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diff --git a/old/antip10.txt b/old/antip10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4f9d3d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/antip10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9251 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext A Mortal Antipathy, by Oliver W. Holmes +#7 in our series by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!!
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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext prepared for Gutenberg, by David Widger < widger@cecomet.net > + + + + + +A MORTAL ANTIPATHY + +by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES + + + + +PREFACE. + +"A MORTAL ANTIPATHY" was a truly hazardous experiment. A very wise +and very distinguished physician who is as much at home in literature +as he is in science and the practice of medicine, wrote to me in +referring to this story: "I should have been afraid of my subject." +He did not explain himself, but I can easily understand that he felt +the improbability of the, physiological or pathological occurrence on +which the story is founded to be so great that the narrative could +hardly be rendered plausible. I felt the difficulty for myself as +well as for my readers, and it was only by recalling for our +consideration a series of extraordinary but well-authenticated facts +of somewhat similar character that I could hope to gain any serious +attention to so strange a narrative. + +I need not recur to these wonderful stories. There is, however, one, +not to be found on record elsewhere, to which I would especially call +the reader's attention. It is that of the middle-aged man, who +assured me that he could never pass a tall hall clock without an +indefinable terror. While an infant in arms the heavy weight of one +of these tall clocks had fallen with aloud crash and produced an +impression on his nervous system which he had never got over. + +The lasting effect of a shock received by the sense of sight or that +of hearing is conceivable enough. + +But there is another sense, the nerves of which are in close relation +with the higher organs of consciousness. The strength of the +associations connected with the function of the first pair of nerves, +the olfactory, is familiar to most persons in their own experience +and as related by others. Now we know that every human being, as +well as every other living organism, carries its own distinguishing +atmosphere. If a man's friend does not know it, his dog does, and +can track him anywhere by it. This personal peculiarity varies with +the age and conditions of the individual. It may be agreeable or +otherwise, a source of attraction or repulsion, but its influence is +not less real, though far less obvious and less dominant, than in the +lower animals. It was an atmospheric impression of this nature which +associated itself with a terrible shock experienced by the infant +which became the subject of this story. The impression could not be +outgrown, but it might possibly be broken up by some sudden change in +the nervous system effected by a cause as potent as the one which had +produced the disordered condition. + +This is the best key that I can furnish to a story which must have +puzzled some, repelled others, and failed to interest many who did +not suspect the true cause of the mysterious antipathy. + +BEVERLY FARMS, MASS., August, 1891. + +O. W. H. + + + + + + +A MORTAL ANTIPATHY. + +FIRST OPENING OF THE NEW PORTFOLIO. + +INTRODUCTION. + +"And why the New Portfolio, I would ask?" + +Pray, do you remember, when there was an accession to the nursery in +which you have a special interest, whether the new-comer was commonly +spoken of as a baby? Was it not, on the contrary, invariably, under +all conditions, in all companies, by the whole household, spoken of +as the baby? And was the small receptacle provided for it commonly +spoken of as a cradle; or was it not always called the cradle, as if +there were no other in existence? + +Now this New Portfolio is the cradle in which I am to rock my +new-born thoughts, and from which I am to lift them carefully and +show them to callers, namely, to the whole family of readers +belonging to my list of intimates, and such other friends as may drop +in by accident. And so it shall have the definite article, and not +be lost in the mob of its fellows as a portfolio. + +There are a few personal and incidental matters of which I wish to +say something before reaching the contents of the Portfolio, whatever +these may be. I have had other portfolios before this,--two, more +especially, and the first thing I beg leave to introduce relates to +these. + +Do not throw this volume down, or turn to another page, when I tell +you that the earliest of them, that of which I now am about to speak, +was opened more than fifty years ago. This is a very dangerous +confession, for fifty years make everything hopelessly old-fashioned, +without giving it the charm of real antiquity. If I could say a +hundred years, now, my readers would accept all I had to tell them +with a curious interest; but fifty years ago,--there are too many +talkative old people who know all about that time, and at best half a +century is a half-baked bit of ware. A coin-fancier would say that +your fifty-year-old facts have just enough of antiquity to spot them +with rust, and not enough to give them--the delicate and durable +patina which is time's exquisite enamel. + +When the first Portfolio was opened the coin of the realm bore for +its legend,--or might have borne if the more devout hero-worshippers +could have had their way,--Andreas Jackson, Populi Gratia, Imp. +Caesrzr. Aug. Div., Max., etc., etc. I never happened to see any +gold or silver with that legend, but the truth is I was not very +familiarly acquainted with the precious metals at that period of my +career, and, there might have been a good deal of such coin in +circulation without my handling it, or knowing much about it. + +Permit me to indulge in a few reminiscences of that far-off time. + +In those days the Athenaeum Picture Gallery was a principal centre of +attraction to young Boston people and their visitors. Many of us got +our first ideas of art, to say nothing of our first lessons in the +comparatively innocent flirtations of our city's primitive period, in +that agreeable resort of amateurs and artists. + +How the pictures on those walls in Pearl Street do keep their places +in the mind's gallery! Trumbull's Sortie of Gibraltar, with red +enough in it for one of our sunset after-glows; and Neagle's full- +length portrait of the blacksmith in his shirt-sleeves; and Copley's +long-waistcoated gentlemen and satin-clad ladies,--they looked like +gentlemen and ladies, too; and Stuart's florid merchants and high- +waisted matrons; and Allston's lovely Italian scenery and dreamy, +unimpassioned women, not forgetting Florimel in full flight on her +interminable rocking-horse,--you may still see her at the Art Museum; +and the rival landscapes of Doughty and Fisher, much talked of and +largely praised in those days; and the Murillo,--not from Marshal +Soup's collection; and the portrait of Annibale Caracci by himself, +which cost the Athenaeum a hundred dollars; and Cole's allegorical +pictures, and his immense and dreary canvas, in which the prostrate +shepherds and the angel in Joseph's coat of many colors look as if +they must have been thrown in for nothing; and West's brawny Lear +tearing his clothes to pieces. But why go on with the catalogue, +when most of these pictures can be seen either at the Athenaeum +building in Beacon Street or at the Art Gallery, and admired or +criticised perhaps more justly, certainly not more generously, than +in those earlier years when we looked at them through the japanned +fish-horns? + +If one happened to pass through Atkinson Street on his way to the +Athenaeum, he would notice a large, square, painted, brick house, in +which lived a leading representative of old-fashioned coleopterous +Calvinism, and from which emerged one of the liveliest of literary +butterflies. The father was editor of the "Boston Recorder," a very +respectable, but very far from amusing paper, most largely patronized +by that class of the community which spoke habitually of the first +day of the week as "the Sahbuth." The son was the editor of several +different periodicals in succession, none of them over severe or +serious, and of many pleasant books, filled with lively descriptions +of society, which be studied on the outside with a quick eye for form +and color, and with a certain amount of sentiment, not very deep, but +real, though somewhat frothed over by his worldly experiences. + +Nathaniel Parker Willis was in full bloom when I opened my first +Portfolio. He had made himself known by his religious poetry, +published in his father's paper, I think, and signed "Roy." He had +started the " American Magazine," afterwards merged in the New York +Mirror." He had then left off writing scripture pieces, and taken to +lighter forms of verse. He had just written + + "I'm twenty-two, I'm twenty-two, + They idly give me joy, + As if I should be glad to know + That I was less a boy." + +He was young, therefore, and already famous. He came very near being +very handsome. He was tall; his hair, of light brown color, waved in +luxuriant abundance; his cheek was as rosy as if it had been painted +to show behind the footlights; he dressed with artistic elegance. He +was something between a remembrance of Count D'Orsay and an +anticipation of Oscar Wilde. There used to be in the gallery of the +Luxembourg a picture of Hippolytus and Phxdra, in which the beautiful +young man, who had kindled a passion in the heart of his wicked step- +mother, always reminded me of Willis, in spite of the shortcomings of +the living face as compared with the ideal. The painted youth is +still blooming on the canvas, but the fresh-cheecked, jaunty young +author of the year 1830 has long faded out of human sight. I took +the leaves which lie before me at this moment, as I write, from his +coffin, as it lay just outside the door of Saint Paul's Church, on a +sad, overclouded winter's day, in the year 1867. At that earlier +time, Willis was by far the most prominent young American author. +Cooper, Irving, Bryant, Dana, Halleck, Drake, had all done their best +work. Longfellow was not yet conspicuous. Lowell was a school-boy. +Emerson was unheard of. Whittier was beginning to make his way +against the writers with better educational advantages whom he was +destined to outdo and to outlive. Not one of the great histories, +which have done honor to our literature, had appeared. Our school- +books depended, so far as American authors were concerned, on +extracts from the orations and speeches of Webster and Everett; on +Bryant's Thanatopsis, his lines To a Waterfowl, and the Death of the +Flowers, Halleck's Marco Bozzaris, Red Jacket, and Burns; on Drake's +American Flag, and Percival's Coral Grove, and his Genius Sleeping +and Genius Waking,--and not getting very wide awake, either. These +could be depended upon. A few other copies of verses might be found, +but Dwight's "Columbia, Columbia," and Pierpont's Airs of Palestine, +were already effaced, as many of the favorites of our own day and +generation must soon be, by the great wave which the near future will +pour over the sands in which they still are legible. + +About this time, in the year 1832, came out a small volume entitled +"Truth, a Gift for Scribblers," which made some talk for a while, and +is now chiefly valuable as a kind of literary tombstone on which may +be read the names of many whose renown has been buried with their +bones. The "London Athenaeum" spoke of it as having been described +as a "tomahawk sort of satire." As the author had been a trapper in +Missouri, he was familiarly acquainted with that weapon and the +warfare of its owners. Born in Boston, in 1804, the son of an army +officer, educated at West Point, he came back to his native city +about the year 1830. He wrote an article on Bryant's Poems for the +"North American Review," and another on the famous Indian chief, +Black Hawk. In this last-mentioned article he tells this story as +the great warrior told it himself. It was an incident of a fight +with the Osages. + +"Standing by my father's side, I saw him kill his antagonist and tear +the scalp from his head. Fired with valor and ambition, I rushed +furiously upon another, smote him to the earth with my tomahawk, ran +my lance through his body, took off his scalp, and returned in +triumph to my father. He said nothing, but looked pleased." + +This little red story describes very well Spelling's style of +literary warfare. His handling of his most conspicuous victim, +Willis, was very much like Black Hawk's way of dealing with the +Osage. He tomahawked him in heroics, ran him through in prose, and +scalped him in barbarous epigrams. Bryant and Halleck were +abundantly praised; hardly any one else escaped. + +If the reader wishes to see the bubbles of reputation that were +floating, some of them gay with prismatic colors, half a century ago, +he will find in the pages of "Truth" a long catalogue of celebrities +he never heard of. I recognize only three names, of all which are +mentioned in the little book, as belonging to persons still living; +but as I have not read the obituaries of all the others, some of them +may be still flourishing in spite of Mr. Spelling's exterminating +onslaught. Time dealt as hardly with poor Spelling, who was not +without talent and instruction, as he had dealt with our authors. I +think he found shelter at last under a roof which held numerous +inmates, some of whom had seen better and many of whom had known +worse days than those which they were passing within its friendly and +not exclusive precincts. Such, at least, was the story I heard after +he disappeared from general observation. + +That was the day of Souvenirs, Tokens, Forget-me-nots, Bijous, and +all that class of showy annuals. Short stories, slender poems, steel +engravings, on a level with the common fashion-plates of advertising +establishments, gilt edges, resplendent binding,--to manifestations +of this sort our lighter literature had very largely run for some +years. The "Scarlet Letter" was an unhinted possibility. The +"Voices of the Night " had not stirred the brooding silence; the +Concord seer was still in the lonely desert; most of the contributors +to those yearly volumes, which took up such pretentious positions on +the centre table, have shrunk into entire oblivion, or, at best, hold +their place in literature by a scrap or two in some omnivorous +collection. + +What dreadful work Spelling made among those slight reputations, +floating in swollen tenuity on the surface of the stream, and +mirroring each other in reciprocal reflections! Violent, abusive as +he was, unjust to any against whom he happened to have a prejudice, +his castigation of the small litterateurs of that day was not +harmful, but rather of use. His attack on Willis very probably did +him good; he needed a little discipline, and though he got it too +unsparingly, some cautions came with it which were worth the stripes +he had to smart under. One noble writer Spelling treated with +rudeness, probably from some accidental pique, or equally +insignificant reason. I myself, one of the three survivors before +referred to, escaped with a love-pat, as the youngest son of the +Muse. Longfellow gets a brief nod of acknowledgment. Bailey, an +American writer, "who made long since a happy snatch at fame," which +must have been snatched away from him by envious time, for I cannot +identify him; Thatcher, who died early, leaving one poem, The Last +Request, not wholly unremembered; Miss Hannah F. Gould, a very +bright and agreeable writer of light verse,--all these are commended +to the keeping of that venerable public carrier, who finds his scythe +and hour-glass such a load that he generally drops the burdens +committed to his charge, after making a show of paying every possible +attention to them so long as he is kept in sight. + +It was a good time to open a portfolio. But my old one had boyhood +written on every page. A single passionate outcry when the old +warship I had read about in the broadsides that were a part of our +kitchen literature, and in the " Naval Monument," was threatened with +demolition; a few verses suggested by the sight of old Major Melville +in his cocked hat and breeches, were the best scraps that came out of +that first Portfolio, which was soon closed that it should not +interfere with the duties of a profession authorized to claim all the +time and thought which would have been otherwise expended in filling +it. + +During a quarter of a century the first Portfolio remained closed for +the greater part of the time. Only now and then it would be taken up +and opened, and something drawn from it for a special occasion, more +particularly for the annual reunions of a certain class of which I +was a member. + +In the year 1857, towards its close, the "Atlantic Monthly," which I +had the honor of naming, was started by the enterprising firm of +Phillips & Sampson, under the editorship of Mr. James Russell Lowell. +He thought that I might bring something out of my old Portfolio which +would be not unacceptable in the new magazine. I looked at the poor +old receptacle, which, partly from use and partly from neglect, had +lost its freshness, and seemed hardly presentable to the new company +expected to welcome the new-comer in the literary world of Boston, +the least provincial of American centres of learning and letters. +The gilded covering where the emblems of hope and aspiration had +looked so bright had faded; not wholly, perhaps, but how was the gold +become dim!---how was the most fine gold changed! Long devotion to +other pursuits had left little time for literature, and the waifs and +strays gathered from the old Portfolio had done little more than keep +alive the memory that such a source of supply was still in existence. +I looked at the old Portfolio, and said to myself, "Too late! too +late. This tarnished gold will never brighten, these battered covers +will stand no more wear and tear; close them, and leave them to the +spider and the book-worm." + +In the mean time the nebula of the first quarter of the century had +condensed into the constellation of the middle of the same period. +When, a little while after the establishment of the new magazine, the +"Saturday Club" gathered about the long table at "Parker's," such a +representation of all that was best in American literature had never +been collected within so small a compass. Most of the Americans whom +educated foreigners cared to see-leaving out of consideration +official dignitaries, whose temporary importance makes them objects +of curiosity--were seated at that board. But the club did not yet +exist, and the "Atlantic Monthly" was an experiment. There had +already been several monthly periodicals, more or less successful and +permanent, among which "Putnam's Magazine" was conspicuous, owing its +success largely to the contributions of that very accomplished and +delightful writer, Mr. George William Curtis. That magazine, after a +somewhat prolonged and very honorable existence, had gone where all +periodicals go when they die, into the archives of the deaf, dumb, +and blind recording angel whose name is Oblivion. It had so well +deserved to live that its death was a surprise and a source of +regret. Could another monthly take its place and keep it when that, +with all its attractions and excellences, had died out, and left a +blank in our periodical literature which it would be very hard to +fill as well as that had filled it? + +This was the experiment which the enterprising publishers ventured +upon, and I, who felt myself outside of the charmed circle drawn +around the scholars and poets of Cambridge and Concord, having given +myself to other studies and duties, wondered somewhat when Mr. Lowell +insisted upon my becoming a contributor. And so, yielding to a +pressure which I could not understand, and yet found myself unable to +resist, I promised to take a part in the new venture, as an +occasional writer in the columns of the new magazine. + +That was the way in which the second Portfolio found its way to my +table, and was there opened in the autumn of the year 1857. I was +already at least + + Nel mezzo del cammin di mia, vita, + +when I risked myself, with many misgivings, in little-tried paths of +what looked at first like a wilderness, a selva oscura, where, if I +did not meet the lion or the wolf, I should be sure to find the +critic, the most dangerous of the carnivores, waiting to welcome me +after his own fashion. + +The second Portfolio is closed and laid away. Perhaps it was hardly +worth while to provide and open a new one; but here it lies before +me, and I hope I may find something between its covers which will +justify me in coming once more before my old friends. But before I +open it I want to claim a little further indulgence. + +There is a subject of profound interest to almost every writer, I +might say to almost every human being. No matter what his culture or +ignorance, no matter what his pursuit, no matter what his character, +the subject I refer to is one of which he rarely ceases to think, +and, if opportunity is offered, to talk. On this he is eloquent, if +on nothing else. The slow of speech becomes fluent; the torpid +listener becomes electric with vivacity, and alive all over with +interest. + +The sagacious reader knows well what is coming after this prelude. +He is accustomed to the phrases with which the plausible visitor, who +has a subscription book in his pocket, prepares his victim for the +depressing disclosure of his real errand. He is not unacquainted +with the conversational amenities of the cordial and interesting +stranger, who, having had the misfortune of leaving his carpet-bag in +the cars, or of having his pocket picked at the station, finds +himself without the means of reaching that distant home where +affluence waits for him with its luxurious welcome, but to whom for +the moment the loan of some five and twenty dollars would be a +convenience and a favor for which his heart would ache with gratitude +during the brief interval between the loan and its repayment. + +I wish to say a few words in my own person relating to some passages +in my own history, and more especially to some of the recent +experiences through which I have been passing. + +What can justify one in addressing himself to the general public as +if it were his private correspondent? There are at least three +sufficient reasons: first, if he has a story to tell that everybody +wants to hear,--if be has been shipwrecked, or has been in a battle, +or has witnessed any interesting event, and can tell anything new +about it; secondly, if he can put in fitting words any common +experiences not already well told, so that readers will say, "Why, +yes! I have had that sensation, thought, emotion, a hundred times, +but I never heard it spoken of before, and I never saw any mention of +it in print;" and thirdly, anything one likes, provided he can so +tell it as to make it interesting. + +I have no story to tell in this Introduction which can of itself +claim any general attention. My first pages relate the effect of a +certain literary experience upon myself,--a series of partial +metempsychoses of which I have been the subject. Next follows a +brief tribute to the memory of a very dear and renowned friend from +whom I have recently been parted. The rest of the Introduction will +be consecrated to the memory of my birthplace. + +I have just finished a Memoir, which will appear soon after this page +is written, and will have been the subject of criticism long before +it is in the reader's hands. The experience of thinking another +man's thoughts continuously for a long time; of living one's self +into another man's life for a month, or a year, or more, is a very +curious one. No matter how much superior to the biographer his +subject may be, the man who writes the life feels himself, in a +certain sense, on the level of the person whose life he is writing. +One cannot fight over the battles of Marengo or Austerlitz with +Napoleon without feeling as if he himself had a fractional claim to +the victory, so real seems the transfer of his personality into that +of the conqueror while he reads. Still more must this identification +of "subject" and "object" take place when one is writing of a person +whose studies or occupations are not unlike his own. + +Here are some of my metempsychoses: +Ten years ago I wrote what I called A Memorial Outline of a +remarkable student of nature. He was a born observer, and such are +far from common. He was also a man of great enthusiasm and +unwearying industry. His quick eye detected what others passed by +without notice: the Indian relic, where another would see only +pebbles and fragments; the rare mollusk, or reptile, which his +companion would poke with his cane, never suspecting that there was a +prize at the end of it. Getting his single facts together with +marvellous sagacity and long-breathed patience, he arranged them, +classified them, described them, studied them in their relations, and +before those around him were aware of it the collector was an +accomplished naturalist. When--he died his collections remained, and +they still remain, as his record in the hieratic language of science. +In writing this memoir the spirit of his quiet pursuits, the even +temper they bred in him, gained possession of my own mind, so that I +seemed to look at nature through his gold-bowed spectacles, and to +move about his beautifully ordered museum as if I had myself prepared +and arranged its specimens. I felt wise with his wisdom, fair-minded +with his calm impartiality; it seemed as if for the time his placid, +observant, inquiring, keen-sighted nature "slid into my soul," and if +I had looked at myself in the glass I should almost have expected to +see the image of the Hersey professor whose life and character I was +sketching. + +A few years hater I lived over the life of another friend in writing +a Memoir of which he was the subject. I saw him, the beautiful, +bright-eyed boy, with dark, waving hair; the youthful scholar, first +at Harvard, then at Gottingen and Berlin, the friend and companion of +Bismarck; the young author, making a dash for renown as a novelist, +and showing the elements which made his failures the promise of +success in a larger field of literary labor; the delving historian, +burying his fresh young manhood in the dusty alcoves of silent +libraries, to come forth in the face of Europe and America as one of +the leading historians of the time; the diplomatist, accomplished, of +captivating presence and manners, an ardent American, and in the time +of trial an impassioned and eloquent advocate of the cause of +freedom; reaching at last the summit of his ambition as minister at +the Court of Saint James. All this I seemed to share with him as I +tracked his career from his birthplace in Dorchester, and the house +in Walnut Street where he passed his boyhood, to the palaces of +Vienna and London. And then the cruel blow which struck him from the +place he adorned; the great sorrow that darkened his later years; the +invasion of illness, a threat that warned of danger, and after a +period of invalidism, during a part of which I shared his most +intimate daily life, the sudden, hardly unwelcome, final summons. +Did not my own consciousness migrate, or seem, at least, to transfer +itself into this brilliant life history, as I traced its glowing +record? I, too, seemed to feel the delight of carrying with me, as +if they were my own, the charms of a presence which made its own +welcome everywhere. I shared his heroic toils, I partook of his +literary and social triumphs, I was honored by the marks of +distinction which gathered about him, I was wronged by the indignity +from which he suffered, mourned with him in his sorrow, and thus, +after I had been living for months with his memory, I felt as if I +should carry a part of his being with me so long as my self- +consciousness might remain imprisoned in the ponderable elements. + +The years passed away, and the influences derived from the +companionships I have spoken of had blended intimately with my own +current of being. Then there came to me a new experience in my +relations with an eminent member of the medical profession, whom I +met habitually for a long period, and to whose memory I consecrated a +few pages as a prelude to a work of his own, written under very +peculiar circumstances. He was the subject of a slow, torturing, +malignant, and almost necessarily fatal disease. Knowing well that +the mind would feed upon itself if it were not supplied with food +from without, he determined to write a treatise on a subject which +had greatly interested him, and which would oblige him to bestow much +of his time and thought upon it, if indeed he could hold out to +finish the work. During the period while he was engaged in writing +it, his wife, who had seemed in perfect health, died suddenly of +pneumonia. Physical suffering, mental distress, the prospect of +death at a near, if uncertain, time always before him, it was hard to +conceive a more terrible strain than that which he had to endure. +When, in the hour of his greatest need, his faithful companion, the +wife of many years of happy union, whose hand had smoothed his +pillow, whose voice had consoled and cheered him, was torn from him +after a few days of illness, I felt that my, friend's trial was such +that the cry of the man of many afflictions and temptations might +well have escaped from his lips: "I was at ease, but he hath broken +me asunder; he hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces, +and set me up for his mark. His archers compass me round about, he +cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall +upon the ground." + +I had dreaded meeting him for the first time after this crushing +blow. What a lesson he gave me of patience under sufferings which +the fearful description of the Eastern poet does not picture too +vividly! We have been taught to admire the calm philosophy of +Haller, watching his faltering pulse as he lay dying; we have heard +the words of pious resignation said to have been uttered with his +last breath by Addison: but here was a trial, not of hours, or days, +or weeks, but of months, even years, of cruel pain, and in the midst +of its thick darkness the light of love, which had burned steadily at +his bedside, was suddenly extinguished. + +There were times in which the thought would force itself upon my +consciousness, How long is the universe to look upon this dreadful +experiment of a malarious planet, with its unmeasurable freight of +suffering, its poisonous atmosphere, so sweet to breathe, so sure to +kill in a few scores of years at farthest, and its heart-breaking +woes which make even that brief space of time an eternity? There can +be but one answer that will meet this terrible question, which must +arise in every thinking nature that would fain "justify the ways of +God to men." So must it be until that + + "one far-off divine event + To which the whole creation moves" + +has become a reality, and the anthem in which there is no discordant +note shall be joined by a voice from every life made "perfect through +sufferings." + +Such was the lesson into which I lived in those sad yet placid years +of companionship with my suffering and sorrowing friend, in retracing +which I seemed to find another existence mingled with my own. + +And now for many months I have been living in daily relations of +intimacy with one who seems nearer to me since he has left us than +while he was here in living form and feature. I did not know how +difficult a task I had undertaken in venturing upon a memoir of a man +whom all, or almost all, agree upon as one of the great lights of the +New World, and whom very many regard as an unpredicted Messiah. +Never before was I so forcibly reminded of Carlyle's description of +the work of a newspaper editor,--that threshing of straw already +thrice beaten by the flails of other laborers in the same field. +What could be said that had not been said of "transcendentalism" and +of him who was regarded as its prophet; of the poet whom some admired +without understanding, a few understood, or thought they did, without +admiring, and many both understood and admired,--among these there +being not a small number who went far beyond admiration, and lost +themselves in devout worship? While one exalted him as "the greatest +man that ever lived," another, a friend, famous in the world of +letters, wrote expressly to caution me against the danger of +overrating a writer whom he is content to recognize as an American +Montaigne, and nothing more. + +After finishing this Memoir, which has but just left my hands, I +would gladly have let my brain rest for a while. The wide range of +thought which belonged to the subject of the Memoir, the occasional +mysticism and the frequent tendency toward it, the sweep of +imagination and the sparkle of wit which kept his reader's mind on +the stretch, the union of prevailing good sense with exceptional +extravagances, the modest audacity of a nature that showed itself in +its naked truthfulness and was not ashamed, the feeling that I was in +the company of a sibylline intelligence which was discounting the +promises of the remote future long before they were due,--all this +made the task a grave one. But when I found myself amidst the +vortices of uncounted, various, bewildering judgments, Catholic and +Protestant, orthodox and liberal, scholarly from under the tree of +knowledge and instinctive from over the potato-hill; the passionate +enthusiasm of young adorers and the cool, if not cynical, estimate of +hardened critics, all intersecting each other as they whirled, each +around its own centre, I felt that it was indeed very difficult to +keep the faculties clear and the judgment unbiassed. + +It is a great privilege to have lived so long in the society of such +a man. "He nothing common" said, "or mean." He was always the same +pure and high-souled companion. After being with him virtue seemed +as natural to man as its opposite did according to the old +theologies. But how to let one's self down from the high level of +such a character to one's own poor standard? I trust that the +influence of this long intellectual and spiritual companionship never +absolutely leaves one who has lived in it. It may come to him in the +form of self-reproach that he falls so far short of the superior +being who has been so long the object of his contemplation. But it +also carries him at times into the other's personality, so that he +finds himself thinking thoughts that are not his own, using phrases +which he has unconsciously borrowed, writing, it may be, as nearly +like his long-studied original as Julio Romano's painting was like +Raphael's ; and all this with the unquestioning conviction that he is +talking from his own consciousness in his own natural way. So far as +tones and expressions and habits which belonged to the idiosyncrasy +of the original are borrowed by the student of his life, it is a +misfortune for the borrower. But to share the inmost consciousness +of a noble thinker, to scan one's self in the white light of a pure +and radiant soul,--this is indeed the highest form of teaching and +discipline. + +I have written these few memoirs, and I am grateful for all that they +have taught me. But let me write no more. There are but two +biographers who can tell the story of a man's or a woman's life. One +is the person himself or herself; the other is the Recording Angel. +The autobiographer cannot be trusted to tell the whole truth, though +he may tell nothing but the truth, and the Recording Angel never lets +his book go out of his own hands. As for myself, I would say to my +friends, in the Oriental phrase, "Live forever!" Yes, live forever, +and I, at least, shall not have to wrong your memories by my +imperfect record and unsatisfying commentary. + +In connection with these biographies, or memoirs, more properly, in +which I have written of my departed friends, I hope my readers will +indulge me in another personal reminiscence. I have just lost my +dear and honored contemporary of the last century. A hundred years +ago this day, December 13, 1784, died the admirable and ever to be +remembered Dr. Samuel Johnson. The year 1709 was made ponderous and +illustrious in English biography by his birth. My own humble advent +to the world of protoplasm was in the year 1809 of the present +century. Summer was just ending when those four letters, "son b." +were written under the date of my birth, August 29th. Autumn had +just begun when my great pre-contemporary entered this un-Christian +universe and was made a member of the Christian church on the same +day, for he was born and baptized on the 18th of September. + +Thus there was established a close bond of relationship between the +great English scholar and writer and myself. Year by year, and +almost month by month, my life has kept pace in this century with his +life in the last century. I had only to open my Boswell at any time, +and I knew just what Johnson at my age, twenty or fifty or seventy, +was thinking and doing; what were his feelings about life; what +changes the years had wrought in his body, his mind, his feelings, +his companionships, his reputation. It was for me a kind of unison +between two instruments, both playing that old familiar air, "Life," +--one a bassoon, if you will, and the other an oaten pipe, if you +care to find an image for it, but still keeping pace with each other +until the players both grew old and gray. At last the thinner thread +of sound is heard by itself, and its deep accompaniment rolls out its +thunder no more. + +I feel lonely now that my great companion and friend of so many years +has left me. I felt more intimately acquainted with him than I do +with many of my living friends. I can hardly remember when I did not +know him. I can see him in his bushy wig, exactly like that of the +Reverend Dr. Samuel Cooper (who died in December, 1783) as Copley +painted him,--he hangs there on my wall, over the revolving bookcase. +His ample coat, too, I see, with its broad flaps and many buttons and +generous cuffs, and beneath it the long, still more copiously +buttoned waistcoat, arching in front of the fine crescentic, almost +semi-lunar Falstaffian prominence, involving no less than a dozen of +the above-mentioned buttons, and the strong legs with their sturdy +calves, fitting columns of support to the massive body and solid, +capacious brain enthroned over it. I can hear him with his heavy +tread as he comes in to the Club, and a gap is widened to make room +for his portly figure. "A fine day," says Sir Joshua. "Sir," he +answers, "it seems propitious, but the atmosphere is humid and the +skies are nebulous," at which the great painter smiles, shifts his +trumpet, and takes a pinch of snuff. + +Dear old massive, deep-voiced dogmatist and hypochondriac of the +eighteenth century, how one would like to sit at some ghastly Club, +between you and the bony, "mighty-mouthed," harsh-toned termagant and +dyspeptic of the nineteenth! The growl of the English mastiff and +the snarl of the Scotch terrier would make a duet which would enliven +the shores of Lethe. I wish I could find our "spiritualist's" paper +in the Portfolio, in which the two are brought together, but I hardly +know what I shall find when it is opened. + +Yes, my life is a little less precious to me since I have lost that +dear old friend; and when the funeral train moves to Westminster +Abbey next Saturday, for I feel as if this were 1784, and not 1884,-- +I seem to find myself following the hearse, one of the silent +mourners. + +Among the events which have rendered the past year memorable to me +has been the demolition of that venerable and interesting old +dwelling-house, precious for its intimate association with the +earliest stages of the war of the Revolution, and sacred to me as my +birthplace and the home of my boyhood. + +The "Old Gambrel-roofed House" exists no longer. I remember saying +something, in one of a series of papers published long ago, about the +experience of dying out of a house,--of leaving it forever, as the +soul dies out of the body. We may die out of many houses, but the +house itself can die but once; and so real is the life of a house to +one who has dwelt in it, more especially the life of the house which +held him in dreamy infancy, in restless boyhood, in passionate +youth,--so real, I say, is its life, that it seems as if something +like a soul of it must outlast its perishing frame. + +The slaughter of the Old Gambrel-roofed House was, I am ready to +admit, a case of justifiable domicide. Not the less was it to be +deplored by all who love the memories of the past. With its +destruction are obliterated some of the footprints of the heroes and +martyrs who took the first steps in the long and bloody march which +led us through the wilderness to the promised land of independent +nationality. Personally, I have a right to mourn for it as a part of +my life gone from me. My private grief for its loss would be a +matter for my solitary digestion, were it not that the experience +through which I have just passed is one so familiar to my fellow- +countrymen that, in telling my own reflections and feelings, I am +repeating those of great numbers of men and women who have had the +misfortune to outlive their birthplace. + +It is a great blessing to be born surrounded by a natural horizon. +The Old Gambrel-roofed House could not boast an unbroken ring of +natural objects encircling it. Northerly it looked upon its own +outbuildings and some unpretending two-story houses which had been +its neighbors for a century and more. To the south of it the square +brick dormitories and the belfried hall of the university helped to +shut out the distant view. But the west windows gave a broad outlook +across the common, beyond which the historical "Washington elm" and +two companions in line with it, spread their leaves in summer and +their networks in winter. And far away rose the hills that bounded +the view, with the glimmer here and there of the white walls or the +illuminated casements of some embowered, half-hidden villa. +Eastwardly also, the prospect was, in my earlier remembrance, widely +open, and I have frequently seen the sunlit sails gliding along as if +through the level fields, for no water was visible. So there were +broad expanses on two sides at least, for my imagination to wander +over. + +I cannot help thinking that we carry our childhood's horizon with us +all our days. Among these western wooded hills my day-dreams built +their fairy palaces, and even now, as I look at them from my library +window, across the estuary of the Charles, I find myself in the +familiar home of my early visions. The "clouds of glory" which we +trail with us in after life need not be traced to a pre-natal state. +There is enough to account for them in that unconsciously remembered +period of existence before we have learned the hard limitations of +real life. Those earliest months in which we lived in sensations +without words, and ideas not fettered in sentences, have all the +freshness of proofs of an engraving "before the letter." I am very +thankful that the first part of my life was not passed shut in +between high walls and treading the unimpressible and unsympathetic +pavement. + +Our university town was very much like the real country, in those +days of which I am thinking. There were plenty of huckleberries and +blueberries within half a mile of the house. Blackberries ripened in +the fields, acorns and shagbarks dropped from the trees, squirrels +ran among the branches, and not rarely the hen-hawk might be seen +circling over the barnyard. Still another rural element was not +wanting, in the form of that far-diffused, infragrant effluvium, +which, diluted by a good half mile of pure atmosphere, is no longer +odious, nay is positively agreeable, to many who have long known it, +though its source and centre has an unenviable reputation. I need +not name the animal whose Parthian warfare terrifies and puts to +flight the mightiest hunter that ever roused the tiger from his +jungle or faced the lion of the desert. Strange as it may seem, an +aerial hint of his personality in the far distance always awakens in +my mind pleasant remembrances and tender reflections. A whole +neighborhood rises up before me: the barn, with its haymow, where the +hens laid their eggs to hatch, and we boys hid our apples to ripen, +both occasionally illustrating the sic vos non vobis; the shed, where +the annual Tragedy of the Pig was acted with a realism that made +Salvini's Othello seem but a pale counterfeit; the rickety old +outhouse, with the "corn-chamber" which the mice knew so well; the +paved yard, with its open gutter,--these and how much else come up at +the hint of my far-off friend, who is my very near enemy. Nothing is +more familiar than the power of smell in reviving old memories. +There was that quite different fragrance of the wood-house, the smell +of fresh sawdust. It comes back to me now, and with it the hiss of +the saw; the tumble of the divorced logs which God put together and +man has just put asunder; the coming down of the axe and the hah! +that helped it,--the straight-grained stick opening at the first +appeal of the implement as if it were a pleasure, and the stick with +a knot in the middle of it that mocked the blows and the hahs! until +the beetle and wedge made it listen to reason,--there are just such +straight-grained and just such knotty men and women. All this passes +through my mind while Biddy, whose parlor-name is Angela, contents +herself with exclaiming "egh!