trouble, and for my own purposes? Can it +be that he pretended his intoxication the more easily to outwit me? I +had no fear, but believed that he would be sure to select some slim +youth who could be taught to play the flute before him or act as +cupbearer. What demon put it into his head so suddenly to look for bone +and muscle rather than for girlish graces?' + +This last suspicion of having been made the victim of artful +dissimulation added fuel to his vexation, more especially as, turning +his head and glancing into the courtyard, he saw the comedian slipping +through a side passage, and the Rhodian obediently following at his +heels. This filled up the measure of Sergius's wrath. To his excited +fancy the actor bore upon his face an insultingly satisfied smirk of +triumph, while the Rhodian appeared larger and stronger than ever. With +an exclamation of unavailing anger, Sergius pushed open the door, and +stood in the presence of his wife. + +It was into the dining hall that he had plunged. Upon a small table was +placed the wine and bread and fruits which formed the customary morning +meal among the richer Romans; and beside the table stood AEnone, in an +attitude in which hope and fear and surprise and disappointment were +equally blended. + +Clad in the manner which she knew had always best pleased his fancy, +wearing the adornments which, as his gifts, he would most naturally +prefer to see upon her, with her curling locks parted as in former days +he had liked her to dress them, even striving to impart to her features +the peculiar radiant expression which, in other times, had most won his +heart--she had impatiently awaited his approach, with a vague fear +whispering poisonous surmises to her soul, but yet with a joyful and +hopeful assurance of good predominating over all. As soon as these +friends of his had departed--she had said to herself--he would no longer +delay coming to her. He would meet her with extended arms and the same +joyous welcome as of old. He would utter kind and pleasant words +expressive of his happiness, and would fold her to his heart. There +would she nestle and forget her foolish fears and suspicions of the past +night, and would only remember that she was loved. As, however, she now +saw the frown upon his face, her heart and courage failed her; and in +proportion as she had previously fortified her mind with hopeful +confidence, a terrible reaction of apprehension overcame her. Could it +be that the angry look was for her, and that it could be justified by +any word that she had ever spoken or any duty that she had neglected? +With one hand lightly resting upon the table, her right foot thrown +forward in impulsive readiness to spring into his extended arms, but her +whole form drooping and shrinking with dismay, her face pale, and the +smile which she had called upon it now faintly and painfully flickering +in a deathlike manner about her whitened lips, as it glided from her +control and began to give place to an utter and undisguised fear, she +stood awaiting his first word or action. + +'Ha, AEnone!' + +'My lord--' + +Then remembering what was due to her upon their first meeting, he +smoothed the frown from off his face, held out his arms, and tenderly +embraced her, uttering kind and loving words. It was the same gesture +with which he had parted from her when, six months before, the state had +called upon him to arouse from the ease and tranquility of his wedded +life and do new service upon the field. Those were the same gentle and +affectionate words which he had been wont to utter. And yet to her +quickened apprehension, urged on by some secret instinct, it seemed as +though the soul of the tender greeting was gone, leaving but the mere +form behind. Could it be that during those few months of absence he had +learned to think less dearly of her? At the thought, the last faint +gleams of the flickering smile died away from her face; while he, +unobservant of her distress, and still goaded by the remembrance of his +losses, released her from his embrace and threw himself heavily down +upon the nearest lounge. + +'I am thirsty,' he said. 'Give me some drink.' + +She poured some wine into a goblet, and timidly presented it to his +lips. The liquid, cooled with snow from the mountains, was refreshing to +his palate, and he drank it to the last drop. As he parted with the +goblet--rather tossing it away than setting it down--he noticed how she +stood before him with whitened face and frightened features, and with +the attitude of a shrinking slave rather than of a wife joyous to be of +service. His heart smote him for his negligent greeting, and he rose up +from the lounge and placed his arm about her. + +'Not with you, AEnone, am I vexed,' he said, partly comprehending the +cause of her emotion. And drawing her nearer, he commenced toying with +her waving locks, telling her how for months he had been longing to meet +her, and how her looks more than ever delighted him, and otherwise +uttering such pleasant and reassuring words as soonest came into his +mind. As she began to perceive that it was not for any fault of hers +that he had displayed anger, her face gradually lost its expression of +dread. But still she could not fail to notice that the words which he +spoke were not such as are commonly prompted by a true and +unpremeditated affection; but were rather the labored and soulless +result of a mere good-natured desire to make atonement for a neglect, +and were uttered in all the careless spirit with which one tries to +soothe an improperly aggrieved child; and the old smile but feebly +played upon her features, struggle with it as earnestly as she would. + +'Nay, not at your sweet face is my anger excited, AEnone,' he said; 'but +at that scurvy dog, Bassus. He should himself be a slave and the +companion of slaves, were his true station meted out to him.' + +'He with whom you passed the night?' suggested AEnone. + +'Ay, he was one of us,' Sergius answered, taking a position nearer the +table, and commencing to pick off a crumb of bread as the incentive to a +more extended repast. 'He was with us, as there always will be some rude +and unmannerly intruder in every company; but there were also others, +the associates of Emilius. There was Sotus, the Egyptian, a learned +astronomer, and Cyope, the renowned Greek dramatist, and Spoletius, who +is now writing a history of the empire, and, if what he says is true, +has already brought his work down to the time of the Emperor Nero--' + +'And will carry it on until he reaches the present day! And will then, +in their proper place, tell about your achievements, my lord!' exclaimed +AEnone, a flush of expectation glowing upon her face, as she thought that +here were her conjectures of the preceding evening about to be realized. + +'Ay!' responded Sergius; 'I presume that he will speak of me and of what +you dignify as my achievements, foolishly fond child; and therefore it +was meet that I should not neglect the opportunity of being in his +presence, in order that he might speak well of me rather than the +reverse. Otherwise, you well know that I would have preferred to let +revelling have the go-by, and to have come at once to gather you to my +heart. But we men, whom the world calls celebrated, must be watchful, +and learn to resign pleasure to duty, and guard our fame, or else it may +go out like a wasted lamp, and leave it in the darkness of oblivion. We +cannot spare our time to give free scope to our love, as though we were +poor and unknown.' + +AEnone reproached herself for her suspicions. Surely she had done wrong +in distrusting him for the coldness of his greeting. He may have meant +nothing but love and kindness, and have been weighed down by cares and +anxieties which she could not comprehend. Had he not said that something +had made him angry? He, the great imperator, to have been ruffled by the +conduct of a low comedian, whose company his interest obliged him to +tolerate! She would yet be patient and wait. + +'And not only Spoletius, the historian, but also others, poets and +philosophers, whose good will it is proper to secure, and whose +conversation would be improving to the gods themselves,' continued +Sergius, almost blushing as he remembered how little philosophy had been +spoken during the past night, excepting that shallow doctrine which +inculcates full enjoyment of the passing pleasure of the world, lest +death might come and too suddenly end them; and how little poetry had +been recited, except as roared forth in the form of bacchanalian +choruses. 'And even this Bassus it were worth my while to condescend to, +lest the notion might seize him to satirize me upon the public stage. +And it was to conciliate him that I lost to him twenty sestertia and a +well-favored slave. May it not be that I paid too high a price for his +friendship, and hence have a right to be angry?' + +'But let my lord reflect that he has many slaves--more than he well can +find use for; and that, therefore, one less may not be of great +consequence to him.' + +'Nay, but such a slave!' responded Sergius; 'tall, almost, as my armor +bearer, and strong as an elephant! A man who was worth to me all those +others, thrice over, for the use to which I could have put him. The rest +will doubtless be of good account in their way. Some of them will go and +dig in my quarries, and a few will be exposed in the market, and will +bring their proper price. But this Rhodian--listen! You know that in a +few weeks the new amphitheatre of our emperor will be opened with grand +spectacles lasting many days. At my audience with him last evening he +spoke thereupon, and of the wild beasts he had sent for to give dignity +to the occasion; but of this anon. You know that for months all Rome has +been preparing for that time?' + +AEnone nodded assent. Even had she desired, she could not have remained +ignorant that the great colossus of all amphitheatres was approaching +completion, since, from her window, she could look down the Appian Way +and watch every stone being laid, while, in all societies, the magnitude +and magnificence of the approaching games were the theme of universal +conversation. + +'Well,' continued Sergius, 'months ago--I hardly remember how many--I +wagered with the proconsul Sardesus that I would furnish for the games +the superior gladiator of the two. Fifteen purses of a hundred sestertia +each; a large sum, but the larger the better, since I had my armor +bearer in my mind, and felt certain to win. But since then I have become +attached to this Drumo. The dog has twice saved my life, and hence has +become too precious to be risked; for though he would most likely win +the day, yet a chance thrust might destroy him at the end. I therefore +looked around for a substitute, and found him--this Rhodian slave. Day +after day I marked him in the opposite ranks, fighting against us, and I +gave orders to capture him alive. Twice we thought we had secured him, +and as often did he break away, killing many of our men. But at last the +commander of one of my cohorts obtained possession of his wife and five +children, and sent him word that each day, until he delivered himself +up, one of them should be put to death.' + +'Surely that thing was not done?' exclaimed AEnone, horror struck. + +'As I live, it was not ordered by me, nor did I learn of the scheme +until it was too late to arrest it,' responded Sergius; 'else would I +have forbidden it. But what would you expect? War has its practices, and +mercy is not exactly one of them. And cruelties will happen, do what we +may. Whatever transpired, therefore, was the work of the commander of my +first cohort, to whom I had given directions to take the man alive, and +who knew that it must be done, and without troubling me about the +process. Perhaps you do not care to hear the rest?' + +'Go on,' said AEnone, shuddering with a sickening apprehension of what +was to come. + +'Well, the first day his oldest child was slain, and the body sent to +him; and the next day the second one slain, and in like manner sent to +him; and so on until but his wife and one child were left. Then he came +in and gave himself up.' + +'And this brave man--fighting for his country--you have made a slave +of!' exclaimed AEnone, impetuously. 'He has been stripped of his family +one by one, and now you would place him in the arena, to be the victim +of wild beasts, or at the best, of other slaves!' + +'What else would you wish? The man is of a warlike nature; and it were +better for him to bravely contend for his life in the presence of the +emperor himself, than ignominiously to wear it out in the base labor of +the quarries. And I will tell you what I meant to have done. I know +where are his wife and remaining child, with whom he yesterday entered +Rome; and if in the amphitheatre he had won the victory for me, I would +have restored them to him and given him his freedom besides. But all +that is past now. In the heat of the moment I forgot him, and suffered +this drunken dog, Bassus, to take his choice; and he has had too good an +eye for what is valuable not to select the Rhodian. Strange, indeed, +that I should have been so careless. But throughout all, I never dreamed +that his taste would lead him to do more than choose some slight-built +boy, who could assist him in his trade. Once, indeed, I feared for the +moment that he would select amiss, and take a rarely precious dwarf, +whom, both for his appearance and for his knowledge of armor, I had +reserved as a gift for your father; and when that danger was past, I +breathed freer, not calculating upon any further mischance.' + +AEnone remained silent. Ready as she was at all times to give her utmost +sympathy to her husband for the slightest annoyance which he might +experience, it seemed to her now that his complaining was puerile and +unjust, so utterly had the sense of his disappointment been swallowed +up, in her thoughts, by the real and tragic woe of the Rhodian captive. +Finding day after day his dead children laid at his very door--then +separated rudely from all who were left--and in the end brought chained +into the arena, and obliged to fight to the death for the pleasure of +his conquerors, and perhaps against his own countrymen: why should such +things be? AEnone was no nerveless creature to faint at the sight of +blood. The education of all Romans of that day was adapted to a far +different result, and she could look with enjoyment upon the contests of +wild beasts, or even view without disapprobation the struggles of +gladiators trained to their work as to a profession, and, of their own +free will and with full knowledge, taking its risks upon themselves. And +yet, for all that, she could not but feel that every hour there were +being enacted around her, and as a part of the daily workings of the +social system, abuses of power, which, like the present, nothing could +justify; and she wondered whether it would last forever, or whether, on +the contrary, the outraged gods would not some day arise and pour down +upon this imperial Rome the vengeance due to the oppressed. + +Sergius partially read her thoughts, and set himself to work to reverse +their current and turn it into a more cheerful channel. Drawing his seat +closer to her, he began to speak to her of more pleasant topics, telling +of the enlivening incidents of his campaign, rehearsing the exploits of +those about him, and dwelling upon the few occasions in which, by some +unusual departure from martial customs, mercy had been shown to the +weak and helpless, and captives who were not fit for slaves had not been +crucified. The gift of fascination was one of his distinguishing traits; +and when he chose, he could charm, with his winning speech, the most +obdurate and unloving. Therefore, as he now softly whispered these +narrations into AEnone's ears, mingling gentle words of endearment with +them, it was not long before she began to yield to the pleasant +influence, and was almost ready to believe that she had judged rashly, +and that everything upon earth was not so very wrong. Why, after all, +should she presume to criticize matters which did not arouse the +discontent of the wisest of men? And if the gods felt really outraged, +why did they let their thunders sleep so long? At the least, it was not +the duty of herself, a weak girl, to strive to right the world. Her only +domain must be her lord's heart--her only rule of life, his will. + +Leaning upon his shoulder, and looking up into his face as she listened, +she thought upon the old times, when she had first met him, and how he +had then, as now, so successfully exerted his powers of charming, that +it had seemed as though no mere earthly love could be good enough reward +for him. Could it be that in her distrust she had been the victim of a +momentary delusion, and that he would always exert himself hereafter, as +now, to please her? Might it not be, after all, that this great +happiness, with its tender whisperings and caresses, would ever continue +unbroken, as in past times? + +'But, aha!' he suddenly exclaimed, in the tone of one newly awakened to +the existence of a fact whose comparative unimportance had led to its +forgetfulness by him. 'Let not my own losses make me indifferent to your +pleasure, love, for I have not been so. For you, and you alone, I have +reserved a gift fit for the palace of the Caesars.' + +'A gift, my lord? And for me?' + +'Yes; but ask me no questions now. You shall see it to-morrow. A few +hours only of mystery and waiting must yet elapse before I will bring it +to you. Until then you can enjoy a woman's pleasure and nurse your +greedy curiosity--hopeless of solving the enigma until I myself choose +to give the clew.' + + + + +THE YOUNG AUTHOR'S DREAM. + + '_One more Unfortunate._' + + Alone in a garret where cobwebs hang thick + Over walls that display the bare mortar and brick, + Whose windows look down on the roofs of back sheds, + From a height that would dizzy the coolest of heads, + A young author sits by a rickety stand, + In a broken-backed chair, with a pen in his hand, + And patiently toils ere the sunlight shall fade + To black the last quire of a ream of 'white laid.' + The shadows have deepened that hang on the wall; + But the Finis is written, the pen is let fall; + And, glad of a respite from labors complete, + His hands and his head press the last written sheet. + Sleep comes not alone; for the goddess of dreams + Is accustomed to visit this blacker of reams. + Like the man that sits under a monster balloon, + And soars o'er the earth halfway up to the moon, + Now stepping at once into Fancy's fair car, + He sails from the dusky old garret afar; + And, leaving the world with its practical crowds, + Such visions as these meet his gaze in the clouds: + + THE DREAM. + + Forty large editions + Of the 'thrilling tale;' + Forty thousand dollars, + Net proceeds of sale. + Forty smiling critics + Lavishing their praise; + Forty famous florists + Bidding for the bays. + + Forty thousand maidens + Sitting up at night, + Poring o'er the volume + With intense delight. + + Forty thousand letters + From the country sent, + Blurred by frequent teardrops, + Filled with sentiment. + + Forty scheming mothers + Anxious for a match; + Forty blushing daughters, + Each a glorious catch. + + Forty generations + Reverence his name; + Forty future ages + Fortify his fame. + + + THE REALITY. + + Forty dunning letters + Coming every day; + Forty cents for washing, + Which he cannot pay. + + Forty jokes malicious + Cracked by forty wags; + Forty pert young misses + Sneering at his rags. + + Forty old companions + Wondering at his mood; + Forty friends officious + Preaching fortitude. + + Forty days of sadness; + Forty nights of sorrow; + Forty dark forebodings + Hanging o'er the morrow. + + Forty hempen inches + Borrowed from a friend; + Rafter at the upper, + Neck at lower, end. + + Forty earthy spadefuls + On the green hillside; + Forty lines of 'local,' + Telling now he died. + + + + +THE GREAT LAKES TO ST. PAUL. + + +Toward the close of July, 1860, our party gathered at Canaudaigua, that +beautiful piece of Swiss overland scenery, transported to Western New +York. Its Indian name, signifying 'the chosen place,' was not inapt for +our meeting ground. + +By the 31st of July we were at Cleveland, Ohio, over the Buffalo and +Lake Shore Railway and New York Central. It was a beautiful day's ride, +the most of the way skirting the lake, whose broad expanse gleamed in +the sunshine, and bore many a sail and propeller to the great havens of +its commerce. The railway borders fine towns and farms, formed by the +dense settlement of the oak openings and groves of the Western Reserve +of Ohio, which was purchased from the Holland Land Company, by a company +from Connecticut, of whom General Cleveland, who names the present city, +was the agent. + +Cleveland city, with about forty thousand population, lies on Lake Erie, +at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, which forms its harbor. It is well +built, chiefly of the light graystone of the vicinity, upon a declivity +shaded with trees, among which the buckeye hickory abounds, has many +fine dwellings, and presents a fair front to the lake view. + +On the evening of the 31st July we embarked on the North Star for +Superior City. She is of first class, eleven hundred and six tons, and +bore an immense freight from the East to the remote peninsula, in +exchange for its precious minerals. The entire sail from Cleveland to +Superior is nine hundred and sixty-four miles. + +As these boats are the only means of commerce and intercourse for the +dwellers on the upper lakes above Detroit, very frequent are their stops +and calls, taking and leaving much freight, consuming much time on their +way. However, our voyage was speedy: we arrived at our distant terminus, +Superior City, very early on the morning of the 5th of August, making +the running time about seventy-five hours. + +Leaving Ohio, one of the earliest settled States of the Western Valley, +and organized sixty years since, our course from Cleveland stretched +northwesterly across the wide lake, passing the island scene of Perry's +splendid triumph, and thence northerly, by its river, to Detroit, a sail +of one hundred and twenty miles, arriving early on the 1st of August. + +The city lies extended along its beautiful river, at one extremity +guarded by its old fort, and at the other are the extensive +copper-smelting furnaces, where the ore from the Superior mines, brought +by the steamers, flows in liquid copper. It is comparatively an ancient +town, settled as early as 1701 as a French frontier post; and some of +its land titles, always protected at each national change, with some of +its old families, derive their origin from these early French pioneers. + +Our afternoon sail was up Detroit River and the St. Clair, threading our +way among its many verdant islands and rich shores graced with numerous +pretty villages. At 9 p.m. we reached Port Huron and its Canadian +opposite neighbor, Sarnia. At this point is the southern outlet of Lake +Huron, distant seventy-three miles from Detroit. Sarnia is also the +western depot of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, while Windsor, +facing Detroit, terminates the Canadian Great Western. From Sarnia, +passing old Fort Gratiot, over to Port Huron, the railway ferry boat, +propelled by the current only, transfers its passengers to the cars of +the Grand Trunk line, on Michigan soil, and by a short branch +intersects the Michigan Central Railroad, a few miles west of Detroit. +For over twelve hundred miles this iron road, fitly named the Grand +Trunk, transports our Western products. Entering Lake Huron, with its +innumerable islands and almost wilderness shores, our sail through it, +of two hundred and seventy-five miles in all, brought us early, on the +2d of August, off Saginaw and Thunder Bays, its western arms, with +Presque Isle, the Great Manitoulin Island, bearing north by east; and by +noon, we reached Point de Tour, at the outlet of St. Mary's River, three +hundred miles from Detroit, lying opposite to Drummond's Island. + +Point de Tour has but a solitary dwelling, from whose roof rises the +light tower. Its inmates are said to have preferred this solitude to the +crowded refinement of a New England city. Shortly after, and still +coasting the western side, we stopped at Church's Landing, where an +enterprising New Englander has built his log houses in the forest, amid +the Indians, and drives an active commerce in _raspberry jam_. His trade +has prospered, and he had just completed a new and handsome dwelling. +Fourteen miles farther brought us to Saut Sainte Marie, or the rapids of +the eastern outlet of Lake Superior. + +Lake Huron is at an average height of five hundred and seventy-five feet +above the sea level, and one hundred feet in depth below Lake Superior, +with a length in direct line of two hundred and seventy-five miles, from +Port Huron to Saut Sainte Marie. Georgian Bay, to the east of the Great +Manitoulin Island, is its broad eastern expansion; while, on the west, +the Straits of Mackinaw open into the vast expanse of Lake Michigan, +extending a length of four hundred and forty-six miles to Chicago. The +borders of Lake Huron are sparsely peopled. The primitive forest bends +over the lake's clear waters, and surrounds the log cabin or infant +settlement with the wigwam and canoe of the Indian half breeds, who are +still fishing and hunting round the graves of their ancestors-once the +fiercest of all the warrior races that scarce forty years ago as +sovereigns roamed its wilds. + +The majestic solitudes of these lakes first received the white man in +1679, when the discoverers La Salle and Hennepin, in the vessel of sixty +tons, which they had built with their Indians at Cayuga Creek, sailed up +Niagara River, Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, to Mackinaw, and thence +through Lake Michigan to the mouth of Green Bay. Entering Lake Erie on +the 7th of August, 1691, they arrived at Green Bay on the 2d of +September following, encountering many storms and cautiously seeking +their untried way. After gathering a rich cargo of furs, the vessel, in +charge of the pilot and five men, started to return, and was heard of no +more. She doubtless perished with her crew in a gale on Lake Huron. She +carried seven cannon, was well manned and armed, adorned with carved +griffin and eagle heads, and bore the banner and religion of France amid +all the border tribes. + +Surely the voyage of Columbus, discovering Hispaniola, while sailing +before and obeying the trade winds, did not surpass in real adventure +this simple expedition of those half-warrior pioneer voyageurs, Fathers +Hennepin and La Salle. The memory of their visit is yet immortal in the +local names given by them and still cherished; while the influence of +France still lingers at Detroit and many other prominent points in this +wide region, once the empire of Louis XIV. + +We reached the Saut Sainte Marie about 4 P. M. of the 2d of August. Here +the River St. Mary, or the eastern outlet of Lake Superior, after a wide +course of fifty miles, gathers the multitude of its waters into a narrow +channel of less than a mile in width and length, of swift and impassable +rapids. + +The grand Ship Canal, with its stone banks of about eighty feet width +and three locks, transports the largest tonnage around these rapids. +This great work was completed in 1857 by the contractors, Erastus +Corning, of New York, Fairbanks, and others, for a contract price of +seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, chiefly mineral, in the +State of Michigan. During our steamer's canal passage of about two +hours, we were interested by the picturesque scenery, untenanted save by +the wigwam and the bark canoe. As usual, upon the arrival of the +steamer, the long canoe, steadily held by a single boy and paddle, in a +current swift as the Niagara, shoots out into the Saut, while the +Indian, standing erect in the canoe, poising his harpoon and scrap net, +strikes or swoops in the large and delicious white fish, assured of a +capacious basketful and more, before the steamer leaves the canal. + +And thus we floated onward to the bosom of great Superior. + +Our course was along the St. Mary outlet, northwesterly toward White +Fish Point, on the main south shore, projecting far out into the lake. +We were hence carried miles away from sight of the famed-pictured rocks +or of any land. Tending southerly and still westward, we steamed on over +the dark waters, during a serene night, until daylight showed us the +beautiful town of Marquette. Scarce seven years old, the fruit of the +iron mining in its vicinity, it spreads its neat white cottages around +the crescent of its bay and river on an amphitheatre of hills. The rail +train destined to Bai de Noc, on Green Bay, and finished to Marquette +Mines, in all some eighteen miles, was starting upon our arrival. +Marquette, though so young, a mere group of cottages, fronting a +wilderness, from its rich mines of the best iron, has become at once a +scene of industry and large outlay of capital; while the beauty of its +position and its unrivalled climate, surpassing all others on Lake +Superior, have already made it the most attractive summer resort, as +well for the pleasure traveller as the pulmonary invalid. Its climate, +without the sea air, has a cool, silken softness, reminding one of +Newport, Rhode Island. It is more equable and certain; the summer +average is 66 deg., and the winter 41 deg.; while the lake wind and evaporation +secure it from the rapid changes of the sea shores. + +Marquette is the lake port and entrepot of the short range of iron +mountains which adjoin their sisters, known as the Porcupine Mountains, +in whose depths lies the famous copper ore, not unmixed with silver and +other precious deposits. This great mountain fortress extends from +Marquette to Montreal River, beyond Ontonagon, the western boundary of +the State of Michigan, in a line of about twelve to eighteen miles south +of the lake, and often approaches two thousand feet in height, lifting +its forest sides in constant view for more than two hundred miles. +Leaving Marquette and the iron range at 7 A.M., on the 3d of +August, we sailed for Portage, the first harbor in the copper mountains, +arriving about noon. + +Portage is a shallow bay or mouth of the river of the same name, on the +east shore of Keewaiwonah Promontory, or, as it is commonly called, +Keweenaw Point. The mines and town of Portage lie at the mountains, +about sixteen miles inland. A few huts were the only signs of settlement +at the bay. Tugs landed the freight and passengers, and we soon left the +wooded bank for the broad expanse of the lake, turning the head of the +promontory, and at 5 P.M. reaching Copper Harbor on its +northwest shore. Here we lay till morning. The village is small, at the +base of a lower range of mineral mountains, spurs of the main chain. + +The Clarke Copper Mine is within two miles of the wharf. This mine, like +many others, has had many owners. It had just gone through the +experiments of a French company, which expended its capital, as +alleged, in building fine roads, bridges, and residences for its agents, +while the mining had scarcely reached one hundred and twenty feet deep, +and then employed only six Frenchmen as its miners, whose ore product +was little over three per cent. of copper. In other hands, perhaps, it +may now yield a better reward. + +We were much amused with the description given by these Frenchmen of the +mishaps of their ill-directed enterprise. Persistent as Chinese, +resembling many others of the French nation in their ignorance of our +country, language, or customs, they had passed through many droll +blunders, which rendered their narrative highly entertaining. + +Copper Harbor, although so small, only then claiming about seventy legal +voters in the entire township, including the mines, was promised the +unusual treat of a political address that evening, as duly placarded, +from a gentleman, who was then candidate for Governor of Michigan, and +came in our boat. The apathy and indifference of the free and +enlightened electors of Copper Harbor were remarkable. A small, dingy +room, adjoining the only store, was the destined arena; and therein, +dimly lighted by some tallow candles, long sat the candidate--alone: a +rejected Timon, whose reflections were never published. The only +interest taken in the meeting (that came under my notice) was an anxious +inquiry by the owner of the building for his rent and expense of +candles, etc., payment of which was alleged to have been refused by the +candidate. + +Singularly happy Copper Harbor! your contented equanimity is unruffled +by all the stormy strife of politicians. + +Its lake front is graced by a fort, now and long since a water-cure +establishment. All these Western forts, erected many years ago, seem not +intended for offence, but rather as stockades or blockhouses of shelter +from the Indians. They are arranged as extensive tenements within, +pierced for musketry, and only in some cases with terraces for cannon. +These frontier forts, long the dwelling of the hunter or his family in +the wilderness, were guarded by the company of troops who protected the +settlers and maintained the sovereignty of our flag and nation over +these remote wilds. They are always placed in the most eligible and +commanding positions, and seem as if by design to have secured the +settlement of these points, which in all cases have become the thronged +cities or favorite towns of the ever-growing West. Thus, in Europe, the +ancient Roman fortified camps on their frontiers founded Cologne, +Chester, Vienna, Milan, Verona, and other cities, once their military +outposts against barbarism. + +About 7 A. M. of the 4th August, we left Copper Harbor on our +course, and soon reached Eagle River. This is another copper-mining +settlement, straggling along its poor harbor, somewhat larger than +Copper Harbor, and more picturesque. Landing a few of our company, we +sailed to Ontonagon, the largest of these copper-mine towns (perhaps two +thousand in population), and situated upon a sand reach at the mouth of +its river, which leads to the Great Minnesota Mine, eighteen miles +distant. + +Early in the clear morning of the 5th of August, we were moving up +Allouez Bay. Sounding slowly over its bar, and passing Minnesota Point +and Island, between the mouths of the Rivers St. Louis and Nemadji, we +arrived at Superior City, our destined haven. + +_Superior City_, by its pretentious name, great distance, and our +expectations, had risen to much importance in our imagination, but the +actual scene presented a wide contrast. A large town--or metropolis--on +a poor harbor, without interior resources or communications, had been +hastily projected. It is called the head of ocean navigation, and the +terminus of many proposed but as yet imaginary railroads. While the +titles to all the land are still in litigation, the wilderness shades +its streets, and, saving the rare arrival of the Indian mail carrier on +snow shoes, during six months of intense cold, they are isolated from +all humanity. Its grand prospectus, some five years before, had drawn +there about three thousand people; and soon afterward, starved and +disappointed, nearly all, save perhaps five hundred, had deserted. About +two miles of streets, planked from the mud, with frame dwellings, had +been constructed, and they had already attained the first municipal +blessing--_taxes-_-to the total of $45,000, payable by this feeble +remnant of a settlement, mainly of abandoned dwellings. Should the +railroads so frequently surveyed and designed to terminate here be +really built, Superior City may see, to some extent, in future years, +somewhat of that prosperity which its projectors, blinded by their +hopes, had thought already realized. + +Few positions are more picturesque. In front, the shores of Portland and +Minnesota rise in beautiful grandeur, and the bay and harbor, although +imperfect, are richly wooded and very graceful; while, all the way +thither, from La Pointe, the lake's waters, lying among the mountains, +shadowed by their heavy foliage, remind one much of the scenery of the +Lower Danube. This _ghost of a city_ had not much left of interest, and +we passed our day in arranging for the journey across the country +southward to St. Paul. + +And here we found ourselves really _pioneers_. No road or transport was +alleged to exist. We persevered. Indians and trappers beset us with +their projects of tracking and portage by the St. Croix and other +rivers, requiring a camp life with strange companions of nearly a month +to accomplish the distance of only one hundred and sixty-three miles, +equivalent to that of Albany from New York. A military road direct +through the wilderness had been often surveyed, and once cut through, of +about eighty feet width, to near Sunrise City, fifty miles from St. +Paul; at which point the dense forest spreads into oak openings and +beautiful prairies. This single cutting, long overgrown in lofty pines, +with the frequent surveys and contracts, from the year 1852 to 1857, had +cost the United States Government, for this distance of about one +hundred and twelve miles, $150,000; and no actual road had ever yet been +made. Fortunately for our enterprise, we met a gentleman who had just +groped through safely on horseback. We were reassured, and engaged the +only available wagon and team--a small, frail affair, devoid of cover, +seats, or springs; and, with ample provisions, perched upon our luggage, +we rolled out of Superior City that evening, and, passing its +significantly large cemetery, we at once entered the forest. These woods +are chiefly of pine, cedar, tamarack, or hemlock, gigantic in size, a +dreary solitude, unvisited by any bird or game, save an occasional hawk +or owl. They are but the southern outposts of that forest army which +begirds Hudson's Bay, and spreads its gloomy barrier of the same trees +around the dominions of the Ice King, while it is the only forest to be +met with in all the Mississippi Valley. + +The width of about eighty feet--that theoretical road for which the +United States had paid so often and so well--was seen between the +mightiest sentinel trees; but in the midst had sprung up a fresh growth, +often nearly one hundred feet high, surrounded by huge stumps, and heavy +undergrowth of the renewing forest, varied with hopeless mudholes and +swamps, and only at intervals of about twenty miles was there any +habitation. + +Such was the _great military road_. Perhaps its progress equalled the +actual wants of this region; for population had not yet crowded any of +the forest borders. It was then by the adjoining townships, under State +laws, feebly commencing to be really made as a road; and frequently we +halted at the camps of these hardy sons of toil. Our first twenty-one +miles to Twin Lakes, at the best speed, with good horses, occupied eight +hours, three of which, in the middle of the night, were passed under +deluging rain accompanied by thunder and lightning of the most appalling +grandeur, thumping in the shelterless wagon over stumps and bogholes +through the dreary woods. + +Twin Lakes--or the isthmus between two small lakes, in the depths of the +forest--is a solitary log house and stable. Its proprietor and our +landlord for the night's shelter was, I believe, named John Smith. With +his family he had lived there, keeping this _hotel_ for some years, +owning _several lots_ in the paper _City of Twin Lakes_, rich in the +anticipated tide of gain to flow from the crowded thoroughfare of the +great military road. + +Happy man! we were the first party _on wheels_ that had yet essayed the +road. Perhaps his posterity, by patience, may win their reward. + +Our rain deluge, with sheeted lightning and pealing thunder, was +ceaseless throughout the night. Its echoes amid the forest solitudes +were awful; and our fitful sleep was varied by the rain dripping between +the logs of our shelter. + +However, morning came at last, bright, clear, and calm; and early we +resumed our wagon and way-picking among the familiar logs and stumps, +contesting as for life with legions of mosquitoes, sandflies, etc. And +thus we made thirty miles farther (halting at a camp for dinner) to the +_City of Chengwatana_, which is so named on the large and beautiful map +thereof, prepared in New York. It is laid out in Broadways, Fifth +Avenues, Lydig Avenue, and, I believe, Daly Square, so named from J. +Daly, of New York, with parks, colleges, etc., etc., adequate for a +million of inhabitants. This fine imaginary picture proved unavailing to +sell the land. It still remains a swamp bordering Snake River, in the +bosom of the wilderness; and its entire population was only one German +and his family--really indefinite in number of children--and two log +houses, between which he vibrated at pleasure. + +Our arrival was in another violent rain, lasting far into the night; but +we considered ourselves, by this time, road and water proof. On the +river shore, by the red glare of the fire light a wigwam and some +Indians were visible; and frequently we heard their rifle shots. To our +surprise, in the morning, instead of deer, they brought in a large +basket of lake trout, each pierced through the head with a bullet when +approaching the fire light. + +Morning found us early on our hard way to the famed _City of Fortuna_, +whose picture displayed a similar origin and imagination, and its +reality was even more doleful. + +Fortuna City, on Kettle River, in the woods, contained three log cabins, +and no inhabitants. A boy came hither, perhaps from Superior, the day +before, to meet our party. After repelling some furious charges of the +mosquito cavalry, who displayed their vigor after long starving, we gave +up the contest, and attempted sleep. + +To our log cabin had come that day several engineers, who formed a +surveying party for another railroad project, passing through this +forest from St. Paul, whence they had started a month before with an +ample wagon train. The Indians had murdered the drivers and captured the +wagons with their entire property; and in their destitution they sought +this only shelter. We took them forward with us into St. Paul, and were +greatly indebted for their intelligent society and kind attentions. + +Fortuna City had one peculiar interest to us; it was the _last halt_ and +lodging in the forest. Our next day's ride--if such it may be +called--brought us to the oak openings at Folsom's, a clearing on the +southern skirt of this wilderness, and shortly after to Sunrise City. + +Our forest journey to-day was varied by the utter collapse of the wagon +in a vain charge upon an obstinate stump; and perforce we walked for +miles, till reaching a camp of the road workers on the farther bank of +Grindstone River, we joyfully forded and found shelter from the noontide +heat and mosquitoes; while the German sutler, who alone remained, busied +himself in his primitive _al fresco_ cookery, which we enjoyed, and +then, exchanging to another wagon, hastened on to our destination. + +The oak openings--those grand parklike expanses and rolls of land, with +stately groups of giant oaks--far surpassing all culture of man, set out +by the Creator on such a noble forest background, never looked more +majestic and beautiful. They were vocal with singing birds, and filled +with life; at their foot thronged the grouse or prairie chicken, darting +through the high flowering grasses (richer than all garden flowers) in +such numbers that but a few feet from our wheels we shot them in great +abundance. + +_Sunrise City_--a village but of yesterday (public lands, for sale by +proclamation, adjoining)--is beautifully placed on Sunrise River, and +might have then contained about five hundred inhabitants, whose neat +white cottages and pleasant streets, bordering a romantic river and +bridge, made a picture not unlike the scenery of Warwickshire, England. + +We reached here--fifty miles still north of St. Paul--to pass the first +night of our ride in a comfortable dwelling. + +Many a fine farm, just cleared and broken, attracted us here, and hence +along the prairie road into St. Paul, where we arrived at the close of +the following day, which proved to be, as we kept no calendar, Thursday, +the 9th of August. + +Our drive this last day led past numerous linked lakes, with their +borders of the tall Minnesota rice grass in flower, the home of the +canvas back, pelican, and swan. Passing through the village of Little +Canada, we rode on to Minnehaha Prairie along its gentle, verdant slope, +and lapse of shining waters of Twelve Lakes, graced with the names of +Como, Garda, etc., and adorned with many a pretty boat and sail. A few +miles further brought us to the upper terrace of beautiful St. Paul. + +As pioneers of this wilderness route, we met with marked attention from +all, and passed some agreeable days at St. Paul, Fort Snelling, +Minneapolis, St. Anthony, and their numerous points of interest. Our +homeward route was by the Mississippi River to Prairie du Chien, where +old Fort Crawford, then a mere tenement, commands the confluence of the +Wisconsin River with the Father of Waters. This sail of three hundred +miles consumed forty-eight hours. + +The river banks recede and advance in lake-like expanses along its +winding course, and their richly wooded heights, crowned with red +sandstone, resemble the ruined Rhine castles. The sail through Lake +Pepin, and between the States of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, was +varied by frequent and thriving towns and villages. + +From Prairie du Chien--a picture of straggling despair--by the Milwaukie +and Prairie du Chien Railroad, and the Northwestern Railroad, two +hundred and twenty-two miles, we reached Chicago, and passed through a +crowd of beautiful towns, in a State scarce a generation since reclaimed +from the Indians. Familiar railroads transported us from Chicago to +Detroit, Niagara, Albany, and New York. + +Our whole distance of travel in three weeks was thirty-four hundred and +forty-one miles. It was brief, but spiced with adventure, and over a +field of vast interest, present and future. + +Our beautiful country, made one and indivisible by the great and good +Author of its existence, through its mighty natural features, has, +among its chief grandeurs, this water system of the great northern +lakes, the frontier of the ever-progressive and patriotic West and +North. In dimensions, sublimity, and beauty, by the consent of all, it +is without parallel on earth. + +A volume of the purest fresh water is gathered in Lake Superior, without +visible, adequate supply, to a depth of one thousand feet, with a length +of near five hundred miles, and average breadth of one hundred and sixty +miles, on a bottom lifted six hundred feet above sea level. + +This incalculable mass of water moves its limpid wave through the Saut +Sainte Marie into its twin seas, Lakes Michigan and Huron, then by St. +Clair and Detroit Rivers is poured through Lake Erie, ever gradually +descending, till, at great Niagara, 'The Thunder of the Waters,' it +tosses in fury along its rapids, leaps the cataract in glory, at a rate +of one hundred millions of tons of water the hour, and then sweeps away +into Lake Ontario, to form that northern Mississippi, the River St. +Lawrence, which, for over one thousand miles, holds on its ever +increasing and widening current, in majesty to the broad Atlantic. By +the canals at the Falls and Saut Sainte Marie, direct and continuous +ship and steam navigation for sea-going vessels from the Atlantic to +Superior City, the extreme Northwest, or Chicago on the Southwest, over +three thousand miles through the heart of the continent, is open, while +the American coast line along these great waters, exceeds thirty-two +hundred miles. Complete in itself, the source of life, health, fine +climate, fertility, wealth, and countless blessings to all its shores +and valleys, it is divided by lofty barriers from all the other chief +water systems of the United States. The Mississippi rises in the +highlands of Minnesota at Lake Itasca, more than one hundred miles west +of Lake Superior, and gathers in its course all the rivers of its +valley. Still loftier mountains separate the sources of the Hudson and +Connecticut, and the other rivers of the Atlantic slope. + +Blessed with soil and climate unsurpassed, and a Government the nearest +to perfection, this region, watered by a mighty inland ocean, is already +the chief granary of the world, as well as its great mineral store, +although its railway system is not yet extended to its utmost limits; +and beyond Michigan it is scarce thirty years since the Americans gained +a settlement in its borders. + +The greatness of ancient Europe, Asia, and Africa gathered along the +shores and harbors of the Mediterranean; all beyond was barbarism, bound +to the sovereigns of the Midland Sea only by terror of arms. Even to +this day, the laws and literature of those master nations are yet +dominant in all the learning and social polity of Europe. This great +northern water system is geographically the Mediterranean of the North +American continent, and Minnesota, the actual centre, is its _omphalos_. + +The geographical centre of North America in the heart of Minnesota is +also the pinnacle of its watershed--the central source of the majestic +rivers whose vast basins determine the physical contour, climates, +products, commerce, industry, and political destiny of two-fifths of the +whole continent. + +With such a theatre for development, the future of this great area, in +near grasp, surpasses conception. Egypt, with it endless renown, +dwindles into insignificance in comparison. The paramount supremacy of +any nation depends wholly on its utility to the rest of mankind. + +The warrior nation yields in turn to a stronger foe, while all alike are +willing tributaries to the natural arbiter of commerce and source of +food supply. Wars, by the laws of Providence, attend the convulsions of +national change and growth; but all alike ever welcome the white-winged +doves of commerce as the ministers and messengers of national glory and +prosperity. + + + + +ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TAXATION. + + +There have been few more striking circumstances connected with the +transcendent changes which have taken place in this country during the +past three years than the steady verification, amid every change, of +those great principles of political economy which, during the past half +century, have been the practical guides of European legislation. In +fact, under the pressure of war we are slowly coming to realize our +fellowship with the communities of the Old World in the laws of social +change. Step by step the nation is now passing through all the changes +in its internal and domestic condition that took place in Great Britain +in the wars with Napoleon. Struck with the novelty and apparent +anomalies of our condition, we have been inclined to feel that it was +without parallels in history. But in that period of English history +which beheld a suspension of specie payment protracted twenty years, an +enormous expansion of the currency--the appreciation of gold--a rise in +prices unparalleled in any country--a wild spirit of speculation--and, +with all, an appearance of astonishing prosperity in the midst of a most +exhausting war, we see the reflection of our own condition, and find the +lessons by which we should be governed. We have now, for the first time, +become a people conscious of taxation. It is clear that the burdens of +the future must be still greater than anything we have yet borne in the +past. The questions as to the best modes of taxation have already begun +to call forth the anxious deliberation of the nation. The question is +asked by some if we have not already reached that limit where taxation +ceases to be a contribution from the surplus of society, and beyond +which it will become a draught on the vital, productive energies of the +country. It cannot be unprofitable, at such a time, to examine the +history of English taxation in the great periods of similar trial +through which that nation has passed. + +The great rebellion marks the era of the adoption of a regular system of +taxation in Great Britain. 