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diff --git a/old/22710-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/22710-h.htm.2021-01-25 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2097fc3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/22710-h.htm.2021-01-25 @@ -0,0 +1,1376 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Old Folks' Party, by Edward Bellamy + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Folks' Party, by Edward Bellamy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old Folks' Party + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22710] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD FOLKS' PARTY *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + THE OLD FOLKS' PARTY + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Edward Bellamy <br /> <br /> 1898 + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + “And now what shall we do next Wednesday evening?” said Jessie Hyde, in a + business-like tone. “It is your turn, Henry, to suggest.” + </p> + <p> + Jessie was a practical, energetic young lady, whose blue eyes never + relapsed into the dreaminess to which that color is subject. She furnished + the “go” for the club. Especially she furnished the “go” for Henry Long, + who had lots of ideas, but without her to stir him up was as dull as a + flint without a steel. + </p> + <p> + There were six in the club, and all were present to-night in Jessie's + parlor. The evening had been given to a little music, a little dancing, a + little card-playing, and a good deal of talking. It was near the hour set + by the club rule for the adjournment of its reunions, and the party had + drawn their chairs together to consult upon the weekly recurring question, + what should be done at the next meeting by way of special order of + amusement. The programmes were alternately reading, singing, dancing, + whist; varied with evenings of miscellaneous sociality like that which had + just passed. The members took turns in suggesting recreations. To-night it + was Henry Long's turn, and to him accordingly the eyes of the group turned + at Jessie's question. + </p> + <p> + “Let's have an old folks' party,” was his answer. + </p> + <p> + Considering that all of the club were yet at ages when they celebrated + their birthdays with the figure printed on the cake, the suggestion seemed + sufficiently irrelevant. + </p> + <p> + “In that case,” said Frank Hays, “we shall have to stay at home.” + </p> + <p> + Frank was an alert little fellow, with a jaunty air, to whom, by tacit + consent, all the openings for jokes were left, as he had a taste that way. + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean, Henry?” inquired George Townsley, a thick-set, sedate + young man, with an intelligent, but rather phlegmatic look. + </p> + <p> + “My idea is this,” said Henry, leaning back in his chair, with his hands + clasped behind his head, and his long legs crossed before him. “Let us + dress up to resemble what we expect to look like fifty years hence, and + study up our demeanor to correspond with what we expect to be and feel + like at that time, and just call on Mary next Wednesday evening to talk + over old times, and recall what we can, if anything, of our vanished + youth, and the days when we belonged to the social club at C———.” + </p> + <p> + The others seemed rather puzzled in spite of the explanation. Jessie sat + looking at Henry in a brown study as she traced out his meaning. + </p> + <p> + “You mean a sort of ghost party,” said she finally; “ghosts of the future, + instead of ghosts of the past.” + </p> + <p> + “That's it exactly,” answered he. “Ghosts of the future are the only sort + worth heeding. Apparitions of things past are a very unpractical sort of + demonology, in my opinion, compared with apparitions of things to come.” + </p> + <p> + “How in the world did such an odd idea come into your head?” asked pretty + Nellie Tyrrell, whose dancing black eyes were the most piquant of + interrogation points, with which it was so delightful to be punctured that + people were generally slow to gratify her curiosity. + </p> + <p> + “I was beginning a journal this afternoon,” said Henry, “and the idea of + Henry Long, aetat. seventy, looking over the leaves, and wondering about + the youth who wrote them so long ago, came up to my mind.” + </p> + <p> + Henry's suggestion had set them all thinking, and the vein was so + unfamiliar that they did not at once find much to say. + </p> + <p> + “I should think,” finally remarked George, “that such an old folks' party + would afford a chance for some pretty careful study, and some rather good + acting.” + </p> + <p> + “Fifty years will make us all not far from seventy. What shall we look + like then, I wonder?” musingly asked Mary Fellows. + </p> + <p> + She was the demurest, dreamiest of the three girls; the most of a woman, + and the least of a talker. She had that poise and repose of manner which + are necessary to make silence in company graceful. + </p> + <p> + “We may be sure of one thing, anyhow, and that is, that we shall not look + and feel at all as we do now,” said Frank. “I suppose,” he added, “if, by + a gift of second sight, we could see tonight, as in a glass, what we shall + be at seventy, we should entirely fail to recognize ourselves, and should + fall to disputing which was which.