*******!" + +How different distances were in those young days of which I am +thinking! From the old house to the old yellow meeting-house, where +the head of the family preached and the limbs of the family listened, +was not much more than two or three times the width of Commonwealth +Avenue. But of a hot summer's afternoon, after having already heard +one sermon, which could not in the nature of things have the charm of +novelty of presentation to the members of the home circle, and the +theology of which was not too clear to tender apprehensions; with +three hymns more or less lugubrious, rendered by a village-choir, got +into voice by many preliminary snuffles and other expiratory efforts, +and accompanied by the snort of a huge bassviol which wallowed +through the tune like a hippopotamus, with other exercises of the +customary character,--after all this in the forenoon, the afternoon +walk to the meeting-house in the hot sun counted for as much, in my +childish dead-reckoning, as from old Israel Porter's in Cambridge to +the Exchange Coffeehouse in Boston did in after years. It takes a +good while to measure the radius of the circle that is about us, for +the moon seems at first as near as the watchface. Who knows but +that, after a certain number of ages, the planet we live on may seem +to us no bigger than our neighbor Venus appeared when she passed +before the sun a few months ago, looking as if we could take her +between our thumb and finger, like a bullet or a marble? And time, +too; how long was it from the serious sunrise to the joyous "sun- +down" of an old-fashioned, puritanical, judaical first day of the +week, which a pious fraud christened "the Sabbath"? Was it a +fortnight, as we now reckon duration, or only a week? Curious +entities, or non-entities, space and tithe? When you see a +metaphysician trying to wash his hands of them and get rid of these +accidents, so as to lay his dry, clean palm on the absolute, does +it not remind you of the hopeless task of changing the color of the +blackamoor by a similar proceeding? For space is the fluid in which +he is washing, and time is the soap which he is using up in the +process, and he cannot get free from them until he can wash himself +in a mental vacuum. + +In my reference to the old house in a former paper, published years +ago, I said, + +"By and by the stony foot of the great University will plant itself +on this whole territory, and the private recollections which clung so +tenaciously to the place and its habitations will have died with +those who cherished them." + +What strides the great University has taken since those words were +written! During all my early years our old Harvard Alma Mater sat +still and lifeless as the colossi in the Egyptian desert. Then all +at once, like the statue in Don Giovanni, she moved from her +pedestal. The fall of that "stony foot" has effected a miracle like +the harp that Orpheus played, like the teeth which Cadmus sowed. The +plain where the moose and the bear were wandering while Shakespeare +was writing Hamlet, where a few plain dormitories and other needed +buildings were scattered about in my school-boy days, groans under +the weight of the massive edifices which have sprung up all around +them, crowned by the tower of that noble structure which stands in +full view before me as I lift my eyes from the portfolio on the back +of which I am now writing. + +For I must be permitted to remind you that I have not yet opened it. +I have told you that I have just finished a long memoir, and that it +has cost me no little labor to overcome some of its difficulties,--if +I have overcome them, which others must decide. And I feel exactly +as honest Dobbin feels when his harness is slipped off after a long +journey with a good deal of up-hill work. He wants to rest a little, +then to feed a little; then, if you will turn him loose in the +pasture, he wants to roll. I have left my starry and ethereal +companionship,--not for a long time, I hope, for it has lifted me +above my common self, but for a while. And now I want, so to speak, +to roll in the grass and among the dandelions with the other +pachyderms. So I have kept to the outside of the portfolio as yet, +and am disporting myself in reminiscences, and fancies, and vagaries, +and parentheses. + +How well I understand the feeling which led the Pisans to load their +vessels with earth from the Holy Land, and fill the area of the Campo +Santo with that sacred soil! The old house stood upon about as +perverse a little patch of the planet as ever harbored a half-starved +earth-worm. It was as sandy as Sahara and as thirsty as Tantalus. +The rustic aid-de-camps of the household used to aver that all +fertilizing matters "leached" through it. I tried to disprove their +assertion by gorging it with the best of terrestrial nourishment, +until I became convinced that I was feeding the tea-plants of China, +and then I gave over the attempt. And yet I did love, and do love, +that arid patch of ground. I wonder if a single flower could not be +made to grow in a pot of earth from that Campo Santo of my childhood! +One noble product of nature did not refuse to flourish there,--the +tall, stately, beautiful, soft-haired, many-jointed, generous maize +or Indian corn, which thrives on sand and defies the blaze of our +shrivelling summer. What child but loves to wander in its forest- +like depths, amidst the rustling leaves and with the lofty tassels +tossing their heads high above him! There are two aspects of the +cornfield which always impress my imagination: the first when it has +reached its full growth, and its ordered ranks look like an army on +the march with its plumed and bannered battalions; the second when, +after the battle of the harvest, the girdled stacks stand on the +field of slaughter like so many ragged Niobes,--say rather like the +crazy widows and daughters of the dead soldiery. + +Once more let us come back to the old house. It was far along in its +second century when the edict went forth that it must stand no +longer. + +The natural death of a house is very much like that of one of its +human tenants. The roof is the first part to show the distinct signs +of age. Slates and tiles loosen and at last slide off, and leave +bald the boards that supported them; shingles darken and decay, and +soon the garret or the attic lets in the rain and the snow; by and by +the beams sag, the floors warp, the walls crack, the paper peels +away, the ceilings scale off and fall, the windows are crusted with +clinging dust, the doors drop from their rusted hinges, the winds +come in without knocking and howl their cruel death-songs through the +empty rooms and passages, and at last there comes a crash, a great +cloud of dust rises, and the home that had been the shelter of +generation after generation finds its grave in its own cellar. Only +the chimney remains as its monument. Slowly, little by little, the +patient solvents that find nothing too hard for their chemistry pick +out the mortar from between the bricks; at last a mighty wind roars +around it and rushes against it, and the monumental relic crashes +down among the wrecks it has long survived. So dies a human +habitation left to natural decay, all that was seen above the surface +of the soil sinking gradually below it, + + Till naught remains the saddening tale to tell + Save home's last wrecks, the cellar and the well. + +But if this sight is saddening, what is it to see a human dwelling +fall by the hand of violence! The ripping off of the shelter that +has kept out a thousand storms, the tearing off of the once +ornamental woodwork, the wrench of the inexorable crowbar, the +murderous blows of the axe, the progressive ruin, which ends by +rending all the joints asunder and flinging the tenoned and mortised +timbers into heaps that will be sawed and split to warm some new +habitation as firewood,--what a brutal act of destruction it seems! + +Why should I go over the old house again, having already described it +more than ten years ago? Alas! how many remember anything they read +but once, and so long ago as that? How many would find it out if one +should say over in the same words that which he said in the last +decade? But there is really no need of telling the story a second +time, for it can be found by those who are curious enough to look it +up in a volume of which it occupies the opening chapter. + +In order, however, to save any inquisitive reader that trouble, let +me remind him that the old house was General Ward's headquarters at +the breaking out of the Revolution; that the plan for fortifying +Bunker's Hill was laid, as commonly believed, in the southeast lower +room, the floor of which was covered with dents, made, it was +alleged, by the butts of the soldiers' muskets. In that house, too, +General Warren probably passed the night before the Bunker Hill +battle, and over its threshold must the stately figure of Washington +have often cast its shadow. + +But the house in which one drew his first breath, and where he one +day came into the consciousness that he was a personality, an ego, a +little universe with a sky over him all his own, with a persistent +identity, with the terrible responsibility of a separate, +independent, inalienable existence,--that house does not ask for any +historical associations to make it the centre of the earth for him. + +If there is any person in the world to be envied, it is the one who +is born to an ancient estate, with a long line of family traditions +and the means in his hands of shaping his mansion and his domain to +his own taste, without losing sight of all the characteristic +features which surrounded his earliest years. The American is, for +the most part, a nomad, who pulls down his house as the Tartar pulls +up his tent-poles. If I had an ideal life to plan for him it would +be something like this: + +His grandfather should be a wise, scholarly, large-brained, large- +hearted country minister, from whom he should inherit the temperament +that predisposes to cheerfulness and enjoyment, with the finer +instincts which direct life to noble aims and make it rich with the +gratification of pure and elevated tastes and the carrying out of +plans for the good of his neighbors and his fellow-creatures. He +should, if possible, have been born, at any rate have passed some of +his early years, or a large part of them, under the roof of the good +old minister. His father should be, we will say, a business man in +one of our great cities,--a generous manipulator of millions, some of +which have adhered to his private fortunes, in spite of his liberal +use of his means. His heir, our ideally placed American, shall take +possession of the old house, the home of his earliest memories, and +preserve it sacredly, not exactly like the Santa Casa, but, as nearly +as may be, just as he remembers it. He can add as many acres as he +will to the narrow house-lot. He can build a grand mansion for +himself, if he chooses, in the not distant neighborhood. But the old +house, and all immediately round it, shall be as he recollects it +when be had to stretch his little arm up to reach the door-handles. +Then, having well provided for his own household, himself included, +let him become the providence of the village or the town where be +finds himself during at least a portion of every year. Its schools, +its library, its poor,--and perhaps the new clergyman who has +succeeded his grandfather's successor may be one of them,--all its +interests, he shall make his own. And from this centre his +beneficence shall radiate so far that all who hear of his wealth +shall also hear of him as a friend to his race. + +Is not this a pleasing programme? Wealth is a steep hill, which the +father climbs slowly and the son often tumbles down precipitately; +but there is a table-land on a level with it, which may be found by +those who do not lose their head in looking down from its sharply +cloven summit.---Our dangerously rich men can make themselves hated, +held as enemies of the race, or beloved and recognized as its +benefactors. The clouds of discontent are threatening, but if the +gold-pointed lightning-rods are rightly distributed the destructive +element may be drawn off silently and harmlessly. For it cannot be +repeated too often that the safety of great wealth with us lies in +obedience to the new version of the Old World axiom, RICHESS oblige. + + + + + + +THE NEW PORTFOLIO: FIRST OPENING. + + + + +A MORTAL ANTIPATHY. + + + +I + +GETTING READY. + +It is impossible to begin a story which must of necessity tax the +powers of belief of readers unacquainted with the class of facts to +which its central point of interest belongs without some words in the +nature of preparation. Readers of Charles Lamb remember that Sarah +Battle insisted on a clean-swept hearth before sitting down to her +favorite game of whist. + +The narrator wishes to sweep the hearth, as it were, in these opening +pages, before sitting down to tell his story. He does not intend to +frighten the reader away by prolix explanation, but he does mean to +warn him against hasty judgments when facts are related which are not +within the range of every-day experience. Did he ever see the +Siamese twins, or any pair like them? Probably not, yet he feels +sure that Chang and Eng really existed; and if he has taken the +trouble to inquire, he has satisfied himself that similar cases have +been recorded by credible witnesses, though at long intervals and in +countries far apart from each other. + +This is the first sweep of the brush, to clear the hearth of the +skepticism and incredulity which must be got out of the way before we +can begin to tell and to listen in peace with ourselves and each +other. + +One more stroke of the brush is needed before the stage will be ready +for the chief characters and the leading circumstances to which the +reader's attention is invited. If the principal personages made +their entrance at once, the reader would have to create for himself +the whole scenery of their surrounding conditions. In point of fact, +no matter how a story is begun, many of its readers have already +shaped its chief actors out of any hint the author may have dropped, +and provided from their own resources a locality and a set of outward +conditions to environ these imagined personalities. These are all to +be brushed away, and the actual surroundings of the subject of the +narrative represented as they were, at the risk of detaining the +reader a little while from the events most likely to interest him. +The choicest egg that ever was laid was not so big as the nest that +held it. If a story were so interesting that a maiden would rather +hear it than listen to the praise of her own beauty, or a poet would +rather read it than recite his own verses, still it would have to be +wrapped in some tissue of circumstance, or it would lose half its +effectiveness. + +It may not be easy to find the exact locality referred to in this +narrative by looking into the first gazetteer that is at hand. +Recent experiences have shown that it is unsafe to be too exact in +designating places and the people who live in them. There are, it +may be added, so many advertisements disguised under the form of +stories and other literary productions that one naturally desires to +avoid the suspicion of being employed by the enterprising proprietors +of this or that celebrated resort to use his gifts for their especial +benefit. There are no doubt many persons who remember the old sign +and the old tavern and its four chief personages presently to be +mentioned. It is to be hoped that they will not furnish the public +with a key to this narrative, and perhaps bring trouble to the writer +of it, as has happened to other authors. If the real names are a +little altered, it need not interfere with the important facts +relating to those who bear them. It might not be safe to tell a +damaging story about John or James Smythe; but if the slight change +is made of spelling the name Smith, the Smythes would never think of +bringing an action, as if the allusion related to any of them. The +same gulf of family distinction separates the Thompsons with a p from +the Thomsons without that letter. + +There are few pleasanter places in the Northern States for a summer +residence than that known from the first period of its settlement by +the name of Arrowhead Village. The Indians had found it out, as the +relics they left behind them abundantly testified. The commonest of +these were those chipped stones which are the medals of barbarism, +and from Which the place took its name,--the heads of arrows, of +various sizes, material, and patterns: some small enough for killing +fish and little birds, some large enough for such game as the moose +and the bear, to say nothing of the hostile Indian and the white +settler; some of flint, now and then one of white quartz, and others +of variously colored jasper. The Indians must have lived here for +many generations, and it must have been a kind of factory village of +the stone age,--which lasted up to near the present time, if we may +judge from the fact that many of these relics are met with close to +the surface of the ground. + +No wonder they found this a pleasant residence, for it is to-day one +of the most attractive of all summer resorts; so inviting, indeed, +that those who know it do not like to say too much about it, lest the +swarms of tourists should make it unendurable to those who love it +for itself, and not as a centre of fashionable display and extramural +cockneyism. + +There is the lake, in the first place,--Cedar Lake,--about five miles +long, and from half a mile to a mile and a half wide, stretching from +north to south. Near the northern extremity are the buildings of +Stoughton University, a flourishing young college with an ambitious +name, but well equipped and promising, the grounds of which reach the +water. At the southern end of the lake are the edifices of the +Corinna Institute, a favorite school for young ladies, where large +numbers of the daughters of America are fitted, so far as education +can do it, for all stations in life, from camping out with a husband +at the mines in Nevada to acting the part of chief lady of the land +in the White House at Washington. + +Midway between the two extremities, on the eastern shore of the lake, +is a valley between two hills, which come down to the very edge of +the lake, leaving only room enough for a road between their base and +the water. This valley, half a mile in width, has been long settled, +and here for a century or more has stood the old Anchor Tavern. A +famous place it was so long as its sign swung at the side of the +road: famous for its landlord, portly, paternal, whose welcome to a +guest that looked worthy of the attention was like that of a parent +to a returning prodigal, and whose parting words were almost as good +as a marriage benediction; famous for its landlady, ample in person, +motherly, seeing to the whole household with her own eyes, mistress +of all culinary secrets that Northern kitchens are most proud of; +famous also for its ancient servant, as city people would call her, +--help, as she was called in the tavern and would have called +herself,--the unchanging, seemingly immortal Miranda, who cared for +the guests as if she were their nursing mother, and pressed the +specially favorite delicacies on their attention as a connoisseur +calls the wandering eyes of an amateur to the beauties of a picture. +Who that has ever been at the old Anchor Tavern forgets Miranda's + + "A little of this fricassee?-it is ver-y nice;" + +or + + "Some of these cakes? You will find them ver-y good." + +Nor would it be just to memory to forget that other notable and noted +member of the household,--the unsleeping, unresting, omnipresent +Pushee, ready for everybody and everything, everywhere within the +limits of the establishment at all hours of the day and night. He +fed, nobody could say accurately when or where. There were rumors of +a "bunk," in which he lay down with his clothes on, but he seemed to +be always wide awake, and at the service of as many guest, at once as +if there had been half a dozen of him. + +So much for old reminiscences. + +The landlord of the Anchor Tavern had taken down his sign. He had +had the house thoroughly renovated and furnished it anew, and kept it +open in summer for a few boarders. It happened more than once that +the summer boarders were so much pleased with the place that they +stayed on through the autumn, and some of them through the winter. +The attractions of the village were really remarkable. Boating in +summer, and skating in winter; ice-boats, too, which the wild ducks +could hardly keep up with; fishing, for which the lake was renowned; +varied and beautiful walks through the valley and up the hillsides; +houses sheltered from the north and northeasterly winds, and +refreshed in the hot summer days by the breeze which came over the +water,--all this made the frame for a pleasing picture of rest and +happiness. But there was a great deal more than this. There was a +fine library in the little village, presented and richly endowed by a +wealthy native of the place. There was a small permanent population +of a superior character to that of an everyday country town; there +was a pretty little Episcopal church, with a good-hearted rector, +broad enough for the Bishop of the diocese to be a little afraid of, +and hospitable to all outsiders, of whom, in the summer season, there +were always some who wanted a place of worship to keep their religion +from dying out during the heathen months, while the shepherds of the +flocks to which they belonged were away from their empty folds. + +What most helped to keep the place alive all through the year was the +frequent coming together of the members of a certain literary +association. Some time before the tavern took down its sign the +landlord had built a hall, where many a ball had been held, to which +the young folks of all the country round had resorted. It was still +sometimes used for similar occasions, but it was especially notable +as being the place of meeting of the famous PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY. + +This association, the name of which might be invidiously interpreted +as signifying that its members knew everything, had no such +pretensions, but, as its Constitution said very plainly and modestly, +held itself open to accept knowledge on any and all subjects from +such as had knowledge to impart. Its President was the rector of the +little chapel, a man who, in spite of the Thirty-Nine Articles, could +stand fire from the widest-mouthed heretical blunderbuss without +flinching or losing his temper. The hall of the old Anchor Tavern +was a convenient place of meeting for the students and instructors of +the University and the Institute. Sometimes in boat-loads, sometimes +in carriage-loads, sometimes in processions of skaters, they came to +the meetings in Pansophian Hall, as it was now commonly called. + +These meetings had grown to be occasions of great interest. It was +customary to have papers written by members of the Society, for the +most part, but now and then by friends of the members, sometimes by +the students of the College or the Institute, and in rarer instances +by anonymous personages, whose papers, having been looked over and +discussed by the Committee appointed for that purpose, were thought +worth listening to. The variety of topics considered was very great. +The young ladies of the village and the Institute had their favorite +subjects, the young gentlemen a different set of topics, and the +occasional outside contributors their own; so that one who happened +to be admitted to a meeting never knew whether he was going to hear +an account of recent arctic discoveries, or an essay on the freedom +of the will, or a psychological experience, or a story, or even a +poem. + +Of late there had been a tendency to discuss the questions relating +to the true status and the legitimate social functions of woman. The +most conflicting views were held on the subject. Many of the young +ladies and some of the University students were strong in defence of +all the "woman's rights" doctrines. Some of these young people were +extreme in their views. They had read about Semiramis and Boadicea +and Queen Elizabeth, until they were ready, if they could get the +chance, to vote for a woman as President of the United States or as +General of the United States Army. They were even disposed to assert +the physical equality of woman to man, on the strength of the rather +questionable history of the Amazons, and especially of the story, +believed to be authentic, of the female body-guard of the King of +Dahomey,--females frightful enough to need no other weapon than their +looks to scare off an army of Cossacks. + +Miss Lurida Vincent, gold medallist of her year at the Corinna +Institute, was the leader of these advocates of virile womanhood. It +was rather singular that she should have elected to be the apostle of +this extreme doctrine, for she was herself far better equipped with +brain than muscles. In fact, she was a large-headed, large-eyed, +long-eyelashed, slender-necked, slightly developed young woman; +looking almost like a child at an age when many of the girls had +reached their full stature and proportions. In her studies she was +so far in advance of her different classes that there was always a +wide gap between her and the second scholar. So fatal to all rivalry +had she proved herself that she passed under the school name of The +Terror. She learned so easily that she undervalued her own +extraordinary gifts, and felt the deepest admiration for those of her +friends endowed with faculties of an entirely different and almost +opposite nature. After sitting at her desk until her head was hot +and her feet were like ice, she would go and look at the blooming +young girls exercising in the gymnasium of the school, and feel as if +she would give all her knowledge, all her mathematics and strange +tongues and history, all those accomplishments that made her the +encyclopaedia of every class she belonged to, if she could go through +the series of difficult and graceful exercises in which she saw her +schoolmates delighting. + +One among them, especially, was the object of her admiration, as she +was of all who knew her exceptional powers in the line for which +nature had specially organized her. All the physical perfections +which Miss Lurida had missed had been united in Miss Euthymia Tower, +whose school name was The Wonder. Though of full womanly stature, +there were several taller girls of her age. While all her contours +and all her movements betrayed a fine muscular development, there was +no lack of proportion, and her finely shaped hands and feet showed +that her organization was one of those carefully finished +masterpieces of nature which sculptors are always in search of, and +find it hard to detect among the imperfect products of the living +laboratory. + +This girl of eighteen was more famous than she cared to be for her +performances in the gymnasium. She commonly contented herself with +the same exercises that her companions were accustomed to. Only her +dumb-bells, with which she exercised easily and gracefully, were too +heavy for most of the girls to do more with than lift them from the +floor. She was fond of daring feats on the trapeze, and had to be +checked in her indulgence in them. The Professor of gymnastics at +the University came over to the Institute now and then, and it was a +source of great excitement to watch some of the athletic exercises in +which the young lady showed her remarkable muscular strength and +skill in managing herself in the accomplishment of feats which looked +impossible at first sight. How often The Terror had thought to +herself that she would gladly give up all her knowledge of Greek and +the differential and integral calculus if she could only perform the +least of those feats which were mere play to The Wonder! Miss +Euthymia was not behind the rest in her attainments in classical or +mathematical knowledge, and she was one of the very best students in +the out-door branches,--botany, mineralogy, sketching from nature,-- +to be found among the scholars of the Institute. + +There was an eight-oared boat rowed by a crew of the young ladies, of +which Miss Euthymia was the captain and pulled the bow oar. Poor +little Lurida could not pull an oar, but on great occasions, when +there were many boats out, she was wanted as coxswain, being a mere +feather-weight, and quick-witted enough to serve well in the +important office where brains are more needed than muscle. + +There was also an eight-oared boat belonging to the University, and +rowed by a picked crew of stalwart young fellows. The bow oar and +captain of the University crew was a powerful young man, who, like +the captain of the girls' boat, was a noted gymnast. He had had one +or two quiet trials with Miss Euthymia, in which, according to the +ultras of the woman's rights party, he had not vindicated the +superiority of his sex in the way which might have been expected. +Indeed, it was claimed that he let a cannon-ball drop when he ought +to have caught it, and it was not disputed that he had been +ingloriously knocked over by a sand-bag projected by the strong arms +of the young maiden. This was of course a story that was widely told +and laughingly listened to, and the captain of the University crew +had become a little sensitive on the subject. When there was a talk, +therefore, about a race between the champion boats of the two +institutions there was immense excitement in both of them, as well as +among the members of the Pansophian Society and all the good people +of the village. + +There were many objections to be overcome. Some thought it +unladylike for the young maidens to take part in a competition which +must attract many lookers-on, and which it seemed to them very +hoidenish to venture upon. Some said it was a shame to let a crew of +girls try their strength against an equal number of powerful young +men. These objections were offset by the advocates of the race by +the following arguments. They maintained that it was no more +hoidenish to row a boat than it was to take a part in the calisthenic +exercises, and that the girls had nothing to do with the young men's +boat, except to keep as much ahead of it as possible. As to +strength, the woman's righters believed that, weight for weight, +their crew was as strong as the other, and of course due allowance +would be made for the difference of weight and all other accidental +hindrances. It was time to test the boasted superiority of masculine +muscle. Here was a chance. If the girls beat, the whole country +would know it, and after that female suffrage would be only a +question of time. Such was the conclusion, from rather insufficient +premises, it must be confessed; but if nature does nothing per +saltum,--by jumps,--as the old adage has it, youth is very apt to +take long leaps from a fact to a possible sequel or consequence. So +it had come about that a contest between the two boat-crews was +looked forward to with an interest almost equal to that with which +the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii was regarded. + +The terms had been at last arranged between the two crews, after +cautious protocols and many diplomatic discussions. It was so novel +in its character that it naturally took a good deal of time to adjust +it in such a way as to be fair to both parties. The course must not +be too long for the lighter and weaker crew, for the staying power of +the young persons who made it up could not be safely reckoned upon. +A certain advantage must be allowed them at the start, and this was a +delicate matter to settle. The weather was another important +consideration. June would be early enough, in all probability, and +if the lake should be tolerably smooth the grand affair might come +off some time in that month. Any roughness of the water would be +unfavorable to the weaker crew. The rowing-course was on the eastern +side of the lake, the starting-point being opposite the Anchor +Tavern; from that three quarters of a mile to the south, where the +turning-stake was fixed, so that the whole course of one mile and a +half would bring the boats back to their starting-point. + +The race was to be between the Algonquin, eight-oared boat with +outriggers, rowed by young men, students of Stoughton University, and +the Atalanta, also eight-oared and outrigger boat, by young ladies +from the Corinna Institute. Their boat was three inches wider than +the other, for various sufficient reasons, one of which was to make +it a little less likely to go over and throw its crew into the water, +which was a sound precaution, though all the girls could swim, and +one at least, the bow oar, was a famous swimmer, who had pulled a +drowning man out of the water after a hard struggle to keep him from +carrying her down with him. + +Though the coming trial had not been advertised in the papers, so as +to draw together a rabble of betting men and ill-conditioned lookers- +on, there was a considerable gathering, made up chiefly of the +villagers and the students of the two institutions. Among them were +a few who were disposed to add to their interest in the trial by +small wagers. The bets were rather in favor of the "Quins," as the +University boat was commonly called, except where the natural +sympathy of the young ladies or the gallantry of some of the young +men led them to risk their gloves or cigars, or whatever it might be, +on the Atalantas. The elements of judgment were these: average +weight of the Algonquins one hundred and sixty-five pounds; average +weight of the Atalantas, one hundred and forty-eight pounds; skill in +practice about equal; advantage of the narrow boat equal to three +lengths; whole distance allowed the Atalantas eight lengths,--a long +stretch to be made up in a mile and a half. + +And so both crews began practising for the grand trial. + + + + +II + +THE BOAT-RACE. + +The 10th of June was a delicious summer day, rather warm, but still +and bright. The water was smooth, and the crews were in the best +possible condition. All was expectation, and for some time nothing +but expectation. No boat-race or regatta ever began at the time +appointed for the start. Somebody breaks an oar, or somebody fails +to appear in season, or something is the matter with a seat or an +outrigger; or if there is no such excuse, the crew of one or both or +all the boats to take part in the race must paddle about to get +themselves ready for work, to the infinite weariness of all the +spectators, who naturally ask why all this getting ready is not +attended to beforehand. The Algonquins wore plain gray flannel suits +and white caps. The young ladies were all in dark blue dresses, +touched up with a red ribbon here and there, and wore light straw +hats. The little coxswain of the Atalanta was the last to step on +board. As she took her place she carefully deposited at her feet a +white handkerchief wrapped about something or other, perhaps a +sponge, in case the boat should take in water. + +At last the Algonquin shot out from the little nook where she lay,-- +long, narrow, shining, swift as a pickerel when he darts from the +reedy shore. It was a beautiful sight to see the eight young fellows +in their close-fitting suits, their brown muscular arms bare, bending +their backs for the stroke and recovering, as if they were parts of a +single machine. + +"The gals can't stan' it agin them fellers," said the old blacksmith +from the village. + +"You wait till the gals get a-goin'," said the carpenter, who had +often worked in the gymnasium of the Corinna Institute, and knew +something of their muscular accomplishments. "Y' ought to see 'em +climb ropes, and swing dumb-bells, and pull in them rowin'-machines. +Ask Jake there whether they can't row a mild in double-quick time,-- +he knows all abaout it." + +Jake was by profession a fisherman, and a freshwater fisherman in a +country village is inspector-general of all that goes on out-of- +doors, being a lazy, wandering sort of fellow, whose study of the +habits and habitats of fishes gives him a kind of shrewdness of +observation, just as dealing in horses is an education of certain +faculties, and breeds a race of men peculiarly cunning, suspicious, +wary, and wide awake, with a rhetoric of appreciation and +depreciation all its own. + +Jake made his usual preliminary signal, and delivered himself to the +following effect: + +"Wahl, I don' know jest what to say. I've seed 'em both often enough +when they was practisin', an' I tell ye the' wa'n't no slouch abaout +neither on 'em. But them bats is all-fired long, 'n' eight on 'em +stretched in a straight line eendways makes a consid'able piece aout +'f a mile 'n' a haaf. I'd bate on them gals if it wa'n't that them +fellers is naterally longer winded, as the gals 'll find aout by the +time they git raound the stake 'n' over agin the big ellum. I'll go +ye a quarter on the pahnts agin the petticoats." + +The fresh-water fisherman had expressed the prevailing belief that +the young ladies were overmatched. Still there were not wanting +those who thought the advantage allowed the "Lantas," as they called +the Corinna boatcrew, was too great, and that it would be impossible +for the "Quins" to make it up and go by them. + +The Algonquins rowed up and down a few times before the spectators. +They appeared in perfect training, neither too fat nor too fine, +mettlesome as colts, steady as draught-horses, deep-breathed as oxen, +disciplined to work together as symmetrically as a single sculler +pulls his pair of oars. The fisherman offered to make his quarter +fifty cents. No takers. + +Five minutes passed, and all eyes were strained to the south, looking +for the Atalanta. A clump of trees hid the edge of the lake along +which the Corinna's boat was stealing towards the starting-point. +Presently the long shell swept into view, with its blooming rowers, +who, with their ample dresses, seemed to fill it almost as full as +Raphael fills his skiff on the edge of the Lake of Galilee. But how +steadily the Atalanta came on!---no rocking, no splashing, no +apparent strain; the bow oar turning to look ahead every now and +then, and watching her course, which seemed to be straight as an +arrow, the beat of the strokes as true and regular as the pulse of +the healthiest rower among them all. And if the sight of the other +boat and its crew was beautiful, how lovely was the look of this! +Eight young girls,--young ladies, for those who prefer that more +dignified and less attractive expression,--all in the flush of youth, +all in vigorous health; every muscle taught its duty; each rower +alert, not to be a tenth of a second out of time, or let her oar +dally with the water so as to lose an ounce of its propelling virtue; +every eye kindling with the hope of victory. Each of the boats was +cheered as it came in sight, but the cheers for the Atalanta were +naturally the loudest, as the gallantry of one sex and the clear, +high voices of the other gave it life and vigor. + +"Take your places!" shouted the umpire, five minutes before the half +hour. The two boats felt their way slowly and cautiously to their +positions, which had been determined by careful measurement. After a +little backing and filling they got into line, at the proper distance +from each other, and sat motionless, their bodies bent forward, their +arms outstretched, their oars in the water, waiting for the word. + +"Go!" shouted the umpire. + +Away sprang the Atalanta, and far behind her leaped the Algonquin, +her oars bending like so many long Indian bows as their blades +flashed through the water. + +"A stern chase is a long chase," especially when one craft is a great +distance behind the other. It looked as if it would be impossible +for the rear boat to overcome the odds against it. Of course the +Algonquin kept gaining, but could it possibly gain enough? That was +the question. As the boats got farther and farther away, it became +more and more difficult to determine what change there was in the +interval between them. But when they came to rounding the stake it +was easier to guess at the amount of space which had been gained. It +was clear that something like half the distance, four lengths, as +nearly as could be estimated, had been made up in rowing the first +three quarters of a mile. Could the Algonquins do a little better +than this in the second half of the race-course, they would be sure +of winning. + +The boats had turned the stake, and were coming in rapidly. Every +minute the University boat was getting nearer the other. + +"Go it, Quins!" shouted the students. + +"Pull away, Lantas!" screamed the girls, who were crowding down to +the edge of the water. + +Nearer,--nearer,--the rear boat is pressing the other more and more +closely,--a few more strokes, and they will be even, for there is but +one length between them, and thirty rods will carry them to the line. +It looks desperate for the Atalantas. The bow oar of the Algonquin +turns his head. He sees the little coxswain leaning forward at every +stroke, as if her trivial weight were of such mighty consequence,-- +but a few ounces might turn the scale of victory. As he turned he +got a glimpse of the stroke oar of the Atalanta. What a flash of +loveliness it was! Her face was like the reddest of June roses, with +the heat and the strain and the passion of expected triumph. The +upper button of her close-fitting flannel suit had strangled her as +her bosom heaved with exertion, and it had given way before the +fierce clutch she made at it. The bow oar was a staunch and steady +rower, but he was human. The blade of his oar lingered in the water; +a little more and he would have caught a crab, and perhaps lost the +race by his momentary bewilderment. + +The boat, which seemed as if it had all the life and nervousness of a +Derby three-year-old, felt the slight check, and all her men bent +more vigorously to their oars. The Atalantas saw the movement, and +made a spurt to keep their lead and gain upon it if they could. It +was of no use. The strong arms of the young men were too much for +the young maidens; only a few lengths remained to be rowed, and they +would certainly pass the Atalanta before she could reach the line. + +The little coxswain saw that it was all up with the girls' crew if +she could not save them by some strategic device. + + "Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?" + +she whispered to herself,--for The Terror remembered her Virgil as +she did everything else she ever studied. As she stooped, she lifted +the handkerchief at her feet, and took from it a flaming bouquet. +"Look!" she cried, and flung it just forward of the track of the +Algonquin. The captain of the University boat turned his head, and +there was the lovely vision which had a moment before bewitched him. +The owner of all that loveliness must, he thought, have flung the +bouquet. It was a challenge: how could he be such a coward as to +decline accepting it + +He was sure he could win the race now, and he would sweep past the +line in triumph with the great bunch of flowers at the stem of his +boat, proud as Van Tromp in the British channel with the broom at his +mast-head. + +He turned the boat's head a little by backing water. He came up with +the floating flowers, and near enough to reach them. He stooped and +snatched them up, with the loss perhaps of a second in all,--no more. +He felt sure of his victory. + +How can one tell the story of the finish in cold-blooded preterites? +Are we not there ourselves? Are not our muscles straining with those +of these sixteen young creatures, full of hot, fresh blood, their +nerves all tingling like so many tight-strained harp-strings, all +their life concentrating itself in this passionate moment of supreme +effort? No! We are seeing, not telling about what somebody else +once saw! + +--The bow of the Algonquin passes the stern of the Atalanta! + +--The bow of the Algonquin is on a level with the middle of the +Atalanta! + +--Three more lengths' rowing and the college crew will pass the +girls! + +--"Hurrah for the Quins!" The Algonquin ranges up alongside of the +Atalanta! + +"Through with her! "shouts the captain of the Algonquin. + +"Now, girls!" shrieks the captain of the Atalanta. + +They near the line, every rower straining desperately, almost madly. + +--Crack goes the oar of the Atalanta's captain, and up flash its +splintered fragments, as the stem of her boat springs past the line, +eighteen inches at least ahead of the Algonquin. + +Hooraw for the Lantas! Hooraw for the Girls! Hooraw for the +Institoot! shout a hundred voices. + +"Hurrah for woman's rights and female suffrage!" pipes the small +voice of The Terror, and there is loud laughing and cheering all +round. + +She had not studied her classical dictionary and her mythology for +nothing. "I have paid off one old score," she said. "Set down my +damask roses against the golden apples of Hippomenes!" + +It was that one second lost in snatching up the bouquet which gave +the race to the Atalantas. + + + + +III + +THE WHITE CANOE. + +While the two boats were racing, other boats with lookers-on in them +were rowing or sailing in the neighborhood of the race-course. The +scene on the water was a gay one, for the young people in the boats +were, many of them, acquainted with each other. There was a good +deal of lively talk until the race became too exciting. Then many +fell silent, until, as the boats neared the line, and still more as +they crossed it, the shouts burst forth which showed how a cramp of +attention finds its natural relief in a fit of convulsive +exclamation. + +But far away, on the other side of the lake, a birchbark canoe was to +be seen, in which sat a young man, who paddled it skillfully and +swiftly. It was evident enough that he was watching the race +intently, but the spectators could see little more than that. One of +them, however, who sat upon the stand, had a powerful spy-glass, and +could distinguish his motions very minutely and exactly. It was seen +by this curious observer that the young man had an opera-glass with +him, which he used a good deal at intervals. The spectator thought +he kept it directed to the girls' boat, chiefly, if not exclusively. +He thought also that the opera-glass was more particularly pointed +towards the bow of the boat, and came to the natural conclusion that +the bow oar, Miss Euthymia Tower, captain of the Atalantas, "The +Wonder" of the Corinna Institute, was the attraction which determined +the direction of the instrument. + +"Who is that in the canoe over there?" asked the owner of the spy- +glass. + +"That's just what we should like to know," answered the old +landlord's wife. "He and his man boarded with us when they first +came, but we could never find out anything about him only just his +name and his ways of living. His name is Kirkwood, Maurice Kirkwood, +Esq., it used to come on his letters. As for his ways of living, he +was the solitariest human being that I ever came across. His man +carried his meals up to him. He used to stay in his room pretty much +all day, but at night he would be off, walking, or riding on +horseback, or paddling about in the lake, sometimes till nigh +morning. There's something very strange about that Mr. Kirkwood. +But there don't seem to be any harm in him. Only nobody can guess +what his business is. They got up a story about him at one time. +What do you think? They said he was a counterfeiter! And so they +went one night to his room, when he was out, and that man of his was +away too, and they carried keys, and opened pretty much everything; +and they found--well, they found just nothing at all except writings +and letters,--letters from places in America and in England, and some +with Italian postmarks: that was all. Since that time the sheriff +and his folks have let him alone and minded their own business. He +was a gentleman,--anybody ought to have known that; and anybody that +knew about his nice ways of living and behaving, and knew the kind of +wear he had for his underclothing, might have known it. I could have +told those officers that they had better not bother him. I know the +ways of real gentlemen and real ladies, and I know those fellows in +store clothes that look a little too fine,--outside. Wait till +washing-day comes!" + +The good lady had her own standards for testing humanity, and they +were not wholly unworthy of consideration; they were quite as much to +be relied on as the judgments of the travelling phrenologist, who +sent his accomplice on before him to study out the principal +personages in the village, and in the light of these revelations +interpreted the bumps, with very little regard to Gall and Spurzheim, +or any other authorities. + +Even with the small amount of information obtained by the search +among his papers and effects, the gossips of the village had +constructed several distinct histories for the mysterious stranger. +He was an agent of a great publishing house; a leading contributor to +several important periodicals; the author of that anonymously +published novel which had made so much talk; the poet of a large +clothing establishment; a spy of the Italian, some said the Russian, +some said the British, Government; a proscribed refugee from some +country where he had been plotting; a school-master without a school, +a minister without a pulpit, an actor without an engagement; in +short, there was no end to the perfectly senseless stories that were +told about him, from that which made him out an escaped convict to +the whispered suggestion that he was the eccentric heir to a great +English title and estate. + +The one unquestionable fact was that of his extraordinary seclusion. +Nobody in the village, no student in the University, knew his +history. No young lady in the Corinna Institute had ever had a word +from him. Sometimes, as the boats of the University or the Institute +were returning at dusk, their rowers would see the canoe stealing +into the shadows as they drew near it. Sometimes on a moonlight +night, when a party of the young ladies were out upon the lake, they +would see the white canoe gliding ghost-like in the distance. And it +had happened more than once that when a boat's crew had been out with +singers among them, while they were in the midst of a song, the white +canoe would suddenly appear and rest upon the water,--not very near +them, but within hearing distance,--and so remain until the singing +was over, when it would steal away and be lost sight of in some inlet +or behind some jutting rock. + +Naturally enough, there was intense curiosity about this young man. +The landlady had told her story, which explained nothing. There was +nobody to be questioned about him except his servant, an Italian, +whose name was Paolo, but who to the village was known