'From a period of immemorial antiquity,' says +Macaulay, 'it had been the practice of every English Government to +contract debts; what the Revolution introduced was the practice of +honestly paying them.' + +The change is significant of the triumph of the people. It was found, on +the breaking out of the rebellion, that not even an army of Puritans +could be sustained without money. The plan of weekly assessments was at +first adopted. It was unequal and frequently oppressive. In 1643 it was +proposed, in the republican Parliament, to place a tax on the +manufacture of beer and cider. The proposition was not at first +favorably received. That solemn body had no objection to checking the +abominations of beer drinking, but it hesitated to inaugurate a species +of taxation which seemed to infringe upon some of the most cherished +rights of Englishmen. After much discussion the bill was carried, though +with the express declaration that it was compelled by the necessities of +the state, and should not be renewed. The tax was soon found too +convenient to be dispensed with. In spite of the good resolutions of +Parliament, the act was again and again renewed. As the necessities of +the state increased, the list of articles was enlarged, and the rate of +duty gradually augmented. Thus the excise was introduced to the English +people, and thus, almost before they had ceased to look upon it as an +intruder, it had acquired a foothold in the budget, from which it has +never since been possible to shake it. The burden of the excise at this +period, however, was not oppressive. During the Commonwealth and the +reign of Charles II. a tax, which has since produced to the state an +annual income of $90,000,000, did not probably average more than +L500,000. It gives us a singular picture of the simplicity of that +period that even this small sum made up one third of the whole royal +revenue for the year. The other two thirds were drawn in about equal +proportions from the customs and crown lands. + +We now approach one of the most important eras in the financial history +of England. The nation was yet unaccustomed to taxation, and was weighed +down by no national debt. In the Revolution of 1688, and the events that +grew immediately out of it, we find, however, the origin of nearly every +species of tax now in use in Great Britain. In the same agitated period +we find also the beginning of the national debt. Louis XIV. espoused the +cause of James, and England entered upon a war with France. In a +conflict with the greatest monarchy of Europe, the Government soon found +itself forced to adopt a scale of national expenditure which the +preceding generation would not have conceived possible. At once, as in a +night, a harvest of strange taxes sprang up on every hand. The list of +excisable articles was increased. The tax on houses and windows, that +had been so unpopular in the preceding reign, was again introduced, and +a new appraisement was made of all the real estate in the kingdom. A +degenerate age might take exceptions to some of the other taxes now +instituted. An act was passed placing a tax upon bachelors and widowers, +fixing, at the same time, 'certain rules and duties on marriages, +births, and burials, for the term of five years, for the carrying on the +war against France with vigor.' Men were not even permitted to enjoy the +subtile luxury derived from having a title attached to the name without +taxation. Persons of the present day, wishing to know the relative value +of the titles, will be interested in the following law, passed at this +time: + + Every person bearing the title of + esquire, or reputed, or owning, or + writing himself such, shall pay L5 + + Every gentleman, or reputed gentleman, + or owning himself such, + shall pay L1 + +These, however, were by no means the most burdensome forms of taxation. +A man would willingly pay for the distinction of writing himself an +esquire, who would grumble with dissatisfaction at the duty on his salt. +But to meet the increasing expense of the state, and 'carrying on the +war with vigor in France and Ireland' (the propitiating clause with +which nearly all the acts of taxation of the period close), the most +minute articles, both of necessity and luxury, were required to bear a +portion of the common burden. The nation bore its unaccustomed load with +singular patience. A license duty on hackney coaches, imposed in 1693, +called forth, however, opposition from an unexpected quarter. The +outraged wives of the hackmen assembled, and, to express their +indignation at the tax, mobbed the offending members of Parliament on +their way from the House. It should be mentioned, as showing the +intrepidity of that body, or, more probably, the great necessities of +the state, that the tax remained unchanged. In spite of all these taxes, +the greatest difficulty was experienced in procuring funds to carry on +the war. A general lack of confidence in the stability of the Government +prevented men from taking up readily the loans which the Government was +forced to call for. Various expedients were adopted to attract the +cupidity of capitalists. Among these the most successful was the custom +of receiving loans upon tontines. This was a species of annuity. Twenty +or thirty persons united in the purchase from Government of an annuity +upon the joint lives of their whole number. At the death of each his +share went to those who remained, and was distributed equally among +them. The final survivor took the whole annuity. No inducements, +however, were sufficient to overcome the popular distrust. The national +debt had already begun to accumulate. Exchequer bills sold on the street +at forty per cent. discount; while, at the same time, a wild spirit of +speculation and adventure, such as is too apt to be produced by the +unnatural excitements of a state of war, had seized upon the popular +mind, and threatened, in its reaction, to bring the whole nation to +ruin. + +It was at this time of excitement and danger that the National Bank was +established. It was not at first favorably received. But the effect of +its steadying influence soon began to be felt in the whole financial +condition of the state. It even checked for a time the frenzied spirit +of stock jobbing, which was absorbing the strength of the nation, and +with which a few years later, when the whole country ran wild with the +South Sea Bubble, it was so nearly involved in a mortal struggle. Under +the influence of the Bank, the business of the nation gradually acquired +an evenness and stability which was unknown to any former age. + +But while the establishment of this National Bank supplied the +Government with a ready and economical method of procuring funds, it did +not do away with the necessity of taxes. A new form of taxation was now +furnished by the Dutch. This small and ingenious people, in the defence +of their liberty, had been early forced into extraordinary expenditures, +and were in advance of every other nation in the perfection of their +system of taxation. The English Parliament had, in the preceding age, +borrowed from them the excise. They now took from the same source the +idea of stamp duties. This species of tax had been invented in a +competition for a prize offered by the Dutch Government for the +discovery of a new form of tax, which should press lightly on the +people, and, at the same time, produce a large revenue to the state. +Stamps were introduced in England in the year 1693. The nation was now +in possession of the four most important methods of taxation: customs, +excise, licenses, and stamps. The first had existed in the island from a +period of immemorial antiquity. The second was introduced by the Great +Rebellion. The third and fourth came in with the wars attendant upon the +accession of William and Mary. + +Of these different forms it may be said, that the second is most +obnoxious to the people, and the third most unequal. We should add, +perhaps, to this list the land tax, which, founded on the new assessment +made by William, became from this time a regular source of revenue. In +this period, we see, was laid the foundation of the whole system of +taxation now in use in this country and in Great Britain. The hundred +years that followed produced no new species of tax. The five forms which +we have mentioned, however, were diligently cultivated. In the nine +years which immediately followed the accession of William and Mary, +about forty distinct acts of taxation were passed by Parliament. Still +it was impossible for a nation counting less than six million +inhabitants to pay the expenses of a vast and protracted war by +immediate taxation. In 1697 a debt existed of about one hundred million +dollars. This is the foundation of that national debt which, with +trifling exceptions, has been constantly increasing for more than two +centuries, and which now occupies a position of influence not second to +that of the throne itself. The importance of the Bank increased with the +growth of the debt, and the effects of their combined influence appeared +on every hand. They were the national pledges for the stability of the +Government. + +Every fresh rumor of preparation on the part of the exiled Stuarts to +enter England, filled the people with alarm for the safety of the Bank. +And when, in 1745, Charles Edward landed in Scotland, and made his +romantic advance into the kingdom, an enormous run was begun on the +Bank. It was prevented from doing harm only by the patriotism of the +London merchants. In this brief rebellion the people realized the +important financial interest which each citizen had acquired in the +permanency of the existing Government and the stability of the reigning +house. + +At first Parliament had proceeded in the imposition of its taxes on the +principle that a tax, to be equitable and easy, should be distributed +over a great variety of articles. It was argued that a man would pay a +small duty on a large number of things with less inconvenience and +consciousness of burden than if the same tax was levied upon a few +prominent articles. The pettiness of the tax would keep him in a kind of +deception as to the total amount he was paying, which not even the +frequency with which he was called upon to pay it would entirely remove. +This theory, together with a condition of state in which the wants of +Government were constantly increasing, produced, in the time of William +and Mary, a constant multiplication of petty taxes. In the early part of +the following reign many of these were consolidated in separate funds, +which were designated to pay specific parts of the national debt. + +But the number of articles subject to taxation was not reduced. The +restlessness of the people under the numerous exactions of the excise +soon, however, suggested the necessity of a change. Government now +passed to one of those extremes which were only too common in an age +when political economy had not yet risen into a science, and legislation +was only an art of shifts and expedients. In 1736 a tax of five dollars +upon the gallon was imposed on all English-made spirits, with a +corresponding protective tariff on those of foreign manufacture. The +result of this extraordinary tax proved the folly of its originators. It +failed as a source of revenue, and, so far from removing these articles +beyond the reach of the poor, which had been one of the designs of the +bill, it was estimated that the business of smuggling was so stimulated +by the enormous bounty offered upon its labors, that the amount of +spirits consumed in the kingdom during the existence of this tax was not +sensibly diminished. After a short trial the tax was removed. + +The work of reducing the list of excisable articles was nevertheless +begun, and from this time it went slowly, and, except as interrupted by +extraordinary demands upon the state, steadily forward. Stamps, however, +were governed by a different law. Its inoffensiveness, the economy of +its mode of collection, together with its ready availability, caused +this species of tax to be brought into more and more extensive use. In +fact, a constant increase of taxation in some form had become necessary +in order to meet the increasing expenses of the state. After the close +of the war in 1697, strong efforts were made to pay off the national +debt, the rising greatness of which filled all classes with alarm. No +corresponding efforts since have been rewarded with similar results. In +the brief period of peace that followed, the national debt was reduced +one fifth. Four expensive wars, following each other in rapid +succession, overwhelmed the petty labors of the sinking fund, put an end +to the work of diminution, and left the nation, at the beginning of the +war with her colonies in this country, oppressed with a debt of +$600,000,000. It came out from this struggle with $500,000,000 added to +the burden of the state. This point of time may be fixed as the close of +the second epoch. A new class of changes now begin, which have had, if +possible, a greater influence on the financial condition of England, as +it exists at the present, than those we have already described. + +In 1793, notwithstanding its enormous debt, the country boldly entered +upon its great conflict with France. It is impossible to look without +admiration upon the obstinate energy displayed by the English nation +during this conflict, which lasted, with slight intermissions, for more +than twenty years, and by which the annual tax was quadrupled, and the +national debt increased beyond a chance of final extinction. In the +astonishing revolution which it wrought in the financial condition of +the state, as well as in much of the social phenomena with which it was +accompanied, this conflict strongly resembles that in which the States +of the North are engaged against the South. The first effects of the war +appeared in the tax system. + +Great changes had taken place in Great Britain since the time of the +introduction of a regular system of taxation in 1688. Land was no longer +the most important source of income to the citizen. Profits from other +sources had sprung up. Commerce had discovered the riches of the Eastern +trade, and manufactures, stimulated by new inventions, had begun to +assume an importance and exert an influence which already threatened to +revolutionize the whole condition of society. Unconsciously to itself, +the nation had reached a point where any large increase in the demands +of the state must produce a new species of taxation. The war with France +supplied the impulse required. In 1797, Government attempted to meet the +extraordinary expenses of the year by tripling the tax on houses and +windows, etc. The experiment failed. It was found that these taxes, +which had been the 'towers of strength' of a preceding generation, could +no longer be relied on in the changed circumstances that had been +brought about by time. + +It was in many respects one of the darkest periods in English history. +The Austrian armies, exhausted by repeated defeats, hoped only to be +able to defend themselves if attacked. Spain and the Netherlands had +joined themselves to France. Against the power of Napoleon England stood +up alone. At this critical juncture, a mutiny broke out in the English +navy. The whole fleet in the channel refused to do duty. The fleet at +the Nore, catching the spirit of revolt, also raised the red flag. The +doctrines of the French Revolution were sedulously scattered throughout +the kingdom, and in several counties of Ireland actual uprisings had +taken place. Added to these were financial difficulties. The enormous +outlays demanded for the prosecution of the war were very naturally +weakening the public confidence in the final ability of the Government +to pay the extravagant sums it was obliged to borrow. Under the +influence of the distrust thus engendered stocks fell. Three per cents., +which had sold at 98, went down to 53. Many of the loans effected by the +Government at this time and during the war were made with a discount of +forty per cent. on the nominal value of the stock. Gold was scarce, and +rapidly rising. The pressure on the Bank for redemption was greater than +it had been since the rebellion of 1745, and threatened, unless +corrective measures were at once adopted, to bring that institution to +actual bankruptcy. + +The undaunted courage and resolution of the Government, in the midst of +this accumulation of difficulties, saved the country. The writ of habeas +corpus was suspended. By an admirable mingling of firmness and +conciliation the mutiny was quelled in the navy without serious +consequences resulting to the state. To meet the financial difficulties, +an act was passed by Parliament permitting the Bank to suspend specie +payment--thus delivering the country, for a period of more than twenty +years, over to a wholly inconvertible paper currency. From these strong +measures the enemies of the country anticipated the most disastrous +results. They were, however, doomed to disappointment. Even Napoleon at +length grew weary of prophesying the bankruptcy of a nation which every +year, from this time, gave more and more effective proofs of the +stability of its finances. It was the singular fortune of Great Britain +to have at the head of its finances, at this juncture, a man, who in a +different sphere, exhibited a spirit scarcely less bold, indomitable, +and comprehensive than that of the First Consul himself. This man was +Mr. Pitt. The finances of Great Britain, even at the present day, bear +witness to the extraordinary changes instituted by this statesman. The +tax on houses, windows, etc., had failed. In 1798, Mr. Pitt, with a +characteristic fertility of invention, brought forward a bill laying a +tax on incomes. By this bill, which is the foundation of all those that +have since followed, no tax was imposed on incomes that were less than +$300; on incomes above this sum a small tax was laid, which gradually +increased until it became one tenth of all incomes over $1,000. The +income tax was designed by Mr. Pitt to be simply a war tax. According to +his plan the interest upon the national debt, which he kept funded as +far as possible, was to be provided for solely from the indirect taxes, +leaving the direct tax to meet the extraordinary expenses of the war. +The most original feature of the financial system instituted by this +statesman, however, was the sinking fund. To prevent the rapid +accumulation of the national debt, Mr. Pitt, even before the breaking +out of the war with France, had obtained from Parliament permission to +set aside six million dollars, with an addition, afterward made, of one +per cent. of all the loans made by Government, as a fund to be expended +in the purchase of Government stock. The rapid growth of this fund from +the constant compounding of interest would, he declared, be sufficient, +ultimately, to consume the entire debt of the state. The result seemed +to justify his prediction. Constantly in the market, the sinking fund +saved the state, by its timely purchases many times during the war, from +the disastrous depreciation to which the public stock was liable at +every unfavorable turn of the conflict. In 1815, so enormous had been +the financial transactions of the state that this fund amounted to about +$75,000,000. + +In 1802 the income tax was discontinued; and, in the following year, was +renewed under the name of the property tax. The expenses of the state +continued to rise, and it became necessary that this tax should be +largely increased. During the last ten years of the war the property tax +required ten per cent. of all the incomes of the kingdom--with a few +exceptions--to be paid into the national treasury every year. Never +before had such a burden been laid on Englishmen. All classes groaned +under the exactions of a tax every penny of which they were made +conscious of by direct collection. In comparison with the property tax +all other burdens seemed easy. It is now clear, however, that the nation +could never have passed successfully through the great struggle in which +it was engaged without the assistance of the tax upon incomes. It stood +next in order of productiveness to the excise. In the year 1815 the +property tax produced seventy-five millions of dollars. Still the people +remembered with pleasure that the word of Parliament had been given that +it should not continue longer than the return of peace. The time was +eagerly looked forward to when that promise should be redeemed. Early in +1816 the question of the continuance of the tax came up before +Parliament. A strong party, impressed with the importance of diminishing +the national debt, advocated its continuance. Every night, for two +months, the subject was anxiously discussed. The motion for its +abolition was at last carried. The vast crowd which had assembled +without the Parliament House to await the result, caught the sound of +cheering in the chamber, and, receiving it as a signal of success, rent +the air with shouts of joy. The enthusiasm spread with the news. Bells +were rung as for a great victory, and bonfires in all parts of the +kingdom proclaimed the joy of the nation at its release from what was +regarded the moat oppressive burden of the war. Twenty-five years later +the income tax was again revived. + +The national debt at the close of the war with France amounted to a +little more than $424,000,000,000. Of this, $300,000,000,000 had been +added by the war. During the last years of the contest the annual +expenditures of the state were $585,000,000. The population of the +island was at this time 13,400,000, from which $360,000,000 was annually +collected in taxes. It is important to notice the condition of the +people during this epoch. For nearly twenty years the country had been +under the uncontrolled influence of a paper currency. It had been a +period of remarkable prosperity, coupled with unparalleled changes. And +here we find many points of resemblance with the present condition of +our own country. The rapidly expanding currency, the enormous demands of +the war, and the spirit of speculation engendered by the sharp +alternations of hope and fear, and the extraordinary fluctuations of the +markets had stimulated in every branch of business a preternatural +activity. Manufactures, which the beginning of the war had found just +rising into prominence, rapidly developed in an age of financial +profusion. No such progress had ever been made in a corresponding +period. Exports were doubled. The shipping rose from one to two and a +half million tons. The whole nation exhibited the singular spectacle of +a country constantly advancing in wealth and prosperity in the midst of +one of the most exhaustive wars that the world has ever seen. + +To this, however, there was apparently, at least, one exception. Prices +rose steadily from the beginning of the war. This was true not merely of +unimportant articles, or those which, by the exercise of a more severe +economy, could be in part dispensed with. The cost of the necessaries of +life doubled. Wheat rose from forty-nine shillings per quarter in 1797 +to one hundred and forty shillings in 1813; while the beef which was +sold in Smithfield market, at the beginning of the war, at three +shillings per stone, constantly advanced in price, until the same +quantity in 1814 could only be bought for six shillings. Malt, coal, +wages--everything rose proportionately. Few questions have been the +subject of more discussion than the cause of this remarkable rise of +prices. Two diverse explanations have been given, each put forth by men +whose habits of thought and opportunities for observation qualify them +to speak on the subject with authority. One large party attribute the +rise of prices that took place at this period, entirely to the influence +of the suspension of specie payment by the Bank, which, as they say, +flooded the country with an inflated and depreciated paper currency, and +thus necessitated a corresponding rise in the price of the articles +given in exchange for it. So strongly does this reasoning commend itself +to the minds of those familiar with the first principles of political +economy, that it has been very generally accepted. And it is worthy of +notice that these are almost the only arguments which can be heard in +explanation of the similar rise of prices now going on in this country. +A more subtile but very important class of influences were brought to +notice by another party, under the able leadership of Mr. Tooke. By +these the rise of prices is, to a large degree, attributed to the +excited spirit of speculation produced by the war, which, as they show, +twice during this period brought the country to the brink of ruin. In +favor of this explanation it may be further said that the fall of prices +began immediately on the close of the war, and at no time was greater +than in 1817, two years before the resumption of specie payment by the +Bank. In 1819 the Bank of England resumed the payment of specie. Gold, +which had been at one time at a premium of twenty-five per cent., now +fell rapidly, and in 1821 was again at par. + +It is difficult to say which has exerted the largest influence on the +finances of Great Britain--the Revolution of 1688, or the wars with +France in the beginning of this century. The first gave to England its +system of taxation, but the last developed the capabilities of that +system, and adapted it to the wants of a growing and commercial people. + +The nation came out of its long conflict with taxes pressing upon nearly +every important branch of industry. In the sixteen years that followed +the war with France, taxes to the amount of nearly $200,000,000, were +taken off from the country. These changes gave opportunities for many +important reforms. While the national debt was slowly reduced, the tax +system underwent great changes. Many taxes which had checked the growth +of important branches of business were entirely removed. Efforts were +made to reduce the excise, which was always an unpopular form of +taxation. In carrying forward these changes, it was found that one +really productive tax might be made to take the place of a large number +of small duties which pressed with peculiar severity upon the people. +Government now turned longingly to that 'splendid source of revenue,' as +it was aptly called, which it had so reluctantly relinquished in 1816. +In 1842, Sir Robert Peel suddenly brought forward a plan for a new tax +upon incomes. It was at once adopted. This income tax differed, however, +in many important particulars, from the one which the Government had +been compelled to make use of in the wars with France. By it incomes +under $750 were exempt. A discrimination of very great importance was +also made, which has been the occasion since for much refined +discussion, and is founded in sound reason, but which has hitherto been +wholly overlooked in the legislation in this country. A discrimination +was made between salaries and the incomes divided from realized capital. +Taxable incomes, partaking of the nature of a salary, and upon which a +tax would have the character of a duty on capital, were required by the +provisions of this new act to pay only one half as much as those incomes +which arose from, and would be therefore added to, wealth already +acquired. + +The income, or property tax, as it is now called, completes the system +of taxation which is now relied upon to supply the varying but always +enormous wants of Great Britain. Through these various sources during +the past year the English Government has collected an income of three +hundred and fifty million dollars--about the same it obtained through +the same channels from a population of thirteen million inhabitants in +the closing years of the war with Napoleon. With the same system of +taxation, our own Government has, during the past year, obtained an +income of one hundred and eleven million dollars. If we examine +particularly the sources of the English revenue at these two epochs, and +compare them with the corresponding branches of taxation with us, we +find that in the year closing in 1815, the receipts from customs +amounted to about fifty-six million dollars--a sum, it will be noticed, +considerably less than that drawn from the same source in this country +for the past year, but only about half the amount derived from customs +in Great Britain in the year ending September, 1863. From the property +tax was obtained about seventy-five million dollars--the modified form +of this tax now in use in Great Britain produces about fifty million +dollars per annum. Either of these sums is probably much larger than it +would be advisable to attempt to produce by a direct tax in this +country. Stamps, in 1815, yielded an income of thirty million dollars. +During the past year this simple and productive source of revenue +produced in Great Britain forty-five million dollars. It seems probable +that this species of tax might be extended in this country much farther +than it now is, without oppression to the people, and with a handsome +increase of the revenue. + +But the excise has ever been the most productive fountain of revenue in +Great Britain. The income from this tax in that country, during the year +ending September, 1863, was eighty-four million dollars. In the year +1815, when, on account of the smaller population, the other sources of +revenue were less productive than at the present day, the excise yielded +an income of not less than a hundred and thirty-five million dollars. It +is worthy of notice that, of this income, the tax upon the various forms +of spirituous liquors supplied a large element. English spirits, which, +in the experiment of 1736, it had been found could not carry a tax of +five dollars per gallon, it was now found easily bore the more moderate +but still large tax of ten shillings sixpence sterling. Aside from this +tax was the duty on beer, cider, and malt, the last of which alone +yielded an income of thirteen million dollars annually. + + * * * * * + +We have lingered on these details, which to many will be dry and +uninteresting, because they supply a kind of guide to the changes which +must ultimately take place in the tax laws of this country, and because, +further, they furnish an answer to all those objections which +periodically disturb the minds of the timid and doubtfully patriotic in +our midst. But these lessons we must leave the reader to extract for +himself. We close simply with saying that, while excessive and +undiscriminating taxation is always a curse, yet taxation, properly +imposed, although severe and long continued, may be far from +disadvantageous. We have seen the English people slowly arising, through +two centuries, from a nation comparatively free from taxation and +without a national debt, to one bearing an annual tax of three hundred +and fifty million dollars, and holding absorbed in its midst a national +debt of nearly four thousand million dollars. We have seen it during +this period constantly advancing in prosperity and greatness--the +national debt adding stability to the Government, and taxation giving +caution and stability to the transactions of private life. + + + + +APHORISMS. + +NO. I. + + +One of the most sublime of all facts beneath that of the Divine Being, +appears in the existence of an immortal soul. There it stands--once for +all, once forever. The earth might be wasted away, at the rate of a +single grain in a century, without passing the very infancy of our +spirit's life. How insignificant, in the comparison, a world like our +own, in all its temporal aspects. What the future duration of the earth +may be, we have no means of knowing; but if less than endless, it is of +little moment in the presence of the least capacious human soul. + + + + +THE LOVE LUCIFER. + + +CHAPTER II. + +I find myself writing upon matters connected, at least, with, religion, +with the thought of saying something useful--of presenting a valuable +experience, if not a valuable congeries of new ideas. Most readers +deeply interested in religion are, by this time, demanding that I show +my colors--present my creed; otherwise they will shut themselves up from +my influence. As I write, church bells are ringing. I know that many of +those who now assemble to hang with a deathly solemnity upon the lips of +preachers--while death, hell, heaven, eternity, atonement are the +themes--will say: 'He treats lightly the most serious matters: he treads +with dancing pumps on holy ground.' Now I claim to be, above all things, +an earnest, solemn person. Yet do I verily believe that there is a +humorous side to all subjects, that is not ignored by even the loftiest +beings; and that, in a restricted sense, it may be said of all +well-balanced persons, as a philosopher has said of children: 'Because +they are in innocence, therefore they are in peace; and because they are +in peace, therefore all things are with them full of mirth.' It must be +admitted, however, that if the 'orthodox' creed is wholly correct, we +find in the Puritans and their existing imitators the only consistent +Christians. In view of the inevitable damnation of a majority of the +race, they set their faces against all mirth; would eat no pleasant +bread, and wear no beautiful raiment. I followed them to the letter, +till, the 'naked eye' not being wholly blinded, nor the ear deafened by +theologic din, I saw that nature, in all her guises and voices, was +firmly opposed to all such gloomy dogmas. + +In a word, then, as to creed, I find no satisfactory platform save that +of the broadest eclecticism. The motto of the old Greek, 'Know that good +is in all,' is mine. I am aware that the danger accruing from this style +of creed is, that one often gets, in the effort at impartiality, into +the meshes of pantheism; and then your list of gods many and lords many +comprises all the chief divinities, from Brahm and Buddh to Thor; you +priding yourself the while upon the consideration shown for 'local +prejudices' by your not putting Christ at the end of the list. But, +after life-long investigation, I am not ashamed to say, in the words, +though not in the spirit of Emperor Julian, 'Galilean, thou hast +conquered;' with Augustine, 'Let my soul calm itself in Thee; I say, let +the great sea of my soul, that swelleth with waves, calm itself in +Thee;' with De Stael, 'Inconcevable enigme de la vie; que la passion, ni +la douleur, ni le genie ne peuvent decouvrir, vous revelerez-vous a la +priere;' with practical Napoleon, 'I know men, and Jesus Christ was not +a man;' with a Chevalier Bunsen and a Beecher, 'Jesus Christ is my God, +without any ifs or buts.' I can assent more decidedly than does +Teuflesdroeck, in the 'Everlasting Nay,' to the doctrine of regeneration. +I narrow the whole matter down to these plain facts: Of all religions, +Christianity is best calculated to elevate man's nature; and of all +Christians, they reach the highest spiritual condition who regard Christ +as utterly divine. + +On this other matter that enters so largely into my narrative--the +conjugality of disembodied spirits--I cannot forbear some further +discourse before proceeding historically. The absurd idea is still +prevalent that there is no sex in heaven. Those who retain this notion, +despite the revelations of science concerning the universality of sex +throughout creation, cannot reason very candidly. When we find in the +earth positives but no negatives, light but no heat, strength but no +beauty, action but no passivity, wisdom but no love, intellection but no +intuition, reflection but no perception, science but no religion, then, +at last, may we expect to see in the heavens men but no women. + +Take the conjugal element from human creatures, and you have Hamlet +without the ghost. Excepting, perhaps, the religious, it is the most +powerful, prominent, exacting part of our nature. In 'man's unregenerate +state,' at least, the love story is the most interesting book, marriage +the most interesting ceremony, true lovers' dalliance the most +interesting sight. For the beloved, one relinquishes all else--performs +the greatest prodigies. Marriage is the subject most thought of, most +talked about. Around it cluster all the other events of life. Rejoice, +then, O 'romantic' youth and maiden, now in the days of thy youth; for +this flitting romance--so soon interrupted by care and grief, by shop +and kitchen and nursery, by butcher, baker, tailor, milliner, and +cordwainer--is about the most genuine experience you will have in this +world. Therefore, say I, cultivate romance. Devour a goodly number of +the healthier novels. Weep and laugh over them--believing every word. +Amadis de Gaul, even, is a better model than Gradgrind. Adore each the +other sex--positively worship! Both are worshipful (in the 'abstract'). + +What healthy-minded person loves not to behold the eye-sparkle of pure +admiration between young man and maid? 'They worship, truly, they know +not what.' In bowing down to their ideal, they bow to the _real_ +human--the purified man or woman of the better land. The recluse is ever +the true prophet and seer, in this as in still higher matters. Your +modest-eyed student, stealing glances of unfeigned admiration at +ordinary maidens, is not such a simpleton as some suppose. His seclusion +has cleared his vision. He sees on through the eons--sees things as they +will or may be--regards the objects of his adoration as he will in the +angelhood. Why will so many decry this admiration?--when they see that, +not till the youth passes the purely romantic age--fourteen to sixteen +or eighteen--and begins to have commonplace thoughts of the other sex, +does mischief arise. + +The idea of eternal conjugality should lighten all faces with hope, and +should have a most conservative influence in society. Those who are not +very well matched, and yet are conscious that the very highest earthly +bliss comes of a right mating, are not content to pass through this life +without enjoying this bliss, if they suppose that it appertains solely +to earth. So, many of them break bounds and bonds. Let these but accept +the idea that conjugality is one of the chief features of the heavenly +life, and they can settle down steadily to the apparent duties of this +sphere, content with 'peace on earth,' since now they feel sure of +rapture in heaven--a rapture, too, mind you, of a kind with which they +are somewhat acquainted. It is all very well to anticipate the fact +which 'eye hath not seen,' etc. But men need the prospect of an eternal +joy they know of, as much as they needed that awe-inspiring Jehovah +should outwork in love-inspiring Christ. In view of this, among other +joys set before him, the extra-earnest worker, in public or private, can +more easily deprive himself of that amount of social intercourse with +the other sex which he craves. Such can suffice themselves with +occasional glances of the complementary portion of mankind; and as they +hurriedly pass seraphic faces in the street, they wave the hand of the +spirit after them, saying: 'I prithee, O thou wonder, art human or no?' +'O you sweet beautiful! 