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, and we shall doubtless have changed as much in disposition as in + appearance,” added Henry. “Now, for one, I 've no idea what sort of a + fellow my old man will turn out. I don't believe people can generally tell + much better what sort of old people will grow out of them than what + characters their children will have. A little better, perhaps, but not + much. Just think how different sets of faculties and tastes develop and + decay, come into prominence and retire into the background, as the years + pass. A trait scarcely noticeable in youth tinges the whole man in age.” + </p> + <p> + “What striking dramatic effects are lost because the drama of life is spun + out so long instead of having the ends brought together,” observed George. + “The spectators lose the force of the contrasts because they forget the + first part of every rôle before the latter part is reached. One fails in + consequence to get a realizing sense of the sublime inconsistencies of + every lifetime.” + </p> + <p> + “That difficulty is what we propose, in a small way, to remedy next + Wednesday night,” replied Henry. + </p> + <p> + Mary professed some scruples. It was so queer, she thought it must be + wrong. It was like tempting Providence to take for granted issues in his + hands, and masquerade with uncreated things like their own yet unborn + selves. But Frank reminded her that the same objection would apply to any + arrangement as to what they should do next week. + </p> + <p> + “Well, but,” offered Jessie, “is it quite respectful to make sport of old + folks, even if they are ourselves?” + </p> + <p> + “My conscience is clear on that point,” said Frank. “It's the only way we + can get even with them for the deprecating, contemptuous way in which they + will allude to us over their snuff and tea, as callow and flighty youth, + if indeed they deign to remember us at all, which is n't likely.” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm all tangled up in my mind,” said Nellie, with an air of perplexity, + “between these old people you are talking about and ourselves. Which is + which? It seems odd to talk of them in the third person, and of ourselves + in the first. Are n't they ourselves too?” + </p> + <p> + “If they are, then certainly we are not,” replied Henry. “You may take + your choice. + </p> + <p> + “The fact is,” he added, as she looked still more puzzled, “there are + half-a dozen of each one of us, or a dozen if you please, one in fact for + each epoch of life, and each slightly or almost wholly different from the + others. Each one of these epochs is foreign and inconceivable to the + others, as ourselves at seventy now are to us. It's as hard to suppose + ourselves old as to imagine swapping identities with another. And when we + get old it will be just as hard to realize that we were ever young. So + that the different periods of life are to all intents and purposes + different persons, and the first person of grammar ought to be used only + with the present tense. What we were, or shall be, or do, belongs strictly + to the third person.” + </p> + <p> + “You would make sad work of grammar with that notion,” said Jessie, + smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Grammar needs mending just there,” replied Henry. “The three persons of + grammar are really not enough. A fourth is needed to distinguish the ego + of the past and future from the present ego, which is the only true one.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you're getting altogether too deep for me,” said Jessie. “Come, + girls, what in the world are we going to get to wear next Wednesday?” + </p> + <p> + “Sure enough!” cried they with one accord, while the musing look in their + eyes gave place to a vivacious and merry expression. + </p> + <p> + “My mother is n't near as old as we 're going to be. Her things won't do,” + said Nellie. + </p> + <p> + “Nor mine,” echoed Jessie; “but perhaps Mary's grandmother will let us + have some of her things.” + </p> + <p> + “In that case,” suggested Frank, “it will be only civil to invite her to + the party.” + </p> + <p> + “To be sure, why not?” agreed Jessie. “It is to be an 'old folks' party, + and her presence will give a reality to the thing.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe she 'll come,” said George. “You see being old is dead + earnest to her, and she won't see the joke.” + </p> + <p> + But Mary said she would ask her anyway, and so that was settled. + </p> + <p> + “My father is much too large in the waist for his clothes to be of any + service to me,” said George lugubriously. + </p> + <p> + But Frank reminded him that this was a hint as to his get-up, and that he + must stuff with pillows that the proverb might be fulfilled, “Like father + like son.” + </p> + <p> + And then they were rather taken aback by Henry's obvious suggestion that + there was no telling what the fashion in dress would be in a. d. 1925, + “even if,” he added, “the scientists leave us any A. D. by that time,” + though Frank remarked here that a. d. would answer just as well as <i>Anno + Darwinis</i>, if worst came to worst. But it was decided that there was no + use trying after prophetical accuracy in dress, since it was out of the + question, and even if attainable would not suggest age to their own minds + as would the elderly weeds which they were accustomed to see. + </p> + <p> + “It's rather odd, is n't it,” said Jessie gravely, “that it did n't occur + to anybody that in all probability not over one or two of us at most will + be alive fifty years hence.” + </p> + <p> + “Let's draw lots for the two victims, and