as Mr. Paul. + +Mr. Paul would have seemed the easiest person in the world to worm a +secret out of. He was good-natured, child-like as a Heathen Chinee, +talked freely with everybody in such English as he had at command, +knew all the little people of the village, and was followed round by +them partly from his personal attraction for them, and partly because +he was apt to have a stick of candy or a handful of peanuts or other +desirable luxury in his pocket for any of his little friends he met +with. He had that wholesome, happy look, so uncommon in our arid +countrymen,--a look hardly to be found except where figs and oranges +ripen in the open air. A kindly climate to grow up in, a religion +which takes your money and gives you a stamped ticket good at Saint +Peter's box office, a roomy chest and a good pair of lungs in it, an +honest digestive apparatus, a lively temperament, a cheerful +acceptance of the place in life assigned to one by nature and +circumstance,--these are conditions under which life may be quite +comfortable to endure, and certainly is very pleasant to contemplate. +All these conditions were united in Paolo. He was the easiest; +pleasantest creature to talk with that one could ask for a companion. +His southern vivacity, his amusing English, his simplicity and +openness, made him friends everywhere. + +It seemed as if it would be a very simple matter to get the history +of his master out of this guileless and unsophisticated being. He +had been tried by all the village experts. The rector had put a +number of well-studied careless questions, which failed of their +purpose. The old librarian of the town library had taken note of all +the books he carried to his master, and asked about his studies and +pursuits. Paolo found it hard to understand his English, apparently, +and answered in the most irrelevant way. The leading gossip of the +village tried her skill in pumping him for information. It was all +in vain. + +His master's way of life was peculiar,--in fact, eccentric. He had +hired rooms in an old-fashioned three-story house. He had two rooms +in the second and third stories of this old wooden building: his +study in the second, his sleeping-room in the one above it. Paolo +lived in the basement, where he had all the conveniences for cooking, +and played the part of chef for his master and himself. This was +only a part of his duty, for he was a man-of-all-work, purveyor, +steward, chambermaid,--as universal in his services for one man as +Pushee at the Anchor Tavern used to be for everybody. + +It so happened that Paolo took a severe cold one winter's day, and +had such threatening symptoms that he asked the baker, when he +called, to send the village physician to see him. In the course of +his visit the doctor naturally inquired about the health of Paolo's +master. + +"Signor Kirkwood well,--molto bene," said Paolo. "Why does he keep +out of sight as he does?" asked the doctor. + +"He always so," replied Paolo. "Una antipatia." + +Whether Paolo was off his guard with the doctor, whether he revealed +it to him as to a father confessor, or whether he thought it time +that the reason of his master's seclusion should be known, the doctor +did not feel sure. At any rate, Paolo was not disposed to make any +further revelations. Una antipatia,--an antipathy,--that was all the +doctor learned. He thought the matter over, and the more he +reflected the more he was puzzled. What could an antipathy be that +made a young man a recluse! Was it a dread of blue sky and open air, +of the smell of flowers, or some electrical impression to which be +was unnaturally sensitive? + +Dr. Butts carried these questions home with him. His wife was a +sensible, discreet woman, whom he could trust with many professional +secrets. He told her of Paolo's revelation, and talked it over with +her in the light of his experience and her own; for she had known +some curious cases of constitutional likes and aversions. + +Mrs. Butts buried the information in the grave of her memory, where +it lay for nearly a week. At the end of that time it emerged in a +confidential whisper to her favorite sister-in-law, a perfectly safe +person. Twenty-four hours later the story was all over the village +that Maurice Kirkwood was the subject of a strange, mysterious, +unheard-of antipathy to something, nobody knew what; and the whole +neighborhood naturally resolved itself into an unorganized committee +of investigation. + + + + +IV + +What is a country village without its mysterious personage? Few are +now living who can remember the advent of the handsome young man who +was the mystery of our great university town "sixty years since,"-- +long enough ago for a romance to grow out of a narrative, as Waverley +may remind us. The writer of this narrative remembers him well, and +is not sure that he has not told the strange story in some form or +other to the last generation, or to the one before the last. No +matter: if he has told it they have forgotten it,--that is, if they +have ever read it; and whether they have or have not, the story is +singular enough to justify running the risk of repetition. + +This young man, with a curious name of Scandinavian origin, appeared +unheralded in the town, as it was then, of Cantabridge. He wanted +employment, and soon found it in the shape of manual labor, which he +undertook and performed cheerfully. But his whole appearance showed +plainly enough that he was bred to occupations of a very different +nature, if, in deed, he had been accustomed to any kind of toil for +his living. His aspect was that of one of gentle birth. His hands +were not those of a laborer, and his features were delicate and +refined, as well as of remarkable beauty. Who he was, where he came +from, why he had come to Cantabridge, was never clearly explained. +He was alone, without friends, except among the acquaintances he had +made in his new residence. If he had any correspondents, they were +not known to the neighborhood where he was living. But if he had +neither friends nor correspondents, there was some reason for +believing that he had enemies. Strange circumstances occurred which +connected themselves with him in an ominous and unaccountable way. A +threatening letter was slipped under the door of a house where he was +visiting. He had a sudden attack of illness, which was thought to +look very much like the effect of poison. At one time he +disappeared, and was found wandering, bewildered, in a town many +miles from that where he was residing. When questioned how he came +there; he told a coherent story that he had been got, under some +pretext, or in some not incredible way, into a boat, from which, at a +certain landing-place, he had escaped and fled for his life, which he +believed was in danger from his kidnappers. + +Whoever his enemies may have been,--if they really existed,--he did +not fall a victim to their plots, so far as known to or remembered by +this witness. + +Various interpretations were put upon his story. Conjectures were as +abundant as they were in the case of Kaspar Hauser. That he was of +good family seemed probable; that he was of distinguished birth, not +impossible; that he was the dangerous rival of a candidate for a +greatly coveted position in one of the northern states of Europe was +a favorite speculation of some of the more romantic young persons. +There was no dramatic ending to this story,--at least none is +remembered by the present writer. + +"He left a name," like the royal Swede, of whose lineage he may have +been for aught that the village people knew, but not a name at which +anybody "grew pale;" for he had swindled no one, and broken no +woman's heart with false vows. Possibly some withered cheeks may +flush faintly as they recall the handsome young man who came before +the Cantabridge maidens fully equipped for a hero of romance when the +century was in its first quarter. + +The writer has been reminded of the handsome Swede by the incidents +attending the advent of the unknown and interesting stranger who had +made his appearance at Arrowhead Village. + +It was a very insufficient and unsatisfactory reason to assign for +the young man's solitary habits that he was the subject of an +antipathy. For what do we understand by that word? When a young +lady screams at the sight of a spider, we accept her explanation that +she has a natural antipathy to the creature. When a person expresses +a repugnance to some wholesome article of food, agreeable to most +people, we are satisfied if he gives the same reason. And so of +various odors, which are pleasing to some persons and repulsive to +others. We do not pretend to go behind the fact. It is an +individual, and it may be a family, peculiarity. Even between +different personalities there is an instinctive elective dislike as +well as an elective affinity. We are not bound to give a reason why +Dr. Fell is odious to us any more than the prisoner who peremptorily +challenges a juryman is bound to say why he does it; it is enough +that he "does not like his looks." + +There was nothing strange, then, that Maurice Kirkwood should have +his special antipathy; a great many other people have odd likes and +dislikes. But it was a very curious thing that this antipathy should +be alleged as the reason for his singular mode of life. All sorts of +explanations were suggested, not one of them in the least +satisfactory, but serving to keep the curiosity of inquirers active +until they were superseded by a new theory. One story was that +Maurice had a great fear of dogs. It grew at last to a connected +narrative, in which a fright in childhood from a rabid mongrel was +said to have given him such a sensitiveness to the near presence of +dogs that he was liable to convulsions if one came close to him. + +This hypothesis had some plausibility. No other creature would be so +likely to trouble a person who had an antipathy to it. Dogs are very +apt to make the acquaintance of strangers, in a free and easy way. +They are met with everywhere,--in one's daily walk, at the thresholds +of the doors one enters, in the gentleman's library, on the rug of my +lady's sitting-room and on the cushion of her carriage. It is true +that there are few persons who have an instinctive repugnance to this +"friend of man." But what if this so-called antipathy were only a +fear, a terror, which borrowed the less unmanly name? It was a fair +question, if, indeed, the curiosity of the public had a right to ask +any questions at all about a harmless individual who gave no offence, +and seemed entitled to the right of choosing his way of living to +suit himself, without being submitted to espionage. + +There was no positive evidence bearing on the point as yet. But one +of the village people had a large Newfoundland dog, of a very +sociable disposition, with which he determined to test the question. +He watched for the time when Maurice should leave his house for the +woods or the lake, and started with his dog to meet him. The animal +walked up to the stranger in a very sociable fashion, and began +making his acquaintance, after the usual manner of well-bred dogs; +that is, with the courtesies and blandishments by which the canine +Chesterfield is distinguished from the ill-conditioned cur. Maurice +patted him in a friendly way, and spoke to him as one who was used to +the fellowship of such companions. That idle question and foolish +story were disposed of, therefore, and some other solution must be +found, if possible. + +A much more common antipathy is that which is entertained with regard +to cats. This has never been explained. It is not mere aversion to +the look of the creature, or to any sensible quality known to the +common observer. The cat is pleasing in aspect, graceful in +movement, nice in personal habits, and of amiable disposition. No +cause of offence is obvious, and yet there are many persons who +cannot abide the presence of the most innocent little kitten. They +can tell, in some mysterious way, that there is a cat in the room +when they can neither see nor hear the creature. Whether it is an +electrical or quasi-magnetic phenomenon, or whatever it may be, of +the fact of this strange influence there are too many well- +authenticated instances to allow its being questioned. But suppose +Maurice Kirkwood to be the subject of this antipathy in its extremest +degree, it would in no manner account for the isolation to which he +had condemned himself. He might shun the firesides of the old women +whose tabbies were purring by their footstools, but these worthy +dames do not make up the whole population. + +These two antipathies having been disposed of, a new suggestion was +started, and was talked over with a curious sort of half belief, very +much as ghost stories are told in a circle of moderately instructed +and inquiring persons. This was that Maurice was endowed with the +unenviable gift of the evil eye. He was in frequent communication +with Italy, as his letters showed, and had recently been residing in +that country, as was learned from Paolo. Now everybody knows that +the evil eye is not rarely met with in Italy. Everybody who has ever +read Mr. Story's "Roba di Roma" knows what a terrible power it is +which the owner of the evil eye exercises. It can blight and destroy +whatever it falls upon. No person's life or limb is safe if the +jettatura, the withering glance of the deadly organ, falls upon him. +It must be observed that this malign effect may follow a look from +the holiest personages, that is, if we may assume that a monk is such +as a matter of course. Certainly we have a right to take it for +granted that the late Pope, Pius Ninth, was an eminently holy man, +and yet he had the name of dispensing the mystic and dreaded +jettatura as well as his blessing. If Maurice Kirkwood carried that +destructive influence, so that his clear blue eyes were more to be +feared than the fascinations of the deadliest serpent, it could +easily be understood why he kept his look away from all around him +whom he feared he might harm. + +No sensible person in Arrowhead Village really believed in the evil +eye, but it served the purpose of a temporary hypothesis, as do many +suppositions which we take as a nucleus for our observations without +putting any real confidence in them. It was just suited to the +romantic notions of the more flighty persons in the village, who had +meddled more or less with Spiritualism, and were ready for any new +fancy, if it were only wild enough. + +The riddle of the young stranger's peculiarity did not seem likely to +find any very speedy solution. Every new suggestion furnished talk +for the gossips of the village and the babble of the many tongues in +the two educational institutions. Naturally, the discussion was +liveliest among the young ladies. Here is an extract from a letter +of one of these young ladies, who, having received at her birth the +ever-pleasing name of Mary, saw fit to have herself called Mollie in +the catalogue and in her letters. The old postmaster of the town to +which her letter was directed took it up to stamp, and read on the +envelope the direction to "Miss Lulu Pinrow." He brought the stamp +down with a vicious emphasis, coming very near blotting out the +nursery name, instead of cancelling the postage-stamp. "Lulu!" he +exclaimed. "I should like to know if that great strapping girl isn't +out of her cradle yet! I suppose Miss Louisa will think that belongs +to her, but I saw her christened and I heard the name the minister +gave her, and it was n't 'Lulu,' or any such baby nonsense." And so +saying, he gave it a fling to the box marked P, as if it burned his +fingers. Why a grown-up young woman allowed herself to be cheapened +in the way so many of them do by the use of names which become them +as well as the frock of a ten-year-old schoolgirl would become a +graduate of the Corinna Institute, the old postmaster could not +guess. He was a queer old man. + +The letter thus scornfully treated runs over with a young girl's +written loquacity: + +"Oh, Lulu, there is such a sensation as you never saw or heard of +'in all your born days,' as mamma used to say. He has been at the +village for some time, but lately we have had--oh, the weirdest +stories about him! 'The Mysterious Stranger is the name some give +him, but we girls call him the Sachem, because he paddles about in an +Indian canoe. If I should tell you all the things that are said +about him I should use up all my paper ten times over. He has never +made a visit to the Institute, and none of the girls have ever spoken +to him, but the people at the village say he is very, very handsome. +We are dying to get a look at him, of course--though there is a +horrid story about him--that he has the evil eye did you ever hear +about the evil eye? If a person who is born with it looks at you, +you die, or something happens--awful--is n't it? + +"The rector says he never goes to church, but then you know a good +many of the people that pass the summer at the village never do--they +think their religion must have vacations--that's what I've heard they +say--vacations, just like other hard work--it ought not to be hard +work, I'm sure, but I suppose they feel so about it. Should you feel +afraid to have him look at you? Some of the girls say they would n't +have him for the whole world, but I shouldn't mind it--especially if +I had on my eyeglasses. Do you suppose if there is anything in the +evil eye it would go through glass? I don't believe it. Do you +think blue eye-glasses would be better than common ones? Don't laugh +at me--they tell such weird stories! The Terror--Lurida Vincent, you +know-makes fun of all they say about it, but then she 'knows +everything and doesn't believe anything,' the girls say--Well, I +should be awfully scared, I know, if anybody that had the evil eye +should look at me--but--oh, I don't know--but if it was a young man-- +and if he was very--very good-looking--I think--perhaps I would run +the risk--but don't tell anybody I said any such horrid thing--and +burn this letter right up--there 's a dear good girl." + +It is to be hoped that no reader will doubt the genuineness of this +letter. There are not quite so many "awfuls" and "awfullys" as one +expects to find in young ladies' letters, but there are two "weirds," +which may be considered a fair allowance. How it happened that +"jolly" did not show itself can hardly be accounted for; no doubt it +turns up two or three times at least in the postscript. + +Here is an extract from another letter. This was from one of the +students of Stoughton University to a friend whose name as it was +written on the envelope was Mr. Frank Mayfield. The old postmaster +who found fault with Miss "Lulu's" designation would probably have +quarrelled with this address, if it had come under his eye. "Frank" +is a very pretty, pleasant-sounding name, and it is not strange that +many persons use it in common conversation all their days when +speaking of a friend. Were they really christened by that name, any +of these numerous Franks? Perhaps they were, and if so there is +nothing to be said. But if not, was the baptismal name Francis or +Franklin? The mind is apt to fasten in a very perverse and +unpleasant way upon this question, which too often there is no +possible way of settling. One might hope, if he outlived the bearer +of the appellation, to get at the fact; but since even gravestones +have learned to use the names belonging to childhood and infancy in +their solemn record, the generation which docks its Christian names +in such an un-Christian way will bequeath whole churchyards full of +riddles to posterity. How it will puzzle and distress the historians +and antiquarians of a coming generation to settle what was the real +name of Dan and Bert and Billy, which last is legible on a white +marble slab, raised in memory of a grown person, in a certain burial- +ground in a town in Essex County, Massachusetts! + +But in the mean time we are forgetting the letter directed to Mr. +Frank Mayfield. + + +"DEAR FRANK,--Hooray! Hurrah! Rah! + +"I have made the acquaintance of 'The Mysterious Stranger'! It +happened by a queer sort of accident, which came pretty near +relieving you of the duty of replying to this letter. I was out in +my little boat, which carries a sail too big for her, as I know and +ought to have remembered. One of those fitful flaws of wind to which +the lake is so liable struck the sail suddenly, and over went my +boat. My feet got tangled in the sheet somehow, and I could not get +free. I had hard work to keep my head above water, and I struggled +desperately to escape from my toils; for if the boat were to go down +I should be dragged down with her. I thought of a good many things +in the course of some four or five minutes, I can tell you, and I got +a lesson about time better than anything Kant and all the rest of +them have to say of it. After I had been there about an ordinary +lifetime, I saw a white canoe making toward me, and I knew that our +shy young gentleman was coming to help me, and that we should become +acquainted without an introduction. So it was, sure enough. He saw +what the trouble was, managed to disentangle my feet without drowning +me in the process or upsetting his little flimsy craft, and, as I was +somewhat tired with my struggle, took me in tow and carried me to the +landing where he kept his canoe. I can't say that there is anything +odd about his manners or his way of talk. I judge him to be a native +of one of our Northern States,--perhaps a New Englander. He has +lived abroad during some parts of his life. He is not an artist, as +it was at one time thought he might be. He is a good-looking fellow, +well developed, manly in appearance, with nothing to excite special +remark unless it be a certain look of anxiety or apprehension which +comes over him from time to time. You remember our old friend Squire +B., whose companion was killed by lightning when he was standing +close to him. You know the look he had whenever anything like a +thundercloud came up in the sky. Well, I should say there was a look +like that came over this Maurice Kirkwood's face every now and then. +I noticed that he looked round once or twice as if to see whether +some object or other was in sight. There was a little rustling in +the grass as if of footsteps, and this look came over his features. +A rabbit ran by us, and I watched to see if he showed any sign of +that antipathy we have heard so much of, but he seemed to be pleased +watching the creature. + +"If you ask me what my opinion is about this Maurice Kirkwood, I +think he is eccentric in his habit of life, but not what they call a +'crank' exactly. He talked well enough about such matters as we +spoke of,--the lake, the scenery in general, the climate. I asked +him to come over and take a look at the college. He did n't promise, +but I should not be surprised if I should get him over there some +day. I asked him why he did n't go to the Pansophian meetings. He +did n't give any reason, but he shook his head in a very peculiar +way, as much as to say that it was impossible. + +"On the whole, I think it is nothing more than the same feeling of +dread of human society, or dislike for it, which under the name of +religion used to drive men into caves and deserts. What a pity that +Protestantism does not make special provision for all the freaks of +individual character! If we had a little more faith and a few more +caverns, or convenient places for making them, we should have hermits +in these holes as thick as woodchucks or prairie dogs. I should like +to know if you never had the feeling, + + 'Oh, that the desert were my dwelling-place!' + +I know what your answer will be, of course. You will say, +'Certainly, + + 'With one fair spirit for my minister;"' + +but I mean alone,--all alone. Don't you ever feel as if you should +like to have been a pillar-saint in the days when faith was as strong +as lye (spelt with a y), instead of being as weak as dish-water? +(Jerry is looking over my shoulder, and says this pun is too bad to +send, and a disgrace to the University--but never mind.) I often feel +as if I should like to roost on a pillar a hundred feet high,--yes, +and have it soaped from top to bottom. Wouldn't it be fun to look +down at the bores and the duns? Let us get up a pillar-roosters' +association. (Jerry--still looking over says there is an absurd +contradiction in the idea.) + +"What a matter-of-fact idiot Jerry is! + +"How do you like looking over, Mr. Inspector general?" + +The reader will not get much information out of this lively young +fellow's letter, but he may get a little. It is something to know +that the mysterious resident of Arrowhead Village did not look nor +talk like a crazy person; that he was of agreeable aspect and +address, helpful when occasion offered, and had nothing about him, so +far as yet appeared, to prevent his being an acceptable member of +society. + +Of course the people in the village could never be contented without +learning everything there was to be learned about their visitor. All +the city papers were examined for advertisements. If a cashier had +absconded, if a broker had disappeared, if a railroad president was +missing, some of the old stories would wake up and get a fresh +currency, until some new circumstance gave rise to a new hypothesis. +Unconscious of all these inquiries and fictions, Maurice Kirkwood +lived on in his inoffensive and unexplained solitude, and seemed +likely to remain an unsolved enigma. The "Sachem" of the boating +girls became the "Sphinx " of the village ramblers, and it was agreed +on all hands that Egypt did not hold any hieroglyphics harder to make +out than the meaning of this young man's odd way of living. + + + + +V + +THE ENIGMA STUDIED. + +It was a curious, if it was not a suspicious, circumstance that a +young man, seemingly in good health, of comely aspect, looking as if +made for companionship, should keep himself apart from all the world +around him in a place where there was a general feeling of good +neighborhood and a pleasant social atmosphere. The Public Library +was a central point which brought people together. The Pansophian +Society did a great deal to make them acquainted with each other for +many of the meetings were open to outside visitors, and the subjects +discussed in the meetings furnished the material for conversation in +their intervals. A card of invitation had been sent by the Secretary +to Maurice, in answer to which Paolo carried back a polite note of +regret. The paper had a narrow rim of black, implying apparently +some loss of relative or friend, but not any very recent and crushing +bereavement. This refusal to come to the meetings of the society was +only what was expected. It was proper to ask him, but his declining +the invitation showed that he did not wish for attentions or +courtesies. There was nothing further to be done to bring him out of +his shell, and seemingly nothing more to be learned about him at +present. + +In this state of things it was natural that all which had been +previously gathered by the few who had seen or known anything of him +should be worked over again. When there is no new ore to be dug, the +old refuse heaps are looked over for what may still be found in them. +The landlord of the Anchor Tavern, now the head of the boarding- +house, talked about Maurice, as everybody in the village did at one +time or another. He had not much to say, but he added a fact or two. + +The young gentleman was good pay,--so they all said. Sometimes he +paid in gold; sometimes in fresh bills, just out of the bank. He +trusted his man, Mr. Paul, with the money to pay his bills. He knew +something about horses; he showed that by the way he handled that +colt,--the one that threw the hostler and broke his collar-bone. +"Mr. Paul come down to the stable. 'Let me see that cult you all +'fraid of,' says he. 'My master, he ride any hoss,' says Paul. 'You +saddle him,' says be; and so they did, and Paul, he led that colt-- +the kickinest and ugliest young beast you ever see in your life--up +to the place where his master, as he calls him, and he lives. What +does that Kirkwood do but clap on a couple of long spurs and jump on +to that colt's back, and off the beast goes, tail up, heels flying, +standing up on end, trying all sorts of capers, and at last going it +full run for a couple of miles, till he'd got about enough of it. +That colt went off as ferce as a wild-cat, and come back as quiet as +a cosset lamb. A man that pays his bills reg'lar, in good money, and +knows how to handle a hoss is three quarters of a gentleman, if he is +n't a whole one,--and most likely he is a whole one." + +So spake the patriarch of the Anchor Tavern. His wife had already +given her favorable opinion of her former guest. She now added +something to her description as a sequel to her husband's remarks. + +"I call him," she said, "about as likely a young gentleman as ever I +clapped my eyes on. He is rather slighter than I like to see a young +man of his age; if he was my sun, I should like to see him a little +more fleshy. I don't believe he weighs more than a hundred and +thirty or forty pounds. Did y' ever look at those eyes of his, +M'randy? Just as blue as succory flowers. I do like those light- +complected young fellows, with their fresh cheeks and their curly +hair; somehow, curly hair doos set off anybody's face. He is n't any +foreigner, for all that he talks Italian with that Mr. Paul that's +his help. He looks just like our kind of folks, the college kind, +that's brought up among books, and is handling 'em, and reading of +'em, and making of 'em, as like as not, all their lives. All that +you say about his riding the mad colt is just what I should think he +was up to, for he's as spry as a squirrel; you ought to see him go +over that fence, as I did once. I don't believe there's any harm in +that young gentleman,--I don't care what people say. I suppose he +likes this place just as other people like it, and cares more for +walking in the woods and paddling about in the water than he doos for +company; and if he doos, whose business is it, I should like to +know?" + +The third of the speakers was Miranda, who had her own way of judging +people. + +"I never see him but two or three times," Miranda said. "I should +like to have waited on him, and got a chance to look stiddy at him +when he was eatin' his vittles. That 's the time to watch folks, +when their jaws get a-goin' and their eyes are on what's afore 'em. +Do you remember that chap the sheriff come and took away when we kep' +tahvern? Eleven year ago it was, come nex' Thanksgivin' time. A +mighty grand gentleman from the City he set up for. I watched him, +and I watched him. Says I, I don't believe you're no gentleman, +says I. He eat with his knife, and that ain't the way city folks +eats. Every time I handed him anything I looked closeter and +closeter. Them whiskers never grooved on them cheeks, says I to +myself. Them 's paper collars, says I. That dimun in your shirt- +front hain't got no life to it, says I. I don't believe it's +nothiri' more 'n a bit o' winderglass. So says I to Pushee, 'You +jes' step out and get the sheriff to come in and take a look at that +chap.' I knowed he was after a fellah. He come right in, an' he goes +up to the chap. 'Why, Bill,' says he, 'I'm mighty glad to see yer. +We've had the hole in the wall you got out of mended, and I want your +company to come and look at the old place,' says he, and he pulls out +a couple of handcuffs and has 'em on his wrists in less than no time, +an' off they goes together! I know one thing about that young +gentleman, anyhow,--there ain't no better judge of what's good eatin' +than he is. I cooked him some maccaroni myself one day, and he sends +word to me by that Mr. Paul, 'Tell Miss Miranda,' says he, I that the +Pope o' Rome don't have no better cooked maccaroni than what she sent +up to me yesterday,' says he. I don' know much about the Pope o' +Rome except that he's a Roman Catholic, and I don' know who cooks for +him, whether it's a man or a woman; but when it comes to a dish o' +maccaroni, I ain't afeard of their shefs, as they call 'em,--them he- +cooks that can't serve up a cold potater without callin' it by some +name nobody can say after 'em. But this gentleman knows good +cookin', and that's as good a sign of a gentleman as I want to tell +'em by." + + + + +VI + +STILL AT FAULT. + +The house in which Maurice Kirkwood had taken up his abode was not a +very inviting one. It was old, and had been left in a somewhat +dilapidated and disorderly condition by the tenants who had lived in +the part which Maurice now occupied. They had piled their packing- +boxes in the cellar, with broken chairs, broken china, and other +household wrecks. A cracked mirror lay on an old straw mattress, the +contents of which were airing themselves through wide rips and rents. +A lame clothes-horse was saddled with an old rug fringed with a +ragged border, out of which all the colors had been completely +trodden. No woman would have gone into a house in such a condition. +But the young man did not trouble himself much about such matters, +and was satisfied when the rooms which were to be occupied by himself +and his servant were made decent and tolerably comfortable. During +the fine season all this was not of much consequence, and if Maurice +made up his mind to stay through the winter he would have his choice +among many more eligible places. + +The summer vacation of the Corinna Institute had now arrived, and the +young ladies had scattered to their homes. Among the graduates of +the year were Miss Euthymia Tower and Miss Lurida Vincent, who had +now returned to their homes in Arrowhead Village. They were both +glad to rest after the long final examinations and the exercises of +the closing day, in which each of them had borne a conspicuous part. +It was a pleasant life they led in the village, which was lively +enough at this season. Walking, riding, driving, boating, visits to +the Library, meetings of the Pansophian Society, hops, and picnics +made the time pass very cheerfully, and soon showed their restoring +influences. The Terror's large eyes did not wear the dull, glazed +look by which they had too often betrayed the after effects of over- +excitement of the strong and active brain behind them. The Wonder +gained a fresher bloom, and looked full enough of life to radiate +vitality into a statue of ice. They had a boat of their own, in +which they passed many delightful hours on the lake, rowing, +drifting, reading, telling of what had been, dreaming of what might +be. + +The Library was one of the chief centres of the fixed population, and +visited often by strangers. The old Librarian was a peculiar +character, as these officials are apt to be. They have a curious +kind of knowledge, sometimes immense in its way. They know the backs +of books, their title-pages, their popularity or want of it, the +class of readers who call for particular works, the value of +different editions, and a good deal besides. Their minds catch up +hints from all manner of works on all kinds of subjects. They will +give a visitor a fact and a reference which they are surprised to +find they remember and which the visitor might have hunted for a +year. Every good librarian, every private book-owner, who has grown +into his library, finds he has a bunch of nerves going to every +bookcase, a branch to every shelf, and a twig to every book. These +nerves get very sensitive in old librarians, sometimes, and they do +not like to have a volume meddled with any more than they would like +to have their naked eyes handled. They come to feel at last that the +books of a great collection are a part, not merely of their own +property, though they are only the agents for their distribution, but +that they are, as it were, outlying portions of their own +organization. The old Librarian was getting a miserly feeling about +his books, as he called them. Fortunately, he had a young lady for +his assistant, who was never so happy as when she could find the work +any visitor wanted and put it in his hands,--or her hands, for there +were more readers among the wives and--daughters, and especially +among the aunts, than there were among their male relatives. The old +Librarian knew the books, but the books seemed to know the young +assistant; so it looked, at least, to the impatient young people who +wanted their services. + +Maurice had a good many volumes of his own,--a great many, according +to Paolo's account; but Paolo's ideas were limited, and a few well- +filled shelves seemed a very large collection to him. His master +frequently sent him to the Public Library for books, which somewhat +enlarged his notions; still, the Signor was a very learned man, he +was certain, and some of his white books (bound in vellum and richly +gilt) were more splendid, according to Paolo, than anything in the +Library. + +There was no little curiosity to know what were the books that +Maurice was in the habit of taking out, and the Librarian's record +was carefully searched by some of the more inquisitive investigators. +The list proved to be a long and varied one. It would imply a +considerable knowledge of modern languages and of the classics; a +liking for mathematics and physics, especially all that related to +electricity and magnetism; a fancy for the occult sciences, if there +is any propriety in coupling these words; and a whim for odd and +obsolete literature, like the Parthenologia of Fortunius Licetus, the +quaint treatise 'De Sternutatione," books about alchemy, and +witchcraft, apparitions, and modern works relating to Spiritualism. +With these were the titles of novels and now and then of books of +poems; but it may be taken for granted that his own shelves held the +works he was most frequently in the habit of reading or consulting. +Not much was to be made out of this beyond the fact of wide +scholarship,--more or less deep it might be, but at any rate implying +no small mental activity; for he appeared to read very rapidly, at +any rate exchanged the books he had taken out for new ones very +frequently. To judge by his reading, he was a man of letters. But +so wide-reading a man of letters must have an object, a literary +purpose in all probability. Why should not he be writing a novel? +Not a novel of society, assuredly, for a hermit is not the person to +report the talk and manners of a world which he has nothing to do +with. Novelists and lawyers understand the art of "cramming" better +than any other persons in the world. Why should not this young man +be working up the picturesque in this romantic region to serve as a +background for some story with magic, perhaps, and mysticism, and +hints borrowed from science, and all sorts of out-of-the-way +knowledge which his odd and miscellaneous selection of books +furnished him? That might be, or possibly he was only reading for +amusement. Who could say? + +The funds of the Public Library of Arrowhead Village allowed the +managers to purchase many books out of the common range of reading. +The two learned people of the village were the rector and the doctor. +These two worthies kept up the old controversy between the +professions, which grows out of the fact that one studies nature from +below upwards, and the other from above downwards. The rector +maintained that physicians contracted a squint which turns their eyes +inwardly, while the muscles which roll their eyes upward become +palsied. The doctor retorted that theological students developed a +third eyelid,--the nictitating membrane, which is so well known in +birds, and which serves to shut out, not all light, but all the light +they do not want. Their little skirmishes did not prevent their +being very good friends, who had a common interest in many things and +many persons. Both were on the committee which had the care of the +Library and attended to the purchase of books. Each was scholar +enough to know the wants of scholars, and disposed to trust the +judgment of the other as to what books should be purchased,. +Consequently, the clergyman secured the addition to the Library of a +good many old theological works which the physician would have called +brimstone divinity, and held to be just the thing to kindle fires +with,--good books still for those who know how to use them, +oftentimes as awful examples of the extreme of disorganization the +whole moral system may undergo when a barbarous belief has strangled +the natural human instincts. The physician, in the mean time, +acquired for the collection some of those medical works where one may +find recorded various rare and almost incredible cases, which may not +have their like for a whole century, and then repeat themselves, so +as to give a new lease of credibility to stories which had come to be +looked upon as fables. + +Both the clergyman and the physician took a very natural interest in +the young man who had come to reside in their neighborhood for the +present, perhaps for a long period. The rector would have been glad +to see him at church. He would have liked more especially to have +had him hear his sermon on the Duties of Young Men to Society. The +doctor, meanwhile, was meditating on the duties of society to young +men, and wishing that he could gain the young man's confidence, so as +to help him out of any false habit of mind or any delusion to which +he might be subject, if he had the power of being useful to him. + +Dr. Butts was the leading medical practitioner, not only of Arrowhead +Village, but of all the surrounding region. He was an excellent +specimen of the country doctor, self-reliant, self-sacrificing, +working a great deal harder for his living than most of those who +call themselves the laboring classes,--as if none but those whose +hands were hardened by the use of farming or mechanical implements +had any work to do. He had that sagacity without which learning is a +mere incumbrance, and he had also a fair share of that learning +without which sagacity is like a traveller with a good horse, but who +cannot read the directions on the guideboards. He was not a man to +be taken in by names. He well knew that oftentimes very innocent- +sounding words mean very grave disorders; that all, degrees of +disease and disorder are frequently confounded under the same term; +that "run down" may stand for a fatigue of mind or body from which a +week or a month of rest will completely restore the over-worked +patient, or an advanced stage of a mortal illness; that "seedy" may +signify the morning's state of feeling, after an evening's over- +indulgence, which calls for a glass of soda-water and a cup of +coffee, or a dangerous malady which will pack off the subject of it, +at the shortest notice, to the south of France. He knew too well +that what is spoken lightly of as a "nervous disturbance" may imply +that the whole machinery of life is in a deranged condition, and that +every individual organ would groan aloud if it had any other language +than the terrible inarticulate one of pain by which to communicate +with the consciousness. + +When, therefore, Dr. Butts heard the word antipatia he did not smile, +and say to himself that this was an idle whim, a foolish fancy, which +the young man had got into his head. Neither was he satisfied to set +down everything to the account of insanity, plausible as that +supposition might seem. He was prepared to believe in some +exceptional, perhaps anomalous, form of exaggerated sensibility, +relating to what class of objects he could not at present conjecture, +but which was as vital to the subject of it as the insulating +arrangement to a piece of electrical machinery. With this feeling he +began to look into tho history of antipathies as recorded in all the +books and journals on which he could lay his hands. + + ------------------------------ + +The holder of the Portfolio asks leave to close it for a brief +interval. He wishes to say a few words to his readers, before +offering them some verses which have no connection with the narrative +now in progress. + +If one could have before him a set of photographs taken annually, +representing the same person as he or she appeared for thirty or +forty or fifty years, it would be interesting to watch the gradual +changes of aspect from the age of twenty, or even of thirty or forty, +to that of threescore and ten. The face might be an uninteresting +one; still, as sharing the inevitable changes wrought by time, it +would be worth looking at as it passed through the curve of life,-- +the vital parabola, which betrays itself in the symbolic changes of +the features. An inscription is the same thing, whether we read it +on slate-stone, or granite, or marble. To watch the lights and +shades, the reliefs and hollows, of a countenance through a lifetime, +or a large part of it, by the aid of a continuous series of +photographs would not only be curious; it would teach us much more +about the laws of physiognomy than we could get from casual and +unconnected observations. + +The same kind of interest, without any assumption of merit to be +found in them, I would claim for a series of annual poems, beginning +in middle life and continued to what many of my correspondents are +pleased to remind me--as if I required to have the fact brought to my +knowledge--is no longer youth. Here is the latest of a series of +annual poems read during the last thirty-four years. There seems to +have been one interruption, but there may have been other poems not +recorded or remembered. This, the latest poem of the series, was +listened to by the scanty remnant of what was a large and brilliant +circle of classmates and friends when the first of the long series +was read before them, then in the flush of ardent manhood:-- + + + THE OLD SONG. + +The minstrel of the classic lay +Of love and wine who sings +Still found the fingers run astray +That touched the rebel strings. + +Of Cadmus he would fair have sung, +Of Atreus and his line; +But all the jocund echoes rung +With songs of love and wine. + +Ah, brothers! I would fair have caught +Some fresher fancy's gleam; +My truant accents find, unsought, +The old familiar theme. + +Love, Love! but not the sportive child +With shaft and twanging bow, +Whose random arrows drove us wild +Some threescore years ago; + +Not Eros, with his joyous laugh, +The urchin blind and bare, +But Love, with spectacles and staff, +And scanty, silvered hair. + +Our heads with frosted locks are white, +Our roofs are thatched with snow, +But red, in chilling winter's spite, +Our hearts and hearthstones glow. + +Our old acquaintance, Time, drops in, +And while the running sands +Their golden thread unheeded spin, +He warms his frozen hands. + +Stay, winged hours, too swift, too sweet, +And waft this message o'er +To all we miss, from all we meet +On life's fast-crumbling shore: + +Say that to old affection true +We hug the narrowing chain +That binds our hearts,--alas, how few +The links that yet remain! + +The fatal touch awaits them all +That turns the rocks to dust; +>From year to year they break and fall, +They break, but never rust. + +Say if one note of happier strain +This worn-out harp afford,-- +One throb that trembles, not in vain, +Their memory lent its chord. + +Say that when Fancy closed her wings +And Passion quenched his fire, +Love, Love, still echoed from the strings +As from Anacreon's lyre! + +January 8, 1885. + + + + +VII + +A RECORD OF ANTIPATHIES + +In thinking the whole matter over, Dr. Butts felt convinced that, +with care and patience and watching his opportunity, he should get at +the secret, which so far bad yielded nothing but a single word. It +might be asked why he was so anxious to learn what, from all +appearances, the young stranger was unwilling to explain. He may +have been to some extent infected by the general curiosity of the +persons around him, in which good Mrs. Butts shared, and which she +had helped to intensify by revealing the word dropped by Paolo. But +this was not really his chief motive. He could not look upon this +young man, living a life of unwholesome solitude, without a natural +desire to do all that his science and his knowledge of human nature +could help him to do towards bringing him into healthy relations with +the world about him. Still, he would not intrude upon him in any +way. He would only make certain general investigations, which might +prove serviceable in case circumstances should give him the right to +counsel the young man as to his course of life. The first thing to +be done was to study systematically the whole subject of antipathies. +Then, if any further occasion offered itself, he would be ready to +take advantage of it. The resources of the Public Library of the +place and his own private collection were put in requisition to +furnish him the singular and widely scattered facts of which he was +in search. + +It is not every reader who will care to follow Dr. Butts in his study +of the natural history of antipathies. The stories told about them +are, however, very curious; and if some of them may be questioned, +there is no doubt that many of the strangest are true, and +consequently take away from the improbability of others which we are +disposed to doubt. + +But in the first place, what do we mean by an antipathy? It is an +aversion to some object, which may vary in degree from mere dislike +to mortal horror. What the cause of this aversion is we cannot say. +It acts sometimes through the senses, sometimes through the +imagination, sometimes through an unknown channel. The relations +which exist between the human being and all that surrounds him vary +in consequence of some adjustment peculiar to each individual. The +brute fact is expressed in the phrase "One man's meat is another +man's poison." + +In studying the history of antipathies the doctor began with those +referable to the sense of taste, which are among the most common. In +any collection of a hundred persons there will be found those who +cannot make use of certain articles of food generally acceptable. +This may be from the disgust they occasion or the effects they have +been found to produce. Every one knows individuals who cannot +venture on honey, or cheese, or veal, with impunity. Carlyle, for +example, complains of having veal set before him,--a meat he could +not endure. There is a whole family connection in New England, and +that a very famous one, to many of whose members, in different +generations, all the products of the dairy are the subjects of a +congenital antipathy. Montaigne says there are persons who dread the +smell of apples more than they would dread being exposed to a fire of +musketry. The readers of the charming story "A Week in a French +Country-House" will remember poor Monsieur Jacque's piteous cry in +the night: "Ursula, art thou asleep? Oh, Ursula, thou sleepest, but +I cannot close my eyes. Dearest Ursula, there is such a dreadful +smell! Oh, Ursula, it is such a smell! I do so wish thou couldst +smell it! Good-night, my angel!