'the king's business requires haste. Providence +has set our lives so far apart we cannot hear each other speak.' But +you will be a woman, and I will be a man, forever. In paradise, I will +read wonderful things in those and other such eyes, and wonder at you +forever. _Vale! vale!_' + +There is a poet claiming to be of the supernal life--especially of the +supernal conjugal--who has written 'epics' and 'lyrics,' of which I must +honestly say, as Emerson, I believe, once honestly said of some of the +writings of Swedenborg: 'I read them with an unction and an afflatus +quite indescribable.' They lift one to the empyrean like nothing else I +know of outside the Bible. There is such a saintly purity; such a +wondrous, rich, mellow joyousness; such bounding elasticity of spirit; +such an evidently irresistible gush of song in the heart; such broad +catholicity of religion, that, to some, it seems impossible that they +could have been written anywhere but under the perpetual midsummer skies +of paradise. It may show poor taste, but to me, in those regions of the +upper ether wherein Tennyson, Mrs. Browning, and Shelley grow +wing-weary, he soars on strong, free pinion. His 'imaginings,' if such +they are, of immortal life, as much surpass in plausibility and +naturalness those of Milton, Dante, and Virgil, as the acting of a +first-class theatre surpasses that seen in the old monkish 'mysteries.' +This writer, T. L. Harris, has won much recognition in both hemispheres; +would win much more if he appeared simply as a poet, and did not claim a +seer faculty, making many positive statements that cannot be verified. +He certainly comes up to Aristotle's standard, where he says: 'The +object of the poet is not to treat the True as it really happened, but +as it should have happened.' + +And now the story. I left myself indulging in reveries concerning the +expected sight of my invisible charmer. The appointed hour came. I was +quite excited. I knew that the land was already full of people who +claimed to see the sights of the other world as spirits see them, and +fully expected to have my clairvoyant faculty opened. But I saw no +'sudden Ianthe;' and to this day have never seen even a kobold, a +wraith, or a doeppelganger! This was doubtless fortunate; for I was +nearly driven into lunacy by the things I _heard_ before I reached the +end of this 'youthful adventure.' I should have gone 'clean daft' if the +bugaboo had been permitted to show me the sights they presently +promised. + +Soon came again my collocutor with explanations. + +'You were in such a state of excitement that the united efforts of more +than forty of your spirit friends were utterly unavailing for the +opening of your sight. We, too, became so excited that we lost all +control of ourselves, and could only weep to hear your mournful appeals +followed by your surrender of all claims upon me.' ... 'Do not think +that I could ever hope to bask beneath the sunshine of your smile after +having intentionally deceived you.' + +Then followed much similar feminine beguilement; the faculty for which +seems to be rather increased by the Jordan bath. + +It began to be a noticeable fact that their magnetic power over me was +such that they could cast me down to the borders of despair, and raise +me thence to rapture at will. Thus a few moments of such ordinary +blandishments as the following were the only apparent means of raising +my usually slow-moving spirits from a very low to a very high pitch. I +was complaining of the waste of paper, in writing words of letters three +or four inches high; did not think any law, even a law of nature, +justified the imposition of such an expenditure upon a spouse in a +separate sphere. 'She' promised to tone down the expressions of +attachment until she could talk as largely as she pleased; and to some +further suggestions, replied: + +'Really, you are quite impertinent, considering the short time we have +been married.' ... + +Slightly singular as it may seem to those who think that this narration +is 'all gammon,' I had gone through the usual course of acquaintanceship +with this airy nothing; was first distant and reserved; then slightly +thawed, though still horrified at the thought of having all my thoughts +read; and finally, after I felt that the invisible eyes had read, in my +memory, every page of my history, was perfectly familiar and at ease in +the presence this finite searcher of hearts. + +I find, next in order, the following: + +'So you wish me to _prove_ that we were married, do you? Well, when you +become a denizen of this higher, but none the less practical sphere, you +may read, if you please, where, with wonder and strange emotion, I read, +in the heavenly records of marriages.' ... [It was dated about the time +of my birth.] 'Your banter is not so agreeable as your tenderness.' ... +'You are incorrigible. It will take me many a long age to bring you to a +due sense of my importance,' etc. 'Some of my friends are beside +themselves with mirth, at my vain attempts at taming a spirit so rude.' +Then came another promise of opened vision. 'A truly solemn scene is at +hand. Spend the interval in prayer.' + +But again there was something wrong about the spiritual zinc or acid, +and the electrical machinery would not work. The fair or foul deceiver +(who knows?) came up very solemn after this failure. + +''Though all men forsake thee,' said Peter, 'yet will not I forsake +thee.' So now, when the highest spirits of heaven have fled in terror +and dismay, your poor darling will not forsake you. Well might I sit, +like Job's friends, seven days, ay, seventy times seven, in silent +contemplation of him who--woe is me!--fears that I am but another +Delilah, commissioned by his enemies to betray him into their hands. +What can I say? what do? Oh that I had never seen the glorious light of +the sun or the pure myriads of my happy home, rather than I should have +beheld that sight last night. How can I explain the fact that he, whom +I, at least, believe to be heaven's most supreme (string of adjectives) +favorite, is sitting here with his unutterable but unrepining sorrow +looking forth from his ... eyes.' + +Just here I caught a glimpse of my divinity, and turning in wrath and +scorn to my Titania, said, mockingly: + +"While I thine _amiable_ cheeks do coy!" + +To this she replies: 'Do not heap additional reproaches upon me, by any +such awfully ludicrous quotations.' ... 'So you think that your Delilah +is striving to gain time by all these pious and otherwise interesting +remarks?' ... 'Nay, do not with loathing cast me from you as an an +unholy and hateful thing! for then, oh, what I should then do or be, I +cannot, dare not even think.' ... 'Again you see my woman's heart cannot +suppress its emotions toward one who still hopes that he has been +talking with ----; and who says that, for him to be convinced of +this, is to be convinced that she who has been talking with him has not +intentionally deceived him.' + +She then wrought upon my feelings by portraying her sufferings, until, +in my maudlin condition, I was casting about to find how I should help +her; just as you sometimes see a drunken tramp striving to pull his +drunken pal out of a ditch. + +'So, most self-forgetful, you begin to think that you ought to help me +bear my burden; as you have planned sitting there, with your little +friend encircling you in her so warm embrace. But why should I inform +you of such fact, as this last, until you are convinced that all you +have heard is not the wily utterance of seducing and hellish spirits? +Try not to entertain such awful suspicions. As to the cause of these +lamentable failures, I can only suppose that the Lord wishes to make us, +who wrongly prophesied, sensible of our inability to foretell future +events.' + +Then came some bungled Scriptures about my 'mission,' which roused my +ire. My taunts drew forth this response: + +'Why do you love to ridicule my tenderness, and speak so awfully to one +who has no other human source of perfect happiness?' + +The day following, the solemn dodge was again resorted to. I began to +feel a sort of awe creeping over me. My affectionate friend thereupon +wrote: + +'What a change a few minutes have wrought in you. Yes! yes! the morning +light is breaking. The fiery trial is complete. As I write there rests +upon your now placid brow a glorious and marvellously beautiful crown. +The cup is drained. 'To him that sat in the valley and shadow of death +light has sprung up.' And now awe seizeth me: for there standeth, as yet +a long way off, one whose form is like to that of the Son of Man. In a +very little while, now, the great event must inevitably occur. He who +stands upon the holy mount prepares to open your sight, and give you +your commission. How can we see him face to face and live! Let not a +passing suspicion of further delay disturb you. Already you begin to +feel the influence of his approach. Well may you heave a sigh--as one +who experiences a sudden and unlooked-for relief. In less than ten +minutes the Lord will appear to you. So make ready, in solemn meditation +and prayer, for the most solemn event of your or any other man's life is +at hand.' + +'If the vision tarry, wait for it,' is the only scripture that seems +applicable to my visions: for still they came not. Yet some very serious +and substantial experiences now fell to my lot, which shall be the theme +of another chapter. + + +CHAPTER III. + +As manager of this exhibition, I would request the orchestra to play +something gloomy and grand, during the remainder of the performance; +something weird, mysterious; something in which you can hear the +soughing of the wind through the pines of the Hartz Mountains or the +Black Forest. A passage from a _Faust_ opera or _Der Freischutz___ might +meet the case; for it began to be intimated to me, now that I was +sufficiently clairaudient to be able to dispense almost entirely with +the pencil, that his Satanic Majesty was no indifferent spectator of the +preparation of the man who was about to interfere so signally with his +plans and pursuits. Thereupon there began to steal over me for the first +time, + + 'A sense of something dreadful, something near. + +However it was managed, from this moment till the end of this phase of +life I am narrating, I had an almost constant sense of the presence of +'genii of the pit,' of vast intelligence, cruel as ever Satan was +imagined, relentless as fate, cold as Dante's ice hells could make them. +At first, some influence led me to review the traditional history and +prospects of my supposed distinguished visitor, at some length. I +discussed the state of his case with no little unction, though shaking +in my boots, and in momentary expectation of being gobbled up, body and +soul, and whisked off in sulphurous smoke, with only a sulphur-burnt +hole in the carpet to mark the spot where I saw the last of earth. + +Presently my inseparable companion broke in with: + +'He hears you! he hears you! and never may it be my lot again to look +upon--' ... 'There he is again, glaring with inexpressible rage upon the +comparatively insignificant man who just now so plainly revealed to him +'the true state of the case.' I am almost afraid to look upon that +awful visage. 'The state of the case is it?' he exclaims. 'We will see +what is the state.''-- + +There is a break here in the manuscript, which is resumed thus: 'You +have conquered! frantic with rage he has fled, never, I trust, to +return.' + +How will I remember what happened during that awful pause? It was spent, +I suppose, in a hand-to-hand conflict with the Prince of Darkness; the +agreeableness of which was not enhanced by my vivid recollection of the +'bit of a discooshin' between Christian and Apollyon depicted in the old +family Pilgrim's Progress. We are truly 'the stuff that dreams are made +of.' What mattered it to me, on that bland summer afternoon, since I was +of this opinion, whether it was Beelzebub himself or some departed +'blazing tinman,' with a suit of his majesty's old clothes on, while +himself, all snug at home, + + 'Sat in his easy chair, + Drinking his sulphur tea.' + +That was certainly one of the most awful moments of my life, in which I +felt the first dreadful rush of this invisible tiger. It seemed as if he +swooped toward me to annihilate me in a moment; but was restrained by a +higher power. His coming was like the rush of a fifteen-inch shell past +one's head. + +As soon as I saw that the first onset did not destroy me, I gathered +strength to face the monster; for a tongue combat seemed all that was +permitted him. He put me through my theological paces at an awful +rate--using the Socratic dialectic--growling out questions in the tones +of a cathedral organ, that made me shiver. Oh that I could remember that +fearful catechism! It would make a tract for which the Tom Paine +Association would pay a high price. He drove me--partly, I suppose, by +magnetic force--step by step, from my cherished religious opinions. My +reasons for believing in the cardinal doctrines of Christianity seemed +to burn like straw before his fiery rhetoric, and to turn to dust +beneath the ponderous blows of his iron logic. He pushed me away from +all I had esteemed reliable in the universe, till I seemed to stand on +the verge of creation. There I hung with the strength of terror. Then I +found poet Campbell true to nature, where he speaks of hope standing +intact ''mid Nature's funeral pyre.' I insisted upon 'hoping,' in spite +of all his fiery hail. + +After he had beaten down all my defences, he began to jeer at me with +fierce sneers and goblin laughter that froze my blood. 'So _I_ was the +contemptible manikin who dared to entertain the idea of equality with +him--the Star of the Morning--one breath of whose nostrils would wither +me into nonentity. So _I_ presumed to stand up and face him, who had, in +his time, scattered the hosts of heaven! If it were not for those +cursed, white-livered _things_ (angels) that stood in the way, he would +swoop down and destroy me in an instant.' + +Having found and maintained foothold for several minutes on the rock of +hope, I began to consider how weak things had of erst confounded the +things that were mighty, and soon the wirepullers behind the scenes +(whoever they were) had me smiting him hip and thigh. I 'began in +weakness, but ended in power.' At first a few muttered remonstrances, +but finally whole Ironsides broadsides, with the result above named. The +words of my antagonist, during this encounter, rang through my brain +with awful distinctness. For a day or two I had been communicating +partly with the pencil, and partly by clairaudience, eked out by writing +in the air with my forefinger. But this demon, or demon _pro tem._, +needed not to write his words: his 'trumpet gave no uncertain sound.' + +The thoughtful reader will perceive what a strong point my magnetizers +gained by this scene. After disappointing me so many times, they could +not, with all their power over me, have kept me from throwing the whole +thing overboard, without resorting to some such _coup d'etat_. Being, +doubtless, on better terms with the infernal than with the supernal +regions, these denizens of the Intermediate Limbo (we will suppose that +my strange guests were mostly of this sort of nondescripts) had perhaps +induced some _bona fide_ demon to act the part of the king of them all, +'for this night only.' It certainly was an immense success. I, to be +sure, had not received the expected commission: but had I not fought the +great red dragon, and, like another St. George, pinned him to the earth, +through supernatural aid? Here was a substantial success. I write this +merrily enough now; but was not often merry then--was indeed acting +great, real tragedy. + +I was not long to enjoy this triumph. The word came: 'Again he comes!' +Then I had another long, hard fight; but this time was not pushed so +near the wall. I was then told by my spiritual adviser and Circe of the +unbounded admiration expressed for me by those who had listened to this +'ever-memorable' disputation. + +The attempt to craze me, or--putting the best face on it--to show me +_how spiritists are generally crazed_, now began in downright earnest. +All that night, despite my entreaties to be permitted to sleep, I was +kept awake, and busied with a variety of 'extremely important' business. +I am naturally a solid, regular sleeper, and do not prosper upon +Napoleon or Humboldt portions of repose; but now could only suit my +persecutors by rising on one elbow in bed, and 'wrestling' for the +salvation of my next neighbor. They sedulously poured into my mind all +manner of apocrypha concerning this gentleman's shortcomings--about the +necessity of praying for and at him, and about the effects of my +efforts, i. e., bringing a streak of celestial light upon him--until I +was almost ready to wish that he might be ----, rather than that I +should have any such unseasonable work to perform in his behalf. But +they kept me at it, straight through the night and a large portion of +the next day; and finally induced me to go, much against my will, to +reveal to him some of my experiences, and to endeavor to force from him +an acknowledgment that what I had heard about him was true. + +The attempt to cause at least a temporary aberration of my intellect now +becomes very plain in the manuscript. Every idea is uttered in the most +exciting manner. All statements and prognostications about my neighbor +having proved false (he was amazed at my procedure), the invisible +busybodies boiled over thus: + +'He has lied! he has lied to you! and if you would preserve your reason, +go and read the papers to him. He had schooled himself to show no +emotion, and you showed enough to excite his worst, most hideous fears. +So go, for Heaven's sake! He quailed once, and only once, before your +not sufficiently steady gaze. Woe! woe! woe! Now what shall be done?' +... [Evidently trying to get up a teapot tempest.] 'Do not strive to +unravel this mystery in that fiercely keen way, or this evil spirit will +have to give place to a more expert deceiver. God will certainly do +something soon to set these matters straight, or I shall cease to be!' +[She had said annihilation was possible!] 'Your father wishes to speak +to you.' + +A fatherly spirit it was truly--was for driving me mad off hand, but +overshot the mark. + +'Son, this is awful! I can only say to you, be calm and cool, for you +will need to be both to get free from this snare of Satan, so well +conceived. Better go to supper now (for appearance sake): after that, +pray for help. When you took away those books [after reading extracts to +the neighbor], the whole crew of devils,' etc., etc. + +This exciting language 'brought me up with a round turn.' I saw at once +the object of the person who was talking with me. So I brought the +affair to a full stop, as far as the use of my hand was concerned. I +simply added, on that leaf--speaking now for myself: + +'I will hear no further. This part of my discipline is finished.' + +But I was forced to hear, whether I wrote or not. I had come to this +wisdom too late. I fully believe that, as far as my ability to prevent +the catastrophe was concerned, I was then and there a possessed +person--_a slave of spirits_--as utterly bound to do the will of my +magnetizers as ever a 'subject' was. Though I cannot be persuaded that +all these beings, from whom unseen I had heard so much, were 'only evil +continually,' no 'harmonialist' can persuade me that those who now began +to play with me, as a cat plays with a mouse, were other than evil. In +all imaginable ways, they strove to show me how utterly I had lost +self-command and self-control. (I am esteemed obstinate by nature.) + +What is very singular, I now lost sight of my 'prima donna.' It would +seem natural that a Delilah would, at least, have come with a jeering +'The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.' But no, not till this great +tribulation was over did I hear from 'her.' + +That evening and night were spent, mostly, in showing me that I was no +longer my own master. There was not, however, that continuous hell-blast +upon me that so scorched my soul on the following afternoon. The cats +were tossing me in their velvet paws--only occasionally protruding a +sharp claw as a reminder, until they could feel surer of their victim. +They would say to me: 'Now we will exalt you to heaven;' and up I went, +higher, higher, higher into the empyrean, until I heard the music of the +spheres, and all things were ablaze with light and glory. Again they +would say: 'Now go down into hell;' and the scene changed as suddenly as +do those of a ten-cent panorama, when a midnight storm at sea or a +volcanic eruption is about to be rolled in view: I went down _ad +imis_--'down to the bottom of the sea--the earth with her bars was +around me forever.' Blank horror and anguish seized me. Hope fled to its +impregnable corner of my heart, till the calamity was overpast. A hushed +agony was upon me, as before I had known its boundless bliss. And thus +variously I fared through all that second night of sleeplessness. They +probably sent me up and down this scale of sensation twenty times during +eight hours. This night I was not at all sleepy. A few more such would +have finished the business; and there would have been 'another awful +effect of the spiritual delusion' to chronicle. The honest verdict of +the first century would have been: 'Another possessed of devils or +devil-crazed.' The wretches well knew that insomnia is an excellent +preparation for insanity. + +Toward morning a new scheme was invented. Some ostensible good friend +informed me, in a business-like way, that the work of the morrow for +me--the new Saul of Tarsus--was to set out for a certain town in +Vermont, where I should find my Ananias; who 'would show me what things +I should do.' So the faithful slave of the genii prepared to obey. I +packed a carpet bag, and went early to the residence of a medical +friend, who had been dabbling in the same arcana. I gave him a sketch of +what I had experienced; yet, for some reason, did not start for Vermont, +but remained with him all the morning. My invisible monitors sent me out +into the street several times, to find people who could not be found. +(Anything to keep up their influence.) + +Toward noon the fact came plainly to me that an effort was being made to +disturb, if not destroy, my reason. I began to find my ideas becoming +incoherent in spite of hugest effort. I called my friend, and said to +him, through set teeth, but as coolly as possible: + +'I find myself to be thoroughly and utterly a magnetic subject, an +abject subject of mischievous spirits. They are striving to derange my +faculties. I am exceedingly alarmed to find that they are trying, with +much success, to render my ideas incoherent. It is only by a very great +effort of will that I am enabled to speak these words distinctly to you. +As far as my private power of resistance is concerned, I am gone. Do +exert your powerful magnetism; perhaps you can drive them off.' + +He was much distressed, and exerted himself mightily (he was a professed +electrician), combining will power with that ancient agent, prayer, to +exorcise the evil influence. But his efforts were useless, as the +vagabonds well knew, before they brought me there on exhibition. They +had not spent the week in vain. I had sold myself to them as squarely as +fools ever did in German legend. + +When dinner was announced, the doctor wished me to accompany him. I +refused, and he left me, to take a hasty meal. Finding, when he was +gone, that I was growing worse, I went into the street, determined that +if I was to be crazed, I would not sit there and let him watch the +operation. I walked on, vowing that I would not turn toward home until +my faculties were restored; and execrating _my folly in permitting the +enslavement_! On, on I rushed, my head all ablaze with 'od' that had no +business there, and praying as I never had prayed before. I took the +Gowanus road toward Greenwood. Perhaps it was some defunct rogue there +interred, who was leading me on to 'rave among the tombs.' + +Arrived at a spot where a little tree-capped promontory overhangs the +beach, I turned aside, beneath the projection, and sat down on a +log--like Jonah under the gourd--and, gazing out on the rippling waves +of the bay, desired that death or relief might come. I was determined to +sit there until God or Satan made good his claim upon me. Suddenly +relief came. The fierce onset upon my intellect ceased. I was made +whole. I 'leaped and walked.' The means of my relief I never knew. + +But my lesson was not complete. I had but just informed my medical +friend of my deliverance (he had scoured the neighborhood, and informed +several of the cause of his fears), when there were mutterings and +growlings of another approaching storm. The messengers of Satan sent to +baffle me gave me to understand that they had not abandoned their prey, +but were sure of it yet. They poured the wrath of hell upon my +defenceless head that afternoon. I have not, hitherto, attempted to +offer much direct proof to the uninitiated that my experiences, in this +connection, were other than hallucination. That which now occurred is, +as it seems to me, in the nature of such proof. Here was I thoroughly +alarmed for my safety, and extremely anxious to get rid of my +tormentors. Yet, not for a single moment now, could I close my mental +ears to their horrid clangor of threats and imprecations; for, throwing +off all restraint, they flooded me with Billingsgate. They cursed and +damned me, and all persons, things, and ideas esteemed by me, in the +most approved style. Indeed, the swearing exceeded anything I ever heard +on the Mississippi and Alabama river boats, when forced, for lack of +room, to sleep on the floor of the saloon, almost under the feet of the +chivalry, during their midnight gambling carousals. + +The mode of speech is not easily described. Sometimes the words came +slowly and distinctly. Again there would be merely thought-panorama +presented. A complete statement or view of things can be flashed into +the mind in an instant. Therefore the language of spirits is of vastly +greater compass than that of men. These immortal blackguards could vomit +more oaths and other blasphemy in five minutes, than a mortal one could +in an hour. If it is difficult to translate from one earth-language +into another, how much harder must it be to bring the ideas of an inner +sphere into outward forms of expression! + +They told me that it was their intention to open my clairvoyant faculty +now with a vengeance. For, having fairly accomplished it, they would +worry me to death or madness by the continual sight and hearing of all +that hell could show or conjure up. I only wish that a few of those +Sadducees who philosophize all this sort of thing into moonshine, could +be, for a while, as sore beset as I was on that eventful day! It would +need but a few minutes' parley with these 'fierce Ephesian beasts' to +induce them to repeat the language of an older sceptic, who returned +from the dead to the friend who had discussed immortality with him, and +who exclaimed, as he passed from sight: + +'Michael! Michael! _vera sunt illa!_' + +The scheme of the diabolians seemed so feasible that I was greatly +perplexed. They had shown themselves able to keep me awake the two +preceding nights; and I knew that, if permitted, they could accomplish +their purpose in that way alone. How much, then, would the perpetual +sight of fiery flying dragons, horned satyrs, and other hideous +half-human creatures, tearing around, with mouths agape to take me +in--while other lost souls flitted about as flying serpents, bats, and +owls--hasten the evil work. I thought over all the horrible forms +portrayed in the Catholic purgatory pictures, and described by delirium +tremens subjects, until I was a thousand times more anxious to have the +eyes of my spirit kept shut, than I ever had been to have them opened. + +I tried to exorcise the foe by reading the Bible; but this only +increased their jeering at the '---- fool,' whom they had worked hard to +get, had got, and meant to keep, in spite of 'hell, book, and candle.' +Truly 'their mouths were full of cursing and bitterness.' + +Did space permit, and were it not that the printing of oaths, which has +become so fashionable even in respectable periodicals, is hurtful to +morals, I could fill pages with their jeers, taunts, blasphemies, +threats, and execrations. + +I left my private room, and went among the household, in hopes that, +amid busy outer scenes, the hold of the invisible tigers would be +loosed. But then, while conversing on commonplace subjects, I realized +more fully than ever upon what a _fearful precipice_ the heedless +spiritist is ever sporting. For, clearer, more distinct, came threats, +curses, goblin laughter; and 'Fool! dolt!' was the cry. + +'Simpleton, etc., think you that the company of women and children will +save you, when the mightiest spirits (angels they call themselves) +cannot now rend you from our grasp? As soon as we choose, we will tear +your silly soul out of your carcase; and _then_ we will make a veritable +Lucifer of you. '_Lucifer_! LUCIFER! star of the morning! how +art thou fallen, and become as one of us!' Ha! ha! ha! yes! yes! you +must go with us. We fancy you. For a callow priest, you have a deal of +music in you. Would-be Samson, you must grind in our prison house and +sport in our temple; the pillars whereof you can never cause to +tremble.' + +They said that I was a 'coward--dared not face a set of shadows, +figments of the brain, empty nothings.' I saw that 'vain was the help of +man;' and, retiring to my room, had an awful season of worse than +'temptation combats.' + +Then came the last scene in the tragic part of my unromantic experience. +One of the artful dodgers, having transformed himself into an angel of +light (in my hearing, not in my sight), informed me, at about eight +o'clock in the evening, that, though my destruction appeared imminent, +there was one way of escape left. My own prayers were useless: but if I +would get down on my knees, and repeat a confession and supplication at +his dictation, it might avail. Enslaved as I was, I of course complied; +and then underwent a humiliation that, even in my horrified state, was +very bitter. I had always, in my most puritanical days, kicked at the +doctrine that we are all such abominable, hell-deserving, +_self_-degraded creatures, responsible for our own ruin, that it is the +wonder of creation that God would give our souls any least chance of +heaven. I had always felt with Tennyson: + + 'Thou wilt not leave us in the dust; + Thou _madest_ man, and Thou art _just_.' + +But now I was forced to change all this; and for once I uttered a +perfectly orthodox prayer. Slow and distinct came the words, which I +must perforce repeat as slowly, though every one was a bitter pill. I +was made to say that I was entirely mistaken in supposing myself a +Christian (in the 'evangelical' sense); that I had been a fool, a +braggart, a sort of impostor; that my life had been one series of shams +and follies; that I had disgraced my religious profession, etc., etc., +_ad nauseam_, winding up with the abject declaration that I deserved to +go straight to 'the city of Dis, and the three-headed dog;' and that if +I was spared, it would be 'a miracle of mercy.' + +The higher powers must have thought that I had swallowed enough of this +hell-broth; for, at this juncture, the dictation and compulsion suddenly +ceased. I stood upon my feet, no longer a slave. It seemed as if some +grand, calm Ithuriel had touched with his spear-point the venomous toad +that sat by my ear, or the wily serpent that 'held me (enchanted) with +his glittering eye.' From that moment to this, I have not been, for an +instant, seriously annoyed by invisible disturbers of the peace. + +A sweet quiet came over me; I went to bed and slept soundly. The next +day I determined to complete the exorcism by walking a dozen miles into +the country, to visit a relation. The only trace of the fearful scenes +through which I had passed, consisted in the fact that my head was still +all ablaze with the foul, gross magnetic fluids of my ex-tormentors; and +was so hot that I found it agreeable to walk with my hat off. I was two +days getting rid of the heat. + +Though I had no more sulphur tea to drink, I was not yet weaned from the +invisible milk and water. I was at once informed, by 'respectable +appearing' spirits, that my trials had appeared necessary, because I had +thrown myself open to promiscuous communication with the other world--a +thing peculiarly dangerous in my case; and that I could now see the +propriety of never again surrendering my manhood, my individuality, and +my common sense to any brigand in or out of the body. I was also told +that it never had been intended to use me for any important mediumistic +purpose, except so far as my experience might be useful. So I gradually +let the thing drop. Regarding the new light as scientific rather than +religious, I long since pigeon-holed it among my sciences. I +sardonically tell total Sadducees that I have placed it among the +_exact_ sciences. + +I am sorry that I am unable to enlighten the novel-reading reader +further concerning the 'prima donna;' but that is a delicate subject +under existing circumstances. So presenting, herewith, the bright and +sulphurous end of the Lucifer Match under the nose of a discerning +public, I will watch the upcurling and dilating of nostrils. As I pen +these last lines, the live body looking over my shoulder smiles +scornfully. + + + + +SKETCHES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND SCENERY. + +III.--MOUNTAIN WAYS. + + +'Lucy D----,' said Aunt Sarah Grundy, 'I really cannot conceive what you +and Elsie find to entertain you in the desolate, out-of-the-way places +where you are in the habit of wasting your summers. Why can you not be +content with the ordinary highways, where people travel comfortably in +good boats and rail cars? Why must you leave tolerably convenient +hotels, regular meals, and agreeable, proper people, to bury yourself in +some mountain fastness, where the inns are poor, the food plain, and the +people--well! such as are totally unfit associates for two well-bred +young women?' + +'O auntie! auntie! we thought you called yourself a democrat!' said +Elsie. + +'Politically, my dear, but not socially,' was the reply. + +'And a Christian!' added Lucy D----. + +'I see,' continued Mrs. Grundy, 'that, by raising other issues, you hope +to escape an explanation of the mystery to which I have referred.' + +'A mystery indeed!' replied Lucy D----. 'The mystery of nature, of +creation, of the communion of the creature with the infinitely bountiful +Creator. Have you never wandered away from the beaten track, from +tiresome dinners, with mercenary waiters and elaborate courses, from +yawning, _blase_ men, and over-dressed, artificial, weakly women, and, +resting upon some quiet hillside, suffered the glories of external +nature to fill your soul as you drained the cup of beauty, until +sunrises and sunsets, storm clouds and morning mists, broad bands of +light and darksome shadows, steep mountains and curving valleys, +hurrying brooks and tidal oceans, dusky pine forests and tremulous +bluebells, dreamily floated before the vision, soothing care and the +petty wounds inflicted by the human denizens of this nether world? I +love my kind, I share their faults and follies, I pity their sorrows, +and would do my utmost to succor or to soothe; but I do not understand +them as I do the woods: their faces I readily forget, but never the +forms of mountain crag, of noble tree, or of first spring wild flower. +Among men I may be misunderstood, disliked perhaps, or, more generally, +simply ignored and overlooked; but among the hills I fear no harsh, no +indifferent word: each treasure of beauty breathes to me of One who +knows my every heart-beat, One whom I can love without fear of wound or +disenchantment. The mountain clefts have no unkind words, no +fault-finding, no ridicule, no rash judgments for the sons of men. They +offer clear springs, fresh fruits, and festal flowers, peace and rest +and pure joy!' + +'Really, Lucy,' said Aunt Sarah, 'I am not sure your rhapsody has made +the mystery any plainer than before. May I not, in my turn, ask if your +feelings are quite Christian? Are you not afraid you entertain a species +of repulsion toward your fellow men?' + +'Aunt Sarah, I nearly always feel more for them than they for me. +Perhaps they hurt my vanity by overwhelming me with the sense of my own +insignificance. Be that as it may, their everlasting wrangling among +themselves is more than I can endure. When people begin to quarrel, even +to disagree warmly, the blood rushes to my brain, and I long for a cool +breeze from some piny height, a mossy seat by some calm lake, that +mirrors only the blue of heaven, the measured flow of falling waters, +the rustle of leaves, the hum of bees, or the song of birds.' + +'You are not strong, and have grown nervous, I fear,' said Aunt Sarah. +'I can remember when you greatly enjoyed a good discussion, and never +shrank from an encounter of opinions.' + +'I was young then,' replied Lucy; 'I am older now, and have less +confidence in my argumentative powers. I love truth as well, but doubt +my capacity to lift her veil, the willingness of mortals to seek her +humbly, or the certainty of their yielding to conviction, even were she +bodily, in unclouded radiance, to stand before them. I hope I may always +have courage sufficient to support my honest convictions, but I must +confess the effort has become a painful one, and I instinctively fly all +wrangling as I would the plague.' + +'Do you then desire to lead an isolated life?' asked Mrs. Grundy. + +'By no means,' replied Lucy. 'Duty and affection both bind me to active +service in the ranks of the world, and, to return to the subject of a +retired country sojourn, the freedom from _gene_, the absence of hurry, +the _confidentiality_ of nature, lead us in a week to a better +comprehension and appreciation of the few persons surrounding us than +could be obtained in years of ordinary city acquaintance. Bricks and +mortar and cut stones tend to the revelation of but few secrets, but the +evening twilight, the crescent moon, the morning dawn, the forest shade, +and the noonday repose are persuasive openers of hearts and weavers of +sympathy. A walk with Elsie is far more to me than a solitary ramble. +Then, too, the country population frequently exhibit an originality and +individuality of development more often missed than found in the +assimilating atmosphere of cities.' + +'I should weary in a week of such a dull, sentimentalizing mode of +existence,' said Aunt Sarah, with a significant shrug of her prettily +drooping shoulders. + +'Sentimentalizing!' cried Lucy; 'nothing can be more healthfully real, +more conducive to strength and will to work, when the last red leaf has +fallen, and the gray November clouds remind one that Paradise is not yet +gained, and that a world of toil and strife and passion has a claim upon +each mortal's earnest labor. Also, the comic side of life is by no means +wanting among the hills, and many an innocent laugh is to be enjoyed +with, not at, one's fellow creatures. Humor I love dearly; satire is +simply hateful--filled with pain. I can always see the victim (if he +only knew!) writhing and blenching beneath the bitter glances and +blasting words of fiendish tormentors.' + +'Yes, indeed,' said Elsie, 'many a merry evening have we spent laughing +over the day's adventures. The singular coincidences and strange +incongruities of American life are nowhere more strikingly exhibited +than among the hills and lakes bordering the great thoroughfares of +travel. Do you remember, Lucy, the transit of our friends, the foreign +professor and the artist, from the Catskill Mountain House to the head +of the Kauterskill Falls?' + +'Can I ever forget it?' + +'What transit was that, Lucy?' asked Mrs. Grundy. + +'You know, Aunt Sarah, that midway up the Clove, nestled against the +side of the South Mountain, is Brockett's, and two miles up the ravine, +at the head of the Kauterskill Falls, stands the Laurel House, where we +passed a portion of last summer. Two miles farther east is the steep +brink of the Pine Orchard, crowned by the White colonnade of the +Mountain House. Early one morning, a much-esteemed friend, one of our +best artists, left Brockett's, and, climbing the ravine, passed our +house on his way to the North Mountain, whence a sketch was desired. We +had had nearly four weeks of continued rain, the brooks were full, the +falls magnificent, the roads in some parts under water, and every +pathway a running stream. We were daily expecting the arrival from +abroad of a gentleman whom I had never seen, but who was well known to, +and highly regarded by, sundry members of our family. He had written to +announce his coming, but we had failed to receive his letter, and, +consequently, when he, on the afternoon of the day already mentioned, +arrived at the Mountain House, he found no one waiting to receive him, +and no carriage to convey him to his final destination. No vehicle was +to be obtained at the great caravansary, and he was vainly endeavoring +to have at least a note despatched to our address, when the artist, who +had meantime finished his sketch and descended the North Mountain on his +way home, entered the office. He was weary from a toilsome walk under +heavy trappings, but hearing a fellow mortal in distress, and partially +learning the cause, his habitual kindness of heart induced him to say to +the stranger that he was about to walk over to the Laurel House, and +would lead the way, if he chose to follow. The professor, despairing of +his ability to make any more comfortable arrangement, accepted the +offer, and prepared to follow his guide. + +'Our foreign visitor was a tall, athletic man, with a noble forehead and +piercing black eyes. His attire was irreproachably neat, his +patent-leather boots rather thin for so rough a walk, especially as he +was just then much out of health, and he carried a heavy basket of +fruit, which he had kindly brought from a tropical clime to give +pleasure to his friends. He added to a generous and affectionate +disposition profound learning in languages, science, and philosophy, and +was a devoted patriot and lover of liberty. He had, however, landed in +New York during the terrible riots of last summer, and had hence imbibed +no very exalted idea of the orderliness of our population. He was of +course totally unaware of the frank confidence placed by man in his +brother man among our Northern mountains. + +'When the outside door was reached, the artist paused to gather together +his pointed staff, sketching box, and other _traps_. These implements +were evidently not familiar objects in the professor's experience, as he +supposed they might be part of the gear of a peddler, and hence +conceived a certain distrust of his guide. The artist was tall and +handsome, with a vigorous frame, a long, waving beard, a slouched hat, +and garments rather the worse for much exposure to the suns, winds, and +rains of a summer spent in the open air. One who did not examine the +clear eyes raying the essence of truth, and the high-cut features +bearing the unmistakable impress of manly honor, might perhaps have +erred with the stranger, and have supposed it possible that 'the man' +(as the professor invariably called his guide when he related the +adventure) might be a brigand intent upon luring travellers into byways +for sinister purposes. This idea was strengthened by the character of +the pathway chosen by the artist as the shortest route between the two +hotels. It passed through a dense forest, and was ankle deep in water. +Fallen trunks lay across its sinuous track, and no sound save a +twittering bird or crackling branch broke the silence of the rugged, +lonely way. The active guide strode on from stone to stone, returning +short answers to his companion, whose doubts began to take the form of +questions as to 'the man's' knowledge of the road, and the certainty of +finding the Laurel House at the end of this will-o'-the-wisp journey. +Weariness from a long day's walk and work, and the dawning perception of +the stranger's suspicions, were not calculated to induce a very bland +frame of mind or tone of manner, and the replies received confirmed the +professor's determination to keep a watchful eye upon his leader. He +fell behind a few paces, and prepared his only weapon, a strong +penknife, in case the enemy should suddenly turn upon him, meantime +consoling himself that, should matters culminate in a hand-to-hand +fight, he was rather the stouter and heavier man of the two. The thin +boots had soon been saturated with water, the basket of fruit grew +heavier and heavier, and the way seemed interminable. The guide, now +fully awake to the absurdity of the situation, and perhaps as much +provoked as amused, strode rapidly on, and, at a fork in the pathway, +momentarily struck into a wrong route. He was forced to retrace a few +paces, and the stranger's dismay was now complete--the way was surely +lost, and a night in the damp wood the least evil to be anticipated. + +'A wide meadow was soon after reached, but no sign of human habitation +greeted the longing eyes of the expectant traveller. Another band of +woodland was entered, and a deserted charcoal hut for a moment cheered +the heart and then dashed the hopes of our weary friend. The woodland +crossed, an open field and a cheery farmhouse broke upon his view. +Suffering the artist to hasten on, he eagerly bent his steps to the +farmhouse door, and there inquired concerning the way to the Laurel +House. He was in fact rather surprised to learn that he was on the +direct route, and now not far away. Narrowly escaping the fangs of a +cross dog, he hurried on, and overtook the now thoroughly amused artist +before the latter reached the long-expected Laurel House. That goal won, +the two gentlemen entered the office, and, as the rest of the family +were out walking, the professor sent to me the note already prepared at +the Mountain House. Not knowing that he had himself brought it, I went +into the bar room, where the first person I saw was the artist. I gave +him as usual a cordial greeting, noticing his travel-stained appearance +as bearing honorable evidence to a good day's work, and said I had come +to order a carriage for a foreign friend just arrived at the other +hotel. The artist asked a question or two, then said he presumed he had +brought over the very gentleman, and, with a quizzical expression, +offered to introduce me. The professor meantime had been watching the +interview with some surprise. He recognized me from my resemblance to +other members of my family known to him, and wondered to see 'the man' +so high in my esteem. He afterward remarked that he had thought it +strange that when he invited 'the man' to a joint punch at the bar +counter, the stranger should have drawn forth a two shilling note, and +insisted upon paying the whole scot. Night was rapidly approaching, and +the artist hastened down the glen while the summer twilight might serve +to illuminate the somewhat intricate way. + +'Bursts of laughter greeted the comical recital of the adventure as +good-naturedly given by the professor. The only drawback upon our mirth +was the fear lest wet feet and over fatigue might perhaps have increased +his malady.' + +'You see now,' said Aunt Sarah, with an ominous shake of the head, 'if +you will go to such forlorn, wild places, what may be expected to +happen. Had I been in your friend's place, I should never have forgiven +you for causing me such an uncomfortable, and, in one sense, dangerous +walk.' + +'Oh yes, you would,' cried Elsie; 'the remembrance would have added a +zest to the monotony of your every-day life, you would never willingly +have resigned.' + +'I presume, then, Elsie, you also have had adventures?' + +'Have I not?' replied Elsie; 'from the young Southerner who informed me +he would like the mountains very much if the roads were not so terribly +up and down, to the infuriated bull that took especial offence at my +white umbrella, and came charging toward me, with flashing eyeballs, +horns tearing up the sod, and hoofs threatening a leap over a low stone +wall, the only barrier dividing us.' + +'I suppose you call that pleasure, too!' said Aunt Sarah. 