the rest of us will appear as + ghosts,” suggested Frank grimly. + </p> + <p> + “Poor two,” sighed Nellie. “I 'm sorry for them. How lonely they will be. + I'm glad I have n't got a very good constitution.” + </p> + <p> + But Henry remarked that Jessie might have gone further and said just as + truly that none of them would survive fifty years, or even ten. + </p> + <p> + “We may, some of us, escape the pang of dying as long as that,” said he, + “but that is but a trifle, and not a necessary incident of death. The + essence of mortality is change, and we shall be changed. Ten years will + see us very different persons. What though an old dotard calling himself + Henry Long is stumping around fifty years hence, what is that to me? I + shall have been dead a half century by that time.” + </p> + <p> + “The old gentleman you speak so lightly of will probably think more + tenderly of you than you do of him,” said Jessie. + </p> + <p> + “I don't believe it,” answered Henry. “In fact, if we were entirely true + to nature next Wednesday, it would spoil the fun, for we probably should + not, if actually of the age we pretend, think of our youth once a year, + much less meet to talk it over.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't think so,” protested Nellie. “I 'm sure all the story-books + and poetry say that old folks are much given to reviewing their youth in a + pensive, regretful sort of way.” + </p> + <p> + “That's all very pretty, but it 's all gammon in my opinion,” responded + Henry. “The poets are young people who know nothing of how old folks feel, + and argue only from their theory of the romantic fitness of things. I + believe that reminiscence takes up a very small part of old persons' time. + It would furnish them little excitement, for they have lost the feelings + by which their memories would have to be interpreted to become vivid. + Remembering is dull business at best. I notice that most persons, even of + eventful lives, prefer a good novel to the pleasures of recollection. It + is really easier to sympathize with the people in a novel or drama than + with our past selves. We lose a great source of recreation just because we + can't recall the past more vividly.” + </p> + <p> + “How shockingly Henry contradicts to-night,” was the only reply Nellie + deigned to this long speech. + </p> + <p> + “What shall we call each other next Wednesday?” asked Mary. “By our first + names, as now?” + </p> + <p> + “Not if we are going to be prophetically accurate,” said Henry. “Fifty + years hence, in all probability, we shall, most of us, have altogether + forgotten our present intimacies and formed others, quite inconceivable + now. I can imagine Frank over there, scratching his bald head with his + spectacle tips, and trying to recall me. 'Hen. Long, Hen. Long,—let + me think; name sounds familiar, and yet I can't quite place him. Did n't I + know him at C———, or was it at college? Bless me, how + forgetful I 'm growing!'” + </p> + <p> + They all laughed at Henry's bit of acting. Perhaps it was only sparkles of + mirth, but it might have been glances of tender confidence that shot + between certain pairs of eyes betokening something that feared not time. + This is in no sort a love story, but such things can't be wholly + prevented. + </p> + <p> + The girls, however, protested that this talk about growing so utterly away + from each other was too dismal for anything, and they would n't believe it + anyhow. The old-fashioned notions about eternal constancy were ever so + much nicer. It gave them the cold shivers to hear Henry's ante-mortem + dissection of their friendship, and that young man was finally forced to + admit that the members of the club would probably prove exceptions to the + general rule in such matters. It was agreed, therefore, that they should + appear to know each other at the old folks' party. + </p> + <p> + “All you girls must, of course, be called 'Mrs.' instead of 'Miss,'” + suggested Frank, “though you will have to keep your own names, that is, + unless you prefer to disclose any designs you may have upon other + people's; “for which piece of impertinence Nellie, who sat next him, boxed + his ears,—for the reader must know that these young people were on a + footing of entire familiarity and long intimacy. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know what time it is?” asked Mary, who, by virtue of the sweet + sedateness of her disposition, was rather the monitress of the company. + </p> + <p> + “It's twelve o'clock, an hour after the club's curfew.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” remarked Henry, rousing from the fit of abstraction in which he + had been pursuing the subject of their previous discussion, “it was to be + expected we should get a little mixed as to chronology over such talk as + this.” + </p> + <p> + “With our watches set fifty years ahead, there 'll be no danger of + overstaying our time next Wednesday, anyhow,” added Frank. + </p> + <p> + Soon the girls presented themselves in readiness for outdoors, and, in a + pleasant gust of good-bys and parting jests, the party broke up. + </p> + <p> + “Good-by for fifty years,” Jessie called after them from the stoop, as the + merry couples walked away in the moonlight. + </p> + <p> + The following week was one of numerous consultations among the girls. + Grandmother Fellows's wardrobe was pretty thoroughly rummaged under that + good-natured old lady's superintendence, and many were the queer effects + of old garments