----Dearest! I have found them! +They are apples! "The smell of roses, of peonies, of lilies, has +been known to cause faintness. The sight of various objects has had +singular effects on some persons. A boar's head was a favorite dish +at the table of great people in Marshal d'Albret's time; yet he used +to faint at the sight of one. It is not uncommon to meet with +persons who faint at the sight of blood. One of the most +inveterately pugnacious of Dr. Butts's college-mates confessed that +he had this infirmity. Stranger and far more awkward than this is +the case mentioned in an ancient collection, where the subject of the +antipathy fainted at the sight of any object of a red color. There +are sounds, also, which have strange effects on some individuals. +Among the obnoxious noises are the crumpling of silk stuffs, the +sound of sweeping, the croaking of frogs. The effects in different +cases have been spasms, a sense of strangling, profuse sweating,--all +showing a profound disturbance of the nervous system. + +All these effects were produced by impressions on the organs of +sense, seemingly by direct agency on certain nerve centres. But +there is another series of cases in which the imagination plays a +larger part in the phenomena. Two notable examples are afforded in +the lives of two very distinguished personages. + +Peter the Great was frightened, when an infant, by falling from a +bridge into the water. Long afterward, when he had reached manhood, +this hardy and resolute man was so affected by the sound of wheels +rattling over a bridge that he had to discipline himself by listening +to the sound, in spite of his dread of it, in order to overcome his +antipathy. The story told by Abbe Boileau of Pascal is very similar +to that related of Peter. As he was driving in his coach and four +over the bridge at Neuilly, his horses took fright and ran away, and +the leaders broke from their harness and sprang into the river, +leaving the wheel-horses and the carriage on the bridge. Ever after +this fright it is said that Pascal had the terrifying sense that he +was just on the edge of an abyss, ready to fall over. + +What strange early impression was it which led a certain lady always +to shriek aloud if she ventured to enter a church, as it is recorded? +The old and simple way of accounting for it would be the scriptural +one, that it was an unclean spirit who dwelt in her, and who, when +she entered the holy place and brought her spiritual tenant into the +presence of the sacred symbols, "cried with a loud voice, and came +out of" her. A very singular case, the doctor himself had recorded, +and which the reader may accept as authentic, is the following: At +the head of the doctor's front stairs stood, and still stands, a tall +clock, of early date and stately presence. A middle-aged visitor, +noticing it as he entered the front door, remarked that he should +feel a great unwillingness to pass that clock. He could not go near +one of those tall timepieces without a profound agitation, which he +dreaded to undergo. This very singular idiosyncrasy he attributed to +a fright when he was an infant in the arms of his nurse. + +She was standing near one of those tall clocks, when the cord which +supported one of its heavy leaden weights broke, and the weight came +crashing down to the bottom of the case. Some effect must have been +produced upon the pulpy nerve centres from which they never +recovered. Why should not this happen, when we know that a sudden +mental shock may be the cause of insanity? The doctor remembered the +verse of "The Ancient Mariner:" + + "I moved my lips; the pilot shrieked + And fell down in a fit; + The holy hermit raised his eyes + And prayed where he did sit. + I took the oars; the pilot's boy, + Who now doth crazy go, + Laughed loud and long, and all the while + His eyes went to and fro." + +This is only poetry, it is true, but the poet borrowed the +description from nature, and the records of our asylums could furnish +many cases where insanity was caused by a sudden fright. + +More than this, hardly a year passes that we do not read of some +person, a child commonly, killed outright by terror,--scared to +death, literally. Sad cases they often are, in which, nothing but a +surprise being intended, the shock has instantly arrested the +movements on which life depends. If a mere instantaneous impression +can produce effects like these, such an impression might of course be +followed by consequences less fatal or formidable, but yet serious in +their nature. If here and there a person is killed, as if by +lightning, by a sudden startling sight or sound, there must be more +numerous cases in which a terrible shock is produced by similar +apparently insignificant causes,--a shock which falls short of +overthrowing the reason and does not destroy life, yet leaves a +lasting effect upon the subject of it. + +This point, then, was settled in the mind of Dr. Butts, namely, that, +as a violent emotion caused by a sudden shock can kill or craze a +human being, there is no perversion of the faculties, no prejudice, +no change of taste or temper, no eccentricity, no antipathy, which +such a cause may not rationally account for. He would not be +surprised, he said to himself, to find that some early alarm, like +that which was experienced by Peter the Great or that which happened +to Pascal, had broken some spring in this young man's nature, or so +changed its mode of action as to account for the exceptional +remoteness of his way of life. But how could any conceivable +antipathy be so comprehensive as to keep a young man aloof from all +the world, and make a hermit of him? He did not hate the human race; +that was clear enough. He treated Paolo with great kindness, and the +Italian was evidently much attached to him. He had talked naturally +and pleasantly with the young man he had helped out of his dangerous +situation when his boat was upset. Dr. Butts heard that he had once +made a short visit to this young man, at his rooms in the University. +It was not misanthropy, therefore, which kept him solitary. What +could be broad enough to cover the facts of the case? Nothing that +the doctor could think of, unless it were some color, the sight of +which acted on him as it did on the individual before mentioned, who +could not look at anything red without fainting. Suppose this were a +case of the same antipathy. How very careful it would make the +subject of it as to where he went and with whom he consorted! Time +and patience would be pretty sure to bring out new developments, and +physicians, of all men in the world, know how to wait as well as how +to labor. + +Such were some of the crude facts as Dr. Butts found them in books or +gathered them from his own experience. He soon discovered that the +story had got about the village that Maurice Kirkwood was the victim +of an "antipathy," whatever that word might mean in the vocabulary of +the people of the place. If he suspected the channel through which +it had reached the little community, and, spreading from that centre, +the country round, he did not see fit to make out of his suspicions a +domestic casus belli. Paolo might have mentioned it to others as +well as to himself. Maurice might have told some friend, who had +divulged it. But to accuse Mrs. Butts, good Mrs. Butts, of petit +treason in telling one of her husband's professional secrets was too +serious a matter to be thought of. He would be a little more +careful, he promised himself, the next time, at any rate; for he had +to concede, in spite of every wish to be charitable in his judgment, +that it was among the possibilities that the worthy lady had +forgotten the rule that a doctor's patients must put their tongues +out, and a doctor's wife must keep her tongue in. + + + + +VIII + +THE PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY. + +The Secretary of this association was getting somewhat tired of the +office, and the office was getting somewhat tired of him. It +occurred to the members of the Society that a little fresh blood +infused into it might stir up the general vitality of the +organization. The woman suffragists saw no reason why the place of +Secretary need as a matter of course be filled by a person of the +male sex. They agitated, they made domiciliary visits, they wrote +notes to influential citizens, and finally announced as their +candidate the young lady who had won and worn the school name of "The +Terror," who was elected. She was just the person for the place: +wide awake, with all her wits about her, full of every kind of +knowledge, and, above all, strong on points of order and details of +management, so that she could prompt the presiding officer, to do +which is often the most essential duty of a Secretary. The +President, the worthy rector, was good at plain sailing in the track +of the common moralities and proprieties, but was liable to get +muddled if anything came up requiring swift decision and off-hand +speech. The Terror had schooled herself in the debating societies of +the Institute, and would set up the President, when he was floored by +an awkward question, as easily as if he were a ninepin which had been +bowled over. + +It has been already mentioned that the Pansophian Society received +communications from time to time from writers outside of its own +organization. Of late these had been becoming more frequent. Many +of them were sent in anonymously, and as there were numerous visitors +to the village, and two institutions not far removed from it, both +full of ambitious and intelligent young persons, it was often +impossible to trace the papers to their authors. The new Secretary +was alive with curiosity, and as sagacious a little body as one might +find if in want of a detective. She could make a pretty shrewd guess +whether a paper was written by a young or old person, by one of her +own sex or the other, by an experienced hand or a novice. + +Among the anonymous papers she received was one which exercised her +curiosity to an extraordinary degree. She felt a strong suspicion +that "the Sachem," as the boat-crews used to call him, "the Recluse," +"the Night-Hawk," "the Sphinx," as others named him, must be the +author of it. It appeared to her the production of a young person of +a reflective, poetical turn of mind. It was not a woman's way of +writing; at least, so thought the Secretary. The writer had +travelled much; had resided in Italy, among other places. But so had +many of the summer visitors and residents of Arrowhead Village. The +handwriting was not decisive; it had some points of resemblance with +the pencilled orders for books which Maurice sent to the Library, but +there were certain differences, intentional or accidental, which +weakened this evidence. There was an undertone in the essay which +was in keeping with the mode of life of the solitary stranger. It +might be disappointment, melancholy, or only the dreamy sadness of a +young person who sees the future he is to climb, not as a smooth +ascent, but as overhanging him like a cliff, ready to crush him, with +all his hopes and prospects. This interpretation may have been too +imaginative, but here is the paper, and the reader can form his own +opinion: + + MY THREE COMPANIONS. + +"I have been from my youth upwards a wanderer. I do not mean +constantly flitting from one place to another, for my residence has +often been fixed for considerable periods. From time to time I have +put down in a notebook the impressions made upon me by the scenes +through which I have passed. I have long hesitated whether to let +any of my notes appear before the public. My fear has been that they +were too subjective, to use the metaphysician's term,--that I have +seen myself reflected in Nature, and not the true aspects of Nature +as she was meant to be understood. One who should visit the Harz +Mountains would see--might see, rather his own colossal image shape +itself on the morning mist. But if in every mist that rises from the +meadows, in every cloud that hangs upon the mountain, he always finds +his own reflection, we cannot accept him as an interpreter of the +landscape. + +"There must be many persons present at the meetings of the Society to +which this paper is offered who have had experiences like that of its +author. They have visited the same localities, they have had many of +the same thoughts and feelings. Many, I have no doubt. Not all,-- +no, not all. Others have sought the companionship of Nature; I have +been driven to it. Much of my life has been passed in that +communion. These pages record some of the intimacies I have formed +with her under some of her various manifestations. + +"I have lived on the shore of the great ocean, where its waves broke +wildest and its voice rose loudest. + +"I have passed whole seasons on the banks of mighty and famous +rivers. + +"I have dwelt on the margin of a tranquil lake, and floated through +many a long, long summer day on its clear waters. + +"I have learned the 'various language' of Nature, of which poetry has +spoken,--at least, I have learned some words and phrases of it. I +will translate some of these as I best may into common speech. + +"The OCEAN says to the dweller on its shores:-- + +You are neither welcome nor unwelcome. I do not trouble myself with +the living tribes that come down to my waters. I have my own people, +of an older race than yours, that grow to mightier dimensions than +your mastodons and elephants; more numerous than all the swarms that +fill the air or move over the thin crust of the earth. Who are you +that build your palaces on my margin? I see your white faces as +I saw the dark faces of the tribes that came before you, as I shall +look upon the unknown family of mankind that will come after you. +And what is your whole human family but a parenthesis in a single +page of my history? The raindrops stereotyped themselves on my +beaches before a living creature left his footprints there. This +horseshoe-crab I fling at your feet is of older lineage than your +Adam,--perhaps, indeed, you count your Adam as one of his +descendants. What feeling have I for you? Not scorn, not hatred,-- +not love,--not loathing. No!---indifference,--blank indifference to +you and your affairs that is my feeling, say rather absence of +feeling, as regards you.---Oh yes, I will lap your feet, I will cool +you in the hot summer days, I will bear you up in my strong arms, I +will rock you on my rolling undulations, like a babe in his cradle. +Am I not gentle? Am I not kind? Am I not harmless? But hark! The +wind is rising, and the wind and I are rough playmates! What do you +say to my voice now? Do you see my foaming lips? Do you feel the +rocks tremble as my huge billows crash against them? Is not my anger +terrible as I dash your argosy, your thunder-bearing frigate, into +fragments, as you would crack an eggshell? --No, not anger; deaf, +blind, unheeding indifference,--that is all. Out of me all things +arose; sooner or later, into me all things subside. All changes +around me; I change not. I look not at you, vain man, and your frail +transitory concerns, save in momentary glimpses: I look on the white +face of my dead mistress, whom I follow as the bridegroom follows the +bier of her who has changed her nuptial raiment for the shroud. + +"Ye whose thoughts are of eternity, come dwell at my side. +Continents and islands grow old, and waste and disappear. The +hardest rock crumbles; vegetable and animal kingdoms come into being, +wax great, decline, and perish, to give way to others, even as human +dynasties and nations and races come and go. Look on me! "Time +writes no wrinkle" on my forehead. Listen to me! All tongues are +spoken on my shores, but I have only one language: the winds taught +me their vowels the crags and the sands schooled me in my rough or +smooth consonants. Few words are mine but I have whispered them and +sung them and shouted them to men of all tribes from the time when +the first wild wanderer strayed into my awful presence. Have you a +grief that gnaws at your heart-strings? Come with it to my shore, as +of old the priest of far-darting Apollo carried his rage and anguish +to the margin of the loud-roaring sea. There, if anywhere you will +forget your private and short-lived woe, for my voice speaks to the +infinite and the eternal in your consciousness.' + + +"To him who loves the pages of human history, who listens to the +voices of the world about him, who frequents the market and the +thoroughfare, who lives in the study of time and its accidents rather +than in the deeper emotions, in abstract speculation and spiritual +contemplation, the RIVER addresses itself as his natural companion. + +"Come live with me. I am active, cheerful, communicative, a natural +talker and story-teller. I am not noisy, like the ocean, except +occasionally when I am rudely interrupted, or when I stumble and get +a fall. When I am silent you can still have pleasure in watching my +changing features. My idlest babble, when I am toying with the +trifles that fall in my way, if not very full of meaning, is at least +musical. I am not a dangerous friend, like the ocean; no highway is +absolutely safe, but my nature is harmless, and the storms that strew +the beaches with wrecks cast no ruins upon my flowery borders. Abide +with me, and you shall not die of thirst, like the forlorn wretches +left to the mercies of the pitiless salt waves. Trust yourself to +me, and I will carry you far on your journey, if we are travelling to +the same point of the compass. If I sometimes run riot and overflow +your meadows, I leave fertility behind me when I withdraw to my +natural channel. Walk by my side toward the place of my destination. +I will keep pace with you, and you shall feel my presence with you as +that of a self-conscious being like yourself. You will find it hard +to be miserable in my company; I drain you of ill-conditioned +thoughts as I carry away the refuse of your dwelling and its grounds: + + +But to him whom the ocean chills and crushes with its sullen +indifference, and the river disturbs with its never-pausing and +never-ending story, the silent LAKE shall be a refuge and a place of +rest for his soul. + +"'Vex not yourself with thoughts too vast for your limited +faculties,' it says; 'yield not yourself to the babble of the running +stream. Leave the ocean, which cares nothing for you or any living +thing that walks the solid earth; leave the river, too busy with its +own errand, too talkative about its own affairs, and find peace with +me, whose smile will cheer you, whose whisper will soothe you. Come +to me when the morning sun blazes across my bosom like a golden +baldric; come to me in the still midnight, when I hold the inverted +firmament like a cup brimming with jewels, nor spill one star of all +the constellations that float in my ebon goblet. Do you know the +charm of melancholy? Where will you find a sympathy like mine in +your hours of sadness? Does the ocean share your grief? Does the +river listen to your sighs? The salt wave, that called to you from +under last month's full moon, to-day is dashing on the rocks of +Labrador; the stream, that ran by you pure and sparkling, has +swallowed the poisonous refuse of a great city, and is creeping to +its grave in the wide cemetery that buries all things in its tomb of +liquid crystal. It is true that my waters exhale and are renewed +from one season to another; but are your features the same, +absolutely the same, from year to year? We both change, but we know +each other through all changes. Am I not mirrored in those eyes of +yours? And does not Nature plant me as an eye to behold her beauties +while she is dressed in the glories of leaf and flower, and draw the +icy lid over my shining surface when she stands naked and ashamed in +the poverty of winter?' + +"I have had strange experiences and sad thoughts in the course of a +life not very long, but with a record which much longer lives could +not match in incident. Oftentimes the temptation has come over me +with dangerous urgency to try a change of existence, if such change +is a part of human destiny,--to seek rest, if that is what we gain by +laying down the burden of life. I have asked who would be the friend +to whom I should appeal for the last service I should have need of. +Ocean was there, all ready, asking no questions, answering none. +What strange voyages, downward through its glaucous depths, upwards +to its boiling and frothing surface, wafted by tides, driven by +tempests, disparted by rude agencies; one remnant whitening on the +sands of a northern beach, one perhaps built into the circle of a +coral reef in the Pacific, one settling to the floor of the vast +laboratory where continents are built, to emerge in far-off ages! +What strange companions for my pall-bearers! Unwieldy sea-monsters, +the stories of which are counted fables by the spectacled collectors +who think their catalogues have exhausted nature; naked-eyed +creatures, staring, glaring, nightmare-like spectres of the ghastly- +green abysses; pulpy islands, with life in gelatinous immensity,-- +what a company of hungry heirs at every ocean funeral! No! No! +Ocean claims great multitudes, but does not invite the solitary who +would fain be rid of himself. + +'Shall I seek a deeper slumber at the bottom of the lake I love than +I have ever found when drifting idly over its surface? No, again. I +do not want the sweet, clear waters to know me in the disgrace of +nature, when life, the faithful body-servant, has ceased caring for +me. That must not be. The mirror which has pictured me so often +shall never know me as an unwelcome object. + +"If I must ask the all-subduing element to be my last friend, and +lead me out of my prison, it shall be the busy, whispering, not +unfriendly, pleasantly companionable river. + + +"But Ocean and River and Lake have certain relations to the periods +of human life which they who are choosing their places of abode +should consider. Let the child play upon the seashore. The wide +horizon gives his imagination room to grow in, untrammelled. That +background of mystery, without which life is a poor mechanical +arrangement, is shaped and colored, so far as it can have outline, or +any hue but shadow, on a vast canvas, the contemplation of which +enlarges and enriches the sphere of consciousness. The mighty ocean +is not too huge to symbolize the aspirations and ambitions of the yet +untried soul of the adolescent. + +"The time will come when his indefinite mental horizon has found a +solid limit, which shuts his prospect in narrower bounds than he +would have thought could content him in the years of undefined +possibilities. Then he will find the river a more natural intimate +than the ocean. It is individual, which the ocean, with all its +gulfs and inlets and multitudinous shores, hardly seems to be. It +does not love you very dearly, and will not miss you much when you +disappear from its margin; but it means well to you, bids you good- +morning with its coming waves, and good-evening with those which are +leaving. It will lead your thoughts pleasantly away, upwards to its +source, downwards to the stream to which it is tributary, or the wide +waters in which it is to lose itself. A river, by choice, to live by +in middle age. + +"In hours of melancholy reflection, in those last years of life which +have little left but tender memories, the still companionship of the +lake, embosomed in woods, sheltered, fed by sweet mountain brooks and +hidden springs, commends itself to the wearied and saddened spirit. +I am not thinking of those great inland seas, which have many of the +features and much of the danger that belong to the ocean, but of +those 'ponds,' as our countrymen used to call them until they were +rechristened by summer visitors; beautiful sheets of water from a +hundred to a few thousand acres in extent, scattered like raindrops +over the map of our Northern sovereignties. The loneliness of +contemplative old age finds its natural home in the near neighborhood +of one of these tranquil basins. + +Nature does not always plant her poets where they belong, but if we +look carefully their affinities betray themselves. The youth will +carry his Byron to the rock which overlooks the ocean the poet loved +so well. The man of maturer years will remember that the sonorous +couplets of Pope which ring in his ears were written on the banks of +the Thames. The old man, as he nods over the solemn verse of +Wordsworth, will recognize the affinity between the singer and the +calm sheet that lay before him as he wrote,--the stainless and sleepy +Windermere. + +"The dwellers by Cedar Lake may find it an amusement to compare their +own feelings with those of one who has lived by the Atlantic and the +Mediterranean, by the Nile and the Tiber, by Lake Leman and by one of +the fairest sheets of water that our own North America embosoms in +its forests." + + +Miss Lurida Vincent, Secretary of the Pansophian Society, read this +paper, and pondered long upon it. She was thinking very seriously of +studying medicine, and had been for some time in frequent +communication with Dr. Butts, under whose direction she had begun +reading certain treatises, which added to such knowledge of the laws +of life in health and in disease as she had brought with her from the +Corinna Institute. Naturally enough, she carried the anonymous paper +to the doctor, to get his opinion about it, and compare it with her +own. They both agreed that it was probably, they would not say +certainly, the work of the solitary visitor. There was room for +doubt, for there were visitors who might well have travelled to all +the places mentioned, and resided long enough on the shores of the +waters the writer spoke of to have had all the experiences mentioned +in the paper. The Terror remembered a young lady, a former +schoolmate, who belonged to one of those nomadic families common in +this generation, the heads of which, especially the female heads, can +never be easy where they are, but keep going between America and +Europe, like so many pith-balls in the electrical experiment, +alternately attracted and repelled, never in contented equilibrium. +Every few years they pull their families up by the roots, and by the +time they have begun to take hold a little with their radicles in the +spots to which they have been successively transplanted up they come +again, so that they never get a tap-root anywhere. The Terror +suspected the daughter of one of these families of sending certain +anonymous articles of not dissimilar character to the one she had +just received. But she knew the style of composition common among +the young girls, and she could hardly believe that it was one of them +who had sent this paper. Could a brother of this young lady have +written it? Possibly; she knew nothing more than that the young lady +had a brother, then a student at the University. All the chances +were that Mr. Maurice Kirkwood was the author. So thought Lurida, +and so thought Dr. Butts. + +Whatever faults there were in this essay, it interested them both. +There was nothing which gave the least reason to suspect insanity on +the part of the writer, whoever he or she might be. There were +references to suicide, it is true, but they were of a purely +speculative nature, and did not look to any practical purpose in that +direction. Besides, if the stranger were the author of the paper, he +certainly would not choose a sheet of water like Cedar Lake to +perform the last offices for him, in case he seriously meditated +taking unceremonious leave of life and its accidents. He could find +a river easily enough, to say nothing of other methods of effecting +his purpose; but he had committed himself as to the impropriety of +selecting a lake, so they need not be anxious about the white canoe +and its occupant, as they watched it skimming the surface of the deep +waters. + +The holder of the Portfolio would never have ventured to come before +the public if he had not counted among his resources certain papers +belonging to the records of the Pansophian Society, which he can make +free use of, either for the illustration of the narrative, or for a +diversion during those intervals in which the flow of events is +languid, or even ceases for the time to manifest any progress. The +reader can hardly have failed to notice that the old Anchor Tavern +had become the focal point where a good deal of mental activity +converged. There were the village people, including a number of +cultivated families; there were the visitors, among them many +accomplished and widely travelled persons; there was the University, +with its learned teachers and aspiring young men; there was the +Corinna Institute, with its eager, ambitious, hungry-souled young +women, crowding on, class after class coming forward on the broad +stream of liberal culture, and rounding the point which, once passed, +the boundless possibilities of womanhood opened before them. All +this furnished material enough and to spare for the records and the +archives of the society. + +The new Secretary infused fresh life into the meetings. It may be +remembered that the girls had said of her, when she was The Terror, +that "she knew everything and didn't believe anything." That was +just the kind of person for a secretary of such an association. +Properly interpreted, the saying meant that she knew a great deal, +and wanted to know a great deal more, and was consequently always on +the lookout for information; that she believed nothing without +sufficient proof that it was true, and therefore was perpetually +asking for evidence where, others took assertions on trust. + +It was astonishing to see what one little creature like The Terror +could accomplish in the course of a single season. She found out +what each member could do and wanted to do. She wrote to the outside +visitors whom she suspected of capacity, and urged them to speak at +the meetings, or send written papers to be read. As an official, +with the printed title at the head of her notes, PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY, +she was a privileged personage. She begged the young persons who had +travelled to tell something of their experiences. She had +contemplated getting up a discussion on the woman's rights question, +but being a wary little body, and knowing that the debate would +become a dispute and divide the members into two hostile camps, she +deferred this project indefinitely. It would be time enough after +she had her team well in hand, she said to herself,--had felt their +mouths and tried their paces. This expression, as she used it in her +thoughts, seems rather foreign to her habits, but there was room in +her large brain for a wide range of illustrations and an ample +vocabulary. She could not do much with her own muscles, but she had +known the passionate delight of being whirled furiously over the road +behind four scampering horses, in a rocking stage-coach, and thought +of herself in the Secretary's chair as not unlike the driver on his +box. A few weeks of rest had allowed her nervous energy to store +itself up, and the same powers which had distanced competition in the +classes of her school had of necessity to expend themselves in +vigorous action in her new office. + + +Her appeals had their effect. A number of papers were very soon sent +in; some with names, some anonymously. She looked these papers over, +and marked those which she thought would be worth reading and +listening to at the meetings. One of them has just been presented to +the reader. As to the authorship of the following one there were +many conjectures. A well-known writer, who had spent some weeks at +Arrowhead Village, was generally suspected of being its author. +Some, however, questioned whether it was not the work of a new hand, +who wrote, not from experience, but from his or her ideas of the +condition to which a story-teller, a novelist, must in all +probability be sooner or later reduced. The reader must judge for +himself whether this first paper is the work of an old hand or a +novice. + + + SOME EXPERIENCES OF A NOVELIST. + +"I have written a frightful number of stories, forty or more, I +think. Let me see. For twelve years two novels a year regularly: +that makes twenty-four. In three different years I have written +three stories annually: that makes thirty-three. In five years one a +year,--thirty-eight. That is all, is n't it? Yes. Thirty-eight, +not forty. I wish I could make them all into one composite story, as +Mr. Galton does his faces. + +"Hero--heroine--mamma--papa--uncle--sister, and so on. Love-- +obstacles--misery--tears--despair--glimmer of hope--unexpected +solution of difficulties--happy finale. + +"Landscape for background according to season. Plants of each month +got up from botanical calendars. + + +"I should like much to see the composite novel. Why not apply Mr. +Galton's process, and get thirty-eight stories all in one? All the +Yankees would resolve into one Yankee, all the P---- West Britons +into one Patrick, etc., what a saving of time it would be! + +"I got along pretty well with my first few stories. I had some +characters around me which, a little disguised, answered well enough. +There was the minister of the parish, and there was an old +schoolmaster either of them served very satisfactorily for +grandfathers and old uncles. All I had to do was to shift some of +their leading peculiarities, keeping the rest. The old minister wore +knee-breeches. I clapped them on to the schoolmaster. The +schoolmaster carried a tall gold-headed cane. I put this in the +minister's hands. So with other things,--I shifted them round, and +got a set of characters who, taken together, reproduced the chief +persons of the village where I lived, but did not copy any individual +exactly. Thus it went on for a while; but by and by my stock company +began to be rather too familiarly known, in spite of their change of +costume, and at last some altogether too sagacious person published +what he called a 'key' to several of my earlier stories, in which I +found the names of a number of neighbors attached to aliases of my +own invention. All the 'types,' as he called them, represented by +these personages of my story had come to be recognized, each as +standing for one and the same individual of my acquaintance. It had +been of no use to change the costume. Even changing the sex did no +good. I had a famous old gossip in one of my tales,--a much-babbling +Widow Sertingly. 'Sho!' they all said, that 's old Deacon Spinner, +the same he told about in that other story of his,--only the deacon's +got on a petticoat and a mob-cap,--but it's the same old sixpence.' +So I said to myself, I must have some new characters. I had no +trouble with young characters; they are all pretty much alike,--dark- +haired or light-haired, with the outfits belonging to their +complexion, respectively. I had an old great-aunt, who was a tip-top +eccentric. I had never seen anything just like her in books. So I +said, I will have you, old lady, in one of my stories; and, sure +enough, I fitted her out with a first-rate odd-sounding name, which I +got from the directory, and sent her forth to the world, disguised, +as I supposed, beyond the possibility of recognition. The book sold +well, and the eccentric personage was voted a novelty. A few weeks +after it was published a lawyer called upon me, as the agent of the +person in the directory, whose family name I had used, as he +maintained, to his and all his relatives' great damage, wrong, loss, +grief, shame, and irreparable injury, for which the sum of blank +thousand dollars would be a modest compensation. The story made the +book sell, but not enough to pay blank thousand dollars. In the mean +time a cousin of mine had sniffed out the resemblance between the +character in my book and our great-aunt. We were rivals in her good +graces. 'Cousin Pansie' spoke to her of my book and the trouble it +was bringing on me,--she was so sorry about it! She liked my story, +--only those personalities, you know. 'What personalities?' says old +granny-aunt. 'Why, auntie, dear, they do say that he has brought in +everybody we know,--did n't anybody tell you about--well,--I suppose +you ought to know it,--did n't anybody tell you you were made fun of +in that novel?' Somebody--no matter who--happened to hear all this, +and told me. She said granny-aunt's withered old face had two red +spots come to it, as if she had been painting her cheeks from a pink +saucer. No, she said, not a pink saucer, but as if they were two +coals of fire. She sent out and got the book, and made her (the +somebody that I was speaking of) read it to her. When she had heard +as much as she could stand,--for 'Cousin Pansie' explained passages +to her,--explained, you know,--she sent for her lawyer, and that same +somebody had to be a witness to a new will she had drawn up. It was +not to my advantage. 'Cousin Pansie' got the corner lot where the +grocery is, and pretty much everything else. The old woman left me a +legacy. What do you think it was? An old set of my own books, that +looked as if it had been bought out of a bankrupt circulating +library. + +"After that I grew more careful. I studied my disguises much more +diligently. But after all, what could I do? Here I was, writing +stories for my living and my reputation. I made a pretty sum enough, +and worked hard enough to earn it. No tale, no money. Then every +story that went from my workshop had to come up to the standard of my +reputation, and there was a set of critics,--there is a set of +critics now and everywhere,--that watch as narrowly for the decline +of a man's reputation as ever a village half drowned out by an +inundation watched for the falling of the waters. The fame I had +won, such as it was, seemed to attend me,--not going before me in the +shape of a woman with a trumpet, but rather following me like one of +Actaeon's hounds, his throat open, ready to pull me down and tear me. +What a fierce enemy is that which bays behind us in the voice of our +proudest bygone achievement! + +"But, as I said above, what could I do? I must write novels, and I +must have characters. 'Then why not invent them?' asks some novice. +Oh, yes! Invent them! You can invent a human being that in certain +aspects of humanity will answer every purpose for which your +invention was intended. A basket of straw, an old coat and pair of +breeches, a hat which has been soaked, sat upon, stuffed a broken +window, and had a brood of chickens raised in it,--these elements, +duly adjusted to each other, will represent humanity so truthfully +that the crows will avoid the cornfield when your scarecrow displays +his personality. Do you think you can make your heroes and +heroines,--nay, even your scrappy supernumeraries,--out of refuse +material, as you made your scarecrow? You can't do it. You must +study living people and reproduce them. And whom do you know so well +as your friends? You will show up your friends, then, one after +another. When your friends give out, who is left for you? Why, +nobody but your own family, of course. When you have used up your +family, there is nothing left for you but to write your +autobiography. + +"After my experience with my grand-aunt, I be came more cautious, +very naturally. I kept traits of character, but I mixed ages as well +as sexes. In this way I continued to use up a large amount of +material, which looked as if it were as dangerous as dynamite to +meddle with. Who would have expected to meet my maternal uncle in +the guise of a schoolboy? Yet I managed to decant his +characteristics as nicely as the old gentleman would have decanted a +bottle of Juno Madeira through that long siphon which he always used +when the most sacred vintages were summoned from their crypts to +render an account of themselves on his hospitable board. It was a +nice business, I confess, but I did it, and I drink cheerfully to +that good uncle's memory in a glass of wine from his own cellar, +which, with many other more important tokens of his good will, I call +my own since his lamented demise. + +"I succeeded so well with my uncle that I thought I would try a +course of cousins. I had enough of them to furnish out a whole +gallery of portraits. There was cousin 'Creeshy,' as we called her; +Lucretia, more correctly. She was a cripple. Her left lower limb +had had something happen to it, and she walked with a crutch. Her +patience under her trial was very pathetic and picturesque, so to +speak,--I mean adapted to the tender parts of a story; nothing could +work up better in a melting paragraph. But I could not, of course, +describe her particular infirmity; that would point her out at once. +I thought of shifting the lameness to the right lower limb, but even +that would be seen through. So I gave the young woman that stood for +her in my story a lame elbow, and put her arm in a sling, and made +her such a model of uncomplaining endurance that my grandmother cried +over her as if her poor old heart would break. She cried very +easily, my grandmother; in fact, she had such a gift for tears that I +availed myself of it, and if you remember old Judy, in my novel +"Honi Soit " (Honey Sweet, the booksellers called it),--old Judy, the +black-nurse,--that was my grandmother. She had various other +peculiarities, which I brought out one by one, and saddled on to +different characters. You see she was a perfect mine of +singularities and idiosyncrasies. After I had used her up pretty +well, I came dawn upon my poor relations. They were perfectly fair +game; what better use could I put them to? I studied them up very +carefully, and as there were a good many of them I helped myself +freely. They lasted me, with occasional intermissions, I should say, +three or four years. I had to be very careful with my poor +relations,--they were as touchy as they could be; and as I felt bound +to send a copy of my novel, whatever it might be, to each one of +them,--there were as many as a dozen,--I took care to mix their +characteristic features, so that, though each might suspect I meant +the other, no one should think I meant him or her. I got through all +my relations at last except my father and mother. I had treated my +brothers and sisters pretty fairly, all except Elisha and Joanna. +The truth is they both had lots of odd ways,--family traits, I +suppose, but were just different enough from each other to figure +separately in two different stories. These two novels made me some +little trouble; for Elisha said he felt sure that I meant Joanna in +one of them, and quarrelled with me about it; and Joanna vowed and +declared that Elnathan, in the other, stood for brother 'Lisha, and +that it was a real mean thing to make fun of folks' own flesh and +blood, and treated me to one of her cries. She was n't handsome when +she cried, poor, dear Joanna; in fact, that was one of the personal +traits I had made use of in the story that Elisha found fault with. + +"So as there was nobody left but my father and mother, you see for +yourself I had no choice. There was one great advantage in dealing +with them,--I knew them so thoroughly. One naturally feels a certain +delicacy it handling from a purely artistic point of view persons who +have been so near to him. One's mother, for instance: suppose some +of her little ways were so peculiar that the accurate delineation of +them would furnish amusement to great numbers of readers; it would +not be without hesitation that a writer of delicate sensibility would +draw her portrait, with all its whimsicalities, so plainly that it +should be generally recognized. One's father is commonly of tougher +fibre than one's mother, and one would not feel the same scruples, +perhaps, in using him professionally as material in a novel; still, +while you are employing him as bait,--you see I am honest and plain- +spoken, for your characters are baits to catch readers with,--I would +follow kind Izaak Walton's humane counsel about the frog you are +fastening to your fish-hook: fix him artistically, as he directs, but +in so doing I use him as though you loved him.' + +"I have at length shown up, in one form and another, all my townsmen +who have anything effective in their bodily or mental make-up, all my +friends, all my relatives; that is, all my blood relatives. It has +occurred to me that I might open a new field in the family connection +of my father-in-law and mother-in-law. We have been thinking of +paying them a visit, and I shall have an admirable opportunity of +studying them and their relatives and visitors. I have long wanted a +good chance for getting acquainted with the social sphere several +grades below that to which I am accustomed, and I have no doubt that +I shall find matter for half a dozen new stories among those +connections of mine. Besides, they live in a Western city, and one +doesn't mind much how he cuts up the people of places he does n't +himself live in. I suppose there is not really so much difference in +people's feelings, whether they live in Bangor or Omaha, but one's +nerves can't be expected to stretch across the continent. It is all +a matter of greater or less distance. I read this morning that a +Chinese fleet was sunk, but I did n't think half so much about it as +I did about losing my sleeve button, confound it! People have +accused me of want of feeling; they misunderstand the artist-nature, +--that is all. I obey that implicitly; I am sorry if people don't +like my descriptions, but I have done my best. I have pulled to +pieces all the persons I am acquainted with, and put them together +again in my characters. The quills I write with come from live +geese, I would have you know. I expect to get some first-rate +pluckings from those people I was speaking of, and I mean to begin my +thirty-ninth novel as soon as I have got through my visit." + + + + +IX + +THE SOCIETY AND ITS NEW SECRETARY. + +There is no use in trying to hurry the natural course of events, in a +narrative like this. June passed away, and July, and August had +come, and as yet the enigma which had completely puzzled Arrowhead +Village and its visitors remained unsolved. The white canoe still +wandered over the lake, alone, ghostly, always avoiding the near +approach of the boats which seemed to be coming in its direction. +Now and then a circumstance would happen which helped to keep inquiry +alive. Good horsemanship was not so common among the young men of +the place and its neighborhood that Maurice's accomplishment in that +way could be overlooked. If there was a wicked horse or a wild colt +whose owner was afraid of him, he would be commended to Maurice's +attention. Paolo would lead him to his master with all due +precaution,--for he had no idea of risking his neck on the back of +any ill-conditioned beast,--and Maurice would fasten on his long +spurs, spring into the saddle, and very speedily teach the creature +good behavior. There soon got about a story that he was what the +fresh-water fisherman called "one o' them whisperers." It is a +common legend enough, coming from the Old World, but known in +American horse-talking circles, that some persons will whisper +certain words in a horse's ear which will tame him if he is as wild +and furious as ever Cruiser was. All this added to the mystery which +surrounded the young man. A single improbable or absurd story +amounts to very little, but when half a dozen such stories are told +about the same individual or the same event, they begin to produce +the effect of credible evidence. If the year had been 1692 and the +place had been Salem Village, Maurice Kirkwood would have run the +risk of being treated like the Reverend George Burroughs. + +Miss Lurida Vincent's curiosity had been intensely excited with +reference to the young man of whom so many stories were told. She +had pretty nearly convinced herself that he was the author of the +paper on Ocean, Lake, and River, which had been read at one of the +meetings of the Pansophian Society. She was very desirous of meeting +him, if it were possible. It seemed as if she might, as Secretary of +the Society, request the cooperation of any of the visitors, without +impropriety. So, after much deliberation, she wrote a careful note, +of which the following is an exact copy. Her hand was bold, almost +masculine, a curious contrast to that of Euthymia, which was +delicately feminine. + + +PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY. + +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, August 3, 18-. + +MAURICE KIRKWOOD, ESQ. + +DEAR SIR,--You have received, I trust, a card of invitation to the +meetings of our Society, but I think we have not yet had the pleasure +of seeing you at any of them. We have supposed that we might be +indebted to you for a paper read at the last meeting, and listened to +with much interest. As it was anonymous, we do not wish to be +inquisitive respecting its authorship; but we desire to say that any +papers kindly sent us by the temporary residents of our village will +be welcome, and if adapted to the wants of our Association will be +read at one of its meetings or printed in its records, or perhaps +both read and printed. May we not hope for your presence at the +meeting, which is to take place next Wednesday evening? +Respectfully yours, + +LURIDA VINCENT, +Secretary of the Pansophian Society. + + +To this note the Secretary received the following reply: + +MISS LURIDA VINCENT, + +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, August 4, 18-. + +Secretary of the Pansophian Society: + +DEAR MISS VINCENT,--I have received the ticket you refer to, and +desire to express my acknowledgments for the polite attention. I +regret that I have not been and I fear shall not be able to attend +the meetings of the Society; but if any subject occurs to me on which +I feel an inclination to write, it will give me pleasure to send a +paper, to be disposed of as the Society may see fit. + +Very respectfully yours, + +MAURICE KIRKWOOD. + + +"He says nothing about the authorship of the paper that was read the +other evening," the Secretary said to herself. " No matter,--he +wrote it,--there is no mistaking his handwriting. We know something +about him, now, at any rate. But why doesn't he come to our +meetings? What has his antipathy to do with his staying away? I +must find out what his secret is, and I will. I don't believe it's +harder than it was to solve that prize problem which puzzled so many +teachers, or than beating Crakowitz, the great chess-player." + +To this enigma, then, The Terror determined to bend all the faculties +which had excited the admiration and sometimes the amazement of those +who knew her in her school-days. It was a very delicate piece of +business; for though Lurida was an intrepid woman's rights advocate, +and believed she was entitled to do almost everything that men dared +to, she knew very well there were certain limits which a young woman +like herself must not pass. + +In the mean time Maurice had received a visit from the young student +at the University,--the same whom he had rescued from his dangerous +predicament in the lake. With him had called one of the teachers,-- +an instructor in modern languages, a native of Italy. Maurice and +the instructor exchanged a few words in Italian. The young man spoke +it with the ease which implied long familiarity with its use. + +After they left, the instructor asked many curious questions about +him,--who he was, how long he had been in the village, whether +anything was known of his history,--all these inquiries with an +eagerness which implied some special and peculiar reason for the +interest they evinced. + +"I feel satisfied," the instructor said, "that I have met that young +man in my own country. It was a number of years ago, and of course +he has altered in appearance a good deal; but there is a look about +him of--what shall I call it?