'Well, I must +confess I am more mystified than ever.' + +'I presume, Aunt Sarah, you could as little appreciate the attractions +to be found in a walk of over twenty miles in ten hours?' + +'Very well for men, my dear Elsie, but I think such excursions scarcely +fitting for ladies, especially for young and pretty ones. One of Lucy's +wild-goose chases, I doubt not! However, I am quite ready to listen to +your experience.' + +'One morning, at nine o'clock, Lucy and I left the Laurel House, +intending to visit the valley of the East Kill, a fine trout stream that +rises near the North Mountain, and flows into the Schoharie. The first +three miles being well-known ground, we preferred to drive, but left the +little carriage on the stony road to East Jewett, soon after that road +branches from the main Clove stage route. The day was magnificent, and +the view from the fir-garlanded sides of the Parker Mountain novel and +bewitching. The North and South Mountains, Round Top, the jagged peaks +bounding the Plattekill Clove, the narrow cleft of the Stony Clove, and +the terraced slope of Clum's Hill swept across the horizon bathed in a +soft September shimmer. A few birds were still piping, golden rods and +purple asters lighted up the wayside, and luscious blackberries, large +as Lawtons, hung in great clusters, from which no mortal hand had as yet +plucked a single berry. There they grew all for us and the birds, and +you may be sure we enjoyed this feast so lavishly spread in the +wilderness. The crown of the hill passed, we left the lovely view +behind, and began the descent into the valley of the East Kill. The +forest growth was here dense and of various species, and the road, +although solitary, apparently well worn. An ominous rustling among the +trees was the only sound we heard until we again reached the open +country, where a market cart, driven by a woman, assured us of some near +habitation. A long, broken valley lies between the hills bordering the +Schoharie, and the river range, and contains the settlements of East +Jewett, Big Hollow, and Windham Centre. Near the first-named place (a +scattered collection of farmhouses), we struck the East Kill, and began +to follow it up toward its source. It is a clear, rapid stream, and we +did not wonder the trout still loved to linger in its cool waters. On a +rustic bridge we sat down and ate our simple lunch of gingerbread, +crackers, plums, and almonds. The sun was in the meridian, and +counselled return, but curiosity led us on to further explorations. + +'The winding road crossed and re-crossed the stream. It was bordered by +lofty summits, and led through many a clearing and past many a +farmhouse. At one of these we met a man hiving swarms of bees. He lived +below, and told us we were eight miles from Cairo, a town near the +eastern foot of the Catskills. The friendly mistress of the cottage +informed us that the pass at the summit was only three miles distant, +and we hence concluded to return home by descending the eastern slope of +the mountains, crossing the lower portion of the intervening spur, and +reascending by the Mountain House road. Mountain miles are proverbial +for their length, and so we found them, as we wandered on until +civilization and the last good piece of road was left behind at a large +steam sawmill. Our way now skirted the near hills, and passed through an +upland bog of apparently interminable width. Fortunately, the last few +weeks had been comparatively dry, and hence it was possible to make +one's way by springing from clump to clump of rank grass, or more +frequently from hurdle to hurdle, as long stretches of half-decayed +branches covered the partially hidden quagmire. The air had become +close, the sun hot; a dense, low growth of wood shut in the devious way; +desolation and neglect marked the environs, and we were by no means +sure we were on the right road. Even Lucy began to doubt the prudence +and final success of the expedition. A very suspicious circumstance was +the fact that this road, by which we expected to cross the mountain top, +had lately made very little of an ascent. + +'At length a fresh, cool breeze began to fan our cheeks, such a breeze +as is never felt except upon mountain heights, and steep piles of rock +rose upon our left. The road had shortly before become hard and dry, +and, as it now commenced to descend, we could not doubt the summit of +the pass was reached. Fine trees, however, so closely hemmed us in that +we could see nothing beyond, and not until we were some distance down, +did we come to an opening whence the lower country was visible, with the +Berkshire hills, the river, the city of Hudson directly opposite, and +Kiskatom Round Top lying to our right. We exchanged glances, for we knew +something of the distance signified by this situation of landmarks. +However, there was nothing to be done except to press on, which we did, +down a road at first enchanting, but finally detestable, where it had +been neglected, and had become the rocky bed of a stream then dry. We +could fancy it in the spring, at the melting of the snows, with the wild +water dashing down the steep pathway, and the white foam gleaming and +glittering, as a newly risen Undine, in the sight of the astonished, +far-off beholders. + +'Lovely vistas over the rolling lands beneath, and up to the mountains +we were leaving behind, charmed away fatigue, and made the way like +fairyland. Near the first cottage we again sat down to rest and consider +our route. We hoped to find some near wood road leading over the wide +base of the North Mountain into the Mountain House road; but never a +wood road was to be seen. On and on we walked, descending lower and +lower into the valley, and coming nearer and nearer to Kiskatom Round +Top. At a turn in the way we asked a party of carpenters working on a +house, if this was the right route to the Mountain House tollgate. Some +laughed, all stared, and one answered, 'Yes.' On and on we plodded along +a dusty highway, till we reached a house by a brook, with ducks and +geese, a garden filled with autumn flowers, and a pleasant old lady +sitting near the door. She also opened her eyes at our question, and +said the distance to the tollgate was eight miles. Eight miles to the +gate, three thence up the steep mountain, and then again two to the +Laurel House! This, added to the many miles we had already walked, and +the lateness of the hour, was indeed alarming. She added, we might +obtain fuller information at a red farmhouse to be found some distance +on. Again we walked and walked, passing through a wild region, Kiskatom +Round Top continually most provokingly near, the road evidently leading +due east, and sinking lower and lower toward the river. At the end of +two or three miles we reached the red farmhouse, and were glad to rest +in a neat sitting room, with a cheerful woman and two bright, handsome +children. The harvest work being nearly done, the husband was absent on +a day's hunt, but the aged father was soon called in to give us the +desired information. The distance to the tollgate was only two miles, +and while the boy made ready the team to take us over, the honest, +intelligent farmer gave us a few sketches from his life history. His +daughter wished him to don his better coat, but he replied that he had +never been able to think that clothes could make or unmake a gentleman. +He also observed that early adversity had been the greatest boon he had +ever received, as, had he never failed in his city trading projects, he +never would have come to the country, or have enjoyed his present health +and happiness. He was a good patriot, and eagerly asked the latest news +of the war. He had also pleasant reminiscences to relate of a Carolina +Senator, who, with his family, had one summer beneath his roof sought +health and strength under the shadow of the Catskills. + +'A lively lad and fleet team soon placed us at the gate, which the stage +from the boat was just passing. The little rest and drive had greatly +invigorated us, and we bravely pushed on to the summit, outstripping the +heavy coach, and reaching the top of the mountain just as the red rays +of the setting sun were flushing the hills with crimson. The hour was +too late to risk the dark path through the wood, and we continued upon +the main highway, making but one deviation down a stony road, and over +Spruce Creek, until we reached the Laurel House, where the twilight was +still lingering, and where we found our friends a little anxious.' + +'I do not wonder,' said Aunt Sarah. 'Such vagaries are enough to keep a +whole household in a chronic state of anxiety. And I really cannot see +what you had gained!' + +'I have only given you a simple statement of the facts,' replied Elsie; +'to know our feelings by the way, the delight we experienced, all we +learned, including geography and topography, and the life and health we +drank in at every step, you must take that very same walk.' + +'More inscrutable mysteries!' returned Aunt Sarah. + +'Yes,' said Lucy D----, 'inscrutable, and yet subtilely vivifying as the +breath of their Author, the Great Architect of this glorious universe.' + + + + +OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE BLACKS. + + +All thoughtful minds are profoundly conscious that the problems of war +are not the last and most important to be solved in our national +affairs. It is clear enough that this great convulsion must end; and +end, too, in the total extinction of that stupendous system of iniquity +in the interests of which it was projected. President Lincoln's +Proclamation of emancipation throughout rebeldom, and the recent order +to enlist the slaves throughout the Border States in military service to +the Government, emancipating all thus enlisted, whether slaves of loyal +or disloyal masters, with the certainty that there is to be no cessation +to the grand achievements of our arms short of the completest success, +all conspire to assure us that the dreadful _disorder_ hitherto +consuming our national vitals is to pass finally away in the convulsive +_disease_ of its last throes, so distressing to us all. It being thus +certain that this consecrated crime is to be dismantled, dishonored, and +abandoned forever, the question is forced upon us: 'What is to be done +with the negroes?' Some four millions of human beings, doomed to +remorseless servitude, denied the static force of social law, forbidden +by positive law the rights of education, through which alone are +attained the culture and refinement of real manhood--these are the +'freedmen' just emerging from the most insignificant nonage to the +sublime personality of citizenship in a Government of the people. Such +being practically their attitude, what are the real demands and needs in +the case? + +Reputed statesmen, journalists, public speakers, and politicians are all +ready enough to determine the matter. 'Let them alone,' say they. 'They +are needed where they are; and the respective wants of capital and labor +will regulate the intercourse between these simple and uncultured +people and the powerful and shrewd men who henceforth are to buy their +service.' Such, in our humble opinion, is not the wisdom of sound, +healthy statesmanship. Let us see. + +We cannot get a complete handling of this matter without first +determining the purpose and character of government as a principle; and +we cannot determine this without a clear understanding of the laws of +the human mind in its historic evolution. We must understand, then, that +government is legitimately only an institution in the service of +universal man. It is subjective, ministerial, instrumental always ways; +_aiming only at the interests of the governed_; else it contains an +element hostile to the Divine order that peacefully directs all +movement, and must therefore be disturbed with a commotion that will +either restore or destroy it. + +We may not hereupon assume that government must necessarily assume only +one form; for, being thus subservient to human use, to manly culture, to +complete social state, it must infallibly assume forms precisely +proportioned to the human conditions to which applied; hence, we must +understand the laws of the human mind, which display its _varied_ +conditions in the course of its evolution from infancy to manhood, +before we can have a clear, scientific conception of the principles, +operations, and organic forms of human government. Let us, then, inquire +briefly as to these laws. + +Hereupon we find the mental conditions of the Grand Man--the human race +at large--precisely analogous to those of the small man--the individual +person. And by exhibiting the mental conditions with principles of +government properly related, which rule in one sphere, we infallibly +present the corresponding conditions and forms in the other sphere. + +The human mind, then, is a three-fold form, each fold having its own +distinct character, in consequence of which it is broadly and very +definitely individualized. Childhood, youthhood, and manhood, constitute +this triple form. The slightest consideration will readily confirm one +as to the propriety of this analysis; for, one cannot fail to see that +the distinct characteristics of each are broad and marked, and therefore +necessarily discriminate to any completeness of thought upon this +subject. Childhood is a form of total inexperience and unlimited +dependence. Youthhood is a form of growth from the helplessness of the +child to the strength and completeness of the man; involving the trials +of experimental endeavor, attended with the numerous buffs and rebuffs +so surely the witness of vital efforts toward fulness. Manhood is the +form of fulness, completeness, maturity. It is the form of luscious +juices ultimated in the perfectly rounded and glowing fruitage; juices +that pressed the tender bud into the thousand charms of floral beauty, +and thence moulded and urged the growing form to its crowning +excellence. + +Childhood, therefore, is a form in which activities are commanded from +without; as the parent commands the child, knowing that the child's best +interests--the ultimate realization of true, manly freedom--are only to +be realized through such arbitrary tutelage. Youthhood is a form of +rational freedom, wherein the subject's moral freedom is stimulated +under various forms of appeal in behalf of right doing. Here the careful +parent keeps the reins firmly in hand, but still slackens them to allow +the plunging steed to determine his own career; overjoyed if he choose +rightly and make his course with vigor and safety; sad and anxious if +forced to draw rein and urge anew the proper direction. It is evident +that the subject's activities here are partly self-determined or free, +and partly coerced or outwardly imposed. + +Manhood is a form that repudiates all methods of external appliances, +scales the bounds of parental dictation, and finds only life's fulness +in a freedom all aglow with the soul's adoration. It knows no law but +that of attraction; feels no impulse but that of love. Its activities +are perfectly free or spontaneous. The human mind thus falling under +this triple order of development, inevitably projects governmental forms +strictly proportioned or related thereto. And this is true regarding any +of its organized forms, from the individual to the human race at large: +hence the infantile condition of a people or a nation demands a +perfectly absolute, arbitrary, or commanding form of government; while +the youthful condition demands a mixed form; wherein the ruled are +partly free or self-determined, and partly subject or directed by the +reigning authority; and the manly condition demands a system of pure +self-government, wherein the law is written on the heart. + +It must be borne in mind that government is solely instrumental or +ministerial to human use; being designed to mould and fashion unfolding +human powers to higher and still higher social conditions, tending all +to that perfect ultimate wherein life and law are both spontaneous and +exactly balanced, and nothing detrimental to the dearest interests of +manhood can by possibility exist. + +Government, then, of whatever kind, must always be administered with +strict regard for the interests of the governed; and it is the endeavor +to subvert and overcome this legitimate principle of government, through +the mistaken selfishness of ruling powers, which attempt to administer +in behalf of their own lusts and in violation of universal ends, which +has kept and is keeping up now the convulsions that shake and try civil +institutions to their utmost. + +The theory or declaratory form of our Government stands out, boldly and +distinctly, as that of the highest order. In theory it is the form +proportionate to full manhood; planting and fostering institutions +tending to promote the free play of all that is great and glorious in +human character. It does not thus far practically realize its theory, +because, without regard to this incongruous system of inhumanity, which, +by its very nature, can find no harmony nor peace in connection, nations +themselves wear the human form, and must, therefore, realize the various +states of infancy, youthfulness, and manhood--of germ, growth, and +fruitage. This is true of whatever national form. Nationalities founded +upon the principles of absolutism, embody and express the same laws and +conditions. Their principle of supreme external authority is first a +condition of germination, then of growth or labored effort toward +maturity, and lastly of fruitage, in which the whole form is matured in +perfectly organic completeness, manifesting despotism in government, in +orderly or scientific proportions. + +Our nation, then, has not realized its highest conditions, because it is +as yet only germinal, or the national child-man; or, at best, is but the +vigorous blade, or national youth-man; while the corn, fully ripe in the +ear--the national man-man--is reserved unto the glory of the approaching +future, whose rays already dawn upon us and illustrate the clouds, that +have hitherto hung over us and darkened our way, with the power and +great glory of the coming of the Son of Man. + +Let us now try to draw nearer to the mark at which we principally aimed +in projecting this article. We said that the 'let-them-alone' system, +concerning the nation's 'freedmen,' is not the system of sound +statesmanship. Why not? Because they are a people in a state of +infantile weakness and inexperience; whom, from the irrepressible laws +and conditions of the human mind, we _must_ govern and control, either +wisely and beneficently or otherwise. To unloose the chains that have +bound them, and set them adrift to contend and compete under our +methods of individualism or isolated interests, is to doom them to +conditions hardly to be preferred to those from which they are about to +escape. This is certainly true with respect to a large majority. Witness +the state of our weakest white laborers, particularly in all our large +cities, and some few years back. See them by thousands and tens of +thousands imploring for employment, and only too happy if they may find +it at the most repulsive and unwholesome labor, sufficient to stay their +famished frames and adjourn for a time the pangs of hunger and frosts. +Driven in despairing hordes to beggary, prostitution, and crimes of +every kind, how fearfully threatening are the neglected duties and +obligations that confront us in their behalf! What, then, shall we say +to those who propose to swell the frightful tide by turning loose +millions more, weaker and more incompetent, it may be, besides being +subject to the evils of the reigning prejudices against color? No, no; +it must not be done. The Government must become the visible providence +of these weak children. It must organize and direct their efforts and +interests. It must, at least, organize them into industrial legions, and +carefully direct all their educational interests. This work, too, must +assume paternal form. Government is rightfully the foster parent of all +its tender, weak, or by any means incompetent children; and unless it +acknowledge and fulfil its functions as such, it is not Divinely +administered, and stands accountable before Supreme Wisdom for all +remissness. To meet all the demands, an especial commission must be +established, and organized with a completeness that will meet all the +educational and industrial needs of these dependent children. This +commission must have a wise head and _tender heart_. It must be fully +alive to the great issues involved, and must be healthy and vigorous in +its extremities, where will come the immediate points of contact with, +the great power it is to operate--the organized freedmen. The expense of +this commission must not be a tax upon the Government, nor must +Government derive any profit therefrom. Such an organized directory, +with extremities all complete, may be amply paid from the freedmen's +labors; at the same time, those labors being doubly remunerative to +themselves, in consequence of the wise adjustment of the organized +machinery of such a commission. For the weak and uneducated to be in +complete subjection to the stronger and more cultivated is in strict +accordance with the divinest order; only this relation must be that of +dependence and providence, without a taint of selfishness. It must be +humanitary or beneficent in its aims, and not inhuman and malevolent, as +is always the case when the weak are subjected to distinguish, +aggrandize, and enrich those who subject them. That the freedmen may be +organized and directed upon such humane and economical principles and +according to the strictest method and order--an order amounting to +definite science--will be practically demonstrated when the Government, +in the full consciousness of its mission, calls to its aid competent men +for this commission, and moves vigorously in the work. The principles of +government which we have briefly suggested as the basis of movement in +this matter, based upon the laws and consequently applying to the needs +of the human mind, enable us infallibly to estimate the whole relations +of Government and people. Our Government being in its theory the highest +form--the form proportioned to manhood, or the human mind so matured as +to have the intelligence to perceive and the virtue to execute the +right--proceeds, of course, upon the declaration that 'all _men are +created_ free and equal;' but in the only practical sense of free or +self-government, which, in its very nature, can only rest upon the +virtue and intelligence of its subjects, men cannot be regarded as +'created' until they are made whole or complete in the crowning +intelligence and virtue of the loftiest human attributes. But as +government, of whatever kind, follows the laws of the human mind, is +first a germ, then a growth, and then a fruitage--shoot, blade, and +ear--our Government can only realize this greatness and perfection +(unlimited intelligence and virtue) in its matured or organic state; +when the declared principles of its form shall have become livingly +combined or organized in institutions of unlimited excellence and +power--institutions that will perpetually embody and express the exalted +human force that inspired them. That our Government has thus far failed +to exhibit such completeness, only argues that it has heretofore been in +a formative condition--a condition of laborious trial, tuition, and +growth, fitting it to realize ultimately its fullness, wherein it will +stand related to previous conditions as the grand, symmetric beauty of +the ear of grain stands related to its various formative states. + +If now our Government is, as we fondly hope, approaching its third +degree, its matured condition, with a race of dependent children +emerging from the lowest condition, that of chattel slavery, it is plain +enough what the relation of these people and the Government should be. +They are simply minors, subjects of the Government, but not a part of +the Government. The right of suffrage is not to be extended to them, +because, from the nature and spirit of the Government, they are +necessarily excluded from the _highest_ prerogatives of citizenship. +Their education and whole training are to proceed with a view to their +becoming ultimately a function in the government. + +If the principles thus stated amount to a _science_ of government--and +we unhesitatingly aver that they do--then it is clear enough that +self-government--the highest form--does by no means necessitate, under +all conditions, _universal_ suffrage. In truth, its orderly development +strictly forbids it. A government, founded and only healthily operated +on virtue and intelligence, must apply itself studiously to develop +these conditions in its subjects; thus, and only thus, may these +subjects become a part of the governmental power in its full, harmonious +development. Self-government must recognize the principle of universal +suffrage, because it proceeds upon, and, in its ripest form, must come +to that; but, as it is an operation or analytic before it is an ordered +form or synthetic in its character, it will, while forming or growing, +both restrict the rights of suffrage, and permit its subjects to a part +in government when they are not fully qualified therefor. Our freedmen, +then, are neither to be subjected contrary to the demands of their own +highest good, nor are they to become an element in government in +detriment to the public good. Hence they must not be controlled in _any +form_ of servitude to interested and selfish superiors, nor must they, +by partaking of the elective franchise, become, at present, active +participants in the government. + +Our current national history must be regarded as singularly marked by +beneficent Providential design. At the same time that a people hitherto +despised and oppressed are emancipated from a dreadful thraldom, the +conditions attending such emancipation are forcing upon the nation a +system of industrial organization which we trust will not only prove +effective in all that pertains to their future welfare, but will, at the +same time, become the example of an organization that shall emancipate +and enthrone labor everywhere and in all conditions. Seeing thus the +light of day streaming in with unmarred radiance, dispelling every trace +of darkness and gloom, we cannot but thank God for His wise +dispensations, and with renewed hope and energy press onward toward the +glowing east to greet the rising sun. + + + + +OUT OF PRISON. + + From crowds that scorn the mounting wings, + The happy heights of souls serene, + I wander where the blackbird sings, + And over bubbling, shadowy springs, + The beech-leaves cluster, young and green. + + I know the forest's changeful tongue + That talketh all the day with me: + I trill in every bobolink's song, + And every brooklet bears along + My greeting to the chainless sea! + + The loud wind laughs, the low wind broods; + There is no sorrow in the strain! + Of all the voices of the woods, + That haunt these houseless solitudes, + Not one has any tone of pain. + + In merry round my days run free, + With slender thought for worldly things: + A little toil sufficeth me; + I live the life of bird and bee, + Nor fret for what the morrow brings. + + Nor care, nor age, nor grief have I, + Only a measureless content! + So time may creep, or time may fly; + _I_ reck not how the years go by, + With Nature's youth forever blent. + + They beckon me by day, by night, + The bodiless elves that round me play! + I soar and sail from height to height; + No mortal, but a thing of light + As free from earthly clog as they. + + But when my feet, unwilling, tread + The crowded walks of busy men, + Their walls that close above my head + Beat down my buoyant wings outspread, + And I am but a man again. + + My pulses spurn the narrow bound! + The cold, hard glances give me pain! + I long for wild, unmeasured ground, + Free winds that wake the leaves to sound, + Low rustles of the summer rain! + + My senses loathe their living death-- + The coffined garb the city wears! + I draw through sighs my heavy breath, + And pine till lengths of wood and heath + Blow over me their endless airs! + + + + +LIES, AND HOW TO KILL THEM. + + 'I said, in my haste, all men are liars.'--KING DAVID. + + 'Ye said it in your _haste_, did ye, David? Hech, mon, were ye + leevin now, ye might say it at your _leisure_.'--DOMINIE + McPHAIL. + +The Dominie was right. It's a lying world. It does not improve with age +either. The habit has become chronic, and the worst of all is, that the +world has told some lies so often, that it actually now believes them +itself. The wretched family propagates, too, at a terrible rate. Lies +breed, like other vermin, rapidly, and they are not at all modest about +intruding in any company. + +I meet them in the gossiping circle, and I meet them in the courts of +justice. I find lies in politics and lies in religion, lies in the +pulpit, 'nail't wi' Scripture,' lies in the counting room railed with +false entries, religious lies, told by Deacon Longface, for the +advancement of what the Deacon calls 'the gospel,' and irreligious lies +told by Bill Snooks, and clenched with an oath, lies in good books, and +lies in bad ones, lies written, and printed in the newspapers, and lies +whispered in the ear, and any number of lies sent by telegraph! And +then, there's the walking lies, going about on two legs, saying what +they do not believe, professing what they do not feel, the most +scandalous sort of lies extant. + +I meet them often, too, in 'the best society.' They are very impudent, +you know. I suppose they force their presence on people. At all events, +I know I find them in respectable company, and they seem quite at home +there. + +My friend Jones has just built what the newspapers call 'an elegant +mansion.' I was invited to the house-warming. Mrs. Jones's set is very +exclusive, and I was greatly complimented, of course. I went. Jones has +taste. I noticed the plaster walls. Jones had them colored to marble. +The wainscoting of the library was pine, but the pine lied itself into a +passable walnut. The folding doors of the parlor were pine, too, when I +came near. They pretended to be solid oak while I stood at the other end +of the room. Jones had succumbed to the demands of his time, and had +made his dwelling among lies. His 'elegant mansion' was a big, staring +lie from top to bottom. From the plated door-knob to the grained railing +round the garret stairs, he had 'made lies his refuge.' I was bewildered +that evening. It was impossible to say what was real. Miss Seraphina +Jones had a lovely color. Was it _done_ like the folding doors? Mrs. +Smythe had the whitest of teeth when she smiled. Were they only a +pretence at teeth? Mrs. Robinson had beautiful masses of that chestnut +hair around her handsome neck. The bewildering 'mansion' of my friend +made me half doubt even that splendid hair. Tom Harris's magnificent +whiskers, I _knew_, were not colored by fancy to that depth of darkness. +At last I actually began to doubt the sincerity of everybody present. +Their warm expressions of delight with Jones's new house, their pleasure +in each other's society, their earnest inquiries after each other's +welfare, all began to affect me with a sense of unreality, owing to that +masquerading 'mansion.' I began to think, in such a house, there might +be more shams than the marbled plaster or the grained pine. + +Jones's church is not better. I occupied a seat in his 'eligible pew' +last Sunday. The lath and plaster walls pretended to be Caen stone. The +cheap deal was all 'make-believe' oak. The brick pillars were 'blocked +off,' and unblushingly claimed to be granite. As I entered, I observed +that the pulpit stood under the arch of a recess, roofed with carved +stone, with clustered columns rising on the sides and spreading into +graceful arches overhead. As I walked up the broad aisle, the recess +shifted strangely, and the clustered columns of 'carven stone' ran in +and out, at hide and seek. At last the truth flashed on me. The chancel +was only painted on the flat rear wall of the building! I don't know +what the sermon was about. It doesn't matter. How _could_ a man preach +truth, framed in such a staring lie? I have no doubt he tried to, for, I +believe, he is an excellent man; but what a place to put him, Sunday +after Sunday, with that painted cheat behind him, mocking all he says! + +But lies are venerable as well as respectable. There are old, gray lies +that men half worship. The more toothless and drivelling, often the more +venerable. They have imposed their solemn emptiness on men for +generations. They have awed the souls of the fathers. They make the +children tremble. Men chant their praises, call them great names, and +tell each other the old scarecrows are better than any truths--they are +so ancient, so venerable, you see; and all the old women, male and +female, believe them. + +Then, there are powerful lies. Think on the wars men have fought for +lies, on the millions of followers lies have had--how from their lofty +seats they govern empires, convulse continents, and drive patient +nations mad. Think on the money they have made, the mouths they have +filled, the backs they have warmed, the houses they have built, the +reputations they have created, the systems they have propped, the books +they have sent out, the presses they have kept busy. Think of the +Donation of Constantine, the Forged Decretals, the South Sea Scheme, the +Mississippi Bubble, of Wild Cat Banks, and Joyce Heth! He is certainly a +bold man who will rashly measure his strength with this mighty family. + +As the world goes, the Father of Lies crowns himself and claims the +sovereignty. 'All these things will I give thee'--riches, honor, power. +It is the old Temptation of the Desert forever repeated. He lies when he +makes the offer. They were never his to give. But it's a lying world. +There are millions of us cheated. They take the old scoundrel at his +word. + +You and I, reader, do not, let us hope. We agree in believing that, +under any circumstances, lies are not good; that, at all times, they are +unsafe, unwholesome, and in every way bad, very bad; that, on the whole, +it is not safe to trust them, or go with them. That is a good creed. It +appears to me the only creed, on this subject, that will stand. + +For this is, after all, a very solemn sort of life. It has a very +serious ending. A great universe whirls away with its ebon-faced +mysteries piled from central caves to highest heavens--a universe, with +all its mysteries, of hardest reality and baldest truth. A man, looking +up to the cold, clear, unswerving stars, out yonder in the wintry night, +or down at the grave that lies, somewhere, for the digging across his +path, must feel that a lie for him, knowing his place, knowing himself, +that a lie for him is accursed. + +We want the truth always--clear-eyed, sharp-cut, marble-faced truth. We +want to know the facts and realities of our position, just as they are. +The mariner sails away into the lonely sea. The mystery of the +unfathomed deep sways miles down beneath his passing keel. The mystery +of the overarching heavens swims far above with mazy constellation and +revolving sphere. Between the mystery of the sky and the mystery of the +sea he steers right on, in calm and tempest confident, in night and +noonday secure. For he there, on the trackless wastes that girdle in the +great wide world, alone with the silence of Nature and God, _knows_ the +facts of his position, the realities of his place. The charts lie spread +before him. Island, continent, lone sea-rock, hidden shoal, they are all +mapped to his eye. The faithful needle points due north. The true sun +rises where he always has. The faithful, changeless stars look down at +midnight. The truth saves him, rocked in the arms of the wild sea. The +reality holds him secure. Ask him, looking out, in the night watch, over +the black sea and up to the inky deeps, and down to the dim-lighted +compass before him, ask him his opinion of _a lie_! What his honest +notion may be about a false light on yonder headland, a false latitude +on his chart for this island or that shoal, a mistaken measurement of +depth across this bay or through yonder straits! Ask him the nature and +effects of _a lie_ in the chart he sails by! + +And we are all sailors. We want true charts. The false chart is our +ruin. The false beacon on the headland is kindled by the fiends. It +leads to death--a wreck-strewn sea, dashing white up the black cliffs, +and bubbling cries, rising above the tempest's roar and the surges' +boom, as, one by one, the swimmers sink to darkness through the foam! + +Nay, for us, sailors over life's seas, sailors into eternity's dimness, +the lie wears its Father's likeness. And the liar, the man who makes a +lie, or helps a lie to success, a lie of word or deed, a lying boast +merely, or a bad, vile, lying system, is my enemy, your enemy, +humanity's enemy. He has deserted God's army, has denied his human +brotherhood so far, has gone over, soul and body, to Satan. He is God's +enemy and man's thenceforward. + +That, I say, is, I trust, our creed about lies and liars too. We know +where the lie comes from. We know whither it tends. We have made up our +minds that it, and all its belonging, were best swept clean away and +pitched into the Big Fire. Blessed be the man, we say, who successfully +kills lies! He is a man to be honored and loved, no matter how rough he +is in the process. It is never very smooth business. It is not a thing +that can be well done in gloves. Let us not quarrel with how the +champion does it. The main end is to get the lies well choked somehow. + +But the one great difficulty in the way of such a man is, that so many +people believe in lies. My eager young friend, Philalethes, supposes +that, if he can only expose this falsehood, show up this sham, or sound +the emptiness of this piece of cant or pretence, he will do the state +some service, that men will thank him and call him benefactor. He does +the work, and lo! to his amazement, many excellent men count him their +deadly enemy. + +These good souls see what he sees, that lies, and shams, and cheats in +business, in science, in politics, in religion, in social life, are +often very successful and very powerful, and they come to _their_ +conclusion, which is not his by a great deal. He thinks the lie ought to +be hated, with a hatred the more intense because of its success. They +conclude that lies, in this world at least, are necessary. They have +seen, with their own eyes, how powerful, venerable, or respectable lies +are, and they act on their knowledge. They take the lie into sleeping +partnership--Quirk and _Co_. + +There are men who do not believe plain truth can walk alone in this +world. She needs a pair of lies for crutches! Men will actually write +and print lies for the truth's sake. Men have piously written down and +copyrighted lies (I have their books on my shelves) for the sake of +religion! They have so little faith in God, they think they must wheedle +Satan over on His side, or the truth and the right will fail. It is very +easy to believe in God for the other world, but very hard to believe in +Him for this. He will be omnipotent lord and master there, but here, +now, in this bewildering world, in this confused and wretched time, +where wrong seems so prosperous and lies so strong, is He omnipotent +here? Hereaway, is not the Devil mightier? Can we get along without a +little of his help? + +Now lies can never end till this ends. While men think them necessary to +truth, in business, in politics, in social order, even in religion, they +will stand. People must be got to see that they are evil, that under no +circumstances can they be anything else, that there can be no alliance +between truth and falsehood, that the false thing must, in the end, be +the corrupting thing, Satanic and vile utterly. They must know that, +just so far as anything is incorporate with a lie, so far is it foul to +the nostrils of all angels, and ought to be to the nostrils of all men. + +Weave a lie into your social polity. It may prosper for a while, but +soon or late your social polity runs mad. Take a lie into your business, +as sleeping partner, try to live and prosper in that connection, and, +some time, you and your business will go to the dogs together. Adopt a +lie in your religion, make up your mind, piously as you think, to +believe what you do not believe and cannot believe, attempt to sanctify +falsehood and lie yourself into a faith, and your sham creed and your +lying religion will do you no good in this world or in the other. + +Because a lie is a respectable lie, believed and patronized by +respectable people, shall you respect it? Because some venerable sham +has imposed its emptiness on a score of generations, shall we go on +reverencing it, and pass the scarecrow and its trumpery trappings on for +the reverence of our children? Shall we, for any cause, that is, turn +liars ourselves, and use the tongues God gave us to speak honest truth +and simple meaning with, to deceive, in small matter or great, one human +brother of ours, and make him think Satan's black lie as good as the +Lord's white truth? + +It may be strong preaching, but how can one help it? Never yet did a +true-hearted, clear-headed reformer set to work to clear away some old +cankering sore of falsehood from a people's life that he did not meet +with opposition. And never yet did that opposition come from those who +loved the lie for the lie's sake or the bad for the bad's sake. It came +from those who love Truth, but who could not trust her, who loved Good, +but had no faith in its success, who wanted to see the right side +triumph, but had no confidence in the right--who really believed, that +is to say, that Satan was almighty and the Lord's cause could not +prosper, in this world at least, without his help! The opposition came +from those who would deal gently with respectable lies, not because they +are lies, but because they are respectable; who trembled before powerful +lies, not because they were lies, but because they were powerful; who, +seeing shams and cheats so prosperous, so venerable, so strong, got the +notion into their poor cowardly hearts that they are strongest, and +wanted the reformer to come humbly, cap in hand, and ask them to let a +little truth live, a little modest, humble, unaggressive truth--it will +be very orderly, very quiet, very deferential, if they, the powerful, +the venerable, the respectable lies will let it stay here, in some +corner, out of charity! + +These are the men who, in all ages, have built barriers against heaven, +the cowards, the faithless, the unbelieving. They dare not trust truth +because it is truth, and good because it is good, leaving consequences +with Him whose special business it is to take care of consequences. No, +it is not love for the lie, but want of faith in the truth, that blocks +the chariot wheels of the golden year. + +For men do not love the lie after all. There's comfort in that. They do +not like being cheated. They never get quite used to it, as, they say, +eels do to skinning. They sometimes turn on the man, or the system, that +tries it on them, in a very terrible and savage manner, with fury as of +a mad lion, and take swift, fearful vengeance. The big, dumb heart of +humanity, in the long, run, can be trusted. It is often imposed upon, +its blind trust shamefully abused. Scoundrels exist and prosper on its +patience and credulity. But only for a time. There is a reckoning for +all such deceptions, if need be, in blood and fire. The dull heart +throbs, the dull eyes open, the great brain stirs in its sleep, and +humanity, true to its origin, rises to crush the lie with its million +arms of power. And earth-born Briareus, when his thousand hands turn to +right his wrongs, is not delicate in their handling. The echoes of a +French Revolution will ring for some generations yet. + +The man who turns to combat error needs the assurance of the true +instincts of his race, for he enters on a task that must seem hopeless +often. + + 'Truth crushed to earth will rise again;' + +so Mr. Bryant tells him, and he is much obliged to Mr. Bryant. But will +not error do just the same? He killed a lie yesterday, and buried it +decently. He finds it alive again and prosperous to-day. Cut a man's +head off, and he dies. There's no help for it, unless he is a St. Denis, +and then he can only take a walk with his head in his hand. But, if he +is not a St. Denis, he dies. That is the law. Cut the head off a lie, it +does not die at all. It rather seems to enjoy the operation. You will +meet it, like fifty St. Denises, on every morning walk, during your +lifetime. They have a marvellous vitality. I meet lies every day that, +to my certain knowledge, were put to death a hundred years ago, by +master hands at the business, too. They ought, in decency at least, to +look like pale ghosts 'revisiting the glimpses of the moon,' but they +don't. They are smug, comfortable, and somewhat portly, as from good, +solid living. + +Now this is discouraging somewhat. But there is no good in shutting +one's eyes to the fact. That is what I am going against. It is best to +know that lies die hard. They will bear at least as many killings as a +cat, and that's _nine_. Still, much depends upon the manner of the +operation. How is it best performed? Knowledge is needed in all +pursuits. There is a science undoubtedly in killing lies. If you wish to +go into the business, and I trust most honest men do, you need to study +it somewhat. Otherwise you will waste much effort, and get few results. +It is not easy to kill one wolf with a stick, but, call science to your +aid, and an ounce of strychnine, well administered, will do the business +for a pack. Instead of going into a rough-and-tumble fight with some +coarse, rude, vile lie, and mauling it to death by sheer force of +muscle, it is better to use science and put it to death neatly, cleanly, +and delicately, with unsoiled hands. Let us see if we can find the +science of killing lies. + +'The greater the lie the greater the truth.' Take that with you. A lie +must, somewhere, have a truth to prop it. In the heart of every big +successful lie you will find some reality. Of course you cannot build a +house on _nothing_. A pyramid cannot be constructed in the air. Now a +lie is _nothing_, the very definition of nothing. It is what _is not_. +So, of course, no pure and simple lie exists. It always builds itself on +some truth. It always roots itself into some fact. And there is the +secret of its vitality. You batter the lie with your logic, but the +blows rebound from the iron truth beneath. You assail it with the +flashing darts of your rhetoric, the points fly harmless from the marble +reality below. There is truth there somewhere. That is why your rhetoric +and your logic fail. That, too, is why one so often sees that most +bewildering and despairing sight, men clinging to a lie, honoring it, +trusting it, defending it, in all sincerity, against all assailants. It +is not the lie they defend, but the truth in the lie. What a relief it +was when I first made that discovery! I was ready to think meanly of my +kind, to distrust humanity's instincts for truth. The lookout was on +despair. But, when I understood the nature of the lie, I learned to +think better of my brethren, I learned to have more hope in their Maker. +No, there is no building on nothing. Every lie has a substratum of +truth. In fact, look closer, and is not a lie only a distorted truth?