upon young figures which surprised the steady-going mirror + in her quiet chamber. + </p> + <p> + “I 'm afraid I can never depend on it again,” said Mrs. Fellows.' + </p> + <p> + She had promised to be at the party. + </p> + <p> + “She looked so grave when I first asked her,” Mary explained to the girls, + “that I was sorry I spoke of it. I was afraid she thought we wanted her + only as a sort of convenience, to help out our pantomime by the effect of + her white hair. But in a minute she smiled in her cheery way, and said, as + if she saw right through me: 'I suppose, my child, you think being old a + sort of misfortune, like being hunchbacked or blind, and are afraid of + hurting my feelings, but you need n't be. The good Lord has made it so + that at whichever end of life we are, the other end looks pretty + uninteresting, and if it won't hurt your feelings to have somebody in the + party who has got through all the troubles you have yet before you, I + should be glad to come.' That was turning the tables for us pretty neatly, + eh, girls?” + </p> + <p> + The young ladies would not have had the old lady guess it for worlds, but + truth compels me to own that all that week they improved every opportunity + furtively to study Mrs. Fellows's gait and manner, with a view to + perfecting their parts. + </p> + <p> + Frank and George met a couple of times in Henry's room to smoke it over + and settle details, and Henry called on Jessie to arrange several + concerted features of the programme, and for some other reasons for aught + I know. + </p> + <p> + As each one studied his or her part and strove in imagination to conceive + how they would act and feel as old men and old women, they grew more + interested, and more sensible of the mingled pathos and absurdity of the + project, and its decided general effect of queerness. They all set + themselves to make a study of old age in a manner that had never occurred + to them before, and never does occur to most people at all. Never before + had their elderly friends received so much attention at their hands. + </p> + <p> + In the prosecution of these observations they were impressed with the + entire lack of interest generally felt by people in the habits and manners + of persons in other epochs of life than their own. In respect of age, as + in so many other respects, the world lives on fiats, with equally little + interest in or comprehension of the levels above or below them. And a + surprising thing is that middle age is about as unable to recall and + realize youth as to anticipate age. Experience seems to go for nothing in + this matter. + </p> + <p> + They thought they noticed, too, that old people are more alike than + middle-aged people. There is something of the same narrowness and + similarity in the range of their tastes and feelings that is marked in + children. The reason they thought to be that the interests of age have + contracted to about the same scope as those of childhood before it has + expanded into maturity. The skein of life is drawn together to a point at + the two ends and spread out in the middle. Middle age is the period of + most diversity, when individuality is most pronounced. The members of the + club observed with astonishment that, however affectionately we may regard + old persons, we no more think of becoming like them than of becoming + negroes. If we catch ourselves observing their senile peculiarities, it is + in a purely disinterested manner, with a complete and genuine lack of any + personal concern, as with a state to which we are coming. + </p> + <p> + They could not help wondering if Henry were not right about people never + really growing old, but just changing from one personality to another. + They found the strange inability of one epoch to understand or appreciate + the others, hard to reconcile with the ordinary notion of a persistent + identity. + </p> + <p> + Before the end of the week, the occupation of their minds with the subject + of old age produced a singular effect. They began to regard every event + and feeling from a double standpoint, as present and as past, as it + appeared to them and as it would appear to an old person. + </p> + <p> + Wednesday evening came at last, and a little before the hour of eight, + five venerable figures, more or less shrouded, might have been seen making + their way from different parts of the village toward the Fellows mansion. + The families of the members of the club were necessarily in the secret, + and watched their exit with considerable laughter from behind blinds. But + to the rest of the villagers it has never ceased to be a puzzle who those + elderly strangers were who appeared that evening and were never before or + since visible. For once the Argus-eyed curiosity of a Yankee village, + compared with which French or Austrian police are easy to baffle, was + fairly eluded. + </p> + <p> + Eight o'clock was the hour at which the old folks' party began, and the + reader will need a fresh introduction to the company which was assembled + at that time in Mary Fellows's parlor. Mary sat by her grandmother, who + from time to time regarded her in a half-puzzled manner, as if it required + an effort of her reasoning powers to reassure her that the effect she saw + was an illusion. The girl's brown hair was gathered back under a lace cap, + and all that appeared outside it was thickly powdered. She wore + spectacles, and the warm tint of her cheeks had given place to the opaque + saffron hue of age. She sat with her