---apprehension,--as if he were fearing +the approach of something or somebody. I think it is the way a man +would look that was haunted; you know what I mean,--followed by a +spirit or ghost. He does not suggest the idea of a murderer,--very +far from it; but if he did, I should think he was every minute in +fear of seeing the murdered man's spirit." + +The student was curious, in his turn, to know all the instructor +could recall. He had seen him in Rome, he thought, at the Fountain +of Trevi, where so many strangers go before leaving the city. The +youth was in the company of a man who looked like a priest. He could +not mistake the peculiar expression of his countenance, but that was +all he now remembered about his appearance. His attention had been +called to this young man by seeing that some of the bystanders were +pointing at him, and noticing that they were whispering with each +other as if with reference to him. He should say that the youth was +at that time fifteen or sixteen years old, and the time was about ten +years ago. + +After all, this evidence was of little or no value. Suppose the +youth were Maurice; what then? We know that he had been in Italy, +and had been there a good while,--or at least we infer so much from +his familiarity with the language, and are confirmed in the belief by +his having an Italian servant, whom he probably brought from Italy +when he returned. If he wrote the paper which was read the other +evening, that settles it, for the writer says he had lived by the +Tiber. We must put this scrap of evidence furnished by the Professor +with the other scraps; it may turn out of some consequence, sooner or +later. It is like a piece of a dissected map; it means almost +nothing by itself, but when we find the pieces it joins with we may +discover a very important meaning in it. + +In a small, concentrated community like that which centred in and +immediately around Arrowhead Village, every day must have its local +gossip as well as its general news. The newspaper tells the small +community what is going on in the great world, and the busy tongues +of male and female, especially the latter, fill in with the +occurrences and comments of the ever-stirring microcosm. The fact +that the Italian , teacher had, or thought he had, seen Maurice ten +years before was circulated and made the most of,--turned over and +over like a cake, until it was thoroughly done on both sides and all +through. It was a very small cake, but better than nothing. Miss +Vincent heard this story, as others did, and talked about it with her +friend, Miss Tower. Here was one more fact to help along. + +The two young ladies who had recently graduated at the Corinna +Institute remained, as they had always been, intimate friends. They +were the natural complements of each other. Euthymia represented a +complete, symmetrical womanhood. Her outward presence was only an +index of a large, wholesome, affluent life. She could not help being +courageous, with such a firm organization. She could not help being +generous, cheerful, active. She had been told often enough that she +was fair to look upon. She knew that she was called The Wonder by +the schoolmates who were dazzled by her singular accomplishments, but +she did not overvalue them. She rather tended to depreciate her own +gifts, in comparison with those of her friend, Miss Lurida Vincent. +The two agreed all the better for differing as they did. The octave +makes a perfect chord, when shorter intervals jar more or less on the +ear. Each admired the other with a heartiness which if they had been +less unlike, would have been impossible. + +It was a pleasant thing to observe their dependence on each other. +The Terror of the schoolroom was the oracle in her relations with her +friend. All the freedom of movement which The Wonder showed in her +bodily exercises The Terror manifested in the world of thought. She +would fling open a book, and decide in a swift glance whether it had +any message for her. Her teachers had compared her way of reading to +the taking of an instantaneous photograph. When she took up the +first book on Physiology which Dr. Butts handed her, it seemed to him +that if she only opened at any place, and gave one look, her mind +drank its meaning up, as a moist sponge absorbs water. "What can I +do with such a creature as this?" he said to himself. " There is +only one way to deal with her, treat her as one treats a silkworm: +give it its mulberry leaf, and it will spin its own cocoon. Give her +the books, and she will spin her own web of knowledge." + +"Do you really think of studying medicine?" said Dr. Butts to her. + +"I have n't made up my mind about that," she answered, "but I want to +know a little more about this terrible machinery of life and death we +are all tangled in. I know something about it, but not enough. I +find some very strange beliefs among the women I meet with, and I +want to be able to silence them when they attempt to proselyte me to +their whims and fancies. Besides, I want to know everything." + +"They tell me you do, already," said Dr. Butts. + +"I am the most ignorant little wretch that draws the breath of life!" +exclaimed The Terror. + +The doctor smiled. He knew what it meant. She had reached that +stage of education in which the vast domain of the unknown opens its +illimitable expanse before the eyes of the student. We never know +the extent of darkness until it is partially illuminated. + +"You did not leave the Institute with the reputation of being the +most ignorant young lady that ever graduated there," said the doctor. +"They tell me you got the highest marks of any pupil on their record +since the school was founded." + +"What a grand thing it was to be the biggest fish in our small +aquarium, to be sure!" answered The Terror. "He was six inches long, +the monster,--a little too big for bait to catch a pickerel with! +What did you hand me that schoolbook for? Did you think I did n't +know anything about the human body?" + +"You said you were such an ignorant creature I thought I would try +you with an easy book, by way of introduction." + +The Terror was not confused by her apparent self-contradiction. + +"I meant what I said, and I mean what I say. When I talk about my +ignorance, I don't measure myself with schoolgirls, doctor. I don't +measure myself with my teachers, either. You must talk to me as if I +were a man, a grown man, if you mean to teach me anything. Where is +your hat, doctor? Let me try it on." + +The doctor handed her his wide-awake. The Terror's hair was not +naturally abundant, like Euthymia's, and she kept it cut rather +short. Her head used to get very hot when she studied hard. She +tried to put the hat on. + +"Do you see that?" she said. "I could n't wear it--it would squeeze +my eyes out of my head. The books told me that women's brains were +smaller than men's: "perhaps they are,--most of them,--I never +measured a great many. But when they try to settle what women are +good for, by phrenology, I like to have them put their tape round my +head. I don't believe in their nonsense, for all that. You might as +well tell me that if one horse weighs more than another horse he is +worth more,--a cart-horse that weighs twelve or fourteen hundred +pounds better than Eclipse, that may have weighed a thousand. Give +me a list of the best books you can think of, and turn me loose in +your library. I can find what I want, if you have it; and what I +don't find there I will get at the Public Library. I shall want to +ask you a question now and then." + +The doctor looked at her with a kind of admiration, but thoughtfully, +as if he feared she was thinking of a task too formidable for her +slight constitutional resource. + +She returned, instinctively, to the apparent contradiction in her +statements about herself. + +"I am not a fool, if I am ignorant. Yes, doctor, I sail on a wide +sea of ignorance, but I have taken soundings of some of its shallows +and some of its depths. Your profession deals with the facts of life +that interest me most just now, and I want to know something of it. +Perhaps I may find it a calling such as would suit me." + +"Do you seriously think of becoming a practitioner of medicine?" said +the doctor. + +"Certainly, I seriously think of it as a possibility, but I want to +know something more about it first. Perhaps I sha'n't believe in +medicine enough to practise it. Perhaps I sha'n't like it well +enough. No matter about that. I wish to study some of your best +books on some of the subjects that most interest me. I know about +bones and muscles and all that, and about digestion and respiration +and such things. I want to study up the nervous system, and learn +all about it. I am of the nervous temperament myself, and perhaps +that is the reason. I want to read about insanity and all that +relates to it." + +A curious expression flitted across the doctor's features as The +Terror said this. + +"Nervous system. Insanity. She has headaches, I know,--all those +large-headed, hard-thinking girls do, as a matter of course; but what +has set her off about insanity and the nervous system? I wonder if +any of her more remote relatives are subject to mental disorder. +Bright people very often have crazy relations. Perhaps some of her +friends are in that way. I wonder whether"--the doctor did not speak +any of these thoughts, and in fact hardly shaped his "whether," for +The Terror interrupted his train of reflection, or rather struck into +it in a way which startled him. + +"Where is the first volume of this Medical Cyclopaedia?" she asked, +looking at its empty place on the shelf. + +"On my table," the doctor answered. "I have been consulting it." + +Lurida flung it open, in her eager way, and turned the pages rapidly +until she came to the one she wanted. The doctor cast his eye on the +beading of the page, and saw the large letters A N T. + +"I thought so," he said to himself. "We shall know everything there +is in the books about antipathies now, if we never did before. She +has a special object in studying the nervous system, just as I +suspected. I think she does not care to mention it at this time; but +if she finds out anything of interest she will tell me, if she does +anybody. Perhaps she does not mean to tell anybody. It is a rather +delicate business,--a young girl studying the natural history of a +young man. Not quite so safe as botany or palaeontology! + +Lurida, lately The Terror, now Miss Vincent, had her own plans, and +chose to keep them to herself, for the present, at least. Her hands +were full enough, it might seem, without undertaking the solution of +the great Arrowhead Village enigma. But she was in the most perfect +training, so far as her intelligence was concerned; and the summer +rest had restored her bodily vigor, so that her brain was like an +overcharged battery which will find conductors somewhere to carry off +its crowded energy. + +At this time Arrowhead Village was enjoying the most successful +season it had ever known. The Pansophian Society flourished to an +extraordinary degree under the fostering care of the new Secretary. +The rector was a good figure-head as President, but the Secretary was +the life of the Society. Communications came in abundantly: some +from the village and its neighborhood, some from the University and +the Institute, some from distant and unknown sources. The new +Secretary was very busy with the work of examining these papers. +After a forenoon so employed, the carpet of her room looked like a +barn floor after a husking-match. A glance at the manuscripts +strewed about, or lying in heaps, would have frightened any young +writer away from the thought of authorship as a business. If the +candidate for that fearful calling had seen the process of selection +and elimination, he would have felt still more desperately. A paper +of twenty pages would come in, with an underscored request to please +read through, carefully. That request alone is commonly sufficient +to condemn any paper, and prevent its having any chance of a hearing; +but the Secretary was not hardened enough yet for that kind of +martial law in dealing with manuscripts. The looker-on might have +seen her take up the paper, cast one flashing glance at its title, +read the first sentence and the last, dip at a venture into two or +three pages, and decide as swiftly as the lightning calculator would +add up a column of figures what was to be its destination. If +rejected, it went into the heap on the left; if approved, it was laid +apart, to be submitted to the Committee for their judgment. The +foolish writers who insist on one's reading through their manuscript +poems and stories ought to know how fatal the request is to their +prospects. It provokes the reader, to begin with. The reading of +manuscript is frightful work, at the best; the reading of worthless +manuscript--and most of that which one is requested to read through +is worthless--would add to the terrors of Tartarus, if any infernal +deity were ingenious enough to suggest it as a punishment. + +If a paper was rejected by the Secretary, it did not come before the +Committee, but was returned to the author, if he sent for it, which +he commonly did. Its natural course was to try for admission into +some one of the popular magazines: into " The Sifter," the most +fastidious of them all; if that declined it, into "The Second Best;" +and if that returned it, into "The Omnivorous." If it was refused +admittance at the doors of all the magazines, it might at length find +shelter in the corner of a newspaper, where a good deal of very +readable verse is to be met with nowadays, some of which has been, no +doubt, presented to the Pansophian Society, but was not considered up +to its standard. + + + + +X + +A NEW ARRIVAL. + +There was a recent accession to the transient population of the +village which gave rise to some speculation. The new-comer was a +young fellow, rather careless in his exterior, but apparently as much +at home as if he owned Arrowhead Village and everything in it. He +commonly had a cigar in his mouth, carried a pocket pistol, of the +non-explosive sort, and a stick with a bulldog's bead for its knob; +wore a soft bat, a coarse check suit, a little baggy, and gaiterboots +which had been half-soled,--a Bohemian-looking personage, altogether. + +This individual began making explorations in every direction. He was +very curious about the place and all the people in it. He was +especially interested in the Pansophian Society, concerning which he +made all sorts of inquiries. This led him to form a summer +acquaintance with the Secretary, who was pleased to give him whatever +information he asked for; being proud of the Society, as she had a +right to be, and knowing more about it than anybody else. + +The visitor could not have been long in the village without hearing +something of Maurice Kirkwood, and the stories, true and false, +connected with his name. He questioned everybody who could tell him +anything about Maurice, and set down the answers in a little note- +book he always had with him. + +All this naturally excited the curiosity of the village about this +new visitor. Among the rest, Miss Vincent, not wanting in an +attribute thought to belong more especially to her sex, became +somewhat interested to know more exactly who this inquiring, note- +taking personage, who seemed to be everywhere and to know everybody, +might himself be. Meeting him at the Public Library at a fortunate +moment, when there was nobody but the old Librarian, who was hard of +hearing, to interfere with their conversation, the little Secretary +had a chance to try to find out something about him. + +"This is a very remarkable library for a small village to possess," +he remarked to Miss Lurida. + +"It is, indeed," she said. "Have you found it well furnished with +the books you most want?" + +"Oh, yes,--books enough. I don't care so much for the books as I do +for the Newspapers. I like a Review well enough,--it tells you all +there is in a book; but a good abstract of the Review in a Newspaper +saves a fellow the trouble of reading it." + +"You find the papers you want, here, I hope," said the young lady. + +"Oh, I get along pretty well. It's my off-time, and I don't do much +reading or writing. Who is the city correspondent of this place?" + +"I don't think we have any one who writes regularly. Now and then, +there is a letter, with the gossip of the place in it, or an account +of some of the doings at our Society. The city papers are always +glad to get the reports of our meetings, and to know what is going on +in the village." + +"I suppose you write about the Society to the papers, as you are the +Secretary." + +This was a point-blank shot. She meant to question the young man +about his business, and here she was on the witness-stand. She +ducked her head, and let the question go over her. + +"Oh, there are plenty of members who are willing enough to write,-- +especially to give an account of their own papers. I think they like +to have me put in the applause, when they get any. I do that +sometimes." (How much more, she did not say.) + +"I have seen some very well written articles, which, from what they +tell me of the Secretary, I should have thought she might have +written herself." + +He looked her straight in the eyes. + +"I have transmitted some good papers," she said, without winking, or +swallowing, or changing color, precious little color she had to +change; her brain wanted all the blood it could borrow or steal, and +more too. "You spoke of Newspapers," she said, without any change of +tone or manner: "do you not frequently write for them yourself?" + +"I should think I did," answered the young man. "I am a regular +correspondent of 'The People's Perennial and Household Inquisitor.'" + +"The regular correspondent from where?" + +"Where! Oh, anywhere,--the place does not make much difference. I +have been writing chiefly from Naples and St. Petersburg, and now and +then from Constantinople." + +"How long since your return to this country, may I ask?" + +"My return? I have never been out of this country. I travel with a +gazetteer and some guide-books. It is the cheapest way, and you can +get the facts much better from them than by trusting your own +observation. I have made the tour of Europe by the help of them and +the newspapers. But of late I have taken to interviewing. I find +that a very pleasant specialty. It is about as good sport as trout- +tickling, and much the same kind of business. I should like to send +the Society an account of one of my interviews. Don't you think they +would like to hear it?" + +"I have no doubt they would. Send it to me, and I will look it over; +and if the Committee approve it, we will have it at the next meeting. +You know everything has to be examined and voted on by the +Committee," said the cautious Secretary. + +"Very well,--I will risk it. After it is read, if it is read, please +send it back to me, as I want to sell it to 'The Sifter,' or 'The +Second Best,' or some of the paying magazines." + +This is the paper, which was read at the next meeting of the +Pansophian Society. + + +"I was ordered by the editor of the newspaper to which I am attached, +'The People's Perennial and Household Inquisitor,' to make a visit to +a certain well-known writer, and obtain all the particulars I could +concerning him and all that related to him. I have interviewed a +good many politicians, who I thought rather liked the process; but I +had never tried any of these literary people, and I was not quite +sure how this one would feel about it. I said as much to the chief, +but he pooh-poohed my scruples. 'It is n't our business whether they +like it or not,' said he; 'the public wants it, and what the public +wants it's bound to have, and we are bound to furnish it. Don't be +afraid of your man; he 's used to it,--he's been pumped often enough +to take it easy, and what you've got to do is to pump him dry. You +need n't be modest,--ask him what you like; he is n't bound to +answer, you know.' + +As he lived in a rather nice quarter of the town, I smarted myself up +a little, put on a fresh collar and cuffs, and got a five-cent shine +on my best high-lows. I said to myself, as I was walking towards the +house where he lived, that I would keep very shady for a while and +pass for a visitor from a distance; one of those 'admiring strangers' +who call in to pay their respects, to get an autograph, and go home +and say that they have met the distinguished So and So, which gives +them a certain distinction in the village circle to which they +belong. + +"My man, the celebrated writer, received me in what was evidently his +reception-room. I observed that he managed to get the light full on +my face, while his own was in the shade. I had meant to have his +face in the light, but he knew the localities, and had arranged +things so as to give him that advantage. It was like two frigates +manoeuvring,--each trying to get to windward of the other. I never +take out my note-book until I and my man have got engaged in artless +and earnest conversation,--always about himself and his works, of +course, if he is an author. + +"I began by saying that he must receive a good many callers. Those +who had read his books were naturally curious to see the writer of +them. + +"He assented, emphatically, to this statement. He had, he said, a +great many callers. + +"I remarked that there was a quality in his books which made his +readers feel as if they knew him personally, and caused them to +cherish a certain attachment to him. + +"He smiled, as if pleased. He was himself disposed to think so, he +said. In fact, a great many persons, strangers writing to him, had +told him so. + +"My dear sir, I said, there is nothing wonderful in the fact you +mention. You reach a responsive chord in many human breasts. + + 'One touch of Nature makes the whole world kin.' + +Everybody feels as if he, and especially she (his eyes sparkled), +were your blood relation. Do they not name their children after you +very frequently? + +"He blushed perceptibly. 'Sometimes,' he answered. 'I hope they +will all turn out well.' + +"I am afraid I am taking up too much of your time, I said. + +"No, not at all,' he replied. 'Come up into my library; it is warmer +and pleasanter there.' + +"I felt confident that I had him by the right handle then; for an +author's library, which is commonly his working-room, is, like a +lady's boudoir, a sacred apartment. + +"So we went upstairs, and again he got me with the daylight on my +face, when I wanted it on has. + +"You have a fine library, I remarked. There were books all round the +room, and one of those whirligig square book-cases. I saw in front a +Bible and a Concordance, Shakespeare and Mrs. Cowden Clarke's book, +and other classical works and books of grave aspect. I contrived to +give it a turn, and on the side next the wall I got a glimpse of +Barnum's Rhyming Dictionary, and several Dictionaries of Quotations +and cheap compends of knowledge. Always twirl one of those revolving +book-cases when you visit a scholar's library. That is the way to +find out what books he does n't want you to see, which of course are +the ones you particularly wish to see. + +"Some may call all this impertinent and inquisitive. What do you +suppose is an interviewer's business? Did you ever see an oyster +opened? Yes? Well, an interviewer's business is the same thing. +His man is his oyster, which he, not with sword, but with pencil and +note-book, must open. Mark how the oysterman's thin blade insinuates +itself,--how gently at first, how strenuously when once fairly +between the shells! + +"And here, I said, you write your books,--those books which have +carried your name to all parts of the world, and will convey it down +to posterity! Is this the desk at which you write? And is this the +pen you write with? + +"'It is the desk and the very pen,' he replied. + +"He was pleased with my questions and my way of putting them. I took +up the pen as reverentially as if it had been made of the feather +which the angel I used to read about in Young's "Night Thoughts" +ought to have dropped, and did n't. + +"Would you kindly write your autograph in my note-book, with that +pen? I asked him. Yes, he would, with great pleasure. + +"So I got out my note-book. + +"It was a spick and span new one, bought on purpose for this +interview. I admire your bookcases, said I. Can you tell me just +how high they are? + +"'They are about eight feet, with the cornice.' + +"I should like to have some like those, if I ever get rich enough, +said I. Eight feet,--eight feet, with the cornice. I must put that +down. + +"So I got out my pencil. + +"I sat there with my pencil and note-book in my hand, all ready, but +not using them as yet. + +"I have heard it said, I observed, that you began writing poems at a +very early age. Is it taking too great a liberty to ask how early +you began to write in verse? + +"He was getting interested, as people are apt to be when they are +themselves the subjects of conversation. + +"'Very early,--I hardly know how early. I can say truly, as Louise +Colet said, + + 'Je fis mes premiers vers sans savoir les ecrire.'" + +"I am not a very good French scholar, said I; perhaps you will be +kind enough to translate that line for me. + +"'Certainly. With pleasure. I made my first +verses without knowing how to write them.' + +"How interesting! But I never heard of Louise Colet. Who was she? + +"My man was pleased to gi-ve me a piece of literary information. + +"'Louise the lioness! Never heard of her? You have heard of +Alphonse Karr?' + +"Why,--yes,--more or less. To tell the truth, I am not very well up +in French literature. What had he to do with your lioness? + +"'A good deal. He satirized her, and she waited at his door with a +case-knife in her hand, intending to stick him with it. By and by he +came down, smoking a cigarette, and was met by this woman flourishing +her case-knife. He took it from her, after getting a cut in his +dressing-gown, put it in his pocket, and went on with his cigarette. +He keeps it with an inscription : + + + Donne a Alphonse Karr + Par Madame Louise Colet.... + Dans le dos. + +Lively little female!' + +"I could n't help thinking that I should n't have cared to interview +the lively little female. He was evidently tickled with the interest +I appeared to take in the story he told me. That made him feel +amiably disposed toward me. + +"I began with very general questions, but by degrees I got at +everything about his family history and the small events of his +boyhood. Some of the points touched upon were delicate, but I put a +good bold face on my most audacious questions, and so I wormed out a +great deal that was new concerning my subject. He had been written +about considerably, and the public wouldn't have been satisfied +without some new facts; and these I meant to have, and I got. No +matter about many of them now, but here are some questions and +answers that may be thought worth reading or listening to: + +"How do you enjoy being what they call 'a celebrity,' or a celebrated +man? + +"'So far as one's vanity is concerned it is well enough. But self- +love is a cup without any bottom, and you might pour the Great Lakes +all through it, and never fill it up. It breeds an appetite for more +of the same kind. It tends to make the celebrity a mere lump of +egotism. It generates a craving for high-seasoned personalities +which is in danger of becoming slavery, like that following the abuse +of alcohol, or opium, or tobacco. Think of a man's having every day, +by every post, letters that tell him he is this and that and the +other, with epithets and endearments, one tenth part of which would +have made him blush red hot before he began to be what you call a +celebrity!' + +"Are there not some special inconveniences connected with what is +called celebrity? + +"'I should think so! Suppose you were obliged every day of your life +to stand and shake hands, as the President of the United States has +to after his inauguration: how do you think your hand would feel +after a few months' practice of that exercise? Suppose you had given +you thirty-five millions of money a year, in hundred-dollar coupons, +on condition that you cut them all off yourself in the usual manner: +how do you think you should like the look of a pair of scissors at +the end of a year, in which you had worked ten hours a day every day +but Sunday, cutting off a hundred coupons an hour, and found you had +not finished your task, after all? Yon have addressed me as what you +are pleased to call "a literary celebrity." I won't dispute with you +as to whether or not I deserve that title. I will take it for +granted I am what you call me, and give you some few hints on my +experience. + +"'You know there was formed a while ago an Association of Authors for +Self-Protection. It meant well, and it was hoped that something +would come of it in the way of relieving that oppressed class, but I +am sorry to say that it has not effected its purpose.' + +"I suspected he had a hand in drawing up the Constitution and Laws of +that Association. Yes, I said, an admirable Association it was, and +as much needed as the one for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. +I am sorry to hear that it has not proved effectual in putting a stop +to the abuse of a deserving class of men. It ought to have done it; +it was well conceived, and its public manifesto was a masterpiece. +(I saw by his expression that he was its author.) + +"'I see I can trust you,' he said. 'I will unbosom myself freely of +some of the grievances attaching to the position of the individual to +whom you have applied the term "Literary Celebrity." + +"'He is supposed to be a millionaire, in virtue of the immense sales +of his books, all the money from which, it is taken for granted, goes +into his pocket. Consequently, all subscription papers are handed to +him for his signature, and every needy stranger who has heard his +name comes to him for assistance. + +"'He is expected to subscribe for all periodicals, and is goaded by +receiving blank formulae, which, with their promises to pay, he is +expected to fill up. + +"'He receives two or three books daily, with requests to read and +give his opinion about each of them, which opinion, if it has a word +which can be used as an advertisement, he will find quoted in all the +newspapers. + +"'He receives thick masses of manuscript, prose and verse, which he +is called upon to examine and pronounce on their merits; these +manuscripts having almost invariably been rejected by the editors to +whom they have been sent, and having as a rule no literary value +whatever. + +"'He is expected to sign petitions, to contribute to journals, to +write for fairs, to attend celebrations, to make after-dinner +speeches, to send money for objects he does not believe in to places +he never heard of. + +"'He is called on to keep up correspondences with unknown admirers, +who begin by saying they have no claim upon his time, and then +appropriate it by writing page after page, if of the male sex; and +sheet after sheet, if of the other. + +"'If a poet, it is taken for granted that he can sit down at any +moment and spin off any number of verses on any subject which may be +suggested to him; such as congratulations to the writer's great- +grandmother on her reaching her hundredth year, an elegy on an infant +aged six weeks, an ode for the Fourth of July in a Western township +not to be found in Lippincott's last edition, perhaps a valentine for +some bucolic lover who believes that wooing in rhyme is the way to +win the object of his affections.' + +"Is n't it so? I asked the Celebrity. + +"'I would bet on the prose lover. She will show the verses to him, +and they will both have a good laugh over them.' + + +"I have only reported a small part of the conversation I had with the +Literary Celebrity. He was so much taken up with his pleasing self- +contemplation, while I made him air his opinions and feelings and +spread his characteristics as his laundress spreads and airs his +linen on the clothes-line, that I don't believe it ever occurred to +him that he had been in the hands of an interviewer until he found +himself exposed to the wind and sunshine in full dimensions in the +columns of The People's Perennial and Household Inquisitor.'" + +After the reading of this paper, much curiosity was shown as to who +the person spoken of as the "Literary Celebrity" might be. Among the +various suppositions the startling idea was suggested that he was +neither more nor less than the unexplained personage known in the +village as Maurice Kirkwood. Why should that be his real name? Why +should not he be the Celebrity, who had taken this name and fled to +this retreat to escape from the persecutions of kind friends, who +were pricking him and stabbing him nigh to death with their daggers +of sugar candy? + +The Secretary of the Pansophian Society determined to question the +Interviewer the next time she met him at the Library, which happened +soon after the meeting when his paper was read. + +"I do not know," she said, in the course of a conversation in which +she had spoken warmly of his contribution to the literary +entertainment of the Society, "that you mentioned the name of the +Literary Celebrity whom you interviewed so successfully." + +"I did not mention him, Miss Vincent," he answered, "nor do I think +it worth while to name him. He might not care to have the whole +story told of how he was handled so as to make him communicative. +Besides, if I did, it would bring him a new batch of sympathetic +letters, regretting that he was bothered by those horrid +correspondents, full of indignation at the bores who presumed to +intrude upon him with their pages of trash, all the writers of which +would expect answers to their letters of condolence." + +The Secretary asked the Interviewer if he knew the young gentleman +who called himself Maurice Kirkwood. + +"What," he answered, "the man that paddles a birch canoe, and rides +all the wild horses of the neighborhood? No, I don't know him, but I +have met him once or twice, out walking. A mighty shy fellow, they +tell me. Do you know anything particular about him?" + +"Not much. None of us do, but we should like to. The story is that +be has a queer antipathy to something or to somebody, nobody knows +what or whom." + +"To newspaper correspondents, perhaps," said the interviewer. "What +made you ask me about him? You did n't think he was my 'Literary +Celebrity,' did you?" + +"I did not know. I thought he might be. Why don't you interview +this mysterious personage? He would make a good sensation for your +paper, I should think." + +"Why, what is there to be interviewed in him? Is there any story of +crime, or anything else to spice a column or so, or even a few +paragraphs, with? If there is, I am willing to handle him +professionally." + +"I told you he has what they call an antipathy. I don't know how +much wiser you are for that piece of information." + +"An antipathy! Why, so have I an antipathy. I hate a spider, and as +for a naked caterpillar,--I believe I should go into a fit if I had +to touch one. I know I turn pale at the sight of some of those great +green caterpillars that come down from the elm-trees in August and +early autumn." + +"Afraid of them?" asked the young lady. + +"Afraid? What should I be afraid of? They can't bite or sting. I +can't give any reason. All I know is that when I come across one of +these creatures in my path I jump to one side, and cry out,-- +sometimes using very improper words. The fact is, they make me crazy +for the moment." + +"I understand what you mean," said Miss Vincent. "I used to have the +same feeling about spiders, but I was ashamed of it, and kept a +little menagerie of spiders until I had got over the feeling; that +is, pretty much got over it, for I don't love the creatures very +dearly, though I don't scream when I see one." + +"What did you tell me, Miss Vincent, was this fellow's particular +antipathy?" + +That is just the question. I told you that we don't know and we +can't guess what it is. The people here are tired out with trying to +discover some good reason for the young man's keeping out of the way +of everybody, as he does. They say he is odd or crazy, and they +don't seem to be able to tell which. It would make the old ladies of +the village sleep a great deal sounder,--yes, and some of the young +ladies, too,--if they could find out what this Mr. Kirkwood has got +into his head, that he never comes near any of the people here." + +"I think I can find out," said the Interviewer, whose professional +ambition was beginning to be excited. "I never came across anybody +yet that I could n't get something out of. I am going to stay here a +week or two, and before I go I will find out the secret, if there is +any, of this Mr. Maurice Kirkwood." + +We must leave the Interviewer to his contrivances until they present +us with some kind of result, either in the shape of success or +failure. + + + + +XI + +THE INTERVIEWER ATTACKS THE SPHINX. + +When Miss Euthymia Tower sent her oar off in flashing splinters, as +she pulled her last stroke in the boat-race, she did not know what a +strain she was putting upon it. She did know that she was doing her +best, but how great the force of her best was she was not aware until +she saw its effects. Unconsciousness belonged to her robust nature, +in all its manifestations. She did not pride herself on her +knowledge, nor reproach herself for her ignorance. In every way she +formed a striking contrast to her friend, Miss Vincent. Every word +they spoke betrayed the difference between them: the sharp tones of +Lurida's head-voice, penetrative, aggressive, sometimes irritating, +revealed the corresponding traits of mental and moral character; the +quiet, conversational contralto of Euthymia was the index of a nature +restful and sympathetic. + +The friendships of young girls prefigure the closer relations which +will one day come in and dissolve their earlier intimacies. The +dependence of two young friends may be mutual, but one will always +lean more heavily than the other; the masculine and feminine elements +will be as sure to assert themselves as if the friends were of +different sexes. + +On all common occasions Euthymia looked up to her friend as her +superior. She fully appreciated all her varied gifts and knowledge, +and deferred to her opinion in every-day matters, not exactly as an +oracle, but as wiser than herself or any of her other companions. It +was a different thing, however, when the graver questions of life +came up. Lurida was full of suggestions, plans, projects, which were +too liable to run into whims before she knew where they were tending. +She would lay out her ideas before Euthymia so fluently and +eloquently that she could not help believing them herself, and +feeling as if her friend must accept them with an enthusiasm like her +own. Then Euthymia would take them up with her sweet, deliberate +accents, and bring her calmer judgment to bear on them. + +Lurida was in an excited condition, in the midst of all her new +interests and occupations. She was constantly on the lookout for +papers to be read at the meetings of her Society,--for she made it +her own in great measure, by her zeal and enthusiasm,--and in the +mean time she was reading in various books which Dr. Butts selected +for her, all bearing on the profession to which, at least as a +possibility, she was looking forward. Privately and in a very still +way, she was occupying herself with the problem of the young +stranger, the subject of some delusion, or disease, or obliquity of +unknown nature, to which the vague name of antipathy had been +attached. Euthymia kept an eye upon her, partly in the fear that +over-excitement would produce some mental injury, and partly from +anxiety lest she should compromise her womanly dignity in her desire +to get at the truth of a very puzzling question. + +"How do you like the books I see you reading?" said Euthymia to +Lurida, one day, as they met at the Library. + +"Better than all the novels I ever read," she answered. "I have been +reading about the nervous system, and it seems to me I have come +nearer the springs of life than ever before in all my studies. I +feel just as if I were a telegraph operator. I was sure that I had a +battery in my head, for I know my brain works like one; but I did not +know how many centres of energy there are, and how they are played +upon by all sorts of influences, external and internal. Do you know, +I believe I could solve the riddle of the 'Arrowhead Village Sphinx,' +as the paper called him, if he would only stay here long enough?" + +"What paper has had anything about it, Lurida? I have not seen or +heard of its being mentioned in any of the papers." + +"You know that rather queer-looking young man who has been about here +for some time,--the same one who gave the account of his interview +with a celebrated author? Well, he has handed me a copy of a paper +in which he writes, 'The People's Perennial and Household +Inquisitor.' He talks about this village in a very free and easy way. +He says there is a Sphinx here, who has mystified us all." + +"And you have been chatting with that fellow! Don't you know that +he'll have you and all of us in his paper? Don't you know that +nothing is safe where one of those fellows gets in with his note-book +and pencil? Oh, Lurida, Lurida, do be careful!" What with this +mysterious young man and this very questionable newspaper-paragraph +writer, you will be talked about, if you don't mind, before you know +it. You had better let the riddle of the Sphinx alone. If you must +deal with such dangerous people, the safest way is to set one of them +to find out the other. --I wonder if we can't get this new man to +interview the visitor you have so much curiosity about. That might +be managed easily enough without your having anything to do with it. +Let me alone, and I will arrange it. But mind, now, you must not +meddle; if you do, you will spoil everything, and get your name in +the 'Household Inquisitor' in a way you won't like." + +"Don't be frightened about me, Euthymia. I don't mean to give him a +chance to work me into his paper, if I can help it. But if you can +get him to try his skill upon this interesting personage and his +antipathy, so much the better. I am very curious about it, and +therefore about him. I want to know what has produced this strange +state of feeling in a young man who ought to have all the common +instincts