--a +truth torn from its connections, its features twisted out of all +symmetry, its outlines battered out of all shape? + +A man tells a true story to-day, in the hearing of one who has this +distorting power, an essentially untrue soul. He hears the same story +to-morrow, the very same, but so deformed, so mangled, so patched, that +it is, now, every inch a lie--the truth gone crazy. That is, a truth +half told is a lie, a truth added to is a lie, a truth distorted is a +lie, a truth with its due proportions changed is a lie. And a lie may +always be defined as a lame, deformed, or crazy truth. + +And it is the truth in the lie that gives it its power, that makes +honest men so often accept, love, and help it. Their conscious design is +to work for the truth's sake. It is the truth in the lie that makes so +many logic shafts, so many rhetoric arrows glance off, as from the hide +of a rhinoceros. + +And the bigger the lie the bigger also the truth. That is another bit of +science. If Mrs. Tattle tells Mrs. Tittle a lie about Mrs. Jenkins, she +knows very well Mrs. Tittle will not believe her unless her lie has some +spice of fact to go on, unless it has _vraisemblance_, truth-likeness, +an appearance of foundation at least. Mean little lies, like those she +sets going, do not need much salt of truth to keep them from spoiling; +still they require their due modicum, and they usually have it. As for +instance, she says, with a long face, to Mrs. Tittle: 'Mrs. Jenkins, the +widow Jenkins, you know, it's _awful_. She went over to Pinkins's last +evening; I saw her go, and I do believe she stayed till twelve, and Mrs. +Pinkins is away, you know. Isn't it terrible?' and she raises her eyes +in pious horror at the depravity of the world, and of handsome young +widows in particular. That is the _lie_. Now here is the _truth_. Mrs. +Jenkins _did_ go across the way to Pinkins's, because one of his little +ones was suddenly taken with some baby ailment, and the poor fellow, in +his wife's absence, was scared out of his few wits in consequence. He +sent for the kind-hearted widow, and begged her help for Johnny. She +came, nursed the young scamp like a mother, and returned at nine, with +her conscience glowing under the performance of a kindly and neighborly +act. + +Now, without this much of truth, the amiable Mrs. Tattle would never +have manufactured this particular lie. All liars understand the +principle. They scarcely ever, until they become blind and stupid liars, +invent a falsehood out of mere fancy. They pay tribute to humanity's +instinct for truth so far as to tell as much of it as possible without +ceasing to lie. They get in as great an amount of truth as convenient, +to save their lie from swift, sure death. + +But a rousing big lie!--not one of these small neighborhood affairs, +that buzz about like wasps in every community--but a grand and +magnificent lie, imposed on a nation, imposed maybe on half a world, +must have a corresponding truth to make it prosper. It takes less salt +to cure the small pig, more to cure the large hog. So, the greater the +weight of dead lie, the greater the amount required of preserving truth. + +Mohammed imposed a lie on half a continent. That lie has lived and, in +some sort, prospered to this day. All sorts of babblement have been +written and spoken about that wonderful fact. The truth is, Mohammed's +great lie was founded on, and propagated with, an equally great truth, a +truth amply sufficient to carry it. In the midst of abominable idolatry, +of stupid polytheism, Mohammed proclaimed: 'There is no God but God!' +His wild and foolish fictions were based on that grand, unalterable +truth. That truth is big enough to bear up more lies than even he +ventured to cover it with. The human heart leaped up to grasp the great +fact that props the Universe--'GOD IS!'--and, in its love for that, +accepted also the falsehoods woven into its proclamation. + +In all the universe the evil roots itself into the good. Evil never has +an independent life. Like an idol, 'it is nothing in the world.' An evil +nature is a good nature, only turned from its aim. Death exists only +because there is life. Disease feeds on rosy health. Devils are, by +nature, angels. The foulest fiend is only the loftiest seraph spoiled. +The evil is always a parasite. All things were made 'very good.' An evil +thing is only one of those good things corrupted. The lie, therefore, +grows out of the truth. The clearest heaven's truth, half told, +distorted, patched upon, is the vilest lie thenceforth. + +Now, when one wants to kill lies successfully, he must remember all +this. He may turn, as many have done, to the work of proving +Mohammedanism a cheat. He sees it is. He wants to get others to see it. +He brings his logic artillery and the rifle brigades of his flashing +rhetoric to the battle. But, let him not be surprised if his heavy shot +is powdered, and his Minie bullets glance harmless, as from a Monitor's +turret, for beneath lies the iron truth that 'God is God,' and that +saves the lie that 'Mohammed is His prophet.' He is not to rush, like a +madman, at the lie, and try to maul it to death by sheer force of arm +and hand. There is a hard truth beneath it, and he will only lame his +knuckles. Let him go at the thing scientifically. They say of slander, +which is one kind of lie, that, if left alone, it will sting itself to +death. It is so somewhat with all falsehood. One should pay less +attention to the lie and more to the truth. And the best way to destroy +the false is to teach simply the true, and leave the false no room to +stand on. + +It is possible to destroy one lie by another. They are cannibals, and +eat each other. Voltaire tried to conquer the lie of a corrupt church by +establishing the greater lie of the denial of any church. That is a very +unfortunate process, and yet it is common enough. The best way is to set +out the truth, plain, and simple, and whole, and so kill lies in flocks. +Positive teaching will be found the most effective teaching. The man who +takes up the business of combating error, may originate quite as many +errors as he destroys. There are a hundred prominent examples. Negative +teaching is barren business at best. Better show what _is_ the truth +than worry oneself to show what is _not_ it. + +For, as I have shown, all lies have some truth in them. That is why they +kick, and struggle, and die so hard. Now, take the truth, tear away the +lies patched about it, tell it all, and you have quenched that +particular lie that worried you, do you not see? and every lie that +roots itself in that given truth, or lives on its distortion. Declare +your one truth convincingly, clearly, warmly as if you loved it, and the +work is done. All that does not agree with that is, of course, false, +without further breath wasted. + +I might spend one day in proving that two and three are not four, +another in proving that nine and six are not four, and so on _ad +infinitum_. How much more sensible to prove that two and two are four, +and so end the thing! How much simpler to show what is the truth than, +laboriously, to expose the claims of a thousand pretenders that are +_not_ it! Here are five hundred John Smiths. They each pretend to be +_our_ John, the man we know and esteem so highly. I could set to work +with infinite labor, and, by having commissions appointed all over the +world to take evidence, and by employing a hundred or so of my friends +the lawyers, I might, after a lifetime of investigation, prove the +negative, that four hundred and ninety-nine of them are not John. But +how much easier to walk out the real John at once, prove the positive, +and let the rest pack! By proving that one truth, you see, I kill four +hundred and ninety-nine lies--a good day's work that. + +There is altogether too much of this negative style in all our defences +of truth, too much attempt to destroy what is wrong, and too little to +build what is right. And, after all, the business of the destructive, +though many times very necessary and very useful, is not the highest +style of work. You are never sure of your ground till, on the ruins of +the towers of injustice and wrong, you erect the fortresses of justice +and right. + +The wise way is to let truth fight her own battles. She will render a +good account of all her foes. Our humble duty is to stand by her, merely +as seconds in the strife, to help her to her feet should she fall, to +burnish her armor if the rust come to dim its brightness or spoil the +keenness of her weapon's edge, knowing that she, as with the sword of +the cherubim, will scatter, at the last, the evil legions and their dark +array, as the whirlwind scatters the chaff. + +I have written of a war that, as far as this world is concerned, is +endless. As long as the world exists lies will exist. Truths will always +be half told, half learned, half understood. The man who girds himself +to do battle with falsehood and wrong should understand that 'there is +no discharge in this war.' It will last his life out. He must accept the +inevitable condition of his place, and must be content to do his best, +hopefully and bravely, in this world-work, though he surely know that it +shall be said of him, as of those faithful ones who saw only in vision +the coming Christ: 'These all died in hope, not having obtained the +promise.' I have attempted here some hints for the truth-lover. I warn +him, on the start, that his work is endless, his discouragements many +and great. Often and often it will seem that the evil is omnipotent, the +false all-conquering. Again and again his heart must sink in half +despair before the world's triumphant wrongs, before its overwhelming +lies. In many a dark time the heavens will seem brass and the earth +iron, and the evil victorious over all. He must be prepared for this. +There is no good in cheating men with false hopes. In a world that +crowns its saviors with thorns, such things are, and it is just as well +to know it. + +But there are encouragements too. The conviction is perennial among men, +that, on the whole, the false must go down. That is one strong +encouragement. This is another, that, after all, men are truth-lovers. +The true instincts of the race will give themselves voice some time, and +when they speak they shake the world. On the whole, they are for the +right thing and the true thing. All history, I believe, will bear them +that testimony. + +But the great encouragement is, that the Lord is King, that a true God +owns creation, that He is on the side of truth, and armed against every +lie. I think, between ourselves, that is encouragement enough. The side +that Jehovah is on is a pretty strong side, no matter who is on the +other. In the long run it will be the safe side, and the successful +side. + + + + +WAS HE SUCCESSFUL? + +_PART THE LAST._ + + 'Do but grasp into the thick of human life! Every one _lives_ + it!--to not many is it _known_; and seize it where you will, it is + interesting.'--GOETHE. + + 'SUCCESSFUL.--Terminating in accomplishing what is wished + or intended.'--WEBSTER'S _Dictionary_. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The reader must imagine a lapse of five years. + +Hiram Meeker sits by an open window of his front parlor. It is the first +week in June; and, although early in the afternoon, the avenue is +beginning to be thronged with the fashionable world. + +Hiram sits, idly regarding the passers by. If you observe particularly, +you will perceive that the chair in which he is sitting is of a peculiar +construction. It is made so as to be wheeled from one point to another, +without disturbing the occupant. + +If you regard his countenance with a little more scrutiny, you will find +it greatly changed. There is no longer that firm texture of the skin +which indicates the vigor of health, and which shows that the muscles +are under full control. One side of the face is a very little out of +shape; not enough, however, to affect the appearance of the mouth, and +probably not to interfere with articulation. + + * * * * * + +Reader, the 'evil days' have come to Hiram. They _have_ come, but, as +one might say, gently, without aggravating circumstances or attending +misfortunes. Still, the evil days have come. The 'years,' too, draw nigh +when he shall have no pleasure in them. + +It is a twelvemonth now since the fatal, long-dreaded _paralysis_ came. +The stroke was a mild one, but there it was. All that care, and +forethought, and the best medical advice could accomplish, had been put +in requisition, and not without effect; but the millionnaire could not +neglect his vast interests, nor fail to mature plans which his fertile +brain originated. + +The machine gave occasional token of the wear and tear to which it was +subjected. Then Hiram would intermit his labor; would ride farther and +sharper of a morning; would subject himself to an extra amount of +friction. Presently the brain would work bravely on again, as of yore, +just the same--exactly the same. Hiram could perceive no +difference--none. Then would come another premonitory symptom, which +would be followed by other extra rides and various new courses of +treatment, till all worked well again. During these periods, Doctor +Frank, under whose charge Hiram had at length placed himself, would urge +on his brother the necessity of some relief from his self-imposed +labors. But, as I have intimated, the advice was heeded only while +danger was apparent. + +When the fearful visitor _did_ appear, Hiram bitterly regretted tasking +his brain so severely. He was now quite willing to obey every injunction +and follow every suggestion of his physician. + +To this is owing his present comfortable state and tolerable degree of +health. But privately let me tell you that he is failing--not fast, but +gradually, surely failing. + + * * * * * + +Let us return to the window. + +Mrs. Meeker's carriage is at the door. In a few moments Arabella herself +comes out and enters it, and drives away. Positively she does not appear +in the least changed since we last saw her. In fact, her health was +never so good as at present. + +'She will outlive me,' mutters Hiram--'she will outlive me, though she +is more than two years older than I am. Let me see, from April to +November is seven months. Yes, it is nearer three years than two. She +will outlive me, though. + +'I say, Williams!' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Williams, have you heard how Mr. Hill is to-day? I am told he is not +expected to live.' + +'No more he wasn't sir; but I met his man this morning, at market, and +he says as how Mr. Hill is very much better, sir, very much better.' + +'Humph! + +'Williams, who was that young man I saw come to the door this morning?' + +'I really couldn't say, sir--I didn't know of any, sir--oh, now I +recollect, sir: it was a messenger from the Doctor, sir, with the new +friction gloves.' + +'Humph!-- + +'You understand, Williams, if _that_ young man ever comes near the +house--you know who I mean--I say, you--you understand what I told you?' + +'Oh, yes, sir--certainly, sir.' + +'That will do, Williams.--Hill is getting better, is he?' pursues Hiram +to himself. 'Let me see--Hill must be at least four years older than I. +Yes, I recollect perfectly when he was at Joslin's, the time I came down +from Burnsville. Why, I was a mere boy, then, and Hill--Hill was a young +man of five-and-twenty. Yes, I recollect perfectly'--and Hiram smiled, +as if his encounter with Joslin and his clerk was fresh in his mind. 'So +Hill is better to-day,' he continued. 'He will outlive me too. Yet he is +certainly four years older--four years older.' + + * * * * * + +There may be some of my readers who have taken sufficient interest in +'that scapegrace Hill' to wish to know something about him during these +last thirty years. + +I will say, therefore, that when Hiram jilted Emma Tenant, Hill took a +perfect disgust toward him. He presently quit drinking and swearing, and +married a pretty--indeed, a very charming--rosy-cheeked girl, whose only +fault was, as he said, that she was foolish enough to love him. This +girl was the daughter of his landlady, and not worth a penny--in money. +Till Hiram's 'affair' with Emma Tenant, he had exercised sufficient +influence over Hill to prevent his committing himself. That resulted in +Hill's throwing off the yoke, and announcing his independence. Hill was +no fool. The fact is, Hiram, to a certain extent, was in his power. The +parties never quarrelled. But all accounts were closed between them the +following season. I am constrained to add Hill continued in the liquor +business, in which he amassed a pretty large fortune. He was afterward +made President of the Globe Bank, one of the largest in the city, as all +know, which office he continues to hold. He has proved a good husband, a +kind father, and a useful member of society. The phrase is a stereotyped +one, but it is true of Hill. + + * * * * * + +Leaving Hiram Meeker to pursue his soliloquy, I will endeavor to put the +reader in possession of such facts as may be necessary for the better +understanding of the narrative, and the present situation of affairs in +Hiram's own house. + +After the departure of Belle, I remarked that Hiram was busily engaged +for more than a week in preparing his will. With the defection of his +son and the elopement of his favorite daughter, Hiram's ideas took a new +and distinctive turn. + +He at one time had considerable pride in the idea of building up the +family name in his children, 'even unto his children's children.' This +he thought a laudable ambition, since he found the phrase in Scripture. +But when Belle deserted him, and he found himself not only forsaken but +duped, his feelings underwent an entire change. + +When Harriet, in her anxiety to induce her father to bring back her +sister, said, 'Give her my share--I shall not require it,' there was +stirred in Hiram's heart the old demon of Calculation and +Acquisitiveness. It seemed as if something had been saved to him by +Harriet's untimely departure from the world. It is difficult fully to +understand this, since, while he lived, certainly he would retain +control of all his property; and after his death, what could it avail +him? Nevertheless, I but recount the simple truth. + +That night he conceived the idea of a magnificent disposition of his +vast estate, to take place on his decease. Now he began to regard his +afflictions in a providential light. These were chastenings, at present +not joyous but grievous; but they would work out for him a more eternal +weight of glory. + +The consequence was, that by his will be founded three distinct public +institutions, all bearing his name; and prepared, at the same time, +minute directions how to carry his bequests into effect. These +institutions were not what are called charitable, neither did their +establishment indicate a heart easily touched by human misfortune. They +were calculated, however, to adorn and ornament the city, and to blazon +forth _H. Meeker_ to the world so long as they stood. + +One thing threatened to interfere with Hiram's arrangements. His wife +would have a right of dower in all his real estate, in case she survived +him. This annoyed Hiram greatly. + +He got along with the matter in a business way. Arabella herself was +called in. Hiram announced, in general terms, what he proposed to do, +and suggested that he was ready to leave her a sum certain, provided she +would relinquish her rights in the real estate. + +Under ordinary circumstances Arabella would have been indignant; but her +thoughts were of her son, now a wanderer from his home. She was +tolerably familiar with the laws which regulate property. She knew if +she insisted on her dower, which she had a right to do, that however +affluent she would be while she lived, she would have nothing to leave +her child. She did not give Belle a thought. + +After a good deal of haggling, it was agreed that Hiram should give her +by his will three hundred thousand dollars (just about the sum, by the +way, she brought her husband), together with the household furniture, +plate, horses, carriages, and so forth, and the use of the house during +her life. + +This settled, Hiram was left free to follow out his ambitious plans for +raising a monument to--himself. + +These occupy him entirely. So much so, that he has no time to look +forward to the great future which cannot now be very far off to him. +Indeed, strange as one may think, although Hiram feels well assured of +his title to the kingdom, he _thinks_ very little about it; neither does +the prospect give him the least satisfaction. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, where is Harriet? What has become of Belle! How did Gus turn +out? + +Harriet survived longer than one would have imagined, considering the +progress disease had made when we first became acquainted with her. +While she lived, she could not fail to impart her influence--the +influence of a gentle and a chastened spirit--over the whole household. + +I have already intimated that there was a new tie between her and her +mother--the worldly minded and fashionable Arabella. It was in the +interest which both felt in Gus. It seemed to be the chief object of +Harriet in living, to bring back her brother to his home, and to see him +in the right path. The mother longed to bring about the same thing, but +probably for very different reasons from those which actuated the dying +girl. But here their sympathies met, and they could act in concert. Gus +had always been sensibly alive to Harriet's regard for him. He loved her +with real affection; and when, in a foreign land, he read her letters, +fraught with the strongest expressions of love and sympathy, and filled +with the most earnest appeals from his 'dying sister, whose every breath +was a prayer for him,' it was impossible for his nature to resist. + +In a few months, Gus had taken his resolution. He abhorred trade. His +four years in college were not altogether lost on him. He felt quite +sure that his father would never relent. He believed he discovered in +himself a taste for the medical profession. So, after a short period, +Gus established himself in a very quiet way in Paris, and became a very +persevering and devoted student. His mother, of course, managed to keep +him in funds; but his drafts on her were very moderate. His reformation +seemed complete. + +After devoting about eighteen months to the study of medicine abroad, he +returned to New York. This was the season before Harriet died. He said +he could not endure the idea of her passing out of the world without his +seeing her again, and telling her what was in his heart. + +Hiram all this time remained, or professed to remain, profoundly +ignorant of what was going on. He continued to speak of his 'reprobate +son,' among his acquaintances in the church. The least attempt on +Harriet's part to introduce the forbidden subject was met by the most +stern repulse. + +But Gus came back. He was obliged to enter his own home stealthily and +in secret, where he deserved to be welcomed back in honor and with +reward. But he came. What was the joy, the intense satisfaction of +Harriet, to see him again! And Arabella--it was a strange sight indeed +to see _her_ give way to any real emotion. + +Perhaps, before this, you have guessed that Doctor Frank has had +something to do with Gus's return. He has had a great deal to do with +it. Doctor Frank is an old man. He has no boys--living. He wants Gus to +live with him. He will give him the benefit of his large experience, and +Gus in return will relieve the doctor of much of the hard work which is +constantly accumulating. This is Doctor Frank's plan. It has been +carried out, and Gus is now 'the young doctor.' Bravo Gus! God bless +you! + + * * * * * + +Poor Belle! + +At the end of a single year, she was obliged to quit her husband. Quit +her husband, did I say? I mean that her husband quitted her. After +spending a few weeks in travelling, the two set off for Europe; and, +going to Paris, they gave themselves up to the enjoyment of the gay +scenes which this remarkable city affords. + +'When the ocean shall be between us, papa will no longer hold out--I +know he will not.' + +So Belle said to her husband. But Belle was mistaken. Months passed, and +destitution stared the couple in the face. Then the various articles of +jewelry went, one by one--and then the crisis arrived. + +When Signor Filippo Barbone became fully satisfied that his +father-in-law was not to be turned from his resolution: when it became +apparent that the mother was not to be influenced, he came to the +conclusion that he had made a bad bargain, and resolved to escape as +soon as possible from the consequences of it. + +Belle, on her part, began to be disenchanted. Then all the elements of +her imperious, passionate nature, broke out in the fiercest, most +vehement, most vindictive manner. She heaped reproaches, taunts, and +maledictions on the head of the signor, who bore them with more +equanimity than would be supposed, but who determined not to have +another such tempest. One night he decamped, taking with him the few +remaining valuables the miserable girl possessed. + +Belle had not communicated with Gus, or even permitted him to know her +whereabouts. Now she wrote him a note, imploring him to come to her. He +responded at once, and instantly made what arrangements he could for her +comfort. After a season, and by the joint efforts of Gus and Harriet and +Doctor Frank, Belle was enabled to go back to New York. Her father would +not see her; her mother would not permit her to enter the house; but a +small weekly stipend was allowed, to enable her to board in a +respectable place, and to dress decently. + +Her unfortunate marriage has had very little effect on her. She never +was so handsome in her life. She enjoys exciting the sympathies of those +by whom she is surrounded, including half-a-dozen gentlemen who are +constantly dangling around her. A young lawyer, who was boarding at the +same house, undertook to institute proceedings for a divorce against the +absent signor. He was successful in his application, and Belle is now +legally free. She will probably marry some man of coarse taste, who will +be attracted by her fine form and showy appearance, to say nothing of +the effect of the prevalent belief that she will certainly be provided +for 'on old Meeker's death.' + + * * * * * + +So much for the present situation of the Meeker family. While Arabella +is taking her drive, I have had time to tell the reader thus much about +it. The carriage is now approaching, and I must stop. + + * * * * * + +The shadows of evening begin to gather. Along the great artery of the +city press the crowd. Their steps tend homeward. + +Still Hiram sits by the window, but oblivious of the current which +sweeps by. + +His thoughts go back to Hampton. He is a clerk in the 'opposition +store,' making love to Mary Jessup. + +'What a pretty girl she used to be!--how much she always did for +me--what pains she took to please me!' he mutters to himself. + + * * * * * + +Now he is thinking of Burnsville. His mind seems principally to dwell on +what was formerly of secondary importance to him. + +'Those Hawkins girls--they were good girls--very kind to me always--nice +girls--handsome girls--both of them in love with me. The widow Hawkins, +too.... + + * * * * * + +'Sarah Burns--she was a different sort from the rest. I don't think I +ever cared so much about her--too independent--thought too much of +herself. How quick she broke the engagement! I remember it was +preparatory lecture--preparatory lecture.... + + * * * * * + +'Emma Tenant--_she_ wasn't proud--Emma really loved me--I always, knew +she did....' + +He raised his eyes. + +Was it through some species of traction, as believers in odic force +other peculiar affinities, attribute to their influences, that he did so +at that moment? + +_There_ was Emma Tenant--Mrs. Lawrence--passing in her carriage, +surrounded by blooming, grown-up children. + +Her attention, it seems, was directed for an instant to the window. +Their gaze met. + +No outward sign that they were ever acquainted was manifested. But there +was, on both sides, a _recognition_, instantaneous and complete. + +'Poor old man!' exclaimed Mrs. Lawrence, involuntarily. + +'Who, mamma?' + +'We have passed him now.' And no more was said. + +'She loved me once,' was the soliloquy. 'That was a great while ago, +too....' + + * * * * * + +Another carriage passed. A bow from a lady, accompanied by a pleasant +smile. It is Miss Innis (Mrs. Leroy), driving out with _her_ children. +Though no longer young, she is still a most attractive and elegant +woman. + +'What a wife she would have made me! I should not be in this state if I +had her to look after me. She has a kind heart--always smiling, always +happy.' + +'Mr. Meeker!' + +The shrill voice of Arabella is heard. + +Hiram groans in spirit. + +'Don't you think you had better be wheeled to your room? You know I dine +out to-day.' + +'I prefer to sit here. Tell Williams to come to me.' + + * * * * * + +The shadows fall thicker and faster. + +Still Hiram Meeker sits by the window. + +Despite my real inclination, I have a morbid desire to linger by his +side. + + * * * * * + +I hear the sharp ring of the prompter's bell! The curtain is about to +fall. I _cannot_ stay in the gloom alone with that man!--Good by to you, +Hiram! + + * * * * * + +I breathe again--in the cheerful streets, surrounded by bustling, +earnest, sympathizing humanity. + + * * * * * + +Reader, what think you? WAS HE SUCCESSFUL? + + + + +APHORISMS. + +NO. II. + + +One may effect an _absolute insurance against all real evil_ by the +adoption of a single rule, i. e., _never to do anything against +conscience_. This must be applied in our treatment of ourselves, in body +and mind--especially the former; because there we are most apt to fail. +It must be kept strictly toward the soul, in view of its endless +welfare, and in all our relations to God and man. This, I admit, may not +save us from the invasions of apparent ill; but from the entire +_reality_ of evil, the security thus furnished is absolute. Conscience +is the voice of God in the soul; and no one truly obeying this voice +will meet with permanent harm. This rule, let us further observe, is +most needed where it is least likely to be regarded, i. e., in +circumstances where the voice of conscience is not so decided as in the +case of temptations to palpable vice. Our danger is often greatest, +where we have to resist only an obscure sense of right and wrong, in +seeking the lower gratifications of life. So much the more scrupulous +must we there be. + + + + +BENEDICT OF NURSIA AND THE ORDER OF THE BENEDICTINES. + + +Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the celebrated order which bears his +name, gave to the Western monasticism a fixed and permanent form, and +thus carried it far above the Eastern with its imperfect attempts at +organization, and made it exceedingly profitable to the practical, and +incidentally also to the literary interests of the Catholic Church. He +holds, therefore, the dignity of patriarch of the Western monks. He has +furnished a remarkable instance of the incalculable influence which a +simple but judicious moral rule of life may exercise on many centuries. + +Benedict was born of the illustrious house of Anicius at Nursia (now +Norcia), in Umbria, about the year 480, at the time when the political +and social state of Europe was distracted and dismembered, and +literature, morals, and religion seemed to be doomed to irremediable +ruin. He studied in Rome, but so early as his fifteenth year he fled +from the corrupt society of his fellow students, and spent three years +in seclusion in a dark, narrow, and almost inaccessible grotto at +Subiaco.[5] A neighboring monk, Romanus, furnished him from time to time +his scanty food, letting it down by a cord, with a little bell, the +sound of which announced to him the loaf of bread. He there passed +through the usual anchoretic battles with demons, and by prayer and +ascetic exercise attained a rare power over nature. At one time, Pope +Gregory tells us, the allurements of voluptuousness so strongly tempted +his imagination that he was on the point of leaving his retreat in +pursuit of a beautiful woman of previous acquaintance; but summoning up +his courage, he took off his vestment of skins, and rolled himself naked +on thorns and briers near his cave, until the impure fire of sensual +passion was forever extinguished. Seven centuries later, St. Francis of +Assisi planted on that spiritual battle field two rose trees, which grew +and survived the Benedictine thorns and briers. He gradually became +known, and was at first taken for a wild beast by the surrounding +shepherds, but afterward reverenced as a saint. + +After this period of hermit life, he began his labors in behalf of the +monastery proper. In that mountainous region he established, in +succession, twelve cloisters, each with twelve monks and a superior, +himself holding the oversight of all. The persecution of an unworthy +priest caused him, however, to leave Subiaco, and retire to a wild but +picturesque mountain district in the Neapolitan province upon the +boundaries of Samnium and Campania. There he destroyed the remnants of +idolatry, converted many of the pagan inhabitants to Christianity by his +preaching and miracles, and in the year 529, under many difficulties, +founded upon the ruins of a temple of Apollo the renowned cloister of +Monte Cassino,[6] the alma mater and capital of his order. Here he +labored fourteen years till his death. Although never ordained to the +priesthood, his life there was rather that of a missionary and apostle +than of a solitary. He cultivated the soil, fed the poor, healed the +sick, preached to the neighboring population, directed the young monks, +who in increasing numbers flocked to him, and organized the monastic +life upon a fixed method or rule, which he himself conscientiously +observed. His power over the hearts and the veneration in which he was +held is illustrated by the visit of Jotila, in 542, the barbarian king, +the victor of the Romans and master of Italy, who threw himself on his +face before the saint, accepted his reproof and exhortations, asked his +blessing, and left a better man, but fell, after ten years' reign, as +Benedict had predicted, in a great battle with the Graeco-Roman army +under Narses. Benedict died, after partaking of the holy communion, +praying, in standing posture at the foot of the altar, on the 21st of +March, 543, and was buried by the side of his sister, Scholastica, who +had established a nunnery near Monte Cassino, and died a few weeks +before him. They met only once a year on the side of the mountain for +prayer and pious conversation. On the day of his departure two monks saw +in a vision a shining pathway of stars leading from Monte Cassino to +heaven, and heard a voice that said by this road Benedict, the well +beloved of God, had ascended to heaven.[7] + +His biographer, Pope Gregory I., in the second book of his Dialogues, +ascribes to him miraculous prophecies and healings, and even a raising +of the dead.[8] With reference to his want of secular culture and his +spiritual knowledge, he calls him a learned ignorant and an unlettered +sage.[9] At all events he possessed the genius of a lawgiver, and holds +the first place among the founders of monastic orders, though his person +and life are much less interesting than those of a Bernard of Clairvaux, +a Francis of Assisi, and an Ignatius of Loyola. + +The rule of St. Benedict, on which his fame rests, forms an epoch in the +history of monasticism. In a short time it superseded all contemporary +and older rules of the kind, and became the immortal code of the most +illustrious branch of the monastic army, and the basis of the whole +Roman Catholic cloister life.[10] It consists of a preface or +_prologus_, and a series of moral, social, liturgical, and penal +ordinances, in seventy-three chapters. It shows a true knowledge of +human nature, the practical wisdom of Rome, and adaptation to Western +customs; and it combines simplicity with completeness, strictness with +gentleness, humility with courage, and gives the whole cloister life a +fixed unity and compact organization, which, like the episcopate, +possessed an unlimited versatility and power of expansion. It made every +cloister an _ecclesiola in ecclesia_, reflecting the relation of the +bishop to his charge, the monarchical principle of authority on the +democratic basis of the equality of the brethren, though claiming a +higher degree of perfection than could be realized in the great secular +church. For the rude and undisciplined world of the Middle Age, the +Benedictine rule furnished a wholesome course of training and a constant +stimulus to the obedience, self-control, order, and industry which were +indispensable to the regeneration and healthy growth of social life.[11] + +The spirit of the rule may be judged from the following sentences of the +_prologus_, which contains pious exhortations: 'Having thus,' he says, +'my brethren, asked of the Lord who shall dwell in His tabernacle, we +have heard the precepts prescribed to such a one. If we fulfil these +conditions we shall be heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Let us, then, +prepare our hearts and bodies to fight under a holy obedience to these +precepts; and if it is not always possible for nature to obey, let us +ask the Lord that He would deign to give us the succor of His grace. +Would we avoid the pains of hell and attain eternal life while there is +still time, while we are still in this mortal body, and while the light +of this life is bestowed upon us for that purpose, let us run and strive +so as to reap an eternal reward. We must, then, form a _school of divine +servitude_, in which, we trust, nothing too heavy or rigorous will be +established. But if, in conformity with right and justice, we should +exercise a little severity for the amendment of vices or the +preservation of charity, beware of fleeing under the impulse of terror +from the way of salvation, which cannot but have a hard beginning. When +man has walked for some time in obedience and faith, his heart will +expand, and he will run with the unspeakable sweetness of love in the +way of God's commandments. May He grant that, never straying from the +instruction of the Master, and persevering in His doctrine in the +monastery until death, we may share by patience in the sufferings of +Christ, and be worthy to share together His kingdom.' + +The leading provisions of this rule are as follows: + +At the head of each society stands an abbot, who is elected by the +monks, and with their consent appoints a provost (_praepositus_), and, +when the number of the brethren requires, deans over the several +divisions (_decaniae_), as assistants. He governs, in Christ's stead, by +authority and example, and is to his cloister what the bishop is to his +diocese. In the more weighty matters he takes the congregation of the +brethren into consultation; in ordinary affairs, only the older members. +The formal entrance into the cloister must be preceded by a probation or +novitiate of one year (subsequently it was made three years), that no +one might prematurely or rashly take the solemn step. If the novice +repented his resolution, he could leave the cloister without hindrance; +if he adhered to it, he was, at the close of his probation, subjected to +an examination in presence of the abbot and the monks, and then, +appealing to the saints, whose relics were in the cloister, he laid upon +the altar of the chapel the irrevocable vow, written or at least +subscribed by his own hand, and therewith cut off from himself forever +all return to the world. + +From this important arrangement the cloister received its stability, and +the whole monastic institution derived additional earnestness, solidity, +and permanence. + +The vow was threefold, comprising _stablitas_, perpetual adherence to +the monastic order; _conversio morum_, especially voluntary poverty and +chastity, which were always regarded as the very essence of monastic +piety under all its forms; and _obedientia coram Deo et sanctis ejus_, +absolute obedience to the abbot, as the representative of God and +Christ. This obedience is the cardinal virtue of a monk.