hands in her lap, their fresh color + and dimpled contour concealed by black lace half-gloves. The fullness of + her young bosom was carefully disguised by the arrangement of the severely + simple black dress she wore, which was also in other respects studiously + adapted to conceal, by its stiff and angular lines, the luxuriant contour + of her figure. As she rose and advanced to welcome Henry and Jessie, who + were the last to arrive, it was with a striking imitation of the + tremulously precipitate step of age. + </p> + <p> + Jessie, being rather taller than the others, had affected the stoop of age + very successfully. She wore a black dress spotted with white, and her + whitened hair was arranged with a high comb. She was the only one without + spectacles or eyeglasses. Henry looked older and feebler than any of the + company. His scant hair hung in thin and long white locks, and his tall, + slender figure had gained a still more meagre effect from his dress, while + his shoulders were bowed in a marked stoop; his gait was rigid and jerky. + He assisted himself with a gold-headed cane, and sat in his chair leaning + forward upon it. + </p> + <p> + George, on the other hand, had followed the hint of his father's figure in + his make-up, and appeared as a rubicund old gentleman, large in the waist, + bald, with an apoplectic tendency, a wheezy asthmatic voice, and a full + white beard. + </p> + <p> + Nellie wore her hair in a row of white curls on each side of her head, and + in every detail of her dress and air affected the coquettish old lady to + perfection, for which, of course, she looked none the younger. Her cheeks + were rouged to go with that style. + </p> + <p> + Frank was the ideal of the sprightly little old gentleman. With his brisk + air, natty eye-glasses, cane and gloves, and other items of dress in the + most correct taste, he was quite the old beau. His white hair was crispy, + brushed back, and his snowy mustache had rather a rakish effect. + </p> + <p> + Although the transformation in each case was complete, yet quite enough of + the features, expression, or bearing was apparent through the disguise to + make the members of the party entirely recognizable to each other, though + less intimate acquaintances would perhaps have been at first rather + puzzled. At Henry's suggestion they had been photographed in their + costumes, in order to compare the ideal with the actual when they should + be really old. + </p> + <p> + “It is n't much trouble, and the old folks will enjoy it some day. We + ought to consider them a little,” Henry had said, meaning by “the old + folks” their future selves. + </p> + <p> + It had been agreed that, in proper deference to the probabilities, one, at + least, of the girls ought to illustrate the fat old lady. But they found + it impossible to agree which should sacrifice herself, for no one of the + three could, in her histrionic enthusiasm, quite forget her personal + appearance. Nellie flatly refused to be made up fat, and Jessie as flatly, + while both the girls had too much reverence for the sweet dignity of Mary + Fellows's beauty to consent to her taking the part, and so the idea was + given up. + </p> + <p> + It had been a happy thought of Mary's to get her two younger sisters, + girls of eleven and sixteen, to be present, to enhance the venerable + appearance of the party by the contrast of their bloom and freshness. + </p> + <p> + “Are these your little granddaughters?” inquired Henry, benevolently + inspecting them over the tops of his spectacles as he patted the elder of + the two on the head, a liberty she would by no means have allowed him in + his proper character, but which she now seemed puzzled whether to resent + or not. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” replied Mary, with an indulgent smile. “They wanted to see what an + old folks' party was like, though I told them they wouldn't enjoy it much. + I remember I thought old people rather dull when I was their age.” + </p> + <p> + Henry made a little conversation with the girls, asking them the list of + fatuous questions by which adults seem fated to illustrate the gulf + between them and childhood in the effort to bridge it. + </p> + <p> + “Annie, dear, just put that ottoman at Mrs. Hyde's feet,” said Mary to one + of the little girls. “I 'm so glad you felt able to come out this evening, + Mrs. Hyde! I understood you had not enjoyed good health this summer.” + </p> + <p> + “I have scarcely been out of my room since spring, until recently,” + replied Jessie. “Thank you, my dear” (to the little girl); “but Dr. + Sanford has done wonders for me. How is your health now, Mrs. Fellows?” + </p> + <p> + “I have not been so well an entire summer in ten years. My daughter, Mrs. + Tarbox, was saying the other day that she wished she had my strength. You + know she is quite delicate,” said Mary. + </p> + <p> + “Speaking of Dr. Sanford,” said Henry, looking at Jessie, “he is really a + remarkable man. My son has such confidence in him that he seemed quite + relieved when I had passed my grand climacteric and could get on his list. + You know he takes no one under sixty-three. By the way, governor,” he + added, turning around with some ado, so as to face George, “I heard he had + been treating your rheumatism lately. Has he seemed to reach the + difficulty?” + </p> + <p> + “Remarkably,” replied George, tenderly stroking his right knee in an + absent manner. “Why, don't you think I walked half the way home from my + office the other day when my carriage was late?” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder you dared venture it,” said Jessie, with a shocked air. “What if + you had met with some accident!” + </p> + <p> + “That's what my son said,” answered George. “He made me promise never to + try such a thing again; but I like to show them occasionally that I'm good + for something yet.” + </p> + <p> + He said this with a “he, he,” of senile complacency, ending in an + asthmatic cough, which caused some commotion in the company. Frank got up + and slapped him on the back, and Mary sent Annie for a glass of water. + </p> + <p> + George being relieved, and quiet once more restored, Henry said to Frank:— + </p> + <p> + “By the way, doctor, I want to congratulate you on your son's last book. + You must have helped him to the material for so truthful a picture of + American manners in the days when we were young. I fear we have not + improved much since then. There was a simplicity, a naturalness in society + fifty years ago, that one looks in vain for now. There was, it seems to + me, much less regard paid to money, and less of morbid social ambition. + Don't you think so, Mrs. Tyrrell?” + </p> + <p> + “It's just what I was saying only the other day,” replied Nellie. “I'm + sure I don't know what we 're coming to nowadays. Girls had some modesty + when I was young,” and she shook her head with its rows of white curls + with an air of mingled reprobation and despair. + </p> + <p> + “Did you attend Professor Merryweather's lecture last evening, Mrs. Hyde?” + asked Frank, adjusting his eye-glasses and fixing Jessie with that + intensity of look by which old persons have to make up for their failing + eyesight. “The hall was so near your house, I did n't know but you would + feel like venturing out.” + </p> + <p> + “My daughters insisted on my taking advantage of the opportunity, it is so + seldom I go anywhere of an evening,” replied Jessie, “and I was very much + interested, though I lost a good deal owing to the carrying on of a young + couple in front of me. When I was a girl, young folks didn't do their + courting in public.” + </p> + <p> + Mary had not heard of the lecture, and Frank explained that it was one of + the ter-semi-centennial course on American society and politics fifty + years ago. + </p> + <p> + “By the way,” remarked George, “did you observe what difficulty they are + having in finding enough survivors of the civil war to make a respectable + squad. The papers say that not over a dozen of both armies can probably be + secured, and some of the cases are thought doubtful at that.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it possible!” said Henry. “And yet, too, it must be so; but it sounds + strangely to one who remembers as if it were yesterday seeing the grand + review of the Federal armies at Washington just after the war. What a host + of strong men was that, and now scarcely a dozen left. My friends, we are + getting to be old people. We are almost through with it.” + </p> + <p> + Henry sat gazing into vacancy over the tops of his spectacles, while the + old ladies wiped theirs and sniffed and sighed a little. Finally Jessie + said:— + </p> + <p> + “Those were heroic days. My little granddaughters never tire of hearing + stories about them. They are strong partisans, too. Jessie is a fierce + little rebel and Sam is an uncompromising Unionist, only they both agree + in denouncing slavery.” + </p> + <p> + “That reminds me,” said Frank, smiling, “that our little Frankie came to + me yesterday with a black eye he got for telling Judge Benson's little boy + that people of his complexion were once slaves. He had read it in his + history, and appealed to me to know if it was n't true.” + </p> + <p> + “I 'm not a bit surprised that the little Benson boy resented the + imputation,” said George. “I really don't believe that more than half the + people would be certain that slavery ever existed here, and I 'm sure that + it rarely occurs to those who do know it. No doubt that company of old + slaves at the centennial—that is, if they can find enough survivors—will + be a valuable historical reminder to many.” + </p> + <p> + “Dr. Hays,” said Nellie, “will you settle a question between Mrs. Hyde and + myself? Were you in C———, it was then only a village, + along between 1870 and '80, about forty or fifty years ago?” + </p> + <p> + “No—and yet, come to think—let me see—when did you say?” + replied Frank doubtfully. + </p> + <p> + “Between 1870 and '80, as nearly as we can make out, probably about the + middle of the decade,” said Nellie. + </p> + <p> + “I think I was in C——— at about that time. I believe I + was still living with my father's family.” + </p> + <p> + “I told you so,” said Nellie to Jessie, and, turning again to Frank, she + asked:— + </p> + <p> + “Do you remember anything about a social club there?” + </p> + <p> + “I do,” replied Frank, with some appearance of interest. “I recall + something of the sort quite distinctly, though I suppose I have n't + thought of it for twenty years. How did you ever hear of it, Mrs. Hyde?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I was a member,” replied she briskly, “and so was Mrs. Tyrrell. We + were reminded of it the other day by a discovery Mrs. Tyrrell made in an + old bureau drawer of a photograph of the members of the club in a group, + taken probably all of fifty years ago, and yellow as you can imagine. + There was one figure that resembled you, doctor, as you might have looked + then, and I thought, too, that I recalled you as one of the members; but + Mrs. Tyrrell could not, and so we agreed to settle the matter by appealing + to your own recollection.