of a social being. I believe there are unexplained facts +in the region of sympathies and antipathies which will repay study +with a deeper insight into the mysteries of life than we have dreamed +of hitherto. I often wonder whether there are not heart-waves and +soul-waves as well as 'brain-waves,' which some have already +recognized." + +Euthymia wondered, as well she might, to hear this young woman +talking the language of science like an adept. The truth is, Lurida +was one of those persons who never are young, and who, by way of +compensation, will never be old. They are found in both sexes. Two +well-known graduates of one of our great universities are living +examples of this precocious but enduring intellectual development. +If the readers of this narrative cannot pick them out, they need not +expect the writer of it to help them. If they guess rightly who they +are, they will recognize the fact that just such exceptional +individuals as the young woman we are dealing with are met with from +time to time in families where intelligence has been cumulative for +two or three generations. + +Euthymia was very willing that the questioning and questionable +visitor should learn all that was known in the village about the +nebulous individual whose misty environment all the eyes in the +village were trying to penetrate, but that he should learn it from +some other informant than Lurida. + +The next morning, as the Interviewer took his seat on a bench outside +his door, to smoke his after-breakfast cigar, a bright-looking and +handsome youth, whose features recalled those of Euthymia so +strikingly that one might feel pretty sure he was her brother, took a +seat by his side. Presently the two were engaged in conversation. +The Interviewer asked all sorts of questions about everybody in the +village. When he came to inquire about Maurice, the youth showed a +remarkable interest regarding him. The greatest curiosity, he said, +existed with reference to this personage. Everybody was trying to +find out what his story was,--for a story, and a strange one, he must +surely have,--and nobody had succeeded. + +The Interviewer began to be unusually attentive. The young man told +him the various antipathy stories, about the evil-eye hypothesis, +about his horse-taming exploits, his rescuing the student whose boat +was overturned, and every occurrence he could recall which would help +out the effect of his narrative. + +The Interviewer was becoming excited. "Can't find out anything about +him, you said, did n-'t you? How do you know there's anything to +find? Do you want to know what I think he is? I'll tell you. I +think he is an actor,--a fellow from one of the city theatres. Those +fellows go off in their summer vacation, and like to puzzle the +country folks. They are the very same chaps, like as not, the +visitors have seen in plays at the city theatres; but of course they +don't know 'em in plain clothes. Kings and Emperors look pretty +shabby off the stage sometimes, I can tell you." + +The young man followed the Interviewer's lead. "I shouldn't wonder +if you were right," he said. "I remember seeing a young fellow in +Romeo that looked a good deal like this one. But I never met the +Sphinx, as they call him, face to face. He is as shy as a woodchuck. +I believe there are people here that would give a hundred dollars to +find out who he is, and where he came from, and what he is here for, +and why he does n't act like other folks. I wonder why some of those +newspaper men don't come up here and get hold of this story. It +would be just the thing for a sensational writer." + +To all this the Interviewer listened with true professional interest. +Always on the lookout for something to make up a paragraph or a +column about; driven oftentimes to the stalest of repetitions,--to +the biggest pumpkin story, the tall cornstalk, the fat ox, the live +frog from the human stomach story, the third set of teeth and reading +without spectacles at ninety story, and the rest of the marvellous +commonplaces which are kept in type with e o y or e 6 m (every +other year or every six months) at the foot; always in want of a +fresh incident, a new story, an undescribed character, an unexplained +mystery, it is no wonder that the Interviewer fastened eagerly upon +this most tempting subject for an inventive and emotional +correspondent. + +He had seen Paolo several times, and knew that he was Maurice's +confidential servant, but had never spoken to him. So he said to +himself that he must make Paolo's acquaintance, to begin with. In +the summer season many kinds of small traffic were always carried on +in Arrowhead Village. Among the rest, the sellers of fruits-- +oranges, bananas, and others, according to the seasons--did an active +business. The Interviewer watched one of these fruit-sellers, and +saw that his hand-cart stopped opposite the house where, as he knew, +Maurice Kirkwood was living. Presently Paolo came out of the door, +and began examining the contents of the hand-cart. The Interviewer +saw his opportunity. Here was an introduction to the man, and the +man must introduce him to the master. + +He knew very well how to ingratiate himself with the man,--there was +no difficulty about that. He had learned his name, and that he was +an Italian whom Maurice had brought to this country with him. + +"Good morning, Mr. Paul," he said. "How do you like the look of +these oranges?" + +"They pretty fair," said Paolo: "no so good as them las' week; no +sweet as them was." + +"Why, how do you know without tasting them?" said the Interviewer. + +"I know by his look,--I know by his smell,--he no good yaller,--he no +smell ripe,--I know orange ever since my head no bigger than he is," +and Paolo laughed at his own comparison. + +The Interviewer laughed louder than Paolo. + +"Good!" said he,--"first-rate! Of course you know all about 'em. +Why can't you pick me out a couple of what you think are the best of +'em? I shall be greatly obliged to you. I have a sick friend, and I +want to get two nice sweet ones for him." + +Paolo was pleased. His skill and judgment were recognized. He felt +grateful to the stranger, who had given him, an opportunity of +conferring a favor. He selected two, after careful examination and +grave deliberation. The Interviewer had sense and tact enough not to +offer him an orange, and so shift the balance of obligation. + +"How is Mr. Kirkwood, to-day?" he asked. + +"Signor? He very well. He always well. Why you ask? Anybody tell +you he sick?" + +"No, nobody said he was sick. I have n't seen him going about for a +day or two, and I thought be might have something the matter with +him. Is he in the house now?" + +"No: he off riding. He take long, long rides, sometime gone all day. +Sometime he go on lake, paddle, paddle in the morning, very, very +early,--in night when the moon shine; sometime stay in house, and +read, and study, and write,--he great scholar, Misser Kirkwood." + +"A good many books, has n't he?" + +"He got whole shelfs full of books. Great books, little books, old +books, new books, all sorts of books. He great scholar, I tell you." + +"Has n't he some curiosities,--old figures, old jewelry, old coins, +or things of that sort?" + +Paolo looked at the young man cautiously, almost suspiciously. +"He don't keep no jewels nor no money in his chamber. He got some +old things,--old jugs, old brass figgers, old money, such as they +used to have in old times: she don't pass now." Paolo's genders were +apt to be somewhat indiscriminately distributed. + +A lucky thought struck the Interviewer. "I wonder if he would +examine some old coins of mine?" said he, in a modestly tentative +manner. + +"I think he like to see anything curious. When he come home I ask +him. Who will I tell him wants to ask him about old coin?" + +"Tell him a gentleman visiting Arrowhead Village would like to call +and show him some old pieces of money, said to be Roman ones." + +The Interviewer had just remembered that he had two or three old +battered bits of copper which he had picked up at a tollman's, where +they had been passed off for cents. He had bought them as +curiosities. One had the name of Gallienus upon it, tolerably +distinct,--a common little Roman penny; but it would serve his +purpose of asking a question, as would two or three others with less +legible legends. Paolo told him that if he came the next morning he +would stand a fair chance of seeing Mr. Kirkwood. At any rate, he +would speak to his master. + +The Interviewer presented himself the next morning, after finishing +his breakfast and his cigar, feeling reasonably sure of finding Mr. +Kirkwood at home, as he proved to be. He had told Paolo to show the +stranger up to his library,--or study, as he modestly called it. + +It was a pleasant room enough, with a lookout on the lake in one +direction, and the wooded hill in another. The tenant had fitted it +up in scholarly fashion. The books Paolo spoke of were conspicuous, +many of them, by their white vellum binding and tasteful gilding, +showing that probably they had been bound in Rome, or some other +Italian city. With these were older volumes in their dark original +leather, and recent ones in cloth or paper. As the Interviewer ran +his eye over them, he found that he could make very little out of +what their backs taught him. Some of the paper-covered books, some +of the cloth-covered ones, had names which he knew; but those on the +backs of many of the others were strange to his eyes. The classics +of Greek and Latin and Italian literature were there; and he saw +enough to feel convinced that he had better not attempt to display +his erudition in the company of this young scholar. + +The first thing the Interviewer had to do was to account for his +visiting a person who had not asked to make his acquaintance, and who +was living as a recluse. He took out his battered coppers, and +showed them to Maurice. + +"I understood that you were very skilful in antiquities, and had a +good many yourself. So I took the liberty of calling upon you, +hoping that you could tell me something about some ancient coins I +have had for a good while." So saying, he pointed to the copper with +the name of Gallienus. + +"Is this very rare and valuable? I have heard that great prices have +been paid for some of these ancient coins,--ever so many guineas, +sometimes. I suppose this is as much as a thousand years old." + +"More than a thousand years old," said Maurice. + +"And worth a great deal of money?" asked the Interviewer. + +"No, not a great deal of money," answered Maurice. + +"How much, should you say?" said the Interviewer. + +Maurice smiled. "A little more than the value of its weight in +copper,--I am afraid not much more. There are a good many of these +coins of Gallienus knocking about. The peddlers and the shopkeepers +take such pieces occasionally, and sell them, sometimes for five or +ten cents, to young collectors. No, it is not very precious in money +value, but as a relic any piece of money that was passed from hand to +hand a thousand or fifteen hundred years ago is interesting. The +value of such relics is a good deal a matter of imagination." + +"And what do you say to these others?" asked the Interviewer. Poor +old worn-out things they were, with a letter or two only, and some +faint trace of a figure on one or two of them. + +"Very interesting, always, if they carry your imagination back to the +times when you may suppose they were current. Perhaps Horace tossed +one of them to a beggar. Perhaps one of these was the coin that was +brought when One said to those about Him, 'Bring me a penny, that I +may see it.' But the market price is a different matter. That +depends on the beauty and preservation, and above all the rarity, of +the specimen. Here is a coin, now,"--he opened a small cabinet, and +took one from it. "Here is a Syracusan decadrachm with the head of +Persephone, which is at once rare, well preserved, and beautiful. I +am afraid to tell what I paid for it." + +The Interviewer was not an expert in numismatics. He cared very +little more for an old coin than he did for an old button, but he had +thought his purchase at the tollman's might prove a good speculation. +No matter about the battered old pieces: he had found out, at any +rate, that Maurice must have money and could be extravagant, or what +he himself considered so; also that he was familiar with ancient +coins. That would do for a beginning. + +"May I ask where you picked up the coin you are showing me?" he said + +"That is a question which provokes a negative answer. One does not +'pick up' first-class coins or paintings, very often, in these times. +I bought this of a great dealer in Rome." + +"Lived in Rome once?" said the Interviewer. + +"For some years. Perhaps you have been there yourself?" + +The Interviewer said he had never been there yet, but he hoped he +should go there, one of these years. "suppose you studied art and +antiquities while you were there?" he continued. + +"Everybody who goes to Rome must learn something of art and +antiquities. Before you go there I advise you to review Roman +history and the classic authors. You had better make a study of +ancient and modern art, and not have everything to learn while you +are going about among ruins, and churches, and galleries. You know +your Horace and Virgil well, I take it for granted?" + +The Interviewer hesitated. The names sounded as if he had heard +them. "Not so well as I mean to before going to Rome," he answered. +"May I ask how long you lived in Rome?" + +"Long enough to know something of what is to be seen in it. No one +should go there without careful preparation beforehand. You are +familiar with Vasari, of course?" + +The Interviewer felt a slight moisture on his forehead. He took out +his handkerchief. "It is a warm day," he said. "I have not had time +to read all--the works I mean to. I have had too much writing to do, +myself, to find all the time for reading and study I could have +wished." + +"In what literary occupation have you been engaged, if you will +pardon my inquiry? said Maurice. + +"I am connected with the press. I understood that you were a man of +letters, and I hoped I might have the privilege of hearing from your +own lips some account of your literary experiences." + +"Perhaps that might be interesting, but I think I shall reserve it +for my autobiography. You said you were connected with the press. +Do I understand that you are an author?" + +By this time the Interviewer had come to the conclusion that it was a +very warm day. He did not seem to be getting hold of his pitcher by +the right handle, somehow. But he could not help answering Maurice's +very simple question. + +"If writing for a newspaper gives one a right to be called an author, +I may call myself one. I write for the "People's Perennial and +Household Inquisitor.'" + +"Are you the literary critic of that well-known journal, or do you +manage the political column?" + +"I am a correspondent from different places and on various matters of +interest." + +"Places you have been to, and people you have known?" + +"Well, yes,-generally, that is. Sometimes I have to compile my +articles." + +"Did you write the letter from Rome, published a few weeks ago?" + +The Interviewer was in what he would call a tight place. However, he +had found that his man was too much for him, and saw that the best +thing he could do was to submit to be interviewed himself. He +thought that he should be able to pick up something or other which he +could work into his report of his visit. + +"Well, I--prepared that article for our columns. You know one does +not have to see everything he describes. You found it accurate, I +hope, in its descriptions?" + +"Yes, Murray is generally accurate. Sometimes he makes mistakes, but +I can't say how far you have copied them. You got the Ponte Molle-- +the old Milvian bridge--a good deal too far down the stream, if I +remember. I happened to notice that, but I did not read the article +carefully. May I ask whether you propose to do me the honor of +reporting this visit and the conversation we have had, for the +columns of the newspaper with which you are connected?" + +The Interviewer thought he saw an opening. "If you have no +objections," he said, "I should like very much to ask a few +questions." He was recovering his professional audacity. + +"You can ask as many questions as you consider proper and discreet,-- +after you have answered one or two of mine: Who commissioned you to +submit me to examination?" + +"The curiosity of the public wishes to be gratified, and I am the +humble agent of its investigations." + +"What has the public to do with my private affairs?" + +"I suppose it is a question of majority and minority. That settles +everything in this country. You are a minority of one opposed to a +large number of curious people that form a majority against you. +That is the way I've heard the chief put it." + +Maurice could not help smiling at the quiet assumption of the +American citizen. The Interviewer smiled, too, and thought he had +his man, sure, at last. Maurice calmly answered, "There is nothing +left for minorities, then, but the right of rebellion. I don't care +about being made the subject of an article for your paper. I am here +for my pleasure, minding my own business, and content with that +occupation. I rebel against your system of forced publicity. +Whenever I am ready I shall tell the public all it has any right to +know about me. In the mean time I shall request to be spared reading +my biography while I am living. I wish you a good-morning." + +The Interviewer had not taken out his note-book and pencil. In his +next communication from Arrowhead Village he contented himself with a +brief mention of the distinguished and accomplished gentleman now +visiting the place, whose library and cabinet of coins he had had the +privilege of examining, and whose courtesy was equalled only by the +modesty that shunned the public notoriety which the organs of popular +intelligence would otherwise confer upon him. + +The Interviewer had attempted the riddle of the Sphinx, and had +failed to get the first hint of its solution. + +The many tongues of the village and its visitors could not remain +idle. The whole subject of antipathies had been talked over, and the +various cases recorded had become more or less familiar to the +conversational circles which met every evening in the different +centres of social life. The prevalent hypothesis for the moment was +that Maurice had a congenital aversion to some color, the effects of +which upon him were so painful or disagreeable that he habitually +avoided exposure to it. It was known, and it has already been +mentioned, that such cases were on record. There had been a great +deal of discussion, of late, with reference to a fact long known to a +few individuals, but only recently made a matter of careful +scientific observation and brought to the notice of the public. This +was the now well-known phenomenon of color-blindness. It did not +seem very strange that if one person in every score or two could not +tell red from green there might be other curious individual +peculiarities relating to color. A case has already been referred to +where the subject of observation fainted at the sight of any red +object. What if this were the trouble with Maurice Kirkwood? It +will be seen at once how such a congenital antipathy would tend to +isolate the person who was its unfortunate victim. It was an +hypothesis not difficult to test, but it was a rather delicate +business to be experimenting on an inoffensive stranger. Miss +Vincent was thinking it over, but said nothing, even to Euthymia, of +any projects she might entertain. + + + + +XII + +MISS VINCENT AS A MEDICAL STUDENT. + +The young lady whom we have known as The Terror, as Lurida, as Miss +Vincent, Secretary of the Pansophian Society, had been reading +various works selected for her by Dr. Butts,--works chiefly relating +to the nervous system and its different affections. She thought it +was about time to talk over the general subject of the medical +profession with her new teacher,--if such a self-directing person as +Lurida could be said to recognize anybody as teacher. + +She began at the beginning. "What is the first book you would put in +a student's hands, doctor?" she said to him one day. They were in +his study, and Lurida had just brought back a thick volume on +Insanity, one of Bucknill and Puke's, which she had devoured as if it +had been a pamphlet. + +"Not that book, certainly," he said. "I am afraid it will put all +sorts of notions into your head. Who or what set you to reading +that, I should like to know?" + +"I found it on one of your shelves, and as I thought I might perhaps +be crazy some time or other, I felt as if I should like to know what +kind of a condition insanity is. I don't believe they were ever very +bright, those insane people, most of them. I hope I am not stupid +enough ever to lose my wits." + +"There is no telling, my dear, what may happen if you overwork that +busy brain of yours. But did n't it make you nervous, reading about +so many people possessed with such strange notions?" + +"Nervous? Not a bit. I could n't help thinking, though, how many +people I had known that had a little touch of craziness about them. +Take that poor woman that says she is Her Majesty's Person,--not Her +Majesty, but Her Majesty's Person,--a very important distinction, +according to her: how she does remind me of more than one girl I have +known! She would let her skirts down so as to make a kind of train, +and pile things on her head like a sort of crown, fold her arms and +throw her head back, and feel as grand as a queen. I have seen more +than one girl act very much in that way. Are not most of us a little +crazy, doctor,--just a little? I think so. It seems to me I never +saw but one girl who was free from every hint of craziness." + +"And who was that, pray?" + +"Why, Euthymia,--nobody else, of course. She never loses her head,-- +I don't believe she would in an earthquake. Whenever we were at work +with our microscopes at the Institute I always told her that her mind +was the only achromatic one I ever looked into,--I did n't say looked +through.---But I did n't come to talk about that. I read in one of +your books that when Sydenham was asked by a student what books he +should read, the great physician said, 'Read "Don Quixote."' I want +you to explain that to me; and then I want you to tell me what is the +first book, according to your idea, that a student ought to read." + +"What do you say to my taking your question as the subject of a paper +to be read before the Society? I think there may be other young +ladies at the meeting, besides yourself, who are thinking of pursuing +the study of medicine. At any rate, there are a good many who are +interested in the subject; in fact, most people listen readily to +anything doctors tell them about their calling." + +"I wish you would, doctor. I want Euthymia to hear it, and I don't +doubt there will be others who will be glad to hear everything you +have to say about it. But oh, doctor, if you could only persuade +Eutbymia to become a physician! What a doctor she would make! So +strong, so calm, so full of wisdom! I believe she could take the +wheel of a steamboat in a storm, or the hose of a fire-engine in a +conflagration, and handle it as well as the captain of the boat or of +the fire-company." + +"Have you ever talked with her about studying medicine?" + +"Indeed I have. Oh, if she would only begin with me! What good +times we would have studying together!" + +"I don't doubt it. Medicine is a very pleasant study. But how do +you think practice would be? How would you like being called up to +ride ten miles in a midnight snow-storm, just when one of your raging +headaches was racking you?" + +"Oh, but we could go into partnership, and Euthymia is n't afraid of +storms or anything else. If she would only study medicine with me!" + +"Well, what does she say to it?" + +"She does n't like the thought of it. She does n't believe in women +doctors. She thinks that now and then a woman may be fitted for it +by nature, but she does n't think there are many who are. She gives +me a good many reasons against their practising medicine, you know +what most of them are, doctor,--and ends by saying that the same +woman who would be a poor sort of doctor would make a first-rate +nurse; and that, she thinks, is a woman's business, if her instinct +carries her to the hospital or sick-chamber. I can't argue her ideas +out of her." + +"Neither can I argue you out of your feeling about the matter; but I +am disposed to agree with your friend, that you will often spoil a +good nurse to make a poor doctor. Doctors and side-saddles don't +seem to me to go together. Riding habits would be awkward things for +practitioners. But come, we won't have a controversy just now. I am +for giving women every chance for a good education, and if they think +medicine is one of their proper callings let them try it. I think +they will find that they had better at least limit themselves to +certain specialties, and always have an expert of the other sex to +fall back upon. The trouble is that they are so impressible and +imaginative that they are at the mercy of all sorts of fancy systems. +You have only to see what kinds of instruction they very commonly +flock to in order to guess whether they would be likely to prove +sensible practitioners. Charlatanism always hobbles on two crutches, +the tattle of women, and the certificates of clergymen, and I am +afraid that half the women doctors will be too much under both those +influences." + +Lurida believed in Dr. Butts, who, to use the common language of the +village, had "carried her through" a fever, brought on by over- +excitement and exhausting study. She took no offence at his +reference to nursery gossip, which she had learned to hold cheap. +Nobody so despises the weaknesses of women as the champion of woman's +rights. She accepted the doctor's concession of a fair field and +open trial of the fitness of her sex for medical practice, and did +not trouble herself about his suggested limitations. As to the +imaginative tendencies of women, she knew too well the truth of the +doctor's remark relating to them to wish to contradict it. + +"Be sure you let me have your paper in season for the next meeting, +doctor," she said; and in due season it came, and was of course +approved for reading. + + + + +XIII + +DR. BUTTS READS A PAPER. + +"Next to the interest we take in all that relates to our immortal +souls is that which we feel for our mortal bodies. I am afraid my +very first statement may be open to criticism. The care of the body +is the first thought with a great many,--in fact, with the larger +part of the world. They send for the physician first, and not until +he gives them up do they commonly call in the clergyman. Even the +minister himself is not so very different from other people. We must +not blame him if he is not always impatient to exchange a world of +multiplied interests and ever-changing sources of excitement for that +which tradition has delivered to us as one eminently deficient in the +stimulus of variety. Besides, these bodily frames, even when worn +and disfigured by long years of service, hang about our consciousness +like old garments. They are used to us, and we are used to them. +And all the accidents of our lives,--the house we dwell in, the +living people round us, the landscape we look over, all, up to the +sky that covers us like a bell glass,--all these are but looser +outside garments which we have worn until they seem a part of us, and +we do not like the thought of changing them for a new suit which we +have never yet tried on. How well I remember that dear ancient lady, +who lived well into the last decade of her century, as she repeated +the verse which, if I had but one to choose, I would select from that +string of pearls, Gray's 'Elegy'! + + 'For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey + This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned, + Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, + Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?' + +Plotinus was ashamed of his body, we are told. Better so, it may be, +than to live solely for it, as so many do. But it may be well +doubted if there is any disciple of Plotinus in this Society. On the +contrary, there are many who think a great deal of their bodies, many +who have come here to regain the health they have lost in the wear +and tear of city life, and very few who have not at some time or +other of their lives had occasion to call in the services of a +physician. + +"There is, therefore, no impropriety in my offering to the members +some remarks upon the peculiar difficulties which beset the medical +practitioner in the discharge of his laborious and important duties. + +"A young friend of mine, who has taken an interest in medical +studies, happened to meet with a very familiar story about one of the +greatest and most celebrated of all English physicians, Thomas +Sydenham. The story is that, when a student asked him what books he +should read, the great doctor told him to read 'Don Quixote.' + +"This piece of advice has been used to throw contempt upon the study +of books, and furnishes a convenient shield for ignorant pretenders. +But Sydenham left many writings in which he has recorded his medical +experience, and he surely would not have published them if he had not +thought they would be better reading for the medical student than the +story of Cervantes. His own works are esteemed to this day, and he +certainly could not have supposed that they contained all the wisdom +of all the past. No remedy is good, it was said of old, unless +applied at the right time in the right way. So we may say of all +anecdotes, like this which I have told you about Sydenham and the +young man. It is very likely that he carried him to the bedside of +some patients, and talked to him about the cases he showed him, +instead of putting a Latin volume in his hand. I would as soon begin +in that way as any other, with a student who had already mastered the +preliminary branches,--who knew enough about the structure and +functions of the body in health. + +"But if you ask me what reading I would commend to the medical +student of a philosophical habit of mind, you may be surprised to +hear me say it would be certain passages in 'Rasselas.' They are the +ones where the astronomer gives an account to Imlac of his management +of the elements, the control of which, as he had persuaded himself, +had been committed to him. Let me read you a few sentences from this +story, which is commonly bound up with the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' like +a woollen lining to a silken mantle, but is full of stately wisdom in +processions of paragraphs which sound as if they ought to have a +grammatical drum-major to march before their tramping platoons. + +"The astronomer has taken Imlac into his confidence, and reveals to +him the secret of his wonderful powers:-- + +"'Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without difficulty credit. I have +possessed for five years the regulation of the weather and the +distribution of the seasons the sun has listened to my dictates, and +passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds, at my call, +have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; +I have restrained the rage of the dog-star, and mitigated the fervors +of the crab. The winds alone, of all the elemental powers, have +hitherto eluded my authority, and multitudes have perished by +equinoctial tempests, which I found myself unable to prohibit or +restrain.' + +"The reader naturally wishes to know how the astronomer, a sincere, +devoted, and most benevolent man, for forty years a student of the +heavens, came to the strange belief that he possessed these +miraculous powers. This is his account: + +"'One day, as I was looking on the fields withering with heat, I felt +in my mind a sudden wish that I could send rain on the southern +mountains, and raise the Nile to an inundation. In the hurry of my +imagination I commanded rain to fall, and by comparing the time of my +command with that of the inundation I found that the clouds had +listened to my lips.' + +"'Might not some other cause,' said I, 'produce this concurrence? +The Nile does not always rise on the same day.' + +"'Do not believe,' said he, with impatience, I that such objections +could escape me: I reasoned long against my own conviction, and +labored against truth with the utmost obstinacy. I sometimes +suspected myself of madness, and should not have dared to impart this +secret but to a man like you, capable of distinguishing the wonderful +from the impossible and the incredible from the false.' + +"The good old astronomer gives his parting directions to Imlac, whom +he has adopted as his successor in the government of the elements and +the seasons, in these impressive words: + +"Do not, in the administration of the year, indulge thy pride by +innovation; do not please thyself with thinking that thou canst make +thyself renowned to all future ages by disordering the seasons. The +memory of mischief is no desirable fame. Much less will it become +thee to let kindness or interest prevail. Never rob other countries +of rain to pour it on thine own. For us the Nile is sufficient.' + +"Do you wonder, my friends, why I have chosen these passages, in +which the delusions of an insane astronomer are related with all the +pomp of the Johnsonian vocabulary, as the first lesson for the young +person about to enter on the study of the science and art of healing? +Listen to me while I show you the parallel of the story of the +astronomer in the history of medicine. + +"This history is luminous with intelligence, radiant with +benevolence, but all its wisdom and all its virtue have had to +struggle with the ever-rising mists of delusion. The agencies which +waste and destroy the race of mankind are vast and resistless as the +elemental forces of nature; nay, they are themselves elemental +forces. They may be to some extent avoided, to some extent diverted +from their aim, to some extent resisted. So may the changes of the +seasons, from cold that freezes to heats that strike with sudden +death, be guarded against. So may the tides be in some small measure +restrained in their inroads. So may the storms be breasted by walls +they cannot shake from their foundations. But the seasons and the +tides and the tempests work their will on the great scale upon +whatever stands in their way; they feed or starve the tillers of the +soil; they spare or drown the dwellers by the shore; they waft the +seaman to his harbor or bury him in the angry billows. + +"The art of the physician can do much to remove its subjects from +deadly and dangerous influences, and something to control or arrest +the effects of these influences. But look at the records of the +life-insurance offices, and see how uniform is the action of nature's +destroying agencies. Look at the annual reports of the deaths in any +of our great cities, and see how their regularity approaches the +uniformity of the tides, and their variations keep pace with those of +the seasons. The inundations of the Nile are not more certainly to +be predicted than the vast wave of infantile disease which flows in +upon all our great cities with the growing heats of July,--than the +fevers and dysenteries which visit our rural districts in the months +of the falling leaf. + +"The physician watches these changes as the astronomer watched the +rise of the great river. He longs to rescue individuals, to protect +communities from the inroads of these destroying agencies. He uses +all the means which experience has approved, tries every rational +method which ingenuity can suggest. Some fortunate recovery leads +him to believe he has hit upon a preventive or a cure for a malady +which had resisted all known remedies. His rescued patient sounds +his praises, and a wide circle of his patient's friends joins in a +chorus of eulogies. Self-love applauds him for his sagacity. Self- +interest congratulates him on his having found the road to fortune; +the sense of having proved a benefactor of his race smooths the +pillow on which he lays his head to dream of the brilliant future +opening before him. If a single coincidence may lead a person of +sanguine disposition to believe that he has mastered a disease which +had baffled all who were before his time, and on which his +contemporaries looked in hopeless impotence, what must be the effect +of a series of such coincidences even on a mind of calmer temper! +Such series of coincidences will happen, and they may well deceive +the very elect. Think of Dr. Rush,--you know what a famous man he +was, the very head and front of American medical science in his day, +--and remember how he spoke about yellow fever, which he thought he +had mastered! + +"Thus the physician is entangled in the meshes of a wide conspiracy, +in which he and his patient and their friends, and-Nature herself, +are involved. What wonder that the history of Medicine should be to +so great an extent a record of self-delusion! + +"If this seems a dangerous concession to the enemies of the true +science and art of healing, I will remind you that it is all implied +in the first aphorism of Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine. Do not +draw a wrong inference from the frank statement of the difficulties +which beset the medical practitioner. Think rather, if truth is so +hard of attainment, how precious are the results which the consent of +the wisest and most experienced among the healers of men agrees in +accepting. Think what folly it is to cast them aside in favor of +palpable impositions stolen from the records of forgotten +charlatanism, or of fantastic speculations spun from the squinting +brains of theorists as wild as the Egyptian astronomer. + +"Begin your medical studies, then, by reading the fortieth and the +following four chapters of 'Rasselas.' Your first lesson will teach +you modesty and caution in the pursuit of the most deceptive of all +practical branches of knowledge. Faith will come later, when you +learn how much medical science and art have actually achieved for the +relief of mankind, and how great are the promises it holds out of +still larger triumphs over the enemies of human health and +happiness." + +After the reading of this paper there was a lively discussion, which +we have no room to report here, and the Society adjourned. + + + + +XIV + +MISS VINCENT'S STARTLING DISCOVERY. + +The sober-minded, sensible, well-instructed Dr. Butts was not a +little exercised in mind by the demands made upon his knowledge by +his young friend, and for the time being his pupil, Miss Lurida +Vincent. + +"I don't wonder they called her The Terror," he said to himself. +"She is enough to frighten anybody. She has taken down old books +from my shelves that I had almost forgotten the backs of, and as to +the medical journals, I believe the girl could index them from +memory. She is in pursuit of some special point of knowledge, I feel +sure, and I cannot doubt what direction she is working in, but her +wonderful way of dealing with books amazes me." + +What marvels those "first scholars" in the classes of our great +universities and colleges are, to be sure! They are not, as a rule, +the most distinguished of their class in the long struggle of life. +The chances are that "the field" will beat "the favorite" over the +long race-course. Others will develop a longer stride and more +staying power. But what fine gifts those "first scholars" have +received from nature! How dull we writers, famous or obscure, are in +the acquisition of knowledge as compared with them! To lead their +classmates they must have quick apprehension, fine memories, thorough +control of their mental faculties, strong will, power of +concentration, facility of expression,--a wonderful equipment of +mental faculties. I always want to take my hat off to the first +scholar of his year. + +Dr. Butts felt somewhat in the same way as he contemplated The +Terror. She surprised him so often with her knowledge that he was +ready to receive her without astonishment when she burst in upon him +one allay with a cry of triumph, "Eureka! Eureka!" + +"And what have you found, my dear?" said the doctor. + +Lurida was flushed and panting with the excitement of her new +discovery. + +"I do believe that I have found the secret of our strange visitor's +dread of all human intercourse!" + +The seasoned practitioner was not easily thrown off his balance. + +"Wait a minute and get your breath," said the doctor. "Are you not a +little overstating his peculiarity? It is not quite so bad as that. +He keeps a man to serve him, he was civil with the people at the Old +Tavern, he was affable enough, I understand, with the young fellow he +pulled out of the water, or rescued somehow,--I don't believe be +avoids the whole human race. He does not look as if he hated them, +so far as I have remarked his expression. I passed a few words with +him when his man was ailing, and found him polite enough. No, I +don't believe it is much more than an extreme case of shyness, +connected, perhaps, with some congenital or other personal repugnance +to which has been given the name of an antipathy." + +Lurida could hardly keep still while the doctor was speaking. When +he finished, she began the account of her discovery: + +"I do certainly believe I have found an account of his case in an +Italian medical journal of about fourteen years ago. I met with a +reference which led me to look over a file of the Giornale degli +Ospitali lying among the old pamphlets in the medical section of the +Library. I have made a translation of it, which you must read and +then tell me if you do not agree with me in my conclusion." + +"Tell me what your conclusion is, and I will read your paper and see +for myself whether I think the evidence justifies the conviction you +seem to have reached." + +Lurida's large eyes showed their whole rounds like the two halves of +a map of the world, as she said, + +"I believe that Maurice Kirkwood is suffering from the effects of the +bite of a TARANTULA!" + +The doctor drew a long breath. He remembered in a vague sort of way +the stories which used to be told of the terrible Apulian spider, but +he had consigned them to the limbo of medical fable where so many +fictions have clothed themselves with a local habitation and a name. +He looked into the round eyes and wide pupils a little anxiously, as +if he feared that she was in a state of undue excitement, but, true +to his professional training, he waited for another symptom, if +indeed her mind was in any measure off its balance. + +"I know what you are thinking," Lurida said, "but it is not so. 