[12] + +The life of the cloister consisted of a judicious alternation of +spiritual and bodily exercises. This is the great excellence of the rule +of Benedict, who proceeded here upon the true principle that idleness is +the mortal enemy of the soul and the workshop of the devil.[13] Seven +hours were to be devoted to prayer, singing of psalms, and +meditation;[14] from two to three hours, especially on Sunday, to +religious reading; and from six to seven hours to manual labor indoors +or in the field, or, instead of this, to the training of children, who +were committed to the cloister by their parents (_oblati_).[15] + +Here was a starting point for the afterward celebrated cloister schools, +and for that attention to literary pursuits which, though entirely +foreign to the uneducated Benedict and his immediate successors, +afterward became one of the chief ornaments of his order, and in many +cloisters took the place of manual labor. + +In other respects the mode of life was to be simple without extreme +rigor, and confined to strictly necessary things. Clothing consisted of +a tunic with a black cowl (whence the name _Black Friars_); the material +to be determined by the climate and season. On the two weekly fast days, +and from the middle of September to Easter, one meal was to suffice for +the day. Each monk is allowed daily a pound of bread and pulse, and, +according to the Italian custom, half a flagon (_hemina_) of wine; +though he is advised to abstain from the wine, if he can do so without +injury to his health. Flesh is permitted only to the weak and sick,[16] +who were to be treated with special care. During the meal some edifying +piece was read, and silence enjoined. The individual monk knows no +personal property, not even his simple dress as such; and the fruits of +his labor go into the common treasury. He should avoid all contact with +the world as dangerous to the soul, and therefore every cloister should +be so arranged as to be able to carry on even the arts and trades +necessary for supplying its wants.[17] Hospitality and other works of +love are especially commanded. + +The penalties for transgression of the rule are, first, private +admonition, then exclusion from the fellowship of prayer, next +exclusion from fraternal intercourse, and finally expulsion from the +cloister, after which, however, restoration is possible, even to the +third time. + +Benedict had no presentiment of the vast historical importance which his +rule, originally designed simply for the cloister of Monte Cassino, was +destined to attain. He probably never aspired beyond the regeneration +and salvation of his own soul and that of his brother monks, and all the +talk of some later historians about his far-reaching plans of a +political and social regeneration of Europe, and the preservation and +promotion of literature and art, find no support whatever in his life or +in his rule. But he humbly planted a seed which Providence blessed a +hundredfold. By his rule, he became, without his own will or knowledge, +the founder of an order, which, until in the thirteenth century the +Dominicans and Franciscans pressed it partially into the background, +spread with great rapidity over the whole of Europe, maintained a clear +supremacy, formed the model for all other monastic orders, and gave to +the Catholic Church an imposing array of missionaries, authors, artists, +bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and popes, as Gregory the Great and +Gregory VII. In less than a century after the death of Benedict, the +conquests of the barbarians in Italy, Gaul, and Spain were reconquered +for civilization, and the vast territories of Great Britain, Germany, +and Scandinavia incorporated into Christendom or opened to missionary +labor; and in this progress of history the monastic institution +regulated and organized by Benedict's rule bears an honorable share. + +Benedict himself established a second cloister in the vicinity of +Terracina, and two of his favorite disciples, Placidus and St. +Maurus,[18] introduced the 'holy rule,' the one into Sicily, the other +into France. Pope Gregory the Great, himself at one time a Benedictine +monk, enhanced its prestige, and converted the Anglo-Saxons to the Roman +Christian faith by Benedictine monks. Gradually the rule found so +general acceptance both in old and in new institutions, that, in the +time of Charlemagne, it became a question, whether there were any monks +at all who were not Benedictines. The order, it is true, has degenerated +from time to time, through the increase of its wealth and the decay of +its discipline, but its fostering care of religion, of humane studies, +and of the general civilization of Europe, from the tilling of the soil +to the noblest learning, has given it an honorable place in history and +won immortal praise. + +The patronage of learning, however, as we have already said, was not +within the design of the founder or his rule. The joining of this to the +cloister life is due, if we leave out of view the learned monk Jerome, +to CASSIODORUS, who, in 538, retired from the honors and cares +of high civil office in the Gothic monarchy of Italy,[19] to a monastery +founded by himself at Vivarium[20] (Viviers), in Calabria, in Lower +Italy. Here he spent nearly thirty years as monk and abbot, collected a +large library, encouraged the monks to copy and to study the Holy +Scriptures, the works of the church fathers, and even the ancient +classics, and wrote for them several literary and theological text +books, especially his treatise _De institutione divinarum literarum_, a +kind of elementary encyclopaedia, which was the code of monastic +education for many generations. Vivarium at one time almost rivalled +Monte Cassino, and Cassiodorus[21] won the honorary title of the +restorer of knowledge in the sixth century. + +The Benedictines, already accustomed to regular work, soon followed this +example. Thus, that very mode of life which in its founder, Anthony, +despised all learning, became, in the course of its development, an +asylum of culture in the rough and stormy times of the immigration and +the crusades, and a conservator of the literary treasures of antiquity +for the use of modern times. + + + + +HANNAH THURSTON. + +PAUL. Well, Dorcas, now you have finished the book, what do you +think of it? + +DORCAS. I must confess, my expectations on the whole have been +agreeably disappointed. From the criticisms I had read, both favorable +and adverse, I was fully prepared to quarrel with it from beginning to +end. I find in it much power and sustained interest. The descriptions of +nature are admirable--fresh, unhackneyed, and vivid. Western New York, +with its blue lakes, sloping hills, shining brooks, quiet woodlands, +spring buds, autumn flowers, winding country roads, and laden grain +fields, stands before one, clearly pictured. The characters, with their +_isms_, seem like old acquaintances, and the seething, fermenting +condition of American society is most accurately represented. There is +pathos, too, in the story, and many will read it with moistened eyes. + +PAUL. So far so good, but--? + +DORCAS. But there runs through the entire work a vein of +sentiment or philosophy, which wears a very suspicious resemblance to +that of a certain school just now popular in France. I need not tell +you, Uncle Paul, how distasteful to me is that school, nor how false I +think the premises upon which it is founded. I am convinced there is a +difference in the mental and moral constitution of men and women. I will +not bore you by any disquisition upon relative superiority or +inferiority, but will simply give you a portion of my idea as I find it +laid down by St. John Chrysostom: 'Do not confound _submission_ with +_slavery_,' says the golden-mouthed Greek. 'The woman obeys, but +_remains free_; she is _equal_ in honor. It is true that she is subject +to her husband; and this is her punishment for having rendered herself +guilty in the beginning. Mark it well; woman was not condemned to +subjection at the time of her creation; when God made and presented her +to her husband, He said nothing of domination; we hear nothing from the +lips of Adam which supposes it. It was only after having violated her +duty by leading him astray to whom she had been given as a support, that +she heard these words: 'Thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he +shall have dominion over thee.'' + +Now, in the book under consideration, we are led to suppose that even +the 'exceptional women' find submission and dependence, not only +delightful, but absolute necessities of their being. They are only too +happy to succumb to the powerful magnetism attributed to men by reason +alone of their manhood. (A doctrine too repulsive to admit of +discussion.) I fancy that thinking, sensitive, and high-spirited women +have not yet ceased to find submission and dependence a _punishment_. +They may take up their cross cheerily, and wear it gracefully, but none +the less do they feel it to be a cross. As for pecuniary dependence, so +long as all goes smoothly and matters are so arranged that the wife is +not obliged to ask the husband for funds, the power of custom and of +legal provisions may be sufficient to prevent any disquietude; but after +the first misunderstanding, the first unkind word, _his_ money, as it +passes through _her_ hands, burns like coals of fire, and the bitterness +of her heart, as she perhaps vainly longs for some means of employment +by which to procure at least sufficient for her own personal expenses, +would cause him a new and strange sensation, did she not deem it her +_duty_ to suppress all evidence, even the existence, of such +self-assertion, and quietly shoulder this with the rest, as a portion of +the burden to be borne through the valley of humiliation into which she +has entered, and wherein, by reason of the especial power granted her of +knowing and loving God, she usually finds herself Heaven's own +missionary, the keeper and guide of souls. Now, do not misunderstand me, +Uncle Paul; when I say that marriage is a valley of humiliation, I +intend no reproach to men; I simply state a fact dependent upon the +nature of things, and upon the primal sentence passed against the pride +that, in spite of the prohibition of the Almighty, sought to know all +things, 'to become as gods.' Meekness, humility, self-abnegation, +affection, are the beautiful flowers that grow by the wayside; but the +pathway is not the less thorny, and no good can be accomplished by +denying or sugar-coating the fact. + +PAUL. I do not doubt the correctness of your views, Dorcas; but +your rather vehement statement of them somewhat surprises me, as you +yourself married of your own free will, and at an age when women, if +ever, are supposed to know their own minds. + +DORCAS. That my own marriage has been a happy one, and that my +good husband has striven, by recognizing my womanly as well as +individual idiosyncrasies, to render the yoke as light as it possibly +can be, is the very circumstance that gives me a right to speak and +offer my testimony against ideas which I think wholly unwarranted by the +facts in the case. The views of modern philosophers, attacking the +sanctity of Christian marriage, are to me perfectly abhorrent. Deprive +marriage of its mystical, sacramental, penitential character, and it +ceases to be the bulwark of a well-ordered society. I must again call +upon St. John Chrysostom to speak for me. He says: 'Marriage is one of +the most surprising mysteries, by reason of the sublime character which +belongs to it, of representing the alliance of Jesus Christ with His +Church. The necessary consequence of which is, that it should not be +contracted lightly and through interested motives. No, marriage is no +bargain; it is the union of the entire life.' This is what true marriage +should be; but in so far as mankind fall below the lofty standards set +before them, so far does actual marriage fail to reach its glorious +ideal. Meantime, reverence for maidenhood is one of the strongest +safeguards of the sanctity of wedded life, and no delusions of any +school, whether romantic, sentimental, Micheletic, humanitarian, or +Lutheranistic, should be permitted to obscure this reverence. Neither my +own experience, nor that of the young maidens best known to me, teaches +me that the idle hours of women are haunted by dreams of some human +lover, who must be found to save them from despair. I cannot think that +marriage is essential to, or even best for, the happiness of women. If +we enter the nearest institution of Charity Sisters, Sisters of Mercy, +or of the Poor, we cannot fail to remark the contrast between the +healthful, cheery, unsolicitous countenances of the inmates, and the +nervous, suffering, careworn faces of the wives and mothers in our +midst. Both live in the conscientious performance of equally estimable +duties, but the pleasing of a Heavenly Master would seem to be a more +peaceful and less wearing task than the gratification of an earthly +lord. Let us hearken for a moment to an eloquent French theologian: +'Woman's nature, in some exceptional cases, rises to such a height of +intellect and sensitiveness, that it ceases to be capable of accepting +that subordination which constitutes the essence of Christian marriage. +Think you there are not women athirst for the ideal; who are crushed by +the commonplace of ordinary affections; who would go beyond that narrow +circle traced round them by domestic cares? Give to such natures as +good, kind, and conscientious a husband as you will, do you think he can +ever satisfy the ardent longings of their mind and heart? Do you think +they can find in the family the realization of the brilliant dream +caressed by them from the earliest years of infancy? Do you not believe +that they will constantly feel cruel disappointments, infinite tortures, +and the deepest anguish?' + +PAUL. But if such be a true statement of the case, what are +these good ladies to do? + +DORCAS. The world has always need of intellect and enthusiasm, +and these, directed by the spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice, +without which nothing good or great can be accomplished, will point the +way to the fulfilment of whatever may be the especial vocation of the +individual. The author above quoted continues: 'Some heroic virgins have +played so wonderful a part that, by the sublimity of their devotion and +the power of their intellect, they have occasionally eclipsed the renown +of the most illustrious men. A St. Catherine of Sienna was the light of +doctors, the ambassadress of nations, the counsellor of popes, and the +admiration of her age. A St. Rose of Viterbo, a charming and graceful +child, became the intrepid buckler of Rome against the pretensions of +the Ghibelline emperors. A St. Clara, by her ardent love for the poor +and the Cross, was worthy of aiding the Seraph of Assisi in his +admirable reform. A St. Theresa astonished the world by the grandeur of +her character in the age of the Loyolas, the Xaviers, and the Francis +Borgias.' To these few but striking instances we may add Joan of Arc, +whose patriotism and valor saved her country from the dominion of the +foreign invader, and, in our own day, Florence Nightingale and Miss Dix, +together with hosts of courageous maidens, who in every Christian land +yearly devote themselves to the service of suffering humanity. I should +weary you, uncle, were I to pursue this subject into farther depths: +suffice it to say that it is one which no man, however tender or +talented, could ever exhaust, for there are chords in the feminine +organization beyond his comprehension--strange chords, the resolution of +which will be found only in that heaven where there shall be no marrying +nor giving in marriage. + +PAUL. You mentioned Joan of Arc: did you observe that the +author of 'Hannah Thurston' notices the fact, that while she has been +poetized by Schiller, Southey, and others, no woman has ever yet made +her the theme of song? + +DORCAS. I was no little surprised to find such a reproach +issuing from the lips of one who must have known that no man had yet +sung her in his verse who had not violated the truth of history and +smirched the beauty of a noble character, devoted solely to her country +and her God, by picturing her as enamored of some mortal lover. +Shakspeare must here receive his share of blame, although the national +prejudices still existent in his age may offer some excuse. Voltaire is +not to be mentioned, Schiller twaddles through a tissue of sheer +inventions and impossible absurdities, and even Southey, who strives to +be faithful to history, thinks he must invest her with a 'suppressed +attachment' in order to render her sufficiently interesting to be the +heroine of a poem. (Inconceivable and insane vanity, that imagines no +woman can live her life through without laying her heart at the feet of +one of the 'irresistibles'!) The historic character of Joan of Arc has +been terribly maltreated and misrepresented by every man who has +attempted to portray it, with the single exception of the German +historian, Guido Goerres, whose work, by the way, has been reverently +done into English by two sister women. + +PAUL. Well, and the final conclusion to all this? + +DORCAS. The final conclusion is, that a large portion of even +the worthier souls in this world, is drifting away into a sea of +materialism, shrouded in rose-colored mists of poetry and sentiment, and +it behooves every earnest friend of humanity to sound the alarm, and at +least strive to give warning of the danger. + + + + +GLORIOUS! + + + 'Far how can a man die better, + Than in facing fearful odds. + For the ashes of his fathers-- + And the temples of his gods!' + + MACAULAY'S _Ballads of Ancient Rome_. + + + Alone--and widowed so early, + Aged only twenty-one-- + Only so few of her years are past, + And yet her life is quite done! + + Quite concluded her life is-- + Nothing for hopes, or for fears; + Nothing to think of, or look to see + But a barren desert of years! + + Slender, lithe little figure-- + Graceful and yielding form, + Never again to be held in the close + Clasp of a manly arm! + + Oh the sweet oval face, + And the wonderful violet eyes! + No more to be sealed with true kisses, + And opened to love's paradise! + + And oh the sunny, brown hair, + Which breaks into ripples and waves + O'er her sad brow--like the laughter + Of young children over graves! + + Put it away under widow's weeds-- + Draw it as straight as you can: + Never again will the dear little head + Be held to the heart of a man. + + Dazed, she sits in the twilight + Of the funeral-darkened room, + Her whole soul gathered to listen--alas! + For a voice that is stilled in the tomb. + + Dear voice, now silent forever! + God help her! It seems a dream! + She hopes, even now she may waken; + But see yonder cruel sunbeam. + + How it wanders over the carpet-- + It lights up the distant room-- + It falls on his portrait--_his_ portrait!-- + His face shines out in the gloom + + As warmly and loving as ever;-- + But, oh, there hangs under its frame + The sword he has wielded so bravely-- + The blade that has lettered his name + + On the tablets of Glory--erected + O'er the bodies of thousands of slain; + Who have died to preserve the Republic! + _Our_ loss--but the nation's great gain. + + Wring the small, white hands together-- + Clasp them close over the breast:-- + Prisoned heart, throbbing so wildly, + Never again to know rest. + + Can you not leap and be joyful, + Knowing the nation is free! + Gentle-eyed Peace is but waiting + Sure of a welcome, to be. + + Ask not for paeans of triumph + From 'only a woman's' heart: + Alas! in the triumph of nations + She hath but an humble part! + + Hers to be patient, and suffer-- + While her soul goes out to the fray + With the one who is dearer than heaven, + To see him shot down by the way. + + Anguished, for drops of cold water + That e'en to the vilest we give! + Mangled and crushed and insulted! + God! can I write it, and live! + + Fold the hands o'er the soft bosom + Baby hands never caressed-- + Hush into patience the sweet lips + Never to man's to be pressed. + + There on the altar of nations + She has given the soul out of her life: + Holocaust greater was never: + God help the poor, little wife! + + + + +THE ISLE OF SPRINGS. + + +CHAPTER V. + +HISTORICAL SKETCH. + +Jamaica was discovered by Columbus himself, on the 3d of May, 1494, +while prosecuting his second voyage. On his fourth and last voyage he +was shipwrecked on its northern coast, and, through the cruel jealousy +of the governor of Hispaniola, was detained there nearly a year before +relief was sent. In the dearth of historical associations, I have +sometimes pleased myself with gazing at the high summit of Cape Clear +Hill, which is far and wide conspicuous along the northern shore, and +reflecting that the eye of the great discoverer may have often rested +upon it during his weary detention, endeavoring thus to raise present +insignificance somewhat by linking it with the one illustrious name in +the annals of the island. + +Sevilla d'Oro, the first settlement of the Spaniards in Jamaica, was +founded in 1509, near the place of Columbus's shipwreck. It soon became +a splendid city. Traces of pavement are still discoverable two miles +distant from the church and abbey around which the town was built. In a +few years, however, it disappeared as suddenly as it had arisen. Even +the cause of its destruction is not certainly known. It is supposed, +however, to have been a sudden irruption of the Indians. These were of +the same voluptuous and gentle race which peopled the other Great +Antilles, but, like them, might have been roused to temporary madness by +the diabolical cruelties of the Spaniards. If so, their brief revenge +availed them little, for by 1558, the sixty thousand Indians, who +inhabited the island when discovered, had been extirpated, it is said, +to the very last one. Near the seashore in the east of the island are +some caves, in which mouldering bones of the unhappy aborigines are +still found, who had taken refuge here, preferring to die of famine +rather than to fall into the merciless hands of the Spaniards. + +After the extirpation of the Indians, the labor of African slaves was +introduced. Some sugar was raised, but the greater part of the island +was devoted to the raising of cattle and swine. Besides the few whites +and negroes needed for this, and a small number at two or three +seaports, the population was mainly gathered in the town of St. Jago de +la Vega. This was built on the south side, a few miles from the sea, +after the destruction of Sevilla d'Oro. At the time of the English +conquest in 1655, during Cromwell's protectorate, the population +consisted of twelve hundred whites and fifteen hundred negro slaves. +They were summoned by the English admiral to take the oath of allegiance +to England or to leave the island. But they declared that they could do +neither; that they were born subjects of the King of Spain, and knew no +other allegiance; and, on the other hand, that they were natives of +Jamaica, and had neither friends nor kindred elsewhere. They implored +him, therefore, not to exact an impossible oath, nor yet to turn them +adrift in the wide world. But the misfortunes of Spanish Papists were a +matter of little concern to English Puritans. They were expelled the +island, but leaving their slaves in the mountain forests of the central +ridge, they planted a seed which for generations bore bitter fruit to +their cruel enemies. These slaves became the nucleus of those formidable +Maroon communities which for generations were a terror to the island. +Their masters, having conveyed their families across to Cuba, returned +with a body of Spanish troops, hoping, in their turn, to expel the +invaders. They intrenched themselves in a natural fastness that appeared +impregnable, and an English messenger being sent to demand a surrender, +the venerable governor, Don Arnoldo Sasi, it is said, ordered him to be +shown around the fortification, that he might see that it was impossible +to take it, and then dismissed him with a handsome present. But the +English soldiers knew no such thing as an impregnable fortress; they +soon stormed the height, and, as the Spaniards were fleeing along the +cliffs, picked them off like so many crows. A few attendants hurried +down the aged governor to the sea, and conveyed him across to Cuba. And +thus perished the tranquil and happy colony of St. Jago de la Vega. The +victors took possession of the deserted town, which has finally become +the seat of government. But they changed its Popish appellation of St. +Jago de la Vega to the homely but unimpeachably Protestant name of +Spanishtown, which it still bears in popular use, although officially it +has resumed its former designation. There were two Roman Catholic +churches in the town, each of which gave the name of its patron saint to +the street on which it stood. But the Puritans would know them only as +Whitechurch street and Redchurch street--names which, I believe, still +remain, curious monuments of Puritan scrupulosity in that southern land. +Spanishtown has increased in population to about five thousand, and in +its palmy days of slaveholding prosperity exhibited doubtless much pomp +of vice-regal splendor. But this has long fled, and its sandy streets +are now almost as silent and sombre in the glittering sunshine as if +traversed only by the ghosts of the Spanish colonists who dwelt here in +peace until ruthlessly thrust forth by the English invader. + +After the conquest, the island filled up with English, partly by +voluntary emigration, and partly by a double deportation from home, +first of refractory Cavaliers during Cromwell's protectorate, and partly +of mutinous Puritans after the return of the Stuarts. These often +renewed in the streets of Spanishtown the brawls of the mother country, +and the exclamation, 'My king!' which the negroes are fond of using, is +said to be a genuine relic of the time when it was the watchword of the +outnumbered but courageous Cavaliers. Even after the Restoration, the +Puritans were for a while in the ascendant in the island which the +Puritan protector had wrested from the great foe of Protestantism; but +gradually all traces of that hardy sect disappeared from a land which +an enervating climate and the rapidly advancing barbarism of slavery +rendered far fitter for another sort of inhabitants, namely, the +buccaneers. The buccaneers, it will be remembered, were not exactly +pirates preying indiscriminately upon all. They were rather English +corsairs, who took advantage of the long enmity between England and +Spain to carry on, in time of peace and war alike, perpetual forrays +against the Spanish settlements and commerce of the West Indies. They +were simply the jayhawkers and border ruffians of their day, and, with +some traits of chivalry, differed probably as little from pirates as +Quantrell and his fellow scoundrels differ from robbers. This villanous +crew early resorted in great numbers to Jamaica, which became as good a +base of operations against a power with which England was professedly at +peace as Liverpool and Greenock are now against another power with which +she is professedly at peace. Dr. Arnold, in one of his letters, says he +imagines the British West Indies have never recovered from the taint of +buccaneer blood. It is hard to say, for the universal corruption of +morals and justice induced by slavery, existing in the overwhelming +proportions which it had in the West Indies, renders it almost +impossible to measure how far any subsidiary influence of evil may have +helped to aggravate the mischief. + +Jamaica, like the other colonies, soon received a constitution. Like her +sisters on the continent, she opposed a spirited and successful +resistance to the early encroachments of the crown. When our Revolution +broke out, her Assembly passed resolutions declaring their entire +concurrence in the principles set forth by the Congress, and gave as the +reasons for not joining in our armed vindication of them, their insular +position, and the peculiar nature of their population. Had geography +permitted, Jamaica would doubtless have made one Slave State the more in +the original Union, and would have been one of the fiercest afterward in +the secession. We may well believe that nothing but the knowledge that +she would be crushed like an eggshell by the mighty power of England, +hindered her in 1834 from heading her sister islands in a revolt against +the impending abolition of slavery, and thus giving the world +twenty-seven years earlier the spectacle of a great slaveholders' +rebellion. + +The history of Jamaica, otherwise so monotonous and devoid of interest, +even to its own people, yet includes one awful event, the destruction of +Port Royal by the earthquake of 1692. This city, built by the English +soon after the conquest, on the tongue of land which encloses the +present harbor of Kingston, soon became the most splendid city of the +English in America. Its quays and warehouses, Macaulay says, were +thought to rival those of Cheapside. This wealth and splendor were not +wholly the fruit of lawful commerce, for Port Royal was the favored +resort of the buccaneers. Their lawless forrays against the Spanish +filled it with wealth, and filled it also with voluptuous wickedness. + +Tradition adds, perhaps to give emphasis to its doom, that just before +the earthquake, a successful expedition had filled the city with booty, +which loaded the warehouses, and even overflowed into the dwelling +houses and verandas. But the stroke of judgment came, and a few shocks +of an earthquake in a few seconds buried the greater part of the +dissolute and splendid city beneath the waters of its own harbor. The +decaying bodies that were thrown afterward on the shore produced a +pestilence which swept off three thousand of those who had survived the +earthquake. The sad remnant went over to the inside shore of the harbor, +and built Kingston. A poor village of some twelve or fifteen hundred +souls, adjoining the naval station, is now all that represents the once +wealthy and wicked city, the Sodom of the West, and smitten with a fate +like that of Sodom. + +The same earthquake which destroyed Port Royal, almost ruined the +island. Whole plantations changed their places. The mountains were +strangely torn and rent. In many parts the immense accumulation of earth +fallen from the mountains choked up the course of the streams for +twenty-four hours, and when at last they burst their way through, they +bore down on their swollen floods thousands of trunks of trees, +branchless and barkless, to the sea. The gorge of the Bocaguas, through +which the Rio Cobre winds in a glorious succession of cascades and +whirling pools, is said to have been entirely filled up, causing the +waters to overspread the upland basin of St. Thomas-in-the-Vale with a +lake, which lasted nine days before the waters tore loose from their +confinement, and swept over the plains to the ocean. There was evidence +of a slight subsidence over the whole island. The earthquake of 1692 is +undoubtedly the most desolating convulsion of nature which has ever +befallen any portion of the English race. + +For generations after the destruction of Port Royal, it was affirmed +that the spires and housetops of the sunken city could be discerned on a +clear day through the waters of the harbor. Even now there is a floating +belief that they may occasionally be dimly descried, though I have never +been able to ascertain whether it is worthy of credit. + +Since then, although there are often shocks of earthquake, sometimes +several in a year, and though some have occurred quite destructive to +property, there has been none to divide with that of 1692 its awful +preeminence of desolation. It is true, we know not at what time such a +one may come, and it has been truly said that 'this beautiful island may +be regarded as a gorgeous carpet spread over the deeply charged mines of +a volcano.' Hurricanes, though very much less frequent than in the +Windward Islands, have yet left their traces in the annals of Jamaica. +Particularly noted are those of the 28th of August, 1712, of the 28th of +August, 1722, and the series which, with the exception of two years, +annually ravaged the island from 1780 to 1786 inclusive. It was in one +of these that the town of Savanna-la-Mar was so completely overwhelmed +by the sea, driven over it by the force of the wind, that when the flood +rolled back to its home, not the slightest vestige of the place was +discernible. In such a region the petition of the Litany, as it is here +offered, 'From lightning, tempest, and _earthquake_, good Lord, deliver +us,' falls on the stranger's ear with unwontedly solemn force. + +The awful magnificence of these convulsions of nature is in strange +contrast with the insignificance of the record of human actions in this +island. Not that Jamaica was an insignificant member of the empire. Far +from it. The teeming source of wealth, she was, on the contrary, during +the whole of the eighteenth century, continually increasing in +importance. Even dukes were glad to leave England to assume the princely +state of a governor of Jamaica. Six hundred thousand African slaves were +introduced during the last century, of which number something over half +remained at the beginning of this. Human blood flowed in fertilizing +streams over the island, and out of this ghastly compost rose an +opulence so splendid as to silence for generations all inquiry into its +origin or character. It secured its possessors not only easy access, but +frequent intermarriages among the aristocracy of England, who thus in +time came to be among the largest West Indian slaveholders. Jamaica was +justly reckoned one of the brightest jewels in the British crown. But +the brilliancy was merely that of wealth, and as the ownership of this +was transferred more and more to Great Britain, the island itself at +length came to be of little more independent account than an outlying +estate. Petty squabbles between the governors and the Assembly, +occasional negro conspiracies, soon suppressed and cruelly punished, and +the wearying contests with the remaining negroes, who, under the name of +Maroons, long maintained a harassing warfare from their mountain +fastnesses, and yielded at last to favorable terms, are almost all that +fills the chronicles of the colony. + +The island society, unrelieved by any eminence of genius or virtue, or +by the stir of great public interests, presented little more than a dull +monotony of sensuality and indolence, on a ground of inhumanity. It is +no wonder that Zachary Macaulay, from his experience in Jamaica as the +superintendent of an estate, formed in quiet sternness that resolution +to devote his life to uprooting a social system whose presiding +divinities he saw to be Mammon and Moloch, which he afterward so nobly +fulfilled. The graces and virtues of private character that lent some +relief to this dreary picture, I shall speak of hereafter. + +One relief to the prevailing dulness of Jamaica life was found in a bar +of first-rate talent. There was so much wealth passing from hand to +hand, and so many disputed titles in the continual mutations of +ownership among the estates under the reckless system of conducting them +prevalent, that the disciples of the law found a rich harvest, and it +was worth while for a first-rate man to settle in the island. It is +thought that the lawyers of Jamaica used to receive not less than +L500,000 annually. Whether this was reckoned in sterling money or in the +island currency, I do not know, but probably the latter, equivalent to +L300,000 sterling. Of men not lawyers, Bryant Edwards is the only one of +the last century or the early part of this of any note whatever among +those permanently settled in the island. His chief claim to distinction +is found in his carefully prepared and judicious 'History of the West +Indies.' Beckford, the author of 'Vathek,' and Monk Lewis, christened +Matthew, the patent ghost-story teller of half a century ago, and more +honorably connected with the history of the island as a proprietor, +whose inexperienced kindness toward his negroes had almost led to his +prosecution, both resided in the island for a while. Jamaica had almost +drawn to herself a name far more illustrious than any or all which had +appeared in her annals--that of Robert Burns. It is known that he had +already engaged his passage to the island, when the course of events +turned him from it. He celebrates his expected departure in some verses +more witty than moral, in which he addresses our islanders as follows: + + 'Jamaica bodies, use him weel, + And hap him in a cosy biel, + Ye'll find him aye a dainty chiel, + And fu' of glee; + He wadna wrang the very deil, + That's ower the sea.' + +Poor fellow! had he really gone, the admonition to 'Jamaica bodies' to +'use him weel,' would probably have been obeyed by making him drink +himself to death ten or twelve years earlier than he did in Dumfries, +and thus would one of earth's great, though stained names, have been +lost in the inglorious darkness of a Jamaica bookkeeper's short life, as +many a young countryman of his, perhaps not less gifted than he, had +perished before him. + +Among the distinguished personages of Jamaica, I ought not to omit +mention of the Duke of Manchester, governor soon after the beginning of +this century, who was able to boast that no virtuous woman had crossed +the threshold of the King's House in Spanishtown during his +administration. So that if Jamaica has never had her _parc-aux-cerfs_, +she can at least boast her Regent Orleans. There is small need of any +special _parc-aux-cerfs_ in a slaveholding country.[22] + +In brief, except a certain interest attached to the struggles of the +barbarous Maroons to maintain their wild freedom in the woods and +mountains, the human history of Jamaica, from the English conquest in +1655 to the abolition of slavery in 1834, is little more than a +monotonous blank. + +She had a vigorous bar, a sumptuous church establishment, and boundless, +though shifting wealth. But all these together, smitten as they were +with the palsy of voluptuousness and oppression, had not the power to +bring forth one great name, to achieve one heroic deed, or on the other +hand, to foster any growth of humble, diffused happiness. Her sin, +plated with gold, dazzled the eyes and confounded the consciences of +men, but, like the ornaments of a sepulchre, it only beautified +outwardly what within was full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. + +Those events of her history which bear on the abolition of slavery will +be specially noticed hereafter. + + + + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE. + + +The rule held, anciently, that a nation's architecture was the exponent +of its national character, growing with and out of its social, civil, +and religious peculiarities, and modified by climate, habit, and taste. +In those early ages, the halcyon days of the art, men built with a +purpose, built what they wanted in a natural and appropriate way, +and--built successfully. So true was this, that to this day, most of +their relics proclaim their own origin, just as fossils determine the +relative positions of their enclosing strata, and history owes to +architecture the solution of many of her hardest problems. The ancient +Egyptians, for instance, gloried in the erection of the most magnificent +tombs that their genius could produce, and, ruined as they are, we find +that it is in their sepulchral monuments--the rock-wrought mausoleum, +and the stupendous pyramid--that their art-current found its readiest +flow. Compare these with the light and graceful structures of the Moors, +the cool, arcaded courts, and the tesselated pavements, the orange +trees, and the fountains. 'But no comparison,' says Fergusson, 'is +applicable to objects so totally different. Each is a true +representative of the feeling and character of the people by whom it was +raised. The plaster Alhambra would be totally out of place and +contemptible beside the great temple-palace of Karnak. No less would the +granite works of Egypt be considered monuments of ill-directed labor if +placed in the palace of the gay and luxurious Arab fatalist, to whom the +present was everything, and with whom the enjoyment of the passing hour +was all in all.' + +Still another idea, grander than any aspiration of Saracen or Egyptian, +we find, when Europe, slowly shaking off the lethargy of the Dark Ages, +was developing the idea of religion. It was material, however, as well +as spiritual. God was glorified, not only by repentance or holiness of +life, but also by the devotion of hand and heart and fortune to His +earthly temples and the jewelled shrines of His saints. All that impetus +which is now given to religion itself, was turned into the channels of +religious art. And yet, temporally speaking, how grand were the results! +Slowly but surely arose those vast and wonderful cathedrals, springing +lightly out of the quaintly gabled streets, with their richly wrought +transepts and their pinnacled spires. Not trailing along the ground like +the Greek temple or the Arab mosque--of the earth, earthy--but leading +the soul heavenward with their upward flow of harmony. Vast Bibles of +stone, bearing on lofty facade and on buttressed flank the sculptured +details of Holy Writ--silent lessons, but not lost upon the rude though +reverent men who dwelt within their shadow. It is sad to think that +there can never be any more cathedrals. For they _grew_ in those times: +now they would have to be built. + +But we are following a tangent. Our idea is, that architecture, to be +good, must be appropriate--expressive of the spirit of the age. It +should be an epitome of the nation's progress, an abstract of its +guiding principles, condensed, as it were, and crystallized into an art. +Of what use would a garment be, though ever so elaborate, if it did not +fit? Just so our houses, which are but a broader kind of clothing, +should be fitted to their purpose, or they will never yield us any +pleasure. + +Suppose that, in searching the ruins of ancient Greece, we found nothing +but pusillanimous, sham imitations of Egyptian art. Would we not despise +such a paltry method of making matter serve for mind--such a miserable +make-shift to save the labor of invention? And yet it is this same +servile imitation of classical and foreign models that is fettering the +progress of art in America. Instead of honestly constructing what we +want, and then decorating it with a style of ornament that should +assist, explain, and intensify it, we go wandering off to the ends of +the earth, building Grecian temples and Veronese palaces, some entire +and some in slices, dreary, indefinite-looking objects, devoid of all +constructive principles within, and ornamented with falsified gewgaws +without, stuck on in the hope of hiding rather than helping out the +flimsy design. Our 'national style' we are sure can never be born of any +such travesties. Borrowed architecture never fits well. + +The fact is, we ignore the first great principle--the essence and _sine +qua non_, of the art--DECORATED CONSTRUCTION. By construction is meant +that mechanical arrangement of parts which is best suited to convenience +and most conducive to stability. It is what the French would call the +_motif_, the end in view, while decoration is only the means. And the +moment we lose sight of it, in our anxiety to make room for some pet +ornament, that very ornament becomes an eyesore, and will persist in +spoiling the design, for the simple reason that the end is sacrificed to +the means. Set it down, then, at the start, that ornament must be +dependent upon construction, and not construction upon ornament. The +useful begets the beautiful, and the order cannot be reversed. + +But before proceeding to what American architecture might be, we must, +in all fairness, examine it as it is. + +Our great cities, of course, claim our attention first, for these +centres of wealth and intellect must necessarily be centres of art, and +there, if at all, are we to discover our prospects for a national style. +As a single example of what it has attained to so far, nothing can be +better suited to our purpose than Broadway, New York, our best-known and +most essentially American thoroughfare. But what to compare it to we +know not. Neither history nor geography affords a parallel. It resembles +neither the London Strand nor the Parisian Boulevard, nor is it like the +Ludwig Strasse of Munich, nor the Grand Canal of Venice; and yet it has +something or other in common with all of these. There is all the +incongruity of the English thoroughfare and the brilliancy of the +French, while the frequent succession of vast palatial structures allies +it still closer to the last-named examples. Perhaps, after all, the +Grand Canal--the silent highway of the City of the Sea--is more like it +in general effect than any other street in Europe. The one, it is true, +is as straight as an airline, and the other nearly the shape of an S; +the one a paved roadway, noisy with the rush of traffic, and, in the +other, the water washing the very walls of palaces that are mournful and +deserted--while, as regards style, there is scarcely a single specimen +of the Venetian in this country. + +But the resemblance is this: your prevailing impression from first to +last is the absence of all general arrangement, and the independent +elegance of each separate facade. Each tells the same story: it is the +wealth and enterprise of the citizen, and not the munificence of the +sovereign, that has added palace to palace, and made the dumb stones +eloquent. Remembering, then, that it is private taste and influence that +is to develop our art, we proceed to the analysis of the great +thoroughfare in question. + +Fancy yourself, patient reader, at one end of this street, so as to +command its vista. What do you see? Architecture? Very little, we +imagine. Save the buildings immediately at your right and left, all the +others are seen in profile, a contingency never reckoned on by their +builders. The decoration is all piled on the front, as elaborate a +design, often, as Palladio ever dreamt of, but at the side, every +cornice and stringpiece stops as short as if it had been sawn off, and +the whole side is a flat blank piece of brickwork. This is greatly +aggravated by the disparity in height, and the ponderous cornices. As to +construction, the prevailing type is a flimsy pile of brick and timber, +'put up,' apparently, by mutual connivance of the contractor and the +coroner, and screened off from the street by a thin veneer of +'architecture.' Now there is a certain merit, _sui generis_, in a clever +deception, but those in vogue here are too utterly transparent to claim +even this. The telltale wall of brick cheats you out of the pleasure of +cheating yourself, no matter how charitably disposed. + +Were it necessary to represent this street upon the stage, the decorator +would simply have to paint his scenes upon the edges, and leave the side +toward the audience bare. As you walk along you see a given building +sideways for five minutes or more, but you cannot see it as it was meant +to be seen--full in front--for as many seconds. We even know of churches +in the cross streets, though near Broadway, whose square towers are +stone-fronted after the usual fashion, but present nothing to the +crowded thoroughfare but undressed walls of brick! Yes, a Christian +church, _in flagrante delictu_. + +It will be objected to this that there is no use in finishing the sides +of city buildings, as they may afterward be hidden by others. This would +do well enough if they were all of the same height; but they are not, +and never can be. Indeed, a house is by many considered 'handsomer' than +its neighbors, just so far forth as it overtops them. The builder would +hardly think it a fair beat if the cornices corresponded. The successive +erections on a row of vacant lots, usually illustrate this popular +ambition. Some one secures the corner and builds his house. So far, so +good. Presently number two comes along, and, to secure himself from +invidious comparison, piles his house half a story higher than number +one. But his triumph is short, for the third aspirant soon arrives, who, +true to principle, takes another step in the ascending series. So it +goes till the block is finished, the whole thing looking as if +architecture was a sort of auction, in which the prize of success was +awarded to the highest builder. + +It being one of our social necessities that our houses differ in size, +we must pay some attention to their sides. Not giving them as decided a +treatment as the front, but something compatible with a plain surface. +And, above all, the principal cornice and roof lines should be carried +round on the sides, at least as far as they can be seen. In some rare +instances, where this has been done, it is astonishing to note the +improved appearance and _finish_, that it gives. + +Did you ever consider the superior elegance of a corner house? Yet it is +not so much the position as the fact that the position is taken +advantage of. Being finished on both sides, it gives to the mind the +idea of thickness as well as length and breadth. It is, in short, a +_solid_, while the affair next door, overtopping it perhaps a story or +two, is merely a _superficies_. + +But this is only a side thrust. Our 'commercial palaces' challenge the +same criticism face to face. For the front, considered by itself even, +is generally incomplete. A supposititious formula determines that the +house must be in the Italian palace style, but the narrow lot forbidding +an entire design, the builder, as he cannot put in all, puts in all he +can, so that, instead of the house being a house, it is only a specimen +slice of a palace. It has no particular beginning or middle or ending, +and, with the long viscera of brickwork trailing off behind, it looks as +if just wrenched out of the side of some Florentine or Genoese mansion. +And, in very truth, is it not? + +The common cause of these errors and incongruities is our self-abasement +to a style which depends for its effect upon continuous uniformity of +design, while, from the very nature of our society, our houses must be +diverse in size and pretension. We are a social people, it is true, but +our individualities are strongly marked, and our dwellings, while +designed with reference to each other, should never be too uniform. How +frightful those white-shuttered brick piles which monotonize the streets +of Philadelphia! But to assert its individuality the house need not +shoot up like a vein of trap rock through a stratum of conglomerate: an +American rises, not through the mass, but out of it. + +Have you ever seen a street view of Bruges or Nuremberg, those fantastic +old cities of mediaeval Germany? You remember them, the tall gabled +houses with projecting stories, the picturesque grouping of porch and +gallery and oriel, the curious old bridges and the Gothic fountains, the +grotesque carvings over the doorways, and the perfect population of +dormer windows and turrets and lanterns. And did you not, _entre nous_, +like it better than those stiff, formal views of the French and Italian +cities? Was not the poetry more pleasing than the prose? + +'Oh well,' you say, 'these turrets and gables and things look all very +well in pictures, but they would never do for our streets: we must build +in some regular style, you know.' The same old error again, the same +servile imitation of a vague something or other, which we call classic. +Do you think the old German burghers built in any regular style? Not a +bit of it. They built just what they wanted, in the most natural and +plain-spoken manner. If they wanted a porch over the door, or a bay +window at a certain corner, or a turret to enjoy some favorite +view--they made them, put them just where they were needed. Convenience +was everything, and precedent nothing. + +Is there not something about this individual originality, this perfect +freedom of thought and expression, that might be adapted to express the +American character? And if more pleasing, why cling to the effete and +cumbrous tyrannies of a soulless classicism? Why crush out all symptoms +of natural growth to make room for the unsightly exotic? + +Nature herself has made the law that beauty is _variety_. Monotony, +though magnificent, will become irksome, but variety is an unceasing +delight. Versailles, with its formal avenues of shorn foliage, and its +geometrical lawns and terraces, may please you more at first sight than +an English park, because the mind feels a sort of pride in being able to +grasp such vast ideas at a glance. But you will find, upon a second or +third visit, that the unnatural arrangement of the French pleasure +grounds has something of staleness about it. Nature disdains such +bondage. Louis XIV, it is said, grew weary of his splendid plaything, +almost before it was finished. How different the English landscape +garden, where graceful sweeps and irregular masses of foliage meet the +eye with unlooked-for beauties at every turn! Well do we remember how, +after a few days spent in viewing the grand dullness of the Bavarian +capital, we looked wearily back to the delightful visit we made at +Nuremberg, with its curious old streets and fountains: + + 'Quaint old town of toil and traffic, quaint old town of art and song; + Memories haunt thy pointed gables like the rooks that round them throng.' + +To claim the merit of variety for our streets is wrong, for they are not +varied, but only incongruous. Their variety is rather that of an +architectural museum than the result of any combination. We have styles +enough, in all conscience, but none that will tolerate any other. + +Against this may be urged the very argument with which we set out, that +a nation's architecture should be the exponent of its national +character, and as we are made up of every people and every class, that +this heterogeneous _melange_ is our normal style. But mark the +distinction: Although we are made up of so many diverse elements, yet +the component parts are severally and mutually held in solution. Each so +affects the mass as to give rise to a new element--not a mere union, but +a result--not an addition, but a multiplication. But with the +representative art, the materials have merely come in contact--nothing +more. Our houses lack that social element which characterizes our +people. Each is itself, and itself alone, ruining the appearance of its +neighbors, and ruined by them in turn. _Odi profanum vulgus, et arceo_, +is the only law; while we are a chemical solution, our architecture is +only a mechanical one. + +How proceed, then, to develop our national style, that unborn something +which a future age might refer to as American, just as we speak of +Byzantine or Gothic? Are we waiting for somebody to invent it? We think, +maybe, that it is to spring forth, ready made, like Minerva from the +brain of Zeus. If this is our idea, we might as well give up at once and +confess to the world our imbecility. Never, from Adam's day to this, did +anybody ever invent a new architecture. It is purely a matter of +genealogy. For just as we trace back a family line, can we trace the +generations of art. Spite of its complications, many an offshoot can be +followed up directly to the parent stock. Taking, for example, the +mediaeval architecture of Spain, the brilliant 'Moresco,' we find it to +be a combination of the vigorous Gothic of the North with the beautiful +though effeminate Saracenic--the exotic of the South. And of these +latter, each is traceable, though by different lines, to the same great +prototype, the Roman. For when Rome was divided, the Dome fell to the +inheritance of the Eastern Empire, and the Basilica (which was only a +Greek temple turned inside out) to the Western. The former, joined to +the Arabian, and the latter to the Gothic, formed two great families, +from the union of whose descendants sprang the Moresco. But even the +Roman was a derivative style, leading us back successively through +Greece, Assyria, and Egypt. Each step is visibly allied to the +preceding, and yet how unlike the pyramid and the Spanish cathedral! Did +history permit, all the styles that have ever existed could be traced in +the same way; it is quite as easy to account for their diversities, as +for those of the nations that produced them. Ham and Japheth were of the +same household, yet how different their descendants of to-day! As from +one man sprang all people, so was there an original germ of architecture +from which all successive styles have been derived. + +The composite forms that have arisen since commerce and civilization +have brought the ends of the world together, increase the complication. +There have been marriages and intermarriages, some good matches and some +bad ones, some with vigorous and some with sickly offspring, and some +hybrids of such monstrous malformation as almost to make us fear that a +new style can be invented. But the effect is impossible without the +cause. Save the mysterious Pyramids, every structure extant acknowledges +its ancestry. If physiologists are fond of claiming the history of the +race as one of their own chapters, architecture has at least an equal +claim. + +But all this does not mean that we are mere passive agents in the +matter. _We_ are, in a great measure, the 'external influences' that +modify art. The motion exists, but it devolves upon us to give +direction. + +We have already alluded to Venetian architecture as being parallel in +origin and tendency to our own, and much can be gained, we believe, by a +careful examination of what it accomplished. Not that we ought to copy, +line for line, the doge's palace or the Casa d'Oro--the arabesque +arcade, or the Gothic balcony--that would only be following the +well-worn rut of imitation. We are not to study the result, but the +cause. For the causes that produced the style in question were not +unlike what we find at home to-day. A commercial republic, there was the +same liberty of expression--the same preponderance of the individual +over the national; and there, as here, are we attracted rather by the +elegance of independent units than by any general unity of design. + +But the growth of art in Venice (we ask special attention) was due to +her central situation, and the simultaneous influx of foreign elements. +It was her commerce that made Venice great: her glory came and departed +with it. Witnessing, as she did, the development of all the mediaeval +styles, she became--geographically and historically--the metropolis of +architecture. 'The Greeks,' says Ruskin, 'gave the shaft, Rome gave the +arch, the Arabs pointed and foliated the arch.... Opposite in their +character and mission, alike in their magnificence of energy, they came +from the North and from the South--the glacier torrent and the lava +stream, they met and contended over the wreck of the Roman Empire; and +the very centre of the struggle, the point of pause of both, the dead +water of the opposite eddies, charged with embayed fragments of the +Roman wreck, is _Venice_. + +'The ducal palace of Venice contains the three elements in exactly equal +proportions, the Roman, Lombard, and Arab. It is the central building of +the world.' + +Truly, it was a glorious success that art achieved in the Italian +republic, Whether the old precedents were violated or not, the result is +unquestionably pleasing, and the pleasure-seeking tourist lingers there +as long as the critic. + +At this transition state, through which Venice passed so nobly, have we +now arrived. We have collected our materials, and piled them up +together, but just as all seems most propitious, _le mouvement +s'arrete_, the materials will not coalesce. The brass and the silver, +the iron and the gold, are all in the crucible, but there is no fusion, +only a discordant clash. + +Alas! there is no heat. We are not warmed, as yet, with any love for +art. We are too much absorbed in the rapid accumulation of wealth, or +the passing excitement of the hour, to attend to anything that is noble +or honest or beautiful. And now that devastating war is sweeping through +the land and clogging the wheels of progress, we are learning terrible +lessons; but, with experience for our teacher, learning them well. Where +war prevails, civilization for the time must stand still. _Inter arma +silent--artes_. And so long as we consider art a marketable commodity, +and consign it, like merchandise, to soulless builders, so long will it +remain in hopeless embryo. Only by taking a personal interest in it can +we hope to make it our own. + +So much for what we have done. There is little to be proud of, and +little, we hope, that will influence our future art. To which we now +turn our attention. + +To begin with, great public buildings will never form a distinguishing +feature of American architecture. It is to be preeminently a domestic +style. Herein shall we differ from the European nations, for in art, as +in politics, the people are the rulers. It is discouraging, at first +thought, to reflect that no such magnificent architectural combinations +as those of the French capital can ever find place in an American city. +They are grand, they are superb, these endless successions of palaces +and gardens and triumphal arches, with groves and fountains all in +perfect symmetry, and well-balanced vistas radiating in all directions; +but they are the result of centuries of despotism--of the impoverishment +of the many and the aggrandizement of the few. This, we hope, is not to +be the fashion in America. It is true that the ground plan for the city +of Washington exhibits a design analogous to the above, but we think it +will be a long time before it exists elsewhere than on the map. The +Greeks and Romans, we know, confined their efforts to public buildings, +but that was their business. They served their Governments, but our +Government serves us: the spirit of the age points in an opposite +direction. Since we are so fond of the classic, why not have chariots +for carriages, and triremes instead of gunboats and steamers? + +Our real style will first appear in our residences and warehouses, in +our banks and hotels and railroad depots. It sounds odd, but it is +manifestly so to be. We are a commercial republic. Old European palaces +and cathedrals are doubtless very grand, and--for those who need such +things--most excellent models. But with us the private element already +predominates; we only need to begin honestly, and the thing is half +done. + +Our national dread of Gothic, except it be for church purposes, should +be done away with. The Gothic _principle_, we mean; the style we may +follow or may not. But to be sincere and constructive, to build with a +purpose, we must do as did the mediaeval builders. In their hands, our +daguerrean sky-lights and shot towers, our factory chimneys and +signboards, would have become glorious objects, become useful objects. +Their art did not confine itself to one day in seven; it permeated the +commonest details of every-day life, because they were common. Hence +they ennobled everything. + +But the Romans, unfortunately, never had any shot towers, or hotels, or +railroad depots, and so we think such things exceptions to the ordinary +rules of architecture. But after all, perhaps, this is all the better +for their future, as it leaves them comparatively untrammelled. In the +matter of railroad depots, England has certainly stolen a march upon us, +the large city stations in that rail-bound country being perfect Crystal +Palaces in size and elegance, while those for the more rural places are +often the most exquisite little villas, unapproachable in neatness and +taste. In some parts of the Continent, the Swiss style has been pressed +into this service with notable success. + +In regard to fire-alarm towers, we rejoice to be able to make an +exceptional remark. New York city has actually produced two or three of +these of new and elegant shape, perfectly adapted to their purpose; and +yet, so far as we know, not copied from anything else. Those in Sixth +and Third avenues have a grace of outline that is really elegant, and +show what we can accomplish if we only build what we want in a natural +and appropriate way. + +Nothing, however, is to exert a vaster influence on our style than the +hotel. This 'institution,' as we have it, is comparatively unknown in +Europe; beyond all nations are we a travelling and hotel-building +people. Our hotels have not grown up with the scant traffic of the post +chaise or _diligence_; they overleaped that feeble infancy, and started +at once with the railroad and steamboat. Large, luxurious, and well +appointed, they are usually the prominent buildings in all our large +cities. + +But as yet it is only their size and social importance that +distinguishes them, not their architecture. The recipe for a first-class +city house is simple: a vast square front of white, with ninety-six or a +hundred and forty-four windows, as the case may be, all alike, and all +equidistant. The variety afforded by this arrangement is much the same +as that of an uncut sheet of postage stamps. In such large masses, a +single color--white especially--is always disagreeable, unless treated +with some variety of form. Brick, with stone dressings, will almost +invariably produce a finer front than stone alone. But, after all, the +most desirable kind of variety is that which seeks to express exteriorly +the inner arrangement of the building, by giving some degree of +prominence to the principal rooms. As to interior, our hotels neglect a +grand opportunity in making no capital of the central space they +generally enclose. This, instead of being abandoned to cats and ash +barrels, might be made the feature of the establishment. Fancy such a +court roofed over with glass,[23] and surrounded with light arcades of +ironwork forming a continuous balcony at each story, arrange a garden in +the centre with a fountain, and give the whole a sort of oriental +treatment, and what a really elegant effect could be produced! The main +entrance in this case would be, not on the street, but on one of the +sides of this inner court, while an arched carriage way, to connect with +the street, would render vehicles accessible under cover. The arcades, +connecting all parts of the house, would take the place of halls and +corridors, besides forming delightful promenades. Some few hotels could +be named, in our large cities, which seem to have the germ of this idea, +but we know no instance of its complete development. + +Still we have great hopes of the hotel, because it is the place of all +others which it is to our interest to make look well. People go to the +post office all the same, be it a barn or a parthenon, but they will go, +other things being equal, to the best hotel. Here comes in the American +principle of Competition, the keynote of all our enterprise. Competition +is to do for us what the hope of earthly immortality did for the +builders of the Pyramids, what the desire to glorify God did for the +builders of the cathedrals. It is to be the soul of our art: what sort +of a body it is to put on, we shall presently see. Even now it is safe +to assume that no more such granite prisons as the 'Revere' or the +'Astor' will be built for hotels. Lightness, variety, and vivacity will +more probably characterize this style. + +The _shop front_ is something that we must have in some shape or other, +and, if fairly treated, it would become as decidedly American as +business is. It is susceptible of great variety, but care must be taken +that it harmonizes with the superstructure. How often we see massive +structures of marble, five stories or more, supported on basements of +plate glass, apparently; while the real supports are carefully +concealed! The best method, so far tried, seems to be that in which the +columns are made sufficiently prominent to show their object, and are +surmounted by arches, which give a good basis for what comes next +above, while affording sufficient window space to the store front. + +But we must make up our mind to part with those hideous signboards, +which trail their loathsome length across our best buildings, regardless +of console or capital or cornice. For the importance of the sign renders +it constructive, and it has as much right to take part in the design as +a door or a window. Instead of being pinned on like an afterthought, it +should be built into the wall, panel fashion, and by a little taste in +the selection of the style of letter, it might become one of the most +striking features of the whole front. Color would be better for the +letters than relief, being more economical and more easily altered. + +Our warehouses and even our factories might become imposing objects if +appropriately conceived, for is not labor ennobling? Anything that is +worth doing, is worth doing well; and if any of our manufacturing towns +are hideous, they are not necessarily so.[24] There is a certain +grandeur about many such places, with their myriad chimneys and +ponderous wheels and whirling engines, that deserves a corresponding +grandeur of expression, and some of our Pennsylvania ironworks already +afford splendid examples of this. We have seldom been more impressed by +the grandeur of mechanical operations than on a recent night visit to +one of the large rolling mills of Scranton. The whole interior, vast as +a cathedral, was brilliantly lighted by the numerous operations in +molten and red-hot iron that were everywhere in progress, and, with its +gleaming furnaces, ranged on either hand down the long vista, and +glowing here and there from the galleries, really made us feel prouder +of our race than did many a dim, dilapidated temple of the Old World. + +As to churches, we cannot expect much, except that they will be tasteful +and commodious audience rooms, commensurate with the importance of their +congregations. The religion of to-day appeals to soul, and not to soul +and sense. The world is older and better educated than in the cathedral +era, and the apostles and prophets are read, not from sculptured doors +or painted windows, but from the printed page and the winged word. +Childhood, that cannot read, requires gaudily painted primers for its +instruction and amusement, but the world is a grown man now; the press +has superseded the cathedral, and if we imitate those structures in our +churches, we should bear in mind that it was their size that gave them +grandeur, and that they would be caricatures without it. We have heard +our American church interiors spoken of somewhere as divisible into two +classes--the charlotte-russe style and the molasses-candy style. This is +not true, we hope; but there is too much truth in it, for it shows the +influence of a too close imitation of European palaces and churches, and +the hard shamming that has to be done to make this imitation apparent. + +If our rural architecture has been more successful, it is because our +better class of country houses are planned with reference to the +landscapes they occupy. A rich level meadow with here and there a waving +elm requires a different style of house from a fir-clad bluff on a river +bank or a wild gorge in a mountain. No intelligent architect, we take +it, would design a country house without an intimate acquaintance with +the surroundings, and yet the same man, likely as not, would make you a +sketch for the elevation of your house in town, without even looking to +see what it was to adjoin on either side. Now this method may be +correct, but it seems to us that, by first putting on paper the existing +houses, say one or two, on each side of the space to be built upon, the +new front could be much better planned, and much of that unnecessary +discord avoided which destroys so many of our best streets. This is what +is done in painting and other arts, and why not in architecture? +Particular situations require particular treatments. A front that would +appear well on a narrow street, would be inappropriate on a broad avenue +or a square. A corner, or the head of a street, are most responsible +situations. A tall marble front, placed in a modest row of freestone, is +hideous, and yet the unrelieved monotony of many such rows is quite as +bad. A dome, unless at the top of a street or on some open space, is +next to worthless. Who would ever notice Boston State House or the +Baltimore Cathedral, but for their elevated and central positions? + +We often find among the old masters elegant architectural paintings, +street views, taken from the picturesque cities they lived in. We should +like to find some one bold enough to paint a street view of Broadway or +Washington street or Chestnut street. + +It is a pity that our architects are unwilling to acknowledge the +importance of the _buttress_. Concerning this feature, it is not easy to +say whether beauty or utility is most apparent. It is the very +idealization of strength, and hence its inherent elegance. Suppose Notre +Dame or Milan Cathedral stripped of their double tiers of flying +buttresses. Would you not say that their glory was gone--their beauty +departed? And yet the old builders did not pile them up against their +naves for mere beauty's sake. By no means. But they knew the immense +weight of their vaulted roofs, and anticipated the outward thrust of the +walls. That was the problem, and most fairly was it met. They +counteracted the outward pressure from within by an inward pressure from +without, and there was the buttress. But what if they had said, We are +not going to spoil our fine churches by sticking props all around them, +and had resorted to concealed bedplates and invisible rods of iron, +would their structures have been better or nobler or more enduring? +Fortunately, they gave themselves no concern, as to how they would +look--for architecture was honest in those days--they simply built them, +allowing decoration to come in afterward in its proper order; and +thereupon the buttress became the distinguishing feature of Gothic art. + +Perhaps this is the very reason why we so neglect it; but symptoms are +already appearing which lead us to hope that gothophobia is on the +decline, and not the least of them is the outcropping of something that +would be a buttress if it dared to, but hides its real intention under a +classic mask, and passes off as a pilaster or a panel border. But it has +a guilty look, and the sooner it puts off its borrowed garments the +better. Certainly the demand for it is immense. So long as we are a +commercial people, vast warehouses, piled from cellar to roof with heavy +merchandise, must abound in all our cities. And yet how utterly +incompetent would many such buildings be to stand alone! So long, too, +as we are a manufacturing people, must we have huge mills crowded full +with heavy apparatus, vibrating machinery, and _human lives_. Have we +forgotten Lawrence? Let us not wait for another such holocaust ere we +learn wisdom. We can do without ornament, but we must have safety. A +mere increase of dead weight is no remedy; there should be a +well-studied mechanical disposition of material. If buttresses are +applied to warehouses and factories with sole reference to their +utility, elegance will grow upon them afterward as naturally as leaves +grow upon trees. + +Material must depend much upon locality, but iron is undoubtedly to hold +an important place in our architecture. Already it is extensively used, +but does not seem to command general favor. The reason is that nearly +everything that has been done with it so far is not iron architecture, +but stone architecture done in iron. We do not let it speak its own +language; the truss, the tie rod, and the girder are kept out of sight, +while every possible display is made of consoles and cornices and +Corinthian columns and balustrades, and all sorts of foreign +expressions. No wonder that it is unable to give an account of itself +with all these false witnesses. Stone houses should be made of stone, +and if made of wood or iron or plaster, they are nothing but shams, +unenduring and unsatisfactory. + +Now architecture requires the least amount of material that is +compatible with the greatest amount of strength. The forms of different +materials must be varied to suit their texture, according as it is +fibrous or crystalline, tough or brittle. Iron, of course, requires a +peculiar treatment. At the risk of being charged with pedantry, we say +that there have never been but two iron buildings, of any pretension, in +this country--the Niagara Suspension Bridge and the Crystal Palace at +New York. The first still speaks for itself; and of the latter, no one +who saw it can forget what an exquisite structure it was, so light and +airy and elegant, and yet so strong. It was but a bird cage, though, +compared with its enormous prototype at Sydenham. That is unquestionably +one of the wonders of the world; its internal _coup d'oeil_ is without +a parallel. Fancy a broad level vista, a third of a mile long, flanked +on either side by graceful groves of ironwork, and covered with a +continuous crystal arch, a hundred feet above your head; line it with a +profusion of tropical foliage and clambering vines, that grow as +luxuriantly as in their native woods, and interspersed with statuary and +vases gleaming everywhere through the rich masses of verdure, while here +and there fountains of rare and exquisite design, rising from broad +marble basins, relieve without lessening the immense length--and you may +have some faint idea of this peerless structure. 'No material is used in +it,' says Fergusson, 'which is not the best for its purpose, no +constructive expedient employed which was not absolutely necessary, and +it depends wholly for its effect on the arrangement of its parts and the +display of its construction.' It is in iron what Gothic is in stone. + +Details, if fairly studied, would do much to nationalize our +architecture. Why should we, in designing a capital or cornice, still +cling to the classic acanthus or honeysuckle ornament, or even the +English ivy, when we have such a fund of our own? The maize and the +sugarcane, the potato blossom and the cotton boll afford so many mines +of treasure, that it is surprising that they have not already been +worked. In the architecture of the Central Park, however, a decided +impetus has been given in this direction. The details of the grand +terrace at the end of the Mall are as elaborate as those of a European +cathedral, but they are all American--all our own. + +Another excellent feature of our city houses is that little strip of +garden in front, just within the sidewalk. For this, too, we think we +have some claim of originality. At least it is not European, for in +Berlin, Vienna, etc., some of the most palatial quarters are without so +much as a sidewalk--the paving stones reaching from wall to wall. Such +barrenness of arrangement cannot be relieved by any architecture, nor +was there ever a building so good that it could not be improved by a +setting of foliage. The power of mutual relief between art and nature is +wonderful. To this is owing much of the effect of the celebrated 'Place +Napoleon,' the court of the New Louvre at Paris. The contrast between +the richly wrought facades of Caen stone and the foliage in the centre, +is most grateful to the eye. Even the grand quadrangle of the Tuileries +seems dismal after it, grand as are its ogre-roofed 'pavilions' and +triumphal arch, for it lacks the refreshing verdure. The eye wearies of +the everlasting buff color. + +Not to overstep the subject, we will say just one word about the street +plans of our cities. It is really shameful that these are not more +studied. No one seems to think of adapting them to the surface of the +ground, but everything must needs be graded flat, and rectangular blocks +laid out thereon. Our Western cities, particularly, appear to +crystallize in cubes--their monotony is painful. An occasional +introduction of the curved street, so common in Britain, would be a +delightful relief. The London 'Quadrant' is a superb example--the way in +which the houses come into view, one by one, as you follow the curve, is +not to be surpassed. But the chief secret of success in plotting a town +is to seize upon the natural irregularities of the ground, and make them +part and parcel of the design. The beauty of Edinburgh--the 'Scottish +Athens,' as Dugald Stewart called it--is entirely owing to this. The new +town is a 'wilderness of granite, magnificently dull,' and the old has +barely enough of the picturesque to save it from being hideous. But +there is a broad, natural ravine, dividing the two, which has been +retained in its original shape, and being tastefully arranged with +shrubbery and terraced walks, forms a fine park. Near one end of this +the Castle Hill rises abruptly against the old town, while at the other +end the view is closed by Calton Hill, with its classic monuments, and +Arthur's Seat rising grandly beyond. Two or three bridges afford a level +communication between the old town and the new, and Prince's street, the +thoroughfare of the latter, forms a fine terrace along the northern edge +of the ravine, passing midway the Scott monument, a superb spire of +Gothic. This latter is perhaps the only commendable feature _per se_ in +the city--for the details of Edinburgh are notably poor, its pictorial +effect arising solely from the very happy manner in which they are +grouped, amphitheatre-like, around the 'Gardens.' + +Did such a vale lie in the track of one of our cities, we would consider +it an unlucky blemish, to be filled up at once to the general level. It +would be named in the contract as such-and-such 'sunken lots,' and as +the Castle Rock was digged down and dumped in, tax-payers would rejoice +over the saved cartage. Having thus killed off Nature, we would put up +squares of houses upon the dead level, while the local papers would +comment upon the 'improvement of property.' + +If we only had a Napoleon here, some think, his master mind might arrest +this Vandalism, infuse some system into our rag-bag cities, and make +each a Paris. But have we not Public Opinion, stronger than any despot? +Let a little of this current, guided by taste, be turned into the +channels of art, and the results will soon be forthcoming. We seem to be +hampered, as yet, with a kind of feudal system of architecture; this +will presently be done away with, for the American character is +eclectic, and naturally selects and combines the best in art, as in +politics and commerce. To combine English good sense without its +heaviness, French vivacity without its hollowness, and the exuberance of +German fancy without its inertia--to combine and reflect all these +should be the mission of our architecture. + +Neither is it too much to say that a genuine love for art may have its +bearing on that part of us which is immortal. Not that any of these +things will exist after this life, but as children are drilled by their +teachers in many studies which have no practical bearing on their after +life, so may we consider ourselves as only at boarding school with +Nature while in this present temporary state; and if she has set us some +lessons which do not appertain directly to our more exalted future, we +should remember that this is her method of _discipline_. But she has +done more; she has made the very tasks delightful. Are not such studies +more beneficial and satisfactory than the idleness and play which fill +up so much of our lives? + +No student can succeed, however, who tamely copies his neighbor's work. +Let us hope, then, that our art will soon drop its clumsy costume, and +take to itself something natural and national; that it will become, as +it should, the type of our Western civilization--a civilization that +spreads itself, not by sword or sceptre or crozier, but by life and +liberty and light. + + + + +JEFFERSON DAVIS AND REPUDIATION OF ARKANSAS BONDS + +LETTER NO. III OF HON. ROBERT J. WALKER. + + + London, 10 Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, + _January 28th_, 1864 + +In two pamphlets, published by me last summer, Mr. Jefferson Davis was +clearly convicted of sustaining the repudiation of the Union Bank bonds, +and the Planters' Bank bonds of the State of Mississippi. These +pamphlets were most extensively circulated throughout the United States, +the United Kingdom, and upon the continent of Europe, and several +confederate writers have since referred to them; but no attempt ever has +been made, either by Mr. Davis himself, or by any of his agents or +friends, to refute any one of the facts or deductions contained in those +pamphlets. Indeed, the facts were founded upon authentic documents, +official papers, and Mr. Davis's own two letters over signature, plainly +and unequivocally sustaining the repudiation of Mississippi. It is true, +in the case of the Union Bank bonds of Mississippi, that Mr. Davis +justified their repudiation on the ground that the bonds of the State +were unconstitutional. But the utter fallacy of this position was shown +by two unanimous decisions of the highest judicial tribunal of the State +of Mississippi, before whom this very question was brought directly for +adjudication, affirming the constitutionality and validity of these +bonds. When it is recollected, also, that this was the Court designated +by the Constitution and laws of Mississippi, as the tribunal to which +the ultimate decision of this question was referred, the wretched +character of this pretext must be at once perceived. Mr. Davis's two +repudiating letters were published by him in the spring and summer of +1849, yet one of these decisions by the highest judicial tribunal of +Mississippi, quoted by me, affirming the validity and constitutionality +of these very bonds, was made in 1842, and again unanimously reaffirmed +in 1853. But still, Mr. Davis adhered to the same position. As to the +Planters' Bank bonds, however, the repudiation of which was shown to +have been justified by Mr. Davis, there never was even a pretext that +they were illegal or unconstitutional. Nor is there any force in the +suggestion, that these questions were decided before Mr. Davis came into +public life. They were _continuous_ questions, constantly discussed in +the press and before legislative and judicial tribunals. And, we have +seen, even as late as 1853, four years succeeding Mr. Davis's +repudiating letters, the second decision was made by the highest +judicial tribunal of Mississippi, reaffirming the validity and +constitutionality of these bonds. + +But I will now cite another instance of the advocacy of repudiation by +Mr. Jefferson Davis, still more flagitious than that of Mississippi. It +was that of the State bonds of Arkansas, the validity and +constitutionality of which never has been disputed. A brief history of +this transaction is as follows: In 1830, James Smithson, an eminent and +wealthy citizen of London, in the kingdom of Great Britain, died, +bequeathing, by his last will and testament, the whole of his property +to the United States of America, in trust, to found at Washington, under +the name of 'The Smithsonian Institution,' an establishment 'for the +increase of diffusion of knowledge among men.' After some delay, the +Congress of the United States, in 1836, passed an act, accepting the +trust, and pledging the faith of the Government for the faithful +application of the money to the noble purpose designated by the +illustrious donor. Under this act, Richard Rush, one of our most +distinguished citizens, who had been minister to England and to France, +and had held the position of Secretary of State and of the Treasury, at +Washington, was sent by the Government to London, to obtain from the +Court of Chancery the fund, amounting to over $500,000. It is usual in +the proceedings of the English Court of Chancery, when funds, under +circumstances like these, are bequeathed to trustees for scientific or +charitable purposes, not to part with the money to the trustee, except +upon his filing in court absolute security for the faithful fulfilment +of the trust. In this case, however, the High Court of Chancery in +England, considering that to imply any laches or neglect of a trust so +sacred, on the part of the Government of the United States, was an idea +not to be entertained, did, by their decree, without any security, hand +over all the money to the Government of the United States, to be +appropriated to the purpose designated by the donor, receiving only the +pledge given by the Congress of the United States, for the faithful +appropriation of the money. Now, if there ever was any obligation, that +would be considered sacred by the whole civilized world, it was this, +and most faithfully has the Government of the United States executed +this trust. Nay, it has done much more; it has granted forty acres of +ground, belonging to the Government, in the city of Washington, +gratuitously, for the erection of the buildings upon them, erected by +the Government, are worth largely more than the whole bequest. Not only +has the Government done this, but, upon the whole fund received from Mr. +Smithson, it has always punctually paid an interest of six per cent. in +gold upon the whole sum, and pledged its faith for a similar perpetual +payment. It has also largely aided the institution by contributions to +its museum, collections, and library, and by the gratuitous services of +public officers in its behalf. Such was the bill passed by Congress in +1846, and which has always been most faithfully executed. So that the +institution is now established upon a permanent basis, and is fulfilling +all the great and noble purposes proposed by the illustrious donor. Now, +in 1837, this fund was received by the Government of the United States, +and invested by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Woodbury, in the six +per cent. bonds of the State of Arkansas at par, to the extent of over +half a million of dollars. During the same year Arkansas invested this +money in a bank, entitled 'The Real Estate Bank of Arkansas;' and of +which the State was the great stockholder. In 1839, this Bank, having +loaned out these funds to the citizens of Arkansas, became absolutely +and totally insolvent, and has never been able to pay one cent on the +dollar to any of its creditors. In 1839, the State of Arkansas failed +to pay the interest on its bonds, and from that day to this has never +paid one dollar either of interest or principal on any of these most +sacred obligations. + +On the 4th of March, 1845, I became Secretary of the Treasury of the +United States, and having taken the deepest interest in this Smithsonian +fund, and in its faithful application to the noble purpose of the donor, +and inasmuch as one of my predecessors had invested these funds in these +bonds, and the Government had made itself directly responsible for the +faithful execution of this trust, I endeavored to reclaim, as far as +possible, this money from the State of Arkansas, and to induce Congress +to appropriate its own moneys to redeem the pledge of the Government, +and fulfil this trust. My first official action on this subject was as +follows: By act of Congress, five per cent. of the net proceeds of the +sales of the public lands of the United States in Arkansas was payable +to that State, for certain purposes designated in the act. There was, +also, an act of Congress in force, authorizing the Secretary of the +Treasury, where there were mutual debts and credits between the +Government and any other person, to offset any debt due by any creditor +of the United States, against any debt, so far as it would go, due by +the United States to such creditor. I interpreted this act as +authorizing me to withhold this five per cent. fund from the State of +Arkansas and appropriate it, as far as it would go, in payment of the +interest which had accumulated on the bonds of the State of Arkansas, in +which my predecessor, Mr. Woodbury, on behalf of the Government, had +invested the Smithsonian Fund; thus saving a small portion of the +interest which had accrued on these bonds. For this act I was violently +denounced by the Senators and Representatives of Arkansas in Congress, +as also by the Legislature and Governor of the State, and strenuous +efforts were made, unsuccessfully, first to induce me to revoke my +action, and, secondly, to have it overruled by the Government. But I +adhered to it, and declared openly, that if such a breach of trust were +consummated, and my action overruled in the premises, I would resign my +seat in the cabinet. My official action, however, was sustained by an +almost unanimous public sentiment of Congress, and of the country. +Indeed, beyond the limits of the State of Arkansas, and the circle of +the repudiators of Mississippi, my course was sustained and approved. + +Now, then, let us see what was the action of Mr. Jefferson Davis on the +question of these Arkansas bonds. On reference to the journals of the +House of Representatives, of the Congress of the United States, it +appears that Mr. Jefferson Davis took his seat in that body, as one of +the members elect from the State of Mississippi, on the 8th of December, +1845. (P. 56.) When the bill was pending for organizing the Smithsonian +Institution, and making good for both principal and interest, the sum +bequeathed by Mr. Smithson that had been invested by the Government of +the United States in these Arkansas State bonds, Mr. Jefferson Davis, on +the 29th April, 1846, as appears by the official proceedings of the +House, page 749, moved an amendment: 'To add at the end of the section +the following'--'_Provided, however_, That if the Governor of the State +of Arkansas shall make it appear to the satisfaction of the +Attorney-General of the United States, that he has used suitable means +to obtain from the Real Estate Bank of the State of Arkansas, payment of +the debt due by said Bank to the State of Arkansas, but without success, +then, in that case, and until the arrears due by the said Real Estate +Bank shall have been received into the Treasury of the State of +Arkansas, the said State shall be and is hereby declared to be absolved +from the promises on the face of her bonds by which the said State +heretofore pledged her faith for the due payment of the principal and +interest of said bonds.' Now, then, it will be remembered, that the +legality and constitutionality of these Arkansas State bonds never has +been disputed. These bonds were issued by the State, under direct +authority of law, signed by the Governor, with the broad seal of the +State attached, and recognized by the Government of the United States, +by the investment of this sacred fund in these obligations. Nay, more, +this fund thus received by the State from the Government on these bonds, +had been invested, under the law of the State of Arkansas, in a Real +Estate Bank, created by that State, and the money loaned to the citizens +of the State. That State Bank, however, in 1839, became utterly and +notoriously insolvent, and never did or could pay one cent in the dollar +on its obligations. And, more especially, never did it pay, after 1839, +one single cent of the principal or interest upon these State +obligations. Now, then, this institution, in 1846, being absolutely and +totally insolvent, its funds having been wasted and squandered without +the possibility of recovery, either in whole or in part, Mr. Davis +offers this resolution to authorize the State to repudiate its bonds, +and that the Government should look only to this insolvent Bank for the +payment of the principal and interest on these bonds, amounting then to +over $700,000. It was not alleged by Mr. Davis, or by any other person, +that these bonds were unconstitutional. No such pretext was ever made +even by the State of Arkansas. It was a most atrocious case of open +repudiation. And here, it matters not, so far as this question is +concerned, what may have been the obligation of the Government of the +United States to make good these funds. That is a totally distinct and +independent question. The true and real issue in this case is this: Was +not the State of Arkansas bound to pay these bonds, both interest and +principal, as it fell due, in, which bonds, by the request and authority +of the State, the Government of the United States had invested this +Smithsonian fund? This obligation of the State of Arkansas, both moral +and legal, is undisputed and indisputable; and yet Mr. Davis moved the +resolution before quoted, absolving the State from the payment of the +principal and interest of these bonds, except so far as the assets of +her own Bank, then notoriously bankrupt, should avail to make good these +obligations. That is, the Congress of the United States, by solemn act, +was to authorize the State of Arkansas to repudiate her solemn +obligations. Recollect, this was not a case of Mississippi bonds, of +which State Mr. Davis was then a Representative in Congress, but it was +the case of Arkansas, another State, having on the floor of Congress its +own Senators and Representatives. But it is a very remarkable fact, that +Mississippi, for many years, had then repudiated her own bonds, that Mr. +Davis justified and sustained that repudiation, and that now he appears +on behalf of Arkansas to induce Congress, by solemn act, to authorize +that State to repudiate her obligations also. Thus was it that Mr. Davis +travelled out of his own State into another, to make the Government of +the United States a party to the repudiation of her bonds by the State +of Arkansas. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not mean to say, that Mr. +Davis proposed or intended that the Government of the United States +should repudiate its faith, plighted to the British Court of Chancery, +to make good this fund. That is not the question. It is entirely +collateral. But, what he did do was this, and there stands his own +resolution, offered by himself in the Congress of the United States, +which, if carried into effect, would have released the State of Arkansas +from these bonds, or, in Mr. Davis's own words, 'The said State shall be +and is hereby declared to be _absolved from the promises_ on the face +of her bonds, by which the said State heretofore _pledged her faith_ +for the due payment of the principal and interest of said bonds.' + +Why should Congress release Arkansas from the payment of her State +obligations? Why thus justify the repudiation of her bonds? Can any +other reason be assigned than this, that Mr. Jefferson Davis was looking +to the repudiated bonds of Mississippi, and was endeavoring to establish +a precedent, by solemn act of the Congress, by which, if adopted as a +principle, Mississippi, and every other defaulting State, could be +justified in the repudiation of their bonds also. It is to the credit of +the Congress of the United States, that Mr. Davis's resolution was +rejected without a division, and without a count. When it is +recollected, that at this very time, I, as Secretary of the Treasury, +was appropriating the five per cent. found payable by the Government to +the State of Arkansas toward the liquidation of these bonds against the +protest of that State, the further meaning of these movements will be +clearly perceived. Had this resolution of Mr. Davis passed the two +Houses of Congress, absolving the State of Arkansas from the payment of +these bonds, I could, of course, as Secretary of the Treasury, no longer +have withheld that fund from the State, and appropriated it, so far as +it went, toward the liquidation of the interest accrued and accruing on +these bonds. It appears, then, by conclusive and official evidence, that +Mr. Jefferson Davis's repudiation of State obligations, was not confined +to his own State, nor even to the State of Arkansas; but that he desired +to make the Government of the United States, by solemn act of Congress, +a party directly sanctioning such atrocious violations of State faith +and State obligations. + + R. J. WALKER. + + + + +APHORISMS. + + +NO. III. + +TWO RULES.-To get safely and comfortably through the world, one +must observe two rules: first, keep your eyes open; second, keep them +shut. + +Not to see the actual realities of our daily existence, is the part of a +fool. + +Not to notice the thousand and one petty faults of others, and the +ever-recurring petty annoyances of our circumstances, is the part of a +wise man. + +Even injuries intentionally done to us, are often best disposed of by +resolutely ignoring them. + +So of evils that cannot be remedied--the less we know of them the +better. Not to see an ill sight, is often just as good as to remove it +from existence. + +We need only to add: This seeing and not seeing, depends very much upon +the will. The wolf that wills it can easily see the lamb disturbing the +water that he drinks, even while the lamb is below him on the bank of +the stream; and the lamb, by a stern resolve, can refuse to _see_ the +injustice which it has no power to remedy. The will of man is little +less than omnipotent in the wide sphere of its appropriate power; and +that sphere is much wider than feeble-minded people may suppose. + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THEODORE PARKER, Minister of + the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society, Boston. By JOHN + WEISS. In 2 volumes. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 443 & 445 + Broadway. + +A work of two large octavo volumes, containing 1,020 pages, with two +portraits of Mr. Parker, and some vignettes on wood. The author is John +Weiss, and the biography is exceedingly well written, a great deal of it +being given directly from Mr. Parker's own letters and journals. He was +born in Massachusetts in 1810, and died in Italy before he had completed +his fiftieth year. He was brought up on his father's farm, taught school +while in his teens to provide money for further progress, prepared +himself for the university, taught a higher school during his college +course, studied the classics, acquired German, French, and Spanish, +became a divinity student in Cambridge, added Danish, Swedish, Arabic +and Syriac, Anglo-Saxon and Modern Greek, was ordained a Unitarian +minister in 1837, and settled at West Roxbury. His labors were great: he +preached, lectured, translated, edited, and wrote. His health sank under +his arduous mental toil. He went abroad to regain it, and died in +Florence in 1860. Whatever we may think of his creed, as a preacher he +was able and earnest. He was a man of varied gifts, of wide and detailed +culture. He was opposed to slavery, and stood in bold antagonism to the +Fugitive Slave Law. He was blamed, perhaps maligned, during his +lifetime, but posterity will acknowledge him as a man of large brain and +generous heart. His letters are exceedingly interesting, touching upon +almost every subject now under discussion. + + 'Would you be good, and fill each human duty? + One art's enough for that--the finest art-- + See but the good in every human heart.' + + WAS HE SUCCESSFUL? A Novel. By RICHARD B. + KIMBALL, Author of 'St. Leger,' 'Undercurrents,' 'Romance of + Student Life,' etc. New York; Carleton, publisher, 413 Broadway. + Leipsic: Tauchnitz. 1864. + +The readers of THE CONTINENTAL have been favored with the first +perusal of this monitory novel. It is an accurate delineation of men and +manners found too frequently in our midst, and the moral should be +deeply graven on every heart. We feel the more at liberty to recommend +this work, as it was commenced in our columns before the present corps +of editors had entered upon their labors, and we cordially wish every +species of success to Mr. Kimball. + + MUSICAL SKETCHES. By ELIZA POLKO. Translated from + the sixth German edition, by FANNY FULLER. Philadelphia: + Frederick Leypoldt. New York: F. W. Christern. + +We think this book will become a favorite with our people. It contains +sketches, legends, and traditions of many of the great musicians. Bach, +Gluck, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Pergolesi, Schubert, Scarlatti, Weber, +Paganini, Gretry, Catalani, Malibran, Handel, Anderle, Haydn, Boieldieu, +Cimarosa, Beethoven, Lully, Berger, etc., float pleasantly through its +fanciful pages. Romance and reality mingle genially together, the +reality half persuading us that the romance is true. It is appreciative +and tender in the original, and the translation is well executed. The +vignette of the music-making cherubs is really beautiful. + + HUSKS. COLONEL FLOYD'S WARDS. By MARION HARLAND. + New York: Sheldon & Co., 335 Broadway. + +Few young writers have attained so sudden a popularity as Marion +Harland. We believe it well deserved. Her plots are interesting, her +characters well drawn, her style natural, her morals unexceptionable. Of +the two tales composing the present volume, we prefer 'Colonel Floyd's +Wards.' The interest is well sustained, and Virginian society and +manners truthfully depicted. + + + DIARY, from November 18, 1862, to October 18, 1863. By + ADAM GUROWSKI. Volume Second. New York: Carleton, + publisher, 413 Broadway. + +Has Count Gurowski's course toward his own unfortunate country, heroic +Poland, been sufficiently loyal and faithful to induce us to put much +confidence in his portraitures of the men and events of the land of his +adoption? + + + THE GREAT CONSUMMATION. THE MILLENNIAL REST; or, The World + as it Will Be. By REV. JOHN CUMMING, D. D., F. R. S. E., + Minister of the Scottish National Church, Crown Court, Covent + Garden; Author of 'The Great Tribulation,' and 'The Great + Preparation.' Second Series. New York: Carleton, publisher, 413 + Broadway. + +The writings of the Rev. Dr. Cumming are too well known to the public to +need any characterization at our hands. His style is clear and simple, +and we believe it is his desire to awaken and win souls. Although +frequently miscomprehending the dogmas of the Mother Church, he is +neither narrow nor bigoted in his religious views. In the volume under +consideration, he takes passages found principally in Isaiah and +Revelations as texts to describe the Millennium which he believes at +hand. He strives to inculcate the lesson, '_Be ye therefore ready_.' + + + CUDJO'S CAVE. By J. T. TROWBRIDGE, Author of + 'Neighbor Jackwood,' 'The Drummer Boy,' etc. Boston: Tilton & Co. + +We believe Mr. Trowbridge has achieved a real success in his Cudjo. The +plot is well conceived and sustained, and the interest never flags from +the first page to the last. There is no dull reading in the book, no +interminable preludes or introductions. We are presented in the very +first chapter to the hero, the young schoolmaster, about to be tarred +and feathered by a brutal mob. And a real hero he proves himself in his +gentleness, conscientiousness, and manly moral and physical courage. +Carl, the German boy, is an inimitable picture of young German life and +character. Toby, the house negro, is, in his mingled stupidity, cunning, +and faithfulness, drawn to the life. Nor are the negroes of the cave +less excellent. Events hurry forward, different characters are strangely +grouped, new elements and capacities constantly developed, while truth +to the original conception is constantly adhered to. Graphic +descriptions and picturesque situations abound. If scenes of violence +occur, it is because they are true to the history of the hour. We close +by extracting the closing sentence of this loyal and natural novel: 'For +peaceful days, a peaceful and sunny literature: and may Heaven hasten +the time when there shall be no more strife, and no more human bondage; +when, under the folds of the starry flag, from the lake chain to the +gulf, and from sea to sea, freedom, peace, and righteousness shall +reign; when all men shall love each other, and the nations shall know +God!' + + + UNITED STATES WALL ATLAS. Constructed and drawn under the + direction of A. GUYOT, by ERNEST SANDOZ. New + York: Published by Charles Scribner, 124 Grand street. + +This is a physical map of the United States, giving the altitudes +(within certain limits) of the surface of the land, the height of the +principal mountains, the courses of the ranges and also of the rivers, +together with many other interesting particulars. The principal +political divisions and the chief towns are also indicated. The names of +that profound and earnest savant, Prof. A. Guyot, and of his talented +nephew, E. Sandoz, are a sufficient guarantee of the accuracy and +excellence of this useful work. + + + A BUDGET OF FUN FOR LITTLE FOLKS. By AUNT MAGGIE. + Boston: Loring, publisher, 319 Washington street. + + JEAN BELIN; or, The Adventures of a Little French Boy. By + ALFRED DE BREHAT. Translated from the French. Boston: + Loring, publisher, 319 Washington street. For sale by O. S. Felt, + 36 Walker street, New York. + +Two very pleasant books for children. The first contains the adventures +of a knitting society, interspersed with sundry novel fairy tales, and +the second is intended to supply the need felt by all the little ones +when 'Robinson Crusoe' and the 'Swiss Family Robinson' have been +exhausted. The tale is lively and well told, and the characters natural +and ably sustained. We notice in both works an occasional inaccuracy of +expression. Such slight blemishes do not materially impair the +excellence of these sprightly volumes, but a little more attention would +have sufficed to render them entirely free from error. The examples of +language placed before youth cannot be too carefully revised. With this +minute exception, we heartily recommend the 'Budget of Fun' and 'Jean +Belin,' especially the latter, to all young people. + + CARROT-POMADE, with twenty-six Illustrations by + AUGUSTUS HOPPIN. 'Hair ten carats fine.' New York: James + G. Gregory, publisher, 46 Walker street. + +A ludicrous satire, and well deserved, on the general style of +advertisements. Hoppin is too well known to need laudation. His +illustrations are irresistibly comic. What could be happier than the +cupids of the brush and comb on the frontispiece? The poor 'krittur +which furnished the grease' is well conceived and executed. + + POEMS. By HENRY PETERSON. Philadelphia: J. B. + Lippincott. + +A volume of graceful verses. We quote its dedication: 'To the members of +that hard-working, poorly rewarded editorial profession, who make so +many reputations for others, and so few for themselves, this book is +respectfully dedicated by one of the fraternity.' 'Abra's Vision' is a +happy rendering of Leigh Hunt's 'Abou Ben Adhem.' + + APPLETON'S UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE; containing the + Chief Regulations of the Post Office; and a complete List of Post + Offices throughout the United States, with other information for + the People. Published Quarterly. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 443 & + 445 Broadway. One dollar per annum. Price, 25 cents. + +This volume has been prepared with the sanction of Mr. Blair, Postmaster +General, and is an authorized medium of information between the Post +Office Department and the public. It meets a want very generally felt, +and will be welcomed by the community at large. Its table of contents is +a full one; we have space but for a few items: 'Officers, and recent +Orders of the Department; Rates of Postage to Foreign Countries; Rates +of Domestic Postage; Date of Sailing of Foreign Steamers; Establishment +of Post Offices; Mail Contracts; Penalties in certain cases; Suggestions +to the Public; Time occupied in the transmission of Letters; Local Post +Office Regulations; List of Post Offices in the United States, etc. We +regard the condensation of important and indeed almost necessary +information as of great value to our people. + + LEGENDS OF THE BIRDS. By CHARLES GODFREY LELAND. + Illustrated by F. Moras. Philadelphia: Frederick Leypoldt, + publisher. New York: for sale by F. W. Christern, 763 Broadway. + +An exquisite volume, containing illuminated pictures of the Birds of the +Legends. Very beautiful are the legends, tenderly and simply told in the +golden words of a poet. They are calculated to teach us humanity toward +the winged creatures of the air, so often the victims of our cruel +sports. We have The Swallow, The Eagle, The Robin, The Cock, The Swan, +The Falcon, The Wood Dove, The Humming Bird, The Scarlet Tannager, The +Peacock, and The Owl, each bird occupying his own illuminated page; each +with his own simple and touching legend. Mr. Leland's little poems will +speak to many a heart, and many a mother will read them aloud to the +wild boys begging for guns to devastate our forests, to inspire them +with mercy for these flying flowers, these musicians of the air. Paper, +print, type, arabesques, and designs, are excellent. We heartily +congratulate Mr. Leypoldt on the beauty of the publication. + + HAND BOOK OF CALISTHENICS AND GYMNASTICS: A Complete Drill + Book for Schools, Families, and Gymnasiums. With Music to accompany + the Exercises. Illustrated from original designs. By J. MADISON + WATSON. New York and Philadelphia: Schermerhorn, Bancroft & + Co. Chicago: George Sherwood. 1864. + +The American people are waking up to the importance of physical culture, +struggling to develop muscle, to strengthen weak nerves, and to build up +national bodily vigor. The purpose of the volume before us is to solve +this problem. The author "has aimed to make it a complete gymnastic +drill book, with words of command and classes of movements +systematically arranged, embracing all necessary exercises for the +lungs, the voice, the organs of speech, the joints, and the muscles." + +Part 1st, under the head of _Vocal Gymnastics_, treats of Respiration, +Phonetics, and Elocution; concise and clear principles and rules are +given, accompanied by examples and exercises sufficiently numerous to +enable the student to bring them completely within his comprehension and +under his control. We regard this part of the work before us as +exceedingly important. To read aloud well is one of the rarest of +accomplishments, though one of the most desirable, and the training of +the voice is absolutely necessary to attain this end. When properly +pursued, such exercises are exceedingly invigorating. 'In forming and +undulating the voice,' says Dr. Combe, 'not only the chest, but also the +diaphragm and abdominal muscles are in constant action, and communicate +to the stomach and bowels a healthy and agreeable stimulus.' The poetic +selections are made with great taste, and are admirably fitted to +achieve the end for which they are designed. + +Part 2d, under the head of _Calisthenics_, exhibits a varied course of +exercises without the aid of apparatus. Pupils are taught to beat time, +and use is thus made of the magic power of rhythmical movement. Nineteen +pieces of piano music are given, which are well chosen, and +appropriately introduced. + +Part 3d, under the head of _Gymnastics_, presents a wider collection of +exercises for wands, dumb bells, Indian clubs, and hand rings, than any +of the books we have yet seen. All the exercises are arranged in +accordance with well-known principles of Anatomy, Physiology, and +Hygiene. 'In presenting a _new system_ of Calisthenics and Gymnastics, a +series of illustrations from _original_ designs is indispensable.' These +are remarkably well drawn and executed. Accent, quantity, with Iambic, +Trochaic, Anapestic, and Dactylic Rhythms, are _practically_ given in +the work, which, should the student have poetic talent, would be of +great use to him in making his own verses, while to the reader of poetry +a knowledge of them is indispensable. + +We heartily commend this book to the notice of our readers--to all who +prize physical culture, health, and symmetrical education. We hope it +may find its way into our schools and families. + +Print, paper, and the mechanical execution of this valuable Hand Book +are really excellent. + + LIGHT ON SHADOWED PATHS. By T. S. ARTHUR, Author + of 'Ten Nights in a Bar Room,' 'Steps toward Heaven,' 'Golden + Grain,' etc. New York: Carleton, publisher, 413 Broadway. + +The books of T. S. Arthur have had a very wide circulation both in this +country and in England. This volume is composed of thirty-three short +tales, well calculated to touch and soothe the popular heart. They are +tender, moral, and simple. + + * * * * * + +JANUARY PERIODICALS RECEIVED. + + THE UNIVERSALIST QUARTERLY. Boston: Published by T. + Tompkins & Co. New York: H. Lyon, 119 Nassau street. + +CONTENTS: The Logic and the End of the Rebellion. The Eastern +Church and Council of Nice. Salvation in Christ not Limited to this +Life. Contributions of Science to Religion. History of the Doctrine of a +Future Life. Atheism and its Exponents. Formula of Baptism. The +Universalists as a Christian Sect. General Review. Recent Publications. +American and English Quarterlies. + + THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, January 1st, 1864. Editors: + Prof. James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton, Esqs. Boston: + Crosby & Nichols, 117 Washington street. New York: H. Dexter, + Hamilton & Co., Sinclair Tousey, and D. G. Francis. + +CONTENTS: Ticknor's Life of Prescott. The Bible and Slavery. +The Ambulance System. The Bibliotheca Sacra. Immorality in Politics. The +Early Life of Governor Winthrop. The Sanitary Commission. Renan's Life +of Jesus. The President's Policy. Critical Notices. + + THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.--Contents: Weiss's Life of + Theodore Parker. Uhland. The Patience of Hope. Arthur Schopenhauer. + The System and Order of Christ's Ministry. Ticknor's Life of + Prescott. Our Ambulance System. The Two Messages. Review of Current + Literature. New Publications Received. Boston: By the Proprietors, + at Walker, Wise & Co.'s, 245 Washington street. + + + + +EDITOR'S TABLE. + + +ARTISTS' RECEPTION. + +The evening of February 4th, 1864, will long be remembered as the +occasion of one of the most delightful receptions ever given in the +Tenth-street Studio Building. The Committee deserve great praise for the +successful manner in which they filled without crowding the pleasant +exhibition-room and the many interesting studios. Their task was +certainly not an easy one, and merits imitation by all managers of +social entertainments. + +Want of space must for the present prevent any description of the fine +works exhibited; suffice it to say that the Committee--Whittredge, +McEntee, Thompson, as well as Gifford, Eastman Johnson, Bierstadt, +Beard, the Weirs, Hazeltine, William Hart, Dana, Leutze, Gignoux, +Shattuck, Brown, Suydam, etc., were all worthily represented. New York +has reason to be proud of her artists. + +Amusing incidents were not wanting. As we stood before Beard's +'Watchers' (an impressive representation of a company of crows watching +the last struggles of a dying deer), we heard a lady ask her attendant +the meaning of the picture and of its name. The reply was, 'Why--do you +not see? Those birds are owls, and they are asleep, and the deer is +asleep too, and so they are all watchers!' 'Ah!' returned the lady, as +if this lucid explanation had flooded the subject with light. We were +accompanied by a very bright young girl, who, desirous of visiting the +studio of Mr. Church, and disappointed at learning that it had not been +opened to the guests of the building, exclaimed, 'Heart of the Andes, +indeed! Where is his own?' No lover of the true and the beautiful could +have resisted the pleading of those earnest blue eyes. We also overheard +that 'the Tenth-street boys hold their heads mighty high!' Long may they +continue to do so, and long may success of every kind crown their +efforts, whether as artists or as conscientious, patriotic men! + + +GOUNOD'S 'FAUST.' + +This opera has attracted large audiences wherever it has been +represented, and has elicited much attention and criticism from the +musical public. Dwight's _Journal of Music_, Boston, January 23d, +contains the best review of its merits and defects which we have thus +far chanced to meet. Mr. Dwight gives M. Gounod ample credit for the +good judgment, common sense, science, taste, poetic feeling, rich and +highly dramatic orchestration, ingenious musical characterization of +individuals and situations, and the many passages of beautiful music +found in this elaborate work, but denies to him the _highest_ +inspiration, the spontaneity of genius, and the attainment of any very +lofty ideal in the production of continuous, elevated, and +soul-entrancing melodies. We think this a pretty fair statement of the +facts in the case. Mr. Dwight, however, says: 'Not even Mozart in 'Don +Juan' had so great a subject;' and in this connection we feel compelled +to offer a few remarks. We think every great composer owes it to his own +God-gift, and to the human beings whom he is to influence, not to select +intrinsically repulsive subjects, and such have we found both 'Don Juan' +and 'Faust.' Now we are not morbidly fastidious, and we well know the +freedom that must be accorded to art, that it may have ample scope and +range in the delineation of human feeling and romantic situation; but +when we see a representation of 'Don Juan,' we instinctively strive to +ignore the plot, with its odious characters (the sensual Don, the +coarse-minded servant, the unwomanly, man-seeking Elvira, the vengeful +Anna, the insignificant Ottavio, the light-headed and shallow-hearted +Zerlina), and live only in the beautiful music which the prodigality of +genius has wasted upon so poor a theme. Not even _that_ libretto could +degrade the pure, serious, and essentially innocent character of +Mozart's conceptions; but, in turn, his refined musical conception has +been unable to lift the subject from the mire of Da Ponte's delineation. +We know that page after page has been written to unfold the mystic +meanings and profound philosophy contained in the story, but our +observation has been, that the effect of the whole upon pure minds is +simply--disgust. The musical grandeur of the finale rarely saves its +becoming ludicrous in the representation, and the _good joke_ of a life +of unblushing immorality is in no way lessened by the appearance of +demons, in whose existence half the world (at least of of opera goers) +has ceased to believe. + +The 'Faust' is nearly, if not quite, as bad. The undisguised sensuality +of Faust, both in Goethe's drama and in the operatic rendering, is such +that it nearly destroys our sympathy with Margaret, and scenes that +should be pathetic are either merely repulsive, or excite our +indignation to such a degree that we 'turn all our tears to sparks of +fire.' + +Nothing but loathing can attend the open, deliberate, and utterly gross +destruction of virtue as planned and executed by that miserable +libertine. Mephistopheles himself is scarcely more corrupt, and the +representation of these two great poisonous spiders, weaving their +meshes round their unfortunate and but too easy prey, can never in any +sense impress us as lofty specimens of _high art_. + +How different is the plot of 'Fidelio,' where one can yield oneself to +the beauty of the music and the pathos of the story without a single +jarring sensation! + +Let the masters then beware! Music is essentially pure, and should never +by great minds be wedded to coarse ideas. The subject must have an +influence upon the immortality of the work. The really noble and truly +art-loving men and women of all countries will, as they advance in +mental cultivation and comprehension of the higher aims of art, banish +such gross delineations and festering moral sores from the stage, and +fine musical works thus sullied will continue to live solely as +represented by such instrument or instruments as may best be calculated +to express their real value and meaning. + +We go to the opera for relaxation, improvement, and enjoyment, and none +of these can be found in the spectacle of noble means perverted to +corrupt ends. May the day soon come when such important channels of +public amusement and instruction may be guided by a refined taste and +correct views of the intimate connection between the Beautiful and the +Absolute Good! + + +Ballads of the War. + + + THE DEATH OF COLONEL SHAW. + + By ISABELLA McFARLANE. + + Loud rang the voice of the chieftain, + As the Fifty-fourth rushed on: + 'Charge on the guns of Wagner, + Charge--and the fort is won!' + + On--like a wave of the ocean, + Dashing against a rock!-- + Back--ah! back--all broken, + Like a wave from the fruitless shock. + + Thus from the guns of Wagner + The Fifty-fourth surged back: + But the voice of their brave young chieftain + Checked not their backward track + + For there, on the sands by Wagner, + The gallant Shaw lay low, + 'Midst a heap of his brave black soldiers, + Left in the hands of the foe. + + Not a flag was lowered in his honor, + Not a gun its deep voice gave, + When, on the sands by Wagner, + Shaw was laid in the grave. + + Not a friend stood over his coffin, + Shedding tears on his gory breast; + But instead, was curse and insult, + Cruel laughter, ribald jest. + + Wide and deep was the trench they hollowed, + Where the gallant Shaw was laid, + With forty negro soldiers + Piled over his noble head. + + Yes, forty negro soldiers, + Whose hearts were hearts of steel, + Who had fought in the cause of freedom, + Who had died for their country's weal. + + Was it then so great dishonor + For that chief so young and brave-- + Who had led them on to the battle-- + To be with them in the grave? + + Nay--most just was the mandate + That in death they should not part, + For he loved his poor black brothers, + With a true and steadfast heart. + + Move not his honored ashes-- + Let him slumber where he lies, + Till the voice of the great Archangel + Sounds the trumpet-call to the skies![25] + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] THE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN, with Remarks on +Theories of the Origin of Species by Variation. By Sir CHARLES LYELL, F. +R. S. Author of 'Principles of Geology,' Elements of Geology,' etc., +etc. Illustrated by woodcuts. Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 628 and +630 Chestnut street. 1863 + +[2] If any one is disposed to doubt that the doctrine that fossil forms +are direct creations, and were never living animals at all, is held by +any respectable person, we refer them to a book entitled 'Cosmogony, or +the Mysteries of Creation,' by Thomas A. Davies, and published by Rudd & +Carleton, of New York, of no longer ago than 1857. + +[3] Principles of Geology, 9th ed., p. 740. + +[4] Professor Louis Agassiz, the most patient, learned, and acute +investigator of embryology now living, finds in that science (upon +which, in truth, rests the final settlement of the so-called development +theory) _'no single fact_ to justify the assumption that the laws of +development, now known to be so precise and definite for every animal, +have ever been less so, or have ever been allowed to run into each +other. The philosopher's stone is no more to be found in the organic +than the inorganic world; and we shall seek as vainly to transform the +lower animal types into the higher ones by any of our theories, as did +the alchemists of old to change the baser metals into gold.' He also +says: 'To me the fact that the embryonic form of the highest vertebrate +recalls in its earlier stages the first representatives of its type in +geological times and its lowest representatives at the present day, +speaks only of an ideal relation, existing, not in the things +themselves, but in the mind that made them. It is true that the +naturalist is sometimes startled at these transient resemblances of the +young among the higher animals in one type to the adult condition of the +lower animals in the same type; but it is also true that he finds each +one of the primary divisions of the animal kingdom bound to its own norm +of development, which is absolutely distinct from that of all others; it +is also true that, while he perceives correspondences between the early +phases of the higher animals and the mature state of the lower ones he +never sees any one of them diverge in the slightest degree from its own +structural character--never sees the lower rise by a shade beyond the +level which is permanent for the group to which it belongs--never sees +the higher ones stop short of their final aim, either in the mode or the +extent of their transformation.' He likewise ('Methods of Study in +Natural History,' page 140) discusses the matter of breeds as bearing +upon diversities of species in a manner to justify his conclusion, that: +'The influence of man upon animals is, in other words, the influence of +_mind_ upon them; and yet the ordinary mode of argument upon this +subject is, that, because the intelligence of man has been able to +produce certain varieties in domesticated animals, therefore physical +causes have produced all the diversity existing among wild ones. Surely, +the sounder logic would be to infer that, because our finite +intelligence may cause the original pattern to vary by some slight +shades of difference, therefore a superior intelligence must have +established all the boundless diversity of which our boasted varieties +are but the faintest echo. It is the most intelligent farmer who has the +greatest success in improving his breeds; and if the animals he has so +fostered are left to themselves without that intelligent care, they +return to their normal condition. So with plants....'--_Ed. Con_. + +[5] In Latin, _Sublaqueum_, or _Sublacum_, in the States of the Church, +over thirty English miles (Butler says 'near forty,' Montalombert, +'fifty miles') east of Rome, on the Teverone. Butler describes the place +as 'a barren, hideous chain of rocks, with a river and lake in the +valley.' + +[6] _Monasterium Cassinense._ It was destroyed, indeed, by the Lombards, +as early as 583, as Benedict is said to have predicted it would be, but +was rebuilt in 731, consecrated in 748, again destroyed by the Saracens +in 857, rebuilt about 950, and more completely, after many other +calamities, in 1649, consecrated for the third time by Benedict XIII in +1727, enriched and increased under the patronage of the emperors and +popes, in modern times despoiled of ts enormous income (which at the end +of the sixteenth century was reckoned at 500,000 ducats), and has stood +through all vicissitudes to this day. In the times of its splendor, when +the abbot was first baron of the kingdom of Naples, and commanded over +four hundred towns and villages, it numbered several hundred monks but +in 1843 only twenty. It has a considerable library. Montalembert (Monks +of the West, ii. 19) calls Monte Cassino 'the most powerful and +celebrated monastery in the Catholic universe; celebrated especially +because there Benedict wrote his rule and formed the type which was to +serve as a model to innumerable communities submitted to that sovereign +code.' He also quotes the poetic description from Dante's _Paradiso_. +Dom Luigi Tosti published at Naples, in 1842, a full history of this +convent, in three volumes. + +[7] Gregor. Dial. ii. 37. + +[8] Butler, in his Lives of Saints, compares Benedict even with Moses +and Elijah. 'Being chosen by God, like another Moses, to conduct +faithful souls into the true promised land, the kingdom of heaven, he +was enriched with eminent supernatural gifts, even those of miracles and +prophecy. He seemed, like another Eliseus, endued by God with an +extraordinary power, commanding all nature, and, like the ancient +prophets, foreseeing future events. He often raised the sinking courage +of his monks, and baffled the various artifices of the devil with the +sign of the cross, rendered the heaviest stone light, in building his +monastery, by a short prayer, and, in presence of a multitude of people, +raised to life a novice who had been crushed by the fall of a wall at +Monte Cassino.' Montalembert omits the more extraordinary miracles, +except the deliverance of Placidus from the whirlpool, which he relates +in the language of Bossuet, ii. 15. + +[9] 'Scienter nesciens, et sapienter indoctus.' + +[10] The Catholic Church has recognized three other rules besides that +of St. Benedict, viz.: 1. That of St. Basil, which is stilt retained by +the Oriental monks; 2. That of St. Augustine, which is adopted by the +regular canons, the order of the preaching brothers or Dominicans, and +several military orders; 3. The rule of St. Francis of Assisi and his +mendicant order, in the thirteenth century. + +[11] Pope Gregory believed the rule of St. Benedict even to be directly +inspired, and Bossuet (_Panegyrie de Saint Benoit_), in evident +exaggeration, calls it 'an epitome of Christianity, a learned and +mysterious abridgement of all doctrines of the gospel, all the +institutions of the holy fathers, and all the counsels of perfection.' +Montalembert speaks in a similar strain of French declamatory eloquence. + +[12] Cap. 5: 'Primus humilitatis gradus est obedientia sine mora. Haec +convenit iis, qui nihil sibi Christo carius aliquid existimant: propter +servitium sanctum, quod professi sunt, seu propter metum gehennae, vel +gloriam vitae aeternae, mox ut aliquid imperatum a majore fuerit, ac si +divinitus imperetur, moram pati nesciunt in faciendo.' + +[13] Cap. 48: 'Otiositas inimica est animae; et ideo certis temporibus +occupari debent fratres in labore manuum, certis iterum horis in +lectione divina.' vina.' + +[14] The _horae canonicae_ are the _Nocturnae vigiliae_, _Matutinae_, +_Prima_, _Tertia_, _Sexta_, _Nona_, _Vespera_, and _Completorium_, and +are taken (c. 16) from a literal interpretation of Ps. cxix. 164: 'Seven +times a day do I praise thee,' and v. 62: 'At midnight I will rise to +give thanks unto thee.' The Psalter was the liturgy and hymn book of the +convent. It was so divided among the seven services of the day, that the +whole Psalter should be chanted once a week. + +[15] Cap. 59: 'Si quis forte de nobilibus offert filium suum Deo in +monasterio, si ipse puer minori aetate est, parentes ejus faciant +petitionem,' etc. + +[16] Cap. 40: 'Carnium quadrupedum ab omnibus abstinetur comestio, +praeter omnino debiles et aegrotos.' Even birds are excluded, which were +at that time only delicacies for princes and nobles, as Mabillon shows +from the contemporary testimony of Gregory of Tours. + +[17] Cap. 66: 'Monasterium, si possit fieri, ita debet construi, ut +omnia necessaria, id est aqua, molendinum, hortus, pistrinum, vel artes +diversae intra monasterium exerceantur, ut non sit necessitas monachis +vagandi foras, quia omnino non expedit animabus eorum.' + +[18] This Maurus, the founder of the abbacy of Glanfeuil (St. Maur sur +Loire), is the patron saint of a branch of the Benedictines, the +celebrated Maurians in France (dating from 1618), who so highly +distinguished themselves in the seventeenth and early part of the +eighteenth centuries, by their thorough archaeological and historical +researches, and their superior editions of the Fathers. The most eminent +of the Maurians are D. (Dom, equivalent to Domnus, Sir) Menard, +d'Achery, Godin, Mabillon, le Nourry, Martianay, Ruinart, Martene, +Montfaucon, Massuet, Garnier, and de la Rue, and in our time Dom Pitra, +editor of a valuable collection of patristic fragments, at the cloister +of Solesme. + +[19] He was the last of the Roman consuls--an office which Justinian +abolished--and was successively the minister of Odoacer, Theodoric, and +Athalaric, who made him prefect of the pretorium. + +[20] Or _Vivaria_, so called from the numerous _vivaria_, or fish ponds, +in that region + +[21] Comp. Mabillon, Ann. Bened. 1. v. c. 24, 27; F. de Ste.-Marthe, Vie +de Cassiodore, 1684. + +[22] I take this anecdote on Mr. Underhill's authority. + +[23] As in the Hotel du Louvre in Paris. + +[24] The great Bible-printing establishment at Oxford encloses a +spacious courtyard, which is laid out as a garden. The foliage is +agreeably disposed, and there are shrubbery walks, flowers, vases, and +parterres, all arranged in the best taste. Consider what a healthful +influence this must have on the character of the workman. + +[25] 'Buried with his niggers.' Such was the answer of the rebel +commander at Charleston to General Gillmore's demand for the body of +Colonel Shaw, who commanded the 54th Massachusetts, one of the first +negro regiments organized, and was killed in an unsuccessful attempt to +carry Fort Wagner by assault. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Continental Monthly, Volume 5, Issue 4, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 18820.txt or 18820.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/2/18820/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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