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, indeed,” said Frank, “I now recall the club very perfectly, and it + seems to me Governor Townsley was also in it.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think I was a member,” assented George, “though my recollections + are rather hazy.” + </p> + <p> + Mary and Henry, being appealed to, failed to remember anything about the + club, the latter suggesting that probably it flourished before he came to + C———. Jessie was quite sure she recalled Henry, but the + others could not do so with much positiveness. + </p> + <p> + “I will ask Mrs. Long when I get home,” said Henry. “She has always lived + at C———, and is great for remembering dates. Let's see; + what time do you think it was?” + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Tyrrell and I concluded it must have been between. 1873 and 1877,” + said Jessie; adding slyly, “for she was married in 1877. Mrs. Tyrrell, did + you bring that old photograph with you? It might amuse them to look at + it.” + </p> + <p> + Nellie produced a small picture, and, adjusting their spectacles and + eye-glasses, they all came forward to see it. A group of six young people + was represented, all in the very heyday of youth. The spectators were + silent, looking first at the picture, and then at each other. + </p> + <p> + “Can it be,” said Frank, “that these were ever our pictures? I hope, Mrs. + Tyrrell, the originals had the forethought to put the names on the back, + that we may be able to identify them.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said she, “we must guess as best we can. First, who is that?” + pointing to one of the figures. + </p> + <p> + “That must be Mrs. Hyde, for she is taller than the others,” suggested + Grandma Fellows. + </p> + <p> + “By the same token, that must be Mrs. Tyrrell, for she is shorter,” said + Jessie; “though, but for that, I don't see how we could have told them + apart.” + </p> + <p> + “How oddly they did dress in those days!” said Mary. + </p> + <p> + “Who can that be?” asked Frank, pointing to the finest-looking of the + three young men. “If that is one of us, there was more choice in our looks + than there is now,—eh, Townsley?” + </p> + <p> + “No doubt,” said George, “fifty years ago somebody's eye scanned those + features with a very keen sense of proprietorship. What a queer feeling it + would have given those young things to have anticipated that we should + ever puzzle over their identities in this way!” + </p> + <p> + They finally agreed on the identity of Jessie, Nellie, and Frank, and of + George also, on his assuring them that he was once of slender figure. This + left two figures which nobody could recognize, though Jessie insisted that + the gentleman was Henry, and Mary thought the other young lady was a Miss + Fellows, a girl of the village, who, she explained, had died young many, + many years ago. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you remember her?” she asked them, and her voice trembled with a + half-genuine sort of self-pity, as if, for a moment, she imagined herself + her own ghost. + </p> + <p> + “I recall her well,” said Frank; “tall, grave, sweet, I remember she used + to realize to me the abstraction of moral beauty when we were studying + Paley together.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know when I have thought so much of those days as since I + received cards for your golden wedding, Judge,” said Nellie to Henry, soon + after. “How many of those who were present at your wedding will be present + at your golden wedding, do you suppose?” + </p> + <p> + “Not more than two or three,” replied Henry, “and yet the whole village + was at the wedding.” + </p> + <p> + “Thank God,” he said a moment after, “that our friends scatter before they + die. Otherwise old people like us would do nothing but attend funerals + during the last half of our lives. Parting is sad, but I prefer to part + from my friends while they are yet alive, that I may feel it less when + they die. One must manage his feelings or they will get the better of + him.” + </p> + <p> + “It is a singular sensation,” said George, “to outlive one's generation. + One has at times a guilty sense of having deserted his comrades. It seems + natural enough to outlive any one contemporary, but unnatural to survive + them as a mass,—a sort of risky thing, fraught with the various + vague embarrassments and undefined perils threatening one who is out of + his proper place. And yet one does n't want to die, though convinced he + ought to, and that's the cowardly misery of it.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Henry, “I had that feeling pretty strongly when I attended the + last reunion of our alumni, and found not one survivor within five classes + of me. I was isolated. Death had got into my rear and cut me off. I felt + ashamed and thoroughly miserable.” + </p> + <p> + Soon after, tea was served. Frank vindicated his character as an old beau + by a tottering alacrity in serving the ladies, while George and Henry, by + virtue of their more evident infirmity, sat still and allowed themselves + to be served. One or two declined tea as not agreeing with them at that + hour. + </p> + <p> + The loquacious herb gave a fresh impulse to the conversation, and the + party fell to talking in a broken, interjectory way of youthful scenes and + experiences, each contributing some reminiscence, and the others chiming + in and adding scraps, or perhaps confessing their inability to recall the + occurrences. + </p> + <p> + “What a refinement of cruelty it is,” said Henry at last, “that makes even + those experiences which were unpleasant or indifferent when passing look + so mockingly beautiful when hopelessly past.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, that's not the right way to look at it, Judge,” broke in Grandma + Fellows, with mild reproof. “Just think rather how dull life would be, + looking forward or backward, if past or coming experiences seemed as + uninteresting as they mostly are when right at hand.” + </p> + <p> + “Sweet memories are like moonlight,” said Jessie musingly. “They make one + melancholy, however pleasing they may be. I don't see why, any more than + why moonlight is so sad, spite of its beauty; but so it is.” + </p> + <p> + The fragile tenure of the sense of personal identity is illustrated by the + ease and completeness with which actors can put themselves in the place of + the characters they assume, so that even their instinctive demeanor + corresponds to the ideal, and their acting becomes nature. Such was the + experience of the members of the club. The occupation of their mind during + the week with the study of their assumed characters had produced an + impression that had been deepened to an astonishing degree by the striking + effect of the accessories of costume and manner. The long-continued effort + to project themselves mentally into the period of old age was assisted in + a startling manner by the illusion of the senses produced by the decrepit + figures, the sallow and wrinkled faces, and the white heads of the group. + </p> + <p> + Their acting had become spontaneous. They were perplexed and bewildered as + to their identity, and in a manner carried away by the illusion their own + efforts had created. In some of the earlier conversation of the evening + there had been occasional jests and personalities, but the talk had now + become entirely serious. The pathos and melancholy of the retrospections + in which they were indulging became real. All felt that if it was acting + now, it was but the rehearsal of a coming reality. I think some of them + were for a little while not clearly conscious that it was not already + reality, and that their youth was not forever vanished. The sense of age + was weighing on them like a nightmare. In very self-pity voices began to + tremble and bosoms heaved with suppressed sobs. + </p> + <p> + Mary rose and stepped to the piano. It indicated how fully she had + realized her part that, as she passed the mirror, no involuntary start + testified to surprise at the aged figure it reflected. She played in a + minor key an air to the words of Tennyson's matchless piece of pathos, + — + </p> + <p> + “The days that are no more,” accompanying herself with a voice rich, + strong, and sweet. By the time she had finished, the girls were all + crying. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly Henry sprang to his feet, and, with the strained, uncertain voice + of one waking himself from a nightmare, cried:— + </p> + <p> + “Thank God, thank God, it is only a dream,” and tore off the wig, letting + the brown hair fall about his forehead. Instantly all followed his + example, and in a moment the transformation was effected. Brown, black, + and golden hair was flying free; rosy cheeks were shining through the + powder where handkerchiefs had been hastily applied, and the bent and + tottering figures of a moment ago had given place to broad-shouldered men + and full-breasted girls. Henry caught Jessie around the waist, Frank + Nellie, and George Mary, and with one of the little girls at the piano, up + and down the room they dashed to the merriest of waltzes in the maddest + round that ever was danced. There was a reckless abandon in their glee, as + if the lust of life, the glow and fire of youth, its glorious freedom, and + its sense of boundless wealth, suddenly set free, after long repression, + had intoxicated them with its strong fumes. It was such a moment as their + lifetime would not bring again. + </p> + <p> + It was not till, flushed and panting, laughing and exhausted, they came to + a pause, that they thought of Grandma Fellows. She was crying, and yet + smiling through her tears. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, grandma,” cried Mary, throwing her arms around her, and bursting into + tears, “we can't take you back with us. Oh, dear.” + </p> + <p> + And the other girls cried over her, and kissed her in a piteous, tender + way, feeling as if their hearts would break for the pity of it. And the + young men were conscious of moisture about the eyes as they stood looking + on. + </p> + <p> + But Grandma Fellows smiled cheerily, and said:— + </p> + <p> + “I'm a foolish old woman to cry, and you mustn't think it is because I + want to be young again. It's only because I can't help it.” + </p> + <p> + Perhaps she could n't have explained it better. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Folks' Party, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD FOLKS' PARTY *** + +***** This file should be named 22710-h.htm or 22710-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/1/22710/ + +Produced by David Widger + +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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