'I +am not mad, most noble Festus.' You shall see the evidence and judge +for yourself. Read the whole case,--you can read my hand almost as +if it were print, and tell me if you do not agree with me that this +young man is in all probability the same person as the boy described +in the Italian journal, + +One thing you might say is against the supposition. The young +patient is spoken of as Signorino M . . . Ch. . . . But you +must remember that ch is pronounced hard in Italian, like k, which +letter is wanting in the Italian alphabet; and it is natural enough +that the initial of the second name should have got changed in the +record to its Italian equivalent." + +Before inviting the reader to follow the details of this +extraordinary case as found in a medical journal, the narrator wishes +to be indulged in a few words of explanation, in order that he may +not have to apologize for allowing the introduction of a subject +which may be thought to belong to the professional student rather +than to the readers of this record. There is a great deal in medical +books which it is very unbecoming to bring before the general +public,--a great deal to repel, to disgust, to alarm, to excite +unwholesome curiosity. It is not the men whose duties have made them +familiar with this class of subjects who are most likely to offend by +scenes and descriptions which belong to the physician's private +library, and not to the shelves devoted to polite literature. +Goldsmith and even Smollett, both having studied and practised +medicine, could not by any possibility have outraged all the natural +feelings of delicacy and decency as Swift and Zola have outraged +them. But without handling doubtful subjects, there are many curious +medical experiences which have interest for every one as extreme +illustrations of ordinary conditions with which all are acquainted. +No one can study the now familiar history of clairvoyance profitably +who has not learned something of the vagaries of hysteria. No one +can read understandingly the life of Cowper and that of Carlyle +without having some idea of the influence of hypochondriasis and of +dyspepsia upon the disposition and intellect of the subjects of these +maladies. I need not apologize, therefore, for giving publicity to +that part of this narrative which deals with one of the most singular +maladies to be found in the records of bodily and mental infirmities. + +The following is the account of the case as translated by Miss +Vincent. For obvious reasons the whole name was not given in the +original paper, and for similar reasons the date of the event and the +birthplace of the patient are not precisely indicated here. + +[Giornale degli Ospitali, Luglio 21, 18-.1 + +REMARKABLE CASE OF TARANTISM. + +"The great interest attaching to the very singular and exceptional +instance of this rare affection induces us to give a full account of +the extraordinary example of its occurrence in a patient who was the +subject of a recent medical consultation in this city. + + +"Signorino M . . . Ch . . . is the only son of a gentleman +travelling in Italy at this time. He is eleven years of age, of +sanguine-nervous temperament, light hair, blue eyes, intelligent +countenance, well grown, but rather slight in form, to all appearance +in good health, but subject to certain peculiar and anomalous nervous +symptoms, of which his father gives this history. + +"Nine years ago, the father informs us, he was travelling in Italy +with his wife, this child, and a nurse. They were passing a few days +in a country village near the city of Bari, capital of the province +of the same name in the division (compartamento) of Apulia. The +child was in perfect health and had never been affected by any +serious illness. On the 10th of July he was playing out in the field +near the house where the family was staying when he was heard to +scream suddenly and violently. The nurse rushing to him found him in +great pain, saying that something had bitten him in one of his feet. +A laborer, one Tommaso, ran up at the moment and perceived in the +grass, near where the boy was standing, an enormous spider, which he +at once recognized as a tarantula. He managed to catch the creature +in a large leaf, from which he was afterwards transferred to a wide- +mouthed bottle, where he lived without any food for a month or more. +The creature was covered with short hairs, and had a pair of nipper- +like jaws, with which he could inflict an ugly wound. His body +measured about an inch in length, and from the extremity of one of +the longest limbs to the other was between two and three inches. +Such was the account given by the physician to whom the peasant +carried the great spider. + +"The boy who had been bitten continued screaming violently while his +stocking was being removed and the foot examined. The place of the +bite was easily found and the two marks of the claw-like jaws already +showed the effects of the poison, a small livid circle extending +around them, with some puffy swelling. The distinguished Dr. Amadei +was immediately sent for, and applied cups over the wounds in the +hope of drawing forth the poison. In vain all his skill and efforts! +Soon, ataxic (irregular) nervous symptoms declared themselves, and it +became plain that the system had been infected by the poison. + +The symptoms were very much like those of malignant fever, such as +distress about the region of the heart, difficulty of breathing, +collapse of all the vital powers, threatening immediate death. From +these first symptoms the child rallied, but his entire organism had +been profoundly affected by the venom circulating through it. His +constitution has never thrown off the malady resulting from this +toxic (poisonous) agent. The phenomena which have been observed in +this young patient correspond so nearly with those enumerated in the +elaborate essay of the celebrated Baglivi that one might think they +had been transcribed from his pages. + +"He is very fond of solitude,--of wandering about in churchyards and +other lonely places. He was once found hiding in an empty tomb, +which had been left open. His aversion to certain colors is +remarkable. Generally speaking, he prefers bright tints to darker +ones, but his likes and dislikes are capricious, and with regard to +some colors his antipathy amounts to positive horror. Some shades +have such an effect upon him that he cannot remain in the room with +them, and if he meets any one whose dress has any of that particular +color he will turn away or retreat so as to avoid passing that +person. Among these, purple and dark green are the least endurable. +He cannot explain the sensations which these obnoxious colors produce +except by saying that it is like the deadly feeling from a blow on +the epigastrium (pit of the stomach). + +"About the same season of the year at which the tarantular poisoning +took place he is liable to certain nervous seizures, not exactly like +fainting or epilepsy, but reminding the physician of those +affections. All the other symptoms are aggravated at this time. + +"In other respects than those mentioned the boy is in good health. +He is fond of riding, and has a pony on which he takes a great deal +of exercise, which seems to do him more good than any other remedy. + +"The influence of music, to which so much has been attributed by +popular belief and even by the distinguished Professor to whom we +shall again refer, has not as yet furnished any satisfactory results. +If the graver symptoms recur while the patient is under our +observation, we propose to make use of an agency discredited by +modern skepticism, but deserving of a fair trial as an exceptional +remedy for an exceptional disease. + +"The following extracts from the work of the celebrated Italian +physician of the last century are given by the writer of the paper in +the Giornale in the original Latin, with a translation into Italian, +subjoined. Here are the extracts, or rather here is a selection from +them, with a translation of them into English. + +"After mentioning the singular aversion to certain colors shown by +the subject of Tarantism, Baglivi writes as follows: +"'Et si astantes incedant vestibus eo colore difusis, qui Tarantatis +ingrates est, necesse est ut ab illorum aspectu recedant; nam ad +intuitum molesti coloris angore cordis, et symptomatum recrudescantia +stating corripiuntur.' (G. Baglivi, Op. Omnia, page 614. Lugduni, +1745.) + +"That is, 'if the persons about the patient wear dresses of the color +which is offensive to him, he must get away from the sight of them, +for on seeing the obnoxious color he is at once seized with distress +in the region of the heart, and a renewal of his symptoms.' + +"As to the recurrence of the malady, Baglivi says: +"'Dam calor solis ardentius exurere incip at, quod contingit circa +initia Julii et Augusti, Tarantati lente venientem recrudescentiam +veneni percipiunt.' (Ibid., page 619.) + +"Which I render, 'When the heat of the sun begins to burn more +fiercely, which happens about the beginning of July and August, the +subjects of Tarantism perceive the gradually approaching +recrudescence (returning symptoms) of the poisoning. Among the +remedies most valued by this illustrious physician is that mentioned +in the following sentence: +"'Laudo magnopere equitationes in aere rusticano factas singulis +diebus, hord potissimum matutina, quibus equitationibus morbos +chronicos pene incurabiles protanus eliminavi.' + +" Or in translation, +"'I commend especially riding on horseback in country air, every day, +by preference in the morning hours, by the aid of which horseback +riding I have driven off chronic diseases which were almost +incurable.'" + +Miss Vincent read this paper aloud to Dr. Butts, and handed it to him +to examine and consider. He listened with a grave countenance and +devout attention. + +As she finished reading her account, she exclaimed in the passionate +tones of the deepest conviction, + +"There, doctor! Have n't I found the true story of this strange +visitor? Have n't I solved the riddle of the Sphinx? Who can this +man be but the boy of that story? Look at the date of the journal +when he was eleven years old, it would make him twenty-five now, and +that is just about the age the people here think he must be of. What +could account so entirely for his ways and actions as that strange +poisoning which produces the state they call Tarantism? I am just as +sure it must be that as I am that I am alive. Oh, doctor, doctor, I +must be right,--this Signprino M . . . Ch . . . was the boy +Maurice Kirkwood, and the story accounts for everything,--his +solitary habits, his dread of people,--it must be because they wear +the colors he can't bear. His morning rides on horseback, his coming +here just as the season was approaching which would aggravate all his +symptoms, does n't all this prove that I must be right in my +conjecture,--no, my conviction?" + +The doctor knew too much to interrupt the young enthusiast, and so he +let her run on until she ran down. He was more used to the rules of +evidence than she was, and could not accept her positive conclusion +so readily as she would have liked to have him. He knew that +beginners are very apt to make what they think are discoveries. But +he had been an angler and knew the meaning of a yielding rod and an +easy-running reel. He said quietly, + +"You are a most sagacious young lady, and a very pretty prima facie +case it is that you make out. I can see no proof that Mr. Kirkwood +is not the same person as the M . . . Ch . . . of the medical +journal,--that is, if I accept your explanation of the difference in +the initials of these two names. Even if there were a difference, +that would not disprove their identity, for the initials of patients +whose cases are reported by their physicians are often altered for +the purpose of concealment. I do not know, however, that Mr. +Kirkwood has shown any special aversion to any particular color. It +might be interesting to inquire whether it is so, but it is a +delicate matter. I don't exactly see whose business it is to +investigate Mr. Maurice Kirkwood's idiosyncrasies and constitutional +history. If he should have occasion to send for me at any time, he +might tell me all about himself, in confidence, you know. These old +accounts from Baglivi are curious and interesting, but I am cautious +about receiving any stories a hundred years old, if they involve an +improbability, as his stories about the cure of the tarantula bite by +music certainly do. I am disposed to wait for future developments, +bearing in mind, of course, the very singular case you have +unearthed. It wouldn't be very strange if our young gentleman had to +send for me before the season is over. He is out a good deal before +the dew is off the grass, which is rather risky in this neighborhood +as autumn comes on. I am somewhat curious, I confess, about the +young man, but I do not meddle where I am not asked for or wanted, +and I have found that eggs hatch just as well if you let them alone +in the nest as if you take them out and shake them every day. This +is a wonderfully interesting supposition of yours, and may prove to +be strictly in accordance with the facts. But I do not think we have +all the facts in this young man's case. If it were proved that he +had an aversion to any color, it would greatly strengthen your case. +His 'antipatia,' as his man called it, must be one which covers a +wide ground, to account for his self-isolation,--and the color +hypothesis seems as plausible as any. But, my dear Miss Vincent, +I think you had better leave your singular and striking hypothesis in +my keeping for a while, rather than let it get abroad in a community +like this, where so many tongues are in active exercise. I will +carefully study this paper, if you will leave it with me, and we will +talk the whole matter over. It is a fair subject for speculation, +only we must keep quiet about it." + +This long speech gave Lurida's perfervid brain time to cool off a +little. She left the paper with the doctor, telling him she would +come for it the next day, and went off to tell the result of this +visit to her bosom friend, Miss Euthymia Tower. + + + + +XV + +DR. BUTTS CALLS ON EUTHYMIA. + +The doctor was troubled in thinking over his interview with the young +lady. She was fully possessed with the idea that she had discovered +the secret which had defied the most sagacious heads of the village. +It was of no use to oppose her while her mind was in an excited +state. But he felt it his duty to guard her against any possible +results of indiscretion into which her eagerness and her theory of +the equality, almost the identity, of the sexes might betray her. +Too much of the woman in a daughter of our race leads her to forget +danger. Too little of the woman prompts her to defy it. Fortunately +for this last class of women, they are not quite so likely to be +perilously seductive as their more emphatically feminine sisters. + +Dr. Butts had known Lurida and her friend from the days of their +infancy. He had watched the development of Lurida's intelligence +from its precocious nursery-life to the full vigor of its trained +faculties. He had looked with admiration on the childish beauty of +Euthymia, and had seen her grow up to womanhood, every year making +her more attractive. He knew that if anything was to be done with +his self-willed young scholar and friend, it would be more easily +effected through the medium of Euthymia than by direct advice to the +young lady herself. So the thoughtful doctor made up his mind to +have a good talk with Euthymia, and put her on her guard, if Lurida +showed any tendency to forget the conventionalities in her eager +pursuit of knowledge. + +For the doctor's horse and chaise to stop at the door of Miss +Euthymia Tower's parental home was an event strange enough to set all +the tongues in the village going. This was one of those families +where illness was hardly looked for among the possibilities of life. +There were other families where a call from the doctor was hardly +more thought of than a call from the baker. But here he was a +stranger, at least on his professional rounds, and when he asked for +Miss Euthymia the servant, who knew his face well, stared as if he +had held in his hand a warrant for her apprehension. + +Euthymia did not keep the doctor waiting very long while she made +ready to meet him. One look at her glass to make sure that a lock +had not run astray, or a ribbon got out of place, and her toilet for +a morning call was finished. Perhaps if Mr. Maurice Kirkwood had +been announced, she might have taken a second look, but with the good +middle-aged, married doctor one was enough for a young lady who had +the gift of making all the dresses she wore look well, and had no +occasion to treat her chamber like the laboratory where an actress +compounds herself. + +Euthymia welcomed the doctor very heartily. She could not help +suspecting his errand, and she was very glad to have a chance to talk +over her friend's schemes and fancies with him. + +The doctor began without any roundabout prelude. + +"I want to confer with you about our friend Lurida. Does she tell +you all her plans and projects?" + +"Why, as to that, doctor, I can hardly say, positively, but I do not +believe she keeps back anything of importance from me. I know what +she has been busy with lately, and the queer idea she has got into +her head. What do you think of the Tarantula business? She has +shown you the paper, she has written, I suppose." + +"Indeed she has. It is a very curious case she has got hold of, and +I do not wonder at all that she should have felt convinced that she +had come at the true solution of the village riddle. It may be that +this young man is the same person as the boy mentioned in the Italian +medical journal. But it is very far from clear that he is so. You +know all her reasons, of course, as you have read the story. The +times seem to agree well enough. It is easy to conceive that Ch +might be substituted for Kin the report. The singular solitary +habits of this young man entirely coincide with the story. If we +could only find out whether he has any of those feelings with +reference to certain colors, we might guess with more chance of +guessing right than we have at present. But I don't see exactly how +we are going to submit him to examination on this point. If he were +only a chemical compound, we could analyze him. If he were only a +bird or a quadruped, we could find out his likes and dislikes. But +being, as he is, a young man, with ways of his own, and a will of his +own, which he may not choose to have interfered with, the problem +becomes more complicated. I hear that a newspaper correspondent has +visited him so as to make a report to his paper,--do you know what he +found out?" + +"Certainly I do, very well. My brother has heard his own story, +which was this: He found out he had got hold of the wrong person to +interview. The young gentleman, he says, interviewed him, so that he +did not learn much about the Sphinx. But the newspaper man told +Willy about the Sphinx's library and a cabinet of coins he had; and +said he should make an article out of him, anyhow. I wish the man +would take himself off. I am afraid Lurida's love of knowledge will +get her into trouble!" + +"Which of the men do you wish would take himself off?" + +"I was thinking of the newspaper man." + +She blushed a little as she said, "I can't help feeling a strange +sort of interest about the other, Mr. Kirkwood. Do you know that I +met him this morning, and had a good look at him, full in the face?" + +"Well, to be sure! That was an interesting experience. And how did +you like his looks?" + +"I thought his face a very remarkable one. But he looked very pale +as he passed me, and I noticed that he put his hand to his left side +as if he had a twinge of pain, or something of that sort,--spasm or +neuralgia,--I don't know what. I wondered whether he had what you +call angina pectoris. It was the same kind of look and movement, I +remember, as you trust, too, in my uncle who died with that +complaint." + +The doctor was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Were you dressed +as you are now?" + +"Yes, I was, except that I had a thin mantle over my shoulders. I +was out early, and I have always remembered your caution." + +"What color was your mantle?" + +"It was black. I have been over all this with Lucinda. A black +mantle on a white dress. A straw hat with an old faded ribbon. +There can't be much in those colors to trouble him, I should think, +for his man wears a black coat and white linen,--more or less white, +as you must have noticed, and he must have seen ribbons of all colors +often enough. But Lurida believes it was the ribbon, or something in +the combination of colors. Her head is full of Tarantulas and +Tarantism. I fear that she will never be easy until the question is +settled by actual trial. And will you believe it? the girl is +determined in some way to test her supposition!" + +"Believe it, Euthymia? I can believe almost anything of Lurida. She +is the most irrepressible creature I ever knew. You know as well as +I do what a complete possession any ruling idea takes of her whole +nature. I have had some fears lest her zeal might run away with her +discretion. It is a great deal easier to get into a false position +than to get out of it." + +"I know it well enough. I want you to tell me what you think about +the whole business. I don't like the look of it at all, and yet I +can do nothing with the girl except let her follow her fancy, until I +can show her plainly that she will get herself into trouble in some +way or other. But she is ingenious,--full of all sorts of devices, +innocent enough in themselves, but liable to be misconstrued. You +remember how she won us the boat-race?" + +"To be sure I do. It was rather sharp practice, but she felt she was +paying off an old score. The classical story of Atalanta, told, like +that of Eve, as illustrating the weakness of woman, provoked her to +make trial of the powers of resistance in the other sex. But it was +audacious. I hope her audacity will not go too far. You must watch +her. Keep an eye on her correspondence." + +The doctor had great confidence in the good sense of Lurida's friend. +He felt sure that she would not let Lurida commit herself by writing +foolish letters to the subject of her speculations, or similar +indiscreet performances. The boldness of young girls, who think no +evil, in opening correspondence with idealized personages is +something quite astonishing to those who have had an opportunity of +knowing the facts. Lurida had passed the most dangerous age, but her +theory of the equality of the sexes made her indifferent to the +by-laws of social usage. She required watching, and her two +guardians were ready to check her, in case of need. + + + + +XVI + +MISS VINCENT WRITES A LETTER. + +Euthymia noticed that her friend had been very much preoccupied for +two or three days. She found her more than once busy at her desk, +with a manuscript before her, which she turned over and placed inside +the desk, as Euthymia entered. + +This desire of concealment was not what either of the friends +expected to see in the other. It showed that some project was under +way, which, at least in its present stage, the Machiavellian young +lady did not wish to disclose. It had cost her a good deal of +thought and care, apparently, for her waste-basket was full of scraps +of paper, which looked as if they were the remains of a manuscript +like that at which she was at work. "Copying and recopying, +probably," thought Euthymia, but she was willing to wait to learn +what Lurida was busy about, though she had a suspicion that it was +something in which she might feel called upon to interest herself. + +"Do you know what I think?" said Euthymia to the doctor, meeting him +as he left his door. "I believe Lurida is writing to this man, and I +don't like the thought of her doing such a thing. Of course she is +not like other girls in many respects, but other people will judge +her by the common rules of life." + +"I am glad that you spoke of it," answered the doctor; "she would +write to him just as quickly as to any woman of his age. Besides, +under the cover of her office, she has got into the way of writing to +anybody. I think she has already written to Mr. Kirkwood, asking him +to contribute a paper for the Society. She can find a pretext easily +enough if she has made up her mind to write. In fact, I doubt if she +would trouble herself for any pretext at all if she decided to write. +Watch her well. Don't let any letter go without seeing it, if you +can help it." + +Young women are much given to writing letters to persons whom they +only know indirectly, for the most part through their books, and +especially to romancers and poets. Nothing can be more innocent and +simple-hearted than most of these letters. They are the spontaneous +outflow of young hearts easily excited to gratitude for the pleasure +which some story or poem has given them, and recognizing their own +thoughts, their own feelings, in those expressed by the author, as if +on purpose for them to read. Undoubtedly they give great relief to +solitary young persons, who must have some ideal reflection of +themselves, and know not where to look since Protestantism has taken +away the crucifix and the Madonna. The recipient of these letters +sometimes wonders, after reading through one of them, how it is that +his young correspondent has managed to fill so much space with her +simple message of admiration or of sympathy. + +Lurida did not belong to this particular class of correspondents, but +she could not resist the law of her sex, whose thoughts naturally +surround themselves with superabundant drapery of language, as their +persons float in a wide superfluity of woven tissues. Was she indeed +writing to this unknown gentleman? Euthymia questioned her point- +blank. + +"Are you going to open a correspondence with Mr. Maurice Kirkwood, +Lurida? You seem to be so busy writing, I can think of nothing else. +Or are you going to write a novel, or a paper for the Society,--do +tell me what you are so much taken up with." + +"I will tell you, Euthymia, if you will promise not to find fault +with me for carrying out my plan as I have made up my mind to do. +You may read this letter before I seal it, and if you find anything +in it you don't like you can suggest any change that you think will +improve it. I hope you will see that it explains itself. I don't +believe that you will find anything to frighten you in it." + +This is the letter, as submitted to Miss Tower by her friend. The +bold handwriting made it look like a man's letter, and gave it +consequently a less dangerous expression than that which belongs to +the tinted and often fragrant sheet with its delicate thready +characters, which slant across the page like an April shower with a +south wind chasing it. + + +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, August--, 18--. + +MY DEAR SIR,--You will doubtless be surprised at the sight of a +letter like this from one whom you only know as the Secretary of the +Pansophian Society. There is a very common feeling that it is +unbecoming in one of my sex to address one of your own with whom she +is unacquainted, unless she has some special claim upon his +attention. I am by no means disposed to concede to the vulgar +prejudice on this point. If one human being has anything to +communicate to another,--anything which deserves being communicated, +--I see no occasion for bringing in the question of sex. I do not +think the homo sum of Terence can be claimed for the male sex as its +private property on general any more than on grammatical grounds, + +I have sometimes thought of devoting myself to the noble art of +healing. If I did so, it would be with the fixed purpose of giving +my whole powers to the service of humanity. And if I should carry +out that idea, should I refuse my care and skill to a suffering +fellow-mortal because that mortal happened to be a brother, and not a +sister? My whole nature protests against such one-sided humanity! +No! I am blind to all distinctions when my eyes are opened to any +form of suffering, to any spectacle of want. + +You may ask me why I address you, whom I know little or nothing of, +and to whom such an advance may seem presumptuous and intrusive. It +is because I was deeply impressed by the paper which I attributed to +you,--that on Ocean, River, and Lake, which was read at one of our +meetings. I say that I was deeply impressed, but I do not mean this +as a compliment to that paper. I am not bandying compliments now, +but thinking of better things than praises or phrases. I was +interested in the paper, partly because I recognized some of the +feelings expressed in it as my own,--partly because there was an +undertone of sadness in all the voices of nature as you echoed them +which made me sad to hear, and which I could not help longing to +cheer and enliven. I said to myself, I should like to hold communion +with the writer of that paper. I have had my lonely hours and days, +as he has had. I have had some of his experiences in my intercourse +with nature. And oh! if I could draw him into those better human +relations which await us all, if we come with the right dispositions, +I should blush if I stopped to inquire whether I violated any +conventional rule or not. + +You will understand me, I feel sure. You believe, do you not? in the +insignificance of the barrier which divides the sisterhood from the +brotherhood of mankind. You believe, do you not? that they should be +educated side by side, that they should share the same pursuits, due +regard being had to the fitness of the particular individual for hard +or light work, as it must always be, whether we are dealing with the +"stronger" or the "weaker" sex. I mark these words because, +notwithstanding their common use, they involve so much that is not +true. Stronger! Yes, to lift a barrel of flour, or a barrel of +cider,--though there have been women who could do that, and though +when John Wesley was mobbed in Staffordshire a woman knocked down +three or four men, one after another, until she was at last +overpowered and nearly murdered. Talk about the weaker sex! Go and +see Miss Euthymia Tower at the gymnasium! But no matter about which +sex has the strongest muscles. Which has most to suffer, and which +has most endurance and vitality? We go through many ordeals which +you are spared, but we outlast you in mind and body. I have been led +away into one of my accustomed trains of thought, but not so far away +from it as you might at first suppose. + +My brother! Are you not ready to recognize in me a friend, an equal, +a sister, who can speak to you as if she had been reared under the +same roof? And is not the sky that covers us one roof, which makes +us all one family? You are lonely, you must be longing for some +human fellowship. Take me into your confidence. What is there that +you can tell me to which I cannot respond with sympathy? What +saddest note in your spiritual dirges which will not find its chord +in mine? + +I long to know what influence has cast its shadow over your +existence. I myself have known what it is to carry a brain that +never rests in a body that is always tired. I have defied its +infirmities, and forced it to do my bidding. You have no such +hindrance, if we may judge by your aspect and habits. You deal with +horses like a Homeric hero. No wild Indian could handle his bark +canoe more dexterously or more vigorously than we have seen you +handling yours. There must be some reason for your seclusion which +curiosity has not reached, and into which it is not the province of +curiosity to inquire. But in the irresistible desire which I have to +bring you into kindly relations with those around you, I must run the +risk of giving offence that I may know in what direction to look for +those restorative influences which the sympathy of a friend and +sister can offer to a brother in need of some kindly impulse to +change the course of a life which is not, which cannot be, in +accordance with his true nature. + +I have thought that there may be something in the conditions with +which you are here surrounded which is repugnant to your feelings,-- +something which can be avoided only by keeping yourself apart from +the people whose acquaintance you would naturally have formed. There +can hardly be anything in the place itself, or you would not have +voluntarily sought it as a residence, even for a single season. +there might be individuals here whom you would not care to meet, +there must be such, but you cannot have a personal aversion to +everybody. I have heard of cases in which certain sights and sounds, +which have no particular significance for most persons, produced +feelings of distress or aversion that made, them unbearable to the +subjects of the constitutional dislike. It has occurred to me that +possibly you might have some such natural aversion to the sounds of +the street, or such as are heard in most houses, especially where a +piano is kept, as it is in fact in almost all of those in the +village. Or it might be, I imagined, that some color in the dresses +of women or the furniture of our rooms affected you unpleasantly. I +know that instances of such antipathy have been recorded, and they +would account for the seclusion of those who are subject to it. + +If there is any removable condition which interferes with your free +entrance into and enjoyment of the social life around you, tell me, I +beg of you, tell me what it is, and it shall be eliminated. Think it +not strange, O my brother, that I thus venture to introduce myself +into the hidden chambers of your life. I will never suffer myself to +be frightened from the carrying out of any thought which promises to +be of use to a fellow-mortal by a fear lest it should be considered +"unfeminine." I can bear to be considered unfeminine, but I cannot +endure to think of myself as inhuman. Can I help you, my brother'? + +Believe me your most sincere well-wisher, + +LURIDA VINCENT. + + +Euthymia had carried off this letter and read it by herself. As she +finished it, her feelings found expression in an old phrase of her +grandmother's, which came up of itself, as such survivals of early +days are apt to do, on great occasions. + +"Well, I never!" + +Then she loosened some button or string that was too tight, and went +to the window for a breath of outdoor air. Then she began at the +beginning and read the whole letter all over again. + +What should she do about it? She could not let this young girl send +a letter like that to a stranger of whose character little was known +except by inference,--to a young man, who would consider it a most +extraordinary advance on the part of the sender. She would have +liked to tear it into a thousand pieces, but she had no right to +treat it in that way. Lurida meant to send it the next morning, and +in the mean time Euthymia had the night to think over what she should +do about it. + +There is nothing like the pillow for an oracle. There is no voice +like that which breaks the silence--of the stagnant hours of the +night with its sudden suggestions and luminous counsels. When +Euthymia awoke in the morning, her course of action was as clear +before her as if it bad been dictated by her guardian angel. She +went straight over to the home of Lurida, who was just dressed for +breakfast. + +She was naturally a little surprised at this early visit. She was +struck with the excited look of Euthymia, being herself quite calm, +and contemplating her project with entire complacency. + +Euthymia began, in tones that expressed deep anxiety. + +"I have read your letter, my dear, and admired its spirit and force. +It is a fine letter, and does you great credit as an expression of +the truest human feeling. But it must not be sent to Mr. Kirkwood. +If you were sixty years old, perhaps if you were fifty, it might be +admissible to send it. But if you were forty, I should question its +propriety; if you were thirty, I should veto it, and you are but a +little more than twenty. How do you know that this stranger will not +show your letter to anybody or everybody? How do you know that he +will not send it to one of the gossiping journals like the 'Household +Inquisitor'? But supposing he keeps it to himself, which is more +than you have a right to expect, what opinion is he likely to form of +a young lady who invades his privacy with such freedom? Ten to one +he will think curiosity is at the bottom of it,--and,--come, don't be +angry at me for suggesting it,--may there not be a little of that +same motive mingled with the others? No, don't interrupt me quite +yet; you do want to know whether your hypothesis is correct. You are +full of the best and kindest feelings in the world, but your desire +for knowledge is the ferment under them just now, perhaps more than +you know." + +Lurida's pale cheeks flushed and whitened more than once while her +friend was speaking. She loved her too sincerely and respected her +intelligence too much to take offence at her advice, but she could +not give up her humane and sisterly intentions merely from the fear +of some awkward consequences to herself. She had persuaded herself +that she was playing the part of a Protestant sister of charity, and +that the fact of her not wearing the costume of these ministering +angels made no difference in her relations to those who needed her +aid. + +"I cannot see your objections in the light in which they appear to +you," she said gravely. "It seems to me that I give up everything +when I hesitate to help a fellow-creature because I am a woman. I am +not afraid to send this letter and take all the consequences." + +"Will you go with me to the doctor's, and let him read it in our +presence? And will you agree to abide by his opinion, if it +coincides with mine?" + +Lurida winced a little at this proposal. "I don't quite like," she +said, "showing this letter to--to" she hesitated, but it had to come +out--"to a man, that is, to another man than the one for whom it was +intended." + +The neuter gender business had got a pretty damaging side-hit. + +"Well, never mind about letting him read the letter. Will you go +over to his house with me at noon, when he comes back after his +morning visits, and have a talk over the whole matter with him? You +know I have sometimes had to say must to you, Lurida, and now I say +you must go to the doctor's with me and carry that letter." + +There was no resisting the potent monosyllable as the sweet but firm +voice delivered it. At noon the two maidens rang at the doctor's +door. The servant said he had been at the house after his morning +visits, but found a hasty summons to Mr. Kirkwood, who had been taken +suddenly ill and wished to see him at once. Was the illness +dangerous? The servant-maid did n't know, but thought it was pretty +bad, for Mr. Paul came in as white as a sheet, and talked all sorts +of languages which she couldn't understand, and took on as if he +thought Mr. Kirkwood was going to die right off. + +And so the hazardous question about sending the letter was disposed +of, at least for the present. + + + + +XVII + +Dr. BUTTS'S PATIENT. + +The physician found Maurice just regaining his heat after a chill of +a somewhat severe character. He knew too well what this meant, and +the probable series of symptoms of which it was the prelude. His +patient was not the only one in the neighborhood who was attacked in +this way. The autumnal fevers to which our country towns are +subject, in the place of those "agues," or intermittents, so largely +prevalent in the South and West, were already beginning, and Maurice, +who had exposed himself in the early and late hours of the dangerous +season, must be expected to go through the regular stages of this +always serious and not rarely fatal disease. + +Paolo, his faithful servant, would fain have taken the sole charge of +his master during his illness. But the doctor insisted that he must +have a nurse to help him in his task, which was likely to be long and +exhausting. + +At the mention of the word "nurse" Paolo turned white, and exclaimed +in an agitated and thoroughly frightened way, + +"No! no nuss! no woman! She kill him! I stay by him day and night, +but don' let no woman come near him,--if you do, he die!" + +The doctor explained that he intended to send a man who was used to +taking care of sick people, and with no little effort at last +succeeded in convincing Paolo that, as he could not be awake day and +night for a fortnight or three weeks, it was absolutely necessary to +call in some assistance from without. And so Mr. Maurice Kirkwood +was to play the leading part in that drama of nature's composing +called a typhoid fever, with its regular bedchamber scenery, its +properties of phials and pill-boxes, its little company of stock +actors, its gradual evolution of a very simple plot, its familiar +incidents, its emotional alternations, and its denouement, sometimes +tragic, oftener happy. + +It is needless to say that the sympathies of all the good people of +the village, residents and strangers, were actively awakened for the +young man about whom they knew so little and conjectured so much. +Tokens of their kindness came to him daily: flowers from the woods +and from the gardens; choice fruit grown in the open air or under +glass, for there were some fine houses surrounded by well-kept +grounds, and greenhouses and graperies were not unknown in the small +but favored settlement. + +On all these luxuries Maurice looked with dull and languid eyes. A +faint smile of gratitude sometimes struggled through the stillness of +his features, or a murmured word of thanks found its way through his +parched lips, and he would relapse into the partial stupor or the +fitful sleep in which, with intervals of slight wandering, the slow +hours dragged along the sluggish days one after another. With no +violent symptoms, but with steady persistency, the disease moved on +in its accustomed course. It was at no time immediately threatening, +but the experienced physician knew its uncertainties only too well. +He had known fever patients suddenly seized with violent internal +inflammation, and carried off with frightful rapidity. He remembered +the case of a convalescent, a young woman who had been attacked while +in apparently vigorous general health, who, on being lifted too +suddenly to a sitting position, while still confined to her bed, +fainted, and in a few moments ceased to breathe. It may well be +supposed that he took every possible precaution to avert the +accidents which tend to throw from its track a disease the regular +course of which is arranged by nature as carefully as the route of a +railroad from one city to another. The most natural interpretation +which the common observer would put upon the manifestations of one of +these autumnal maladies would be that some noxious combustible +element had found its way into the system which must be burned to +ashes before the heat which pervades the whole body can subside. +Sometimes the fire may smoulder and seem as if it were going out, or +were quite extinguished, and again it will find some new material to +seize upon, and flame up as fiercely as ever. Its coming on most +frequently at the season when the brush fires which are consuming the +dead branches, and withered leaves, and all the refuse of vegetation +are sending up their smoke is suggestive. Sometimes it seems as if +the body, relieved of its effete materials, renewed its youth after +one of these quiet, expurgating, internal fractional cremations. +Lean, pallid students have found themselves plump and blooming, and +it has happened that one whose hair was straight as gnat of an Indian +has been startled to behold himself in his mirror with a fringe of +hyacinthine curls about his rejuvenated countenance. + +There was nothing of what medical men call malignity in the case of +Maurice Kirkwood. The most alarming symptom was a profound +prostration, which at last reached such a point that he lay utterly +helpless, as unable to move without aid as the feeblest of +paralytics. In this state he lay for many days, not suffering pain, +but with the sense of great weariness, and the feeling that he should +never rise from his bed again. For the most part his intellect was +unclouded when his attention was aroused. He spoke only in whispers, +a few words at a time. The doctor felt sure, by the expression which +passed over his features from time to time, that something was +worrying and oppressing him; something which he wished to +communicate, and had not the force, or the tenacity of purpose, to +make perfectly clear. His eyes often wandered to a certain desk, and +once he had found strength to lift his emaciated arm and point to it. +The doctor went towards it as if to fetch it to him, but he slowly +shook his head. He had not the power to say at that time what he +wished. The next day he felt a little less prostrated; and succeeded +in explaining to the doctor what he wanted. His words, so far as the +physician could make them out, were these which follow. Dr. Butts +looked upon them as possibly expressing wishes which would be his +last, and noted them down carefully immediately after leaving his +chamber. + +"I commit the secret of my life to your charge. My whole story is +told in a paper locked in that desk. The key is--put your hand under +my pillow. If I die, let the story be known. It will show that I +was--human--and save my memory from reproach." + +He was silent for a little time. A single tear stole down his hollow +cheek. The doctor turned his head away, for his own eyes were full. +But he said to himself, "It is a good sign; I begin to feel strong +hopes that he will recover." + +Maurice spoke once more. "Doctor, I put full trust in you. You are +wise and kind. Do what you will with this paper, but open it at once +and read. I want you to know the story of my life before it is +finished--if the end is at hand. Take it with you and read it before +you sleep." He was exhausted and presently his eyes closed, but the +doctor saw a tranquil look on his features which added encouragement +to his hopes. + + + + +XVIII + +MAURICE KIRKWOOD'S STORY OF HIS LIFE. + +I am an American by birth, but a large part of my life has been +passed in foreign lands. My father was a man of education, possessed +of an ample fortune; my mother was considered, a very accomplished +and amiable woman. I was their first and only child. She died while +I was yet an infant. If I remember her at all it is as a vision, +more like a glimpse of a pre-natal existence than as a part of my +earthly life. At the death of my mother I was left in the charge of +the old nurse who had enjoyed her perfect confidence. She was +devoted to me, and I became absolutely dependent on her, who had for +me all the love and all the care of a mother. I was naturally the +object of the attentions and caresses of the family relatives. I +have been told that I was a pleasant, smiling infant, with nothing to +indicate any peculiar nervous susceptibility; not afraid of +strangers, but on the contrary ready to make their acquaintance. My +father was devoted to me and did all in his power to promote my +health and comfort. + + +I was still a babe, often carried in arms, when the event happened +which changed my whole future and destined me to a strange and lonely +existence. I cannot relate it even now without a sense of terror. I +must force myself to recall the circumstances as told me and vaguely +remembered, for I am not willing that my doomed and wholly +exceptional life should pass away unrecorded, unexplained, +unvindicated. My nature is, I feel sure, a kind and social one, but +I have lived apart, as if my heart were filled with hatred of my +fellow-creatures. If there are any readers who look without pity, +without sympathy, upon those who shun the fellowship of their fellow +men and women, who show by their downcast or averted eyes that they +dread companionship and long for solitude, I pray them, if this paper +ever reaches them, to stop at this point. Follow me no further, for +you will not believe my story, nor enter into the feelings which I am +about to reveal. But if there are any to whom all that is human is +of interest, who have felt in their own consciousness some stirrings +of invincible attraction to one individual and equally invincible +repugnance to another, who know by their own experience that elective +affinities have as their necessary counterpart, and, as it were, +their polar opposites, currents not less strong of elective +repulsions, let them read with unquestioning faith the story of a +blighted life I am about to relate, much of it, of course, received +from the lips of others. + +My cousin Laura, a girl of seventeen, lately returned from Europe, +was considered eminently beautiful. It was in my second summer that +she visited my father's house, where he was living with his servants +and my old nurse, my mother having but recently left him a widower. +Laura was full of vivacity, impulsive, quick in her movements, +thoughtless occasionally, as it is not strange that a young girl of +her age should be. It was a beautiful summer day when she saw me for +the first time. My nurse had me in her arms, walking back and +forward on a balcony with a low railing, upon which opened the +windows of the second story of my father's house. While the nurse +was thus carrying me, Laura came suddenly upon the balcony. She no +sooner saw me than with all the delighted eagerness of her youthful +nature she rushed toward me, and, catching me from the nurse's arms, +began tossing me after the fashion of young girls who have been so +lately playing with dolls that they feel as if babies were very much +of the same nature. The abrupt seizure frightened me; I sprang from +her arms in my terror, and fell over the railing of the balcony. I +should probably enough have been killed on the spot but for the fact +that a low thorn-bush grew just beneath the balcony, into which I +fell and thus had the violence of the shock broken. But the thorns +tore my tender flesh, and I bear to this day marks of the deep wounds +they inflicted. + +That dreadful experience is burned deep into my memory. The sudden +apparition of the girl; the sense of being torn away from the +protecting arms around me; the frantic effort to escape; the shriek +that accompanied my fall through what must have seemed unmeasurable +space; the cruel lacerations of the piercing and rending thorns,--all +these fearful impressions blended in one paralyzing terror. + +When I was taken up I was thought to be dead. I was perfectly white, +and the physician who first saw me said that no pulse was +perceptible. But after a time consciousness returned; the wounds, +though painful, were none of them dangerous, and the most alarming +effects of the accident passed away. My old nurse cared for me +tenderly day and night, and my father, who had been almost distracted +in the first hours which followed the injury, hoped and believed +that no permanent evil results would be found to result from it. My +cousin Laura was of course deeply distressed to feel that her +thoughtlessness had been the cause of so grave an accident. As soon +as I had somewhat recovered she came to see me, very penitent, very +anxious to make me forget the alarm she had caused me, with all its +consequences. I was in the nursery sitting up in my bed, bandaged, +but not in any pain, as it seemed, for I was quiet and to all +appearance in a perfectly natural state of feeling. As Laura came +near me I shrieked and instantly changed color. I put my hand upon +my heart as if I had been stabbed, and fell over, unconscious. It +was very much the same state as that in which I was found immediately +after my fall. + +The cause of this violent and appalling seizure was but too obvious. +The approach of the young girl and the dread that she was about to +lay her hand upon me had called up the same train of effects which +the moment of terror and pain had already occasioned. The old nurse +saw this in a moment. "Go! go!" she cried to Laura, "go, or the +child will die! "Her command did not have to be repeated. After +Laura had gone I lay senseless, white and cold as marble, for some +time. The doctor soon came, and by the use of smart rubbing and +stimulants the color came back slowly to my cheeks and the arrested +circulation was again set in motion. + +It was hard to believe that this was anything more than a temporary +effect of the accident. There could be little doubt, it was thought +by the doctor and by my father, that after a few days I should +recover from this morbid sensibility and receive my cousin as other +infants receive pleasant-looking young persons. The old nurse shook +her head. "The girl will be the death of the child," she said, "if +she touches him or comes near him. His heart stopped beating just as +when the girl snatched him out of my arms, and he fell over the +balcony railing." Once more the experiment was tried, cautiously, +almost insidiously. The same alarming consequences followed. It was +too evident that a chain of nervous disturbances had been set up in +my system which repeated itself whenever the original impression gave +the first impulse. I never saw my cousin Laura after this last +trial. Its result had so distressed her that she never ventured +again to show herself to me. + +If the effect of the nervous shock had stopped there, it would have +been a misfortune for my cousin and myself, but hardly a calamity. +The world is wide, and a cousin or two more or less can hardly be +considered an essential of existence. I often heard Laura's name +mentioned, but never by any one who was acquainted with all the +circumstances, for it was noticed that I changed color and caught at +my breast as if I wanted to grasp my heart in my hand whenever that +fatal name was mentioned. + +Alas! this was not all. While I was suffering from the effects of my +fall among the thorns I was attended by my old nurse, assisted by +another old woman, by a physician, and my father, who would take his +share in caring for me. It was thought best to keep--me perfectly +quiet, and strangers and friends were alike excluded from my nursery, +with one exception, that my old grandmother came in now and then. +With her it seems that I was somewhat timid and shy, following her +with rather anxious eyes, as if not quite certain whether or not she +was dangerous. But one day, when I was far advanced towards +recovery, my father brought in a young lady, a relative of his, who +had expressed a great desire to see me. She was, as I have been +told, a very handsome girl, of about the same age as my cousin Laura, +but bearing no personal resemblance to her in form, features, or +complexion. She had no sooner entered the room than the same sudden +changes which had followed my cousin's visit began to show +themselves, and before she had reached my bedside I was in a state of +deadly collapse, as on the occasions already mentioned. + +Some time passed before any recurrence of these terrifying seizures. +A little girl of five or six years old was allowed to come into the +nursery one day and bring me some flowers. I took them from her +hand, but turned away and shut my eyes. There was no seizure, but +there was a certain dread and aversion, nothing more than a feeling +which it might be hoped that time would overcome. Those around me +were gradually finding out the circumstances which brought on the +deadly attack to which I was subject. + +The daughter of one of our near neighbors was considered the +prettiest girl of the village where we were passing the summer. She +was very anxious to see me, and as I was now nearly well it was +determined that she should be permitted to pay me a short visit. I +had always delighted in seeing her and being caressed by her. I was +sleeping when she entered the nursery and came and took a seat at my +side in perfect silence. Presently I became restless, and a moment +later I opened my eyes and saw her stooping over me. My hand went to +my left breast,--the color faded from my cheeks,--I was again the +cold marble image so like death that it had well-nigh been mistaken +for it. + +Could it be possible that the fright which had chilled my blood had +left me with an unconquerable fear of woman at the period when she is +most attractive not only to adolescents, but to children of tender +age, who feel the fascination of her flowing locks, her bright eyes, +her blooming cheeks, and that mysterious magnetism of sex which draws +all life into its warm and potently vitalized atmosphere? So it did +indeed seem. The dangerous experiment could not be repeated +indefinitely. It was not intentionally tried again, but accident +brought about more than one renewal of it during the following years, +until it became fully recognized that I was the unhappy subject of a +mortal dread of woman,--not absolutely of the human female, for I had +no fear of my old nurse or of my grandmother, or of any old wrinkled +face, and I had become accustomed to the occasional meeting of a +little girl or two, whom I nevertheless regarded with a certain ill- +defined feeling that there was danger in their presence. I was sent +to a boys' school very early, and during the first ten or twelve +years of my life I had rarely any occasion to be reminded of my +strange idiosyncrasy. + +As I grew out of boyhood into youth, a change came over the feelings +which had so long held complete possession of me. This was what my +father and his advisers had always anticipated, and was the ground of +their confident hope in my return to natural conditions before I +should have grown to mature manhood. + +How shall I describe the conflicts of those dreamy, bewildering, +dreadful years? Visions of loveliness haunted me sleeping and +waking. Sometimes a graceful girlish figure would so draw my eyes +towards it that I lost sight of all else, and was ready to forget all +my fears and find myself at her side, like other youths by the side +of young maidens,--happy in their cheerful companionship, while I,-- +I, under the curse of one blighting moment, looked on, hopeless. +Sometimes the glimpse of a fair face or the tone of a sweet voice +stirred within me all the instincts that make the morning of life +beautiful to adolescence. I reasoned with myself: + +Why should I not have outgrown that idle apprehension which had been +the nightmare of my earlier years? Why should not the rising tide of +life have drowned out the feeble growths that infested the shallows +of childhood? How many children there are who tremble at being left +alone in the dark, but who, a few years later, will smile at their +foolish terrors and brave all the ghosts of a haunted chamber! Why +should I any longer be the slave of a foolish fancy that has grown +into a half insane habit of mind? I was familiarly acquainted with +all the stories of the strange antipathies and invincible repugnances +to which others, some of them famous men, had been subject. I said +to myself, Why should not I overcome this dread of woman as Peter the +Great fought down his dread of wheels rolling over a bridge? Was I, +alone of all mankind, to be doomed to perpetual exclusion from the +society which, as it seemed to me, was all that rendered existence +worth the trouble and fatigue of slavery to the vulgar need of +supplying the waste of the system and working at the task of +respiration like the daughters of Danaus,--toiling day and night as +the worn-out sailor labors at the pump of his sinking vessel? + +Why did I not brave the risk of meeting squarely, and without regard +to any possible danger, some one of those fair maidens whose far-off +smile, whose graceful movements, at once attracted and agitated me? +I can only answer this question to the satisfaction of any really +inquiring reader by giving him the true interpretation of the +singular phenomenon of which I was the subject. For this I shall +have to refer to a paper of which I have made a copy, and which will +be found included with this manuscript. It is enough to say here, +without entering into the explanation of the fact, which will be +found simple enough as seen by the light of modern physiological +science, that the "nervous disturbance" which the presence of a woman +in the flower of her age produced in my system was a sense of +impending death, sudden, overwhelming, unconquerable, appalling. It +was a reversed action of the nervous centres,--the opposite of that +which flushes the young lover's cheek and hurries his bounding pulses +as he comes into the presence of the object of his passion. No one +who has ever felt the sensation can have failed to recognize it as an +imperative summons, which commands instant and terrified submission. + +It was at this period of my life that my father determined to try the +effect of travel and residence in different localities upon my bodily +and mental condition. I say bodily as well as mental, for I was too +slender for my height and subject to some nervous symptoms which were +a cause of anxiety. That the mind was largely concerned in these +there was no doubt, but the mutual interactions of mind and body are +often too complex to admit of satisfactory analysis. Each is in part +cause and each also in part effect. + +We passed some years in Italy, chiefly in Rome, where I was placed in +a school conducted by priests, and where of course I met only those +of my own sex. There I had the opportunity of seeing the influences +under which certain young Catholics, destined for the priesthood, are +led to separate themselves from all communion with the sex associated +in their minds with the most subtle dangers to which the human soul +can be exposed. I became in some degree reconciled to the thought of +exclusion from the society of women by seeing around me so many who +were self-devoted to celibacy. The thought sometimes occurred to me +whether I should not find the best and the only natural solution of +the problem of existence, as submitted to myself, in taking upon me +the vows which settle the whole question and raise an impassable +barrier between the devotee and the object of his dangerous +attraction. + +How often I talked this whole matter over with the young priest who +was at once my special instructor and my favorite companion! But +accustomed as I had become to the forms of the Roman Church, and +impressed as I was with the purity and excellence of many of its +young members with whom I was acquainted, my early training rendered +it impossible for me to accept the credentials which it offered me as +authoritative. My friend and instructor had to set me down as a case +of "invincible ignorance." This was the loop-hole through which he +crept out of the prison-house of his creed, and was enabled to look +upon me without the feeling of absolute despair with which his +sterner brethren would, I fear, have regarded me. + +I have said that accident exposed me at times to the influence which +I had such reasons for dreading. Here is one example of such an +occurrence, which I relate as simply as possible, vividly as it is +impressed upon my memory. A young friend whose acquaintance I had +made in Rome asked me one day to come to his rooms and look at a +cabinet of gems and medals which he had collected. I had been but a +short time in his library when a vague sense of uneasiness came over +me. My heart became restless,--I could feel it stirring irregularly, +as if it were some frightened creature caged in my breast. There was +nothing that I could see to account for it. A door was partly open, +but not so that I could see into the next room. The feeling grew +upon me of some influence which was paralyzing my circulation. I +begged my friend to open a window. As be did so, the door swung in +the draught, and I saw a blooming young woman,--it was my friend's +sister, who had been sitting with a book in her hand, and who rose at +the opening of the door. Something had warned me of the presence of +a woman, that occult and potent aura of individuality, call it +personal magnetism, spiritual effluence, or reduce it to a simpler +expression if you will; whatever it was, it had warned me of the +nearness of the dread attraction which allured at a distance and +revealed itself with all the terrors of the Lorelei if approached too +recklessly. A sign from her brother caused her to withdraw at once, +but not before I had felt the impression which betrayed itself in my +change of color, anxiety about the region of the heart, and sudden +failure as if about to fall in a deadly fainting-fit. + +Does all this seem strange and incredible to the reader of my +manuscript? Nothing in the history of life is so strange or +exceptional as it seems to those who have not made a long study of +its mysteries. I have never known just such a case as my own, and +yet there must have been such, and if the whole history of mankind +were unfolded I cannot doubt that there have been many like it. Let +my reader suspend his judgment until he has read the paper I have +referred to, which was drawn up by a Committee of the Royal Academy +of the Biological Sciences. In this paper the mechanism of the +series of nervous derangements to which I have been subject since the +fatal shock experienced in my infancy is explained in language not +hard to understand. It will be seen that such a change of polarity +in the nervous centres is only a permanent form and an extreme degree +of an emotional disturbance, which as a temporary and comparatively +unimportant personal accident is far from being uncommon,--is so +frequent, in fact, that every one must have known instances of it, +and not a few must have had more or less serious experiences of it in +their own private history. + +It must not be supposed that my imagination dealt with me as I am now +dealing with the reader. I was full of strange fancies and wild +superstitions. One of my Catholic friends gave me a silver medal +which had been blessed by the Pope, and which I was to wear next my +body. I was told that this would turn black after a time, in virtue +of a power which it possessed of drawing out original sin, or certain +portions of it, together with the evil and morbid tendencies which +had been engrafted on the corrupt nature. I wore the medal +faithfully, as directed, and watched it carefully. It became +tarnished and after a time darkened, but it wrought no change in my +unnatural condition. + +There was an old gypsy who had the reputation of knowing more of +futurity than she had any right to know. The story was that she had +foretold the assassination of Count Rossi and the death of Cavour. + +However that may have been, I was persuaded to let her try her black +art upon my future. I shall never forget the strange, wild look of +the wrinkled hag as she took my hand and studied its lines and fixed +her wicked old eyes on my young countenance. After this examination +she shook her head and muttered some words, which as nearly as I +could get them would be in English like these: + + Fair lady cast a spell on thee, + Fair lady's hand shall set thee free. + +Strange as it may seem, these words of a withered old creature, whose +palm had to be crossed with silver to bring forth her oracular +response, have always clung to my memory as if they were destined to +fulfilment. The extraordinary nature of the affliction to which I +was subject disposed me to believe the incredible with reference to +all that relates to it. I have never ceased to have the feeling +that, sooner or later, I should find myself freed from the blight +laid upon me in my infancy. It seems as if it would naturally come +through the influence of some young and fair woman, to whom that +merciful errand should be assigned by the Providence that governs our +destiny. With strange hopes, with trembling fears, with mingled +belief and doubt, wherever I have found myself I have sought with +longing yet half-averted eyes for the "elect lady," as I have learned +to call her, who was to lift the curse from my ruined life. + +Three times I have been led to the hope, if not the belief, that I +had found the object of my superstitious belief. --Singularly enough +it was always on the water that the phantom of my hope appeared +before my bewildered vision. Once it was an English girl who was a +fellow passenger with me in one of my ocean voyages. I need not say +that she was beautiful, for she was my dream realized. I heard her +singing, I saw her walking the deck on some of the fair days when +sea-sickness was forgotten. The passengers were a social company +enough, but I had kept myself apart, as was my wont. At last the +attraction became too strong to resist any longer. "I will venture +into the charmed circle if it kills me," I said to my father. I did +venture, and it did not kill me, or I should not be telling this +story. But there was a repetition of the old experiences. I need +not relate the series of alarming consequences of my venture. The +English girl was very lovely, and I have no doubt has made some one +supremely happy before this, but she was not the "elect lady" of the +prophecy and of my dreams. + +A second time I thought myself for a moment in the presence of the +destined deliverer who was to restore me to my natural place among my +fellow men and women. It was on the Tiber that I met the young +maiden who drew me once more into that inner circle which surrounded +young womanhood with deadly peril for me, if I dared to pass its +limits. I was floating with the stream in the little boat in which I +passed many long hours of reverie when I saw another small boat with +a boy and a young girl in it. The boy had been rowing, and one of +his oars had slipped from his grasp. He did not know how to paddle +with a single oar, and was hopelessly rowing round and round, his oar +all the time floating farther away from him. I could not refuse my +assistance. I picked up the oar and brought my skiff alongside of +the boat. When I handed the oar to the boy the young girl lifted her +veil and thanked me in the exquisite music of the language which + + 'Sounds as if it should be writ on satin." + +She was a type of Italian beauty,--a nocturne in flesh and blood, if +I may borrow a term certain artists are fond of; but it was her voice +which captivated me and for a moment made me believe that I was no +longer shut off from all relations with the social life of my race. +An hour later I was found lying insensible on the floor of my boat, +white, cold, almost pulseless. It cost much patient labor to bring +me back to consciousness. Had not such extreme efforts been made, it +seems probable that I should never have waked from a slumber which +was hardly distinguishable from that of death. + + +Why should I provoke a catastrophe which appears inevitable if I +invite it by exposing myself to its too well ascertained cause? The +habit of these deadly seizures has become a second nature. The +strongest and the ablest men have found it impossible to resist the +impression produced by the most insignificant object, by the most +harmless sight or sound to which they had a congenital or acquired +antipathy. What prospect have I of ever being rid of this long and +deep-seated infirmity? I may well ask myself these questions, but my +answer is that I will never give up the hope that time will yet bring +its remedy. It may be that the wild prediction which so haunts me +shall find itself fulfilled. I have had of late strange +premonitions, to which if I were superstitious I could not help +giving heed. But I have seen too much of the faith that deals in +miracles to accept the supernatural in any shape,--assuredly when it +comes from an old witch-like creature who takes pay for her +revelations of the future. Be it so: though I am not superstitious, +I have a right to be imaginative, and my imagination will hold to +those words of the old zingara with an irresistible feeling that, +sooner or later, they will prove true. + +Can it be possible that her prediction is not far from its +realization? I have had both waking and sleeping visions within +these last months and weeks which have taken possession of me and +filled my life with new thoughts, new hopes, new resolves. + +Sometimes on the bosom of the lake by which I am dreaming away this +season of bloom and fragrance, sometimes in the fields or woods in a +distant glimpse, once in a nearer glance, which left me pale and +tremulous, yet was followed by a swift reaction, so that my cheeks +flushed and my pulse bounded, I have seen her who--how do I dare to +tell it so that my own eyes can read it?---I cannot help believing is +to be my deliverer, my saviour. + +I have been warned in the most solemn and impressive language by the +experts most deeply read in the laws of life and the history of its +disturbing and destroying influences, that it would be at the +imminent risk of my existence if I should expose myself to the +repetition of my former experiences. I was reminded that unexplained +sudden deaths were of constant, of daily occurrence; that any emotion +is liable to arrest the movements of life: terror, joy, good news or +bad news,--anything that reaches the deeper nervous centres. I had +already died once, as Sir Charles Napier said of himself; yes, more +than once, died and been resuscitated. The next time, I might very +probably fail to get my return ticket after my visit to Hades. It +was a rather grim stroke of humor, but I understood its meaning full +well, and felt the force of its menace. + +After all, what had I to live for if the great primal instinct which +strives to make whole the half life of lonely manhood is defeated, +suppressed, crushed out of existence? Why not as well die in the +attempt to break up a wretched servitude to a perverted nervous +movement as in any other way? I am alone in the world,--alone save +for my faithful servant, through whom I seem to hold to the human +race as it were by a single filament. My father, who was my +instructor, my companion, my dearest and best friend through all my +later youth and my earlier manhood, died three years ago and left me +my own master, with the means of living as might best please my +fancy. This season shall decide my fate. One more experiment, and I +shall find myself restored to my place among my fellow-beings, or, as +I devoutly hope, in a sphere where all our mortal infirmities are +past and forgotten. + +I have told the story of a blighted life without reserve, so that +there shall not remain any mystery or any dark suspicion connected +with my memory if I should be taken away unexpectedly. It has cost +me an effort to do it, but now that my life is on record I feel more +reconciled to my lot, with all its possibilities, and among these +possibilities is a gleam of a better future. I have been told by my +advisers, some of them wise, deeply instructed, and kind-hearted men, +that such a life-destiny should be related by the subject of it for +the instruction of others, and especially for the light it throws on +certain peculiarities of human character often wrongly interpreted as +due to moral perversion, when they are in reality the results of +misdirected or reversed actions in some of the closely connected +nervous centres. + +For myself I can truly say that I have very little morbid sensibility +left with reference to the destiny which has been allotted to me. I +have passed through different stages of feeling with reference to it, +as I have developed from infancy to manhood. At first it was mere +blind instinct about which I had no thought, living like other +infants the life of impressions without language to connect them in +series. In my boyhood I began to be deeply conscious of the +infirmity which separated me from those around me. In youth began +that conflict of emotions and impulses with the antagonistic +influence of which I have already spoken, a conflict which has never +ceased, but to which I have necessarily become to a certain degree +accustomed; and against the dangers of which I have learned to guard +myself habitually. That is the meaning of my isolation. You, young +man,--if at any time your eyes shall look upon my melancholy record, +--you at least will understand me. Does not your heart throb, in the +presence of budding or blooming womanhood, sometimes as if it "were +ready to crack" with its own excess of strain? What if instead of +throbbing it should falter, flutter, and stop as if never to beat +again? You, young woman, who with ready belief and tender sympathy +will look upon these pages, if they are ever spread before you, know +what it is when your breast heaves with uncontrollable emotion and +the grip of the bodice seems unendurable as the embrace of the iron +virgin of the Inquisition. Think what it would be if the grasp were +tightened so that no breath of air could enter your panting chest! + +Does your heart beat in the same way, young man, when your honored +friend, a venerable matron of seventy years, greets you with her +kindly smile as it does in the presence of youthful loveliness? When +a pretty child brings you her doll and looks into your eyes with +artless grace and trustful simplicity, does your pulse quicken, do +you tremble, does life palpitate through your whole being, as when +the maiden of seventeen meets your enamored sight in the glow of her +rosebud beauty? Wonder not, then, if the period of mystic attraction +for you should be that of agitation, terror, danger, to one in whom +the natural current of the instincts has had its course changed as +that of a stream is changed by a convulsion of nature, so that the +impression which is new life to you is death to him. + +I am now twenty-five years old. I have reached the time of life +which I have dreamed, nay even ventured to hope, might be the limit +of the sentence which was pronounced upon me in my infancy. I can +assign no good reason for this anticipation. But in writing this +paper I feel as if I were preparing to begin a renewed existence. +There is nothing for me to be ashamed of in the story I have told. +There is no man living who would not have yielded to the sense of +instantly impending death which seized upon me under the conditions I +have mentioned. Martyrs have gone singing to their flaming shrouds, +but never a man could hold his breath long enough to kill himself; he +must have rope or water, or some mechanical help, or nature will make +him draw in a breath of air, and would make him do so though he knew +the salvation of the human race would be forfeited by that one gasp. + +This paper may never reach the eye of any one afflicted in the same +way that I have been. It probably never will; but for all that, +there are many shy natures which will recognize tendencies in +themselves in the direction of my unhappy susceptibility. Others, to +whom such weakness seems inconceivable, will find their scepticism +shaken, if not removed, by the calm, judicial statement of the Report +drawn up for the Royal Academy. It will make little difference to me +whether my story is accepted unhesitatingly or looked upon as largely +a product of the imagination. I am but a bird of passage that lights +on the boughs of different nationalities. I belong to no flock; my +home may be among the palms of Syria, the olives of Italy, the oaks +of England, the elms that shadow the Hudson or the Connecticut; I +build no nest; to-day I am here, to-morrow on the wing. + +If I quit my native land before the trees have dropped their leaves I +shall place this manuscript in the safe hands of one whom I feel sure +that I can trust; to do with it as he shall see fit. If it is only +curious and has no bearing on human welfare, he may think it well to +let it remain unread until I shall have passed away. If in his +judgment it throws any light on one of the deeper mysteries of our +nature,--the repulsions which play such a formidable part in social +life, and which must be recognized as the correlatives of the +affinities that distribute the individuals governed by them in the +face of impediments which seem to be impossibilities,--then it may be +freely given to the world. + +But if I am here when the leaves are all fallen, the programme of my +life will have changed, and this story of the dead past will be +illuminated by the light of a living present which will irradiate all +its saddening features. Who would not pray that my last gleam of +light and hope may be that of dawn and not of departing day? + +The reader who finds it hard to accept the reality of a story so far +from the common range of experience is once more requested to suspend +his judgment until he has read the paper which will next be offered +for his consideration. + + +THE REPORT OF THE BIOLOGICAL COMMITTEE. + +Perhaps it is too much to expect a reader who wishes to be +entertained, excited, amused, and does not want to work his passage +through pages which he cannot understand without some effort of his +own, to read the paper which follows and Dr. Butts's reflections upon +it. If he has no curiosity in the direction of these chapters, he +can afford to leave them to such as relish a slight flavor of +science. But if he does so leave them he will very probably remain +sceptical as to the truth of the story to which they are meant to +furnish him with a key. + +Of course the case of Maurice Kirkwood is a remarkable and +exceptional one, and it is hardly probable that any reader's +experience will furnish him with its parallel. But let him look back +over all his acquaintances, if he has reached middle life, and see if +he cannot recall more than one who, for some reason or other, shunned +the society of young women, as if they had a deadly fear of their +company. If he remembers any such, he can understand the simple +statements and natural reflections which are laid before him. + +One of the most singular facts connected with the history of Maurice +Kirkwood was the philosophical equanimity with which he submitted to +the fate which had fallen upon him. He did not choose to be pumped +by the Interviewer, who would show him up in the sensational columns +of his prying newspaper. He lived chiefly by himself, as the easiest +mode of avoiding those meetings to which he would be exposed in +almost every society into which he might venture. But he had learned +to look upon himself very much as he would upon an intimate not +himself,--upon a different personality. A young man will naturally +enough be ashamed of his shyness. It is something which others +believe, and perhaps he himself thinks, he might overcome. But in +the case of Maurice Kirkwood there was no room for doubt as to the +reality and gravity of the long enduring effects of his first +convulsive terror. He had accepted the fact as he would have +accepted the calamity of losing his sight or his hearing. When he +was questioned by the experts to whom his case was submitted, he told +them all that he knew about it almost without a sign of emotion. +Nature was so peremptory with him,--saying in language that had no +double meaning: "If you violate the condition on which you hold my +gift of existence I slay you on the spot,"--that he became as +decisive in his obedience as she was in her command, and accepted his +fate without repining. + +Yet it must not be thought for a moment,--it cannot be supposed,-- +that he was insensible because he looked upon himself with the +coolness of an enforced philosophy. He bore his burden manfully, +hard as it was to live under it, for he lived, as we have seen, in +hope. The thought of throwing it off with his life, as too grievous +to be borne, was familiar to his lonely hours, but he rejected it as +unworthy of his manhood. How he had speculated and dreamed about it +is plain enough from the paper the reader may remember on Ocean, +River, and Lake. + +With these preliminary hints the paper promised is submitted to such +as may find any interest in them. + + + ACCOUNT OF A CASE OF GYNOPHOBIA. + + WITH REMARKS. + +Being the Substance of a Report to the Royal Academy of the Bio~ +logical Sciences by a Committee of that Institution. + +"The singular nature of the case we are about to narrate and comment +upon will, we feel confident, arrest the attention of those who have +learned the great fact that Nature often throws the strongest light +upon her laws by the apparent exceptions and anomalies which from +time to time are observed. We have done with the lusus naturae of +earlier generations. We pay little attention to the stories of +'miracles,' except so far as we receive them ready-made at the hands +of the churches which still hold to them. Not the less do we meet +with strange and surprising facts, which a century or two ago would +have been handled by the clergy and the courts, but today are calmly +recorded and judged by the best light our knowledge of the laws of +life can throw upon them. It must be owned that there are stories +which we can hardly dispute, so clear and full is the evidence in +their support, which do, notwithstanding, tax our faith and sometimes +leave us sceptical in spite of all the testimony which supports them. + +" In this category many will be disposed to place the case we commend +to the candid attention of the Academy. If one were told that a +young man, a gentleman by birth and training, well formed, in +apparently perfect health, of agreeable physiognomy and manners, +could not endure the presence of the most attractive young woman, but +was seized with deadly terror and sudden collapse of all the powers +of life, if he came into her immediate presence; if it were added +that this same young man did not shrink from the presence of an old +withered crone; that he had a certain timid liking for little maidens +who had not yet outgrown the company of their dolls, the listener +would be apt to smile, if he did not laugh, at the absurdity of the +fable. Surely, he would say, this must be the fiction of some +fanciful brain, the whim of some romancer, the trick of some +playwright. It would make a capital farce, this idea, carried out. +A young man slighting the lovely heroine of the little comedy and +making love to her grandmother! This would, of course, be +overstating the truth of the story, but to such a misinterpretation +the plain facts lend themselves too easily. We will relate the +leading circumstances of the case, as they were told us with perfect +simplicity and frankness by the subject of an affection which, if +classified, would come under the general head of Antipathy, but to +which, if we give it a name, we shall have to apply the term +Gynophobia, or Fear of Woman." + +Here follows the account furnished to the writer of the paper, which +is in all essentials identical with that already laid before the +reader. + +" Such is the case offered to our consideration. Assuming its +truthfulness in all its particulars, it remains to see in the first +place whether or not it is as entirely exceptional and anomalous as +it seems at first sight, or whether it is only the last term of a +series of cases which in their less formidable aspect are well known +to us in literature, in the records of science, and even in our +common experience. + +"To most of those among us the explanations we are now about to give +are entirely superfluous. But there are some whose chief studies +have been in different directions, and who will not complain if +certain facts are mentioned which to the expert will seem +rudimentary, and which hardly require recapitulation to those who are +familiarly acquainted with the common text-books. + +"The heart is the centre of every living movement in the higher +animals, and in man, furnishing in varying amount, or withholding to +a greater or less extent, the needful supplies to all parts of the +system. If its action is diminished to a certain degree, faintness +is the immediate consequence; if it is arrested, loss of +consciousness; if its action is not soon restored, death, of which +fainting plants the white flag, remains in possession of the system. + +How closely the heart is under the influence of the emotions we need +not go to science to learn, for all human experience and all +literature are overflowing with evidence that shows the extent of +this relation. Scripture is full of it; the heart in Hebrew poetry +represents the entire life, we might almost say. Not less forcible +is the language of Shakespeare, as for instance, in 'Measure for +Measure:' + + 'Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, + Making it both unable for itself + And dispossessing all my other parts + Of necessary fitness?' + +More especially is the heart associated in every literature with the +passion of love. A famous old story is that of Galen, who was called +to the case of a young lady long ailing, and wasting away from some +cause the physicians who had already seen her were unable to make +out. The shrewd old practitioner suspected that love was at the +bottom of the young lady's malady. Many relatives and friends of +both sexes, all of them ready with their sympathy, came to see her. +The physician sat by her bedside during one of these visits, and in +an easy, natural way took her hand and placed a finger on her pulse. +It beat quietly enough until a certain comely young gentleman entered +the apartment, when it suddenly rose infrequency, and at the same +moment her hurried breathing, her changing color, pale and flushed by +turns, betrayed the profound agitation his presence excited. This +was enough for the sagacious Greek; love was the disease, the cure of +which by its like may be claimed as an anticipation of homoeopathy. +In the frontispiece to the fine old 'Junta' edition of the works of +Galen, you may find among the wood-cuts a representation of the +interesting scene, with the title Amantas Dignotio,--the diagnosis, +or recognition, of the lover. + +"Love has many languages, but the heart talks through all of them. +The pallid or burning cheek tells of the failing or leaping fountain +which gives it color. The lovers at the 'Brookside' could hear each +other's hearts beating. When Genevieve, in Coleridge's poem, forgot +herself, and was beforehand with her suitor in her sudden embrace, + + 'T was partly love and partly fear, + And partly 't was a bashful art, + That I might rather feel than see + The swelling of her heart' + +Always the heart, whether its hurried action is seen, or heard, or +felt. But it is not always in this way that the 'deceitful' organ +treats the lover. + + 'Faint heart never won fair lady.' + +This saying was not meant, perhaps, to be taken literally, but it has +its literal truth. Many a lover has found his heart sink within +him,--lose all its force, and leave him weak as a child in his +emotion at the sight of the object of his affections. When Porphyro +looked upon Madeline at her prayers in the chapel, it was too much +for him: + + 'She seemed a splendid angel, newly drest, + Save wings, for heaven:--Porphyro grew faint, + She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from earthly taint.' + +And in Balzac's novel, 'Cesar Birotteau,' the hero of the story +'fainted away for-joy at the moment when, under a linden-tree, at +Sceaux, Constance-Barbe-Josephine accepted him as her future +husband.' + +"One who faints is dead if he does not I come to,' and nothing is +more likely than that too susceptible lovers have actually gone off +in this way. Everything depends on how the heart behaves itself in +these and similar trying moments. The mechanism of its actions +becomes an interesting subject, therefore, to lovers of both sexes, +and to all who are capable of intense emotions. + +"The heart is a great reservoir, which distributes food, drink, air, +and heat to every part of the system, in exchange for its waste +material. It knocks at the gate of every organ seventy or eighty +times in a minute, calling upon it to receive its supplies and unload +its refuse. Between it and the brain there is the closest relation. +The emotions, which act upon it as we have seen, govern it by a +mechanism only of late years thoroughly understood. This mechanism +can be made plain enough to the reader who is not afraid to believe +that he can understand it. + +"The brain, as all know, is the seat of ideas, emotions, volition. +It is the great central telegraphic station with which many lesser +centres are in close relation, from which they receive, and to which +they transmit, their messages. The heart has its own little brains, +so to speak,--small collections of nervous substance which govern its +rhythmical motions under ordinary conditions. But these lesser +nervous centres are to a large extent dominated by influences +transmitted from certain groups of nerve-cells in the brain and its +immediate dependencies. + +"There are two among the special groups of nerve-cells which produce +directly opposite effects. One of these has the power of +accelerating the action of the heart, while the other has the power +of retarding or arresting this action. One acts as the spur, the +other as the bridle. According as one or the other predominates, the +action of the heart will be stimulated or restrained. Among the +great modern discoveries in physiology is that of the existence of a +distinct centre of inhibition, as the restraining influence over the +heart is called. + +"The centre of inhibition plays a terrible part in the history of +cowardice and of unsuccessful love. No man can be brave without +blood to sustain his courage, any more than he can think, as the +German materialist says, not absurdly, without phosphorus. The +fainting lover must recover his circulation, or his lady will lend +him her smelling-salts and take a gallant with blood in his cheeks. +Porphyro got over his faintness before he ran away with Madeline, and +Cesar Birotteau was an accepted lover when he swooned with happiness: +but many an officer has been cashiered, and many a suitor has been +rejected, because the centre of inhibition has got the upper hand of +the centre of stimulation. + +"In the well-known cases of deadly antipathy which have been +recorded, the most frequent cause has been the disturbed and +depressing influence of the centre of inhibition. Fainting at the +sight of blood is one of the commonest examples of this influence. A +single impression, in a very early period of atmospheric existence,-- +perhaps, indirectly, before that period, as was said to have happened +in the case of James the First of England,--may establish a +communication between this centre and the heart which will remain +open ever afterwards. How does a footpath across a field establish +itself? Its curves are arbitrary, and what we call accidental, but +one after another follows it as if he were guided by a chart on which +it was laid down. So it is with this dangerous transit between the +centre of inhibition and the great organ of life. If once the path +is opened by the track of some profound impression, that same +impression, if repeated, or a similar one, is likely to find the old +footmarks and follow them. Habit only makes the path easier to +traverse, and thus the unreasoning terror of a child, of an infant, +may perpetuate itself in a timidity which shames the manhood of its +subject. + +"The case before us is an exceptional and most remarkable example of +the effect of inhibition on the heart. + +"We will not say that we believe it to be unique in the history of +the human race; on the contrary, we do not doubt that there have been +similar cases, and that in some rare instances sudden death has been +the consequence of seizures like that of the subject of this Report. +The case most like it is that of Colone Townsend, which is too well +known to require any lengthened description in this paper. It is +enough to recall the main facts. He could by a voluntary effort +suspend the action of his heart for a considerable period, during +which he lay like one dead, pulseless, and without motion. After a +time the circulation returned, and he does not seem to have been the +worse for his dangerous, or seemingly dangerous, experiment. But in +his case it was by an act of the will that the heart's action was +suspended. In the case before us it is an involuntary impulse +transmitted from the brain to the inhibiting centre, which arrests +the cardiac movements. + +"What is like to be the further history of the case? + +"The subject of this anomalous affliction is now more than twenty +years old. The chain of nervous actions has become firmly +established. It might have been hoped that the changes of +adolescence would have effected a transformation of the perverted +instinct. On the contrary, the whole force of this instinct throws +itself on the centre of inhibition, instead of quickening the heart- +beats, and sending the rush of youthful blood with fresh life through +the entire system to the throbbing finger-tips. + +"Is it probable that time and circumstances will alter a habit of +nervous interactions so long established? We are disposed to think +that there is a chance of its being broken up. And we are not afraid +to say that we suspect the old gypsy woman, whose prophecy took such +hold of the patient's imagination, has hit upon the way in which the +"spell,' as she called it, is to be dissolved. She must, in all +probability, have had a hint of the 'antipatia' to which the youth +before her was a victim, and its cause, and if so, her guess as to +the probable mode in which the young man would obtain relief from his +unfortunate condition was the one which would naturally suggest +itself. + +"If once the nervous impression which falls on the centre of +inhibition can be made to change its course, so as to follow its +natural channel, it will probably keep to that channel ever +afterwards. And this will, it is most likely, be effected by some +sudden, unexpected impression. If he were drowning, and a young +woman should rescue him, it is by no means impossible that the change +in the nervous current we have referred to might be brought about as +rapidly, as easily, as the reversal of the poles in a magnet, which +is effected in an instant. But he cannot be expected to throw +himself into the water just at the right moment when the 'fair lady' +of the gitana's prophecy is passing on the shore. Accident may +effect the cure which art seems incompetent to perform. It would not +be strange if in some future seizure he should never come back to +consciousness. But it is quite conceivable, on the other hand, that +a happier event may occur, that in a single moment the nervous +polarity may be reversed, the whole course of his life changed, and +his past terrible experiences be to him like a scarce-remembered +dream. + +"This is one, of those cases in which it is very hard to determine +the wisest course to be pursued. The question is not unlike that +which arises in certain cases of dislocation of the bones of the +neck. Shall the unfortunate sufferer go all his days with his face +turned far round to the right or the left, or shall an attempt be +made to replace the dislocated bones? an attempt which may succeed, +or may cause instant death. The patient must be consulted as to +whether he will take the chance. The practitioner may be unwilling +to risk it, if the patient consents. Each case must be judged on its +own special grounds. We cannot think that this young man is doomed +to perpetual separation from the society of womanhood during the +period of its bloom and attraction. But to provoke another seizure +after his past experiences would be too much like committing suicide. +We fear that we must trust to the chapter of accidents. The strange +malady--for such it is--has become a second nature, and may require +as energetic a shock to displace it as it did to bring it into +existence. Time alone can solve this question, on which depends the +well-being and, it may be, the existence of a young man every way +fitted to be happy, and to give happiness, if restored to his true +nature." + + + + +XX. + +DR. BUTTS REFLECTS. + +Dr. Butts sat up late at night reading these papers and reflecting +upon them. He was profoundly impressed and tenderly affected by the +entire frankness, the absence of all attempt at concealment, which +Maurice showed in placing these papers at his disposal. He believed +that his patient would recover from this illness for which he had +been taking care of him. He thought deeply and earnestly of what he +could do for him after he should have regained his health and +strength. + +There were references, in Maurice's own account of himself, which the +doctor called to mind with great interest after reading his brief +autobiography. Some one person--some young woman, it must be--had +produced a singular impression upon him since those earlier perilous +experiences through which he had passed. The doctor could not help +thinking of that meeting with Euthymia of which she had spoken to +him. Maurice, as she said, turned pale,--he clapped his hand to his +breast. He might have done so if be had met her chambermaid, or any +straggling damsel of the village. But Euthymia was not a young woman +to be looked upon with indifference. She held herself like a queen, +and walked like one, not a stage queen, but one born and bred to +self-reliance, and command of herself as well as others. One could +not pass her without being struck with her noble bearing and spirited +features. If she had known how Maurice trembled as he looked upon +her, in that conflict of attraction and uncontrollable dread,--if she +had known it! But what, even then, could she have done? Nothing but +get away from him as fast as she could. As it was, it was a long +time before his agitation subsided, and his heart beat with its +common force and frequency. + +Dr. Butts was not a male gossip nor a matchmaking go-between. But he +could not help thinking what a pity it was that these two young +persons could not come together as other young people do in the +pairing season, and find out whether they cared for and were fitted +for each other. He did not pretend to settle this question in his +own mind, but the thought was a natural one. And here was a gulf +between them as deep and wide as that between Lazarus and Dives. +Would it ever be bridged over? This thought took possession of the +doctor's mind, and he imagined all sorts of ways of effecting some +experimental approximation between Maurice and Euthymia. From this +delicate subject he glanced off to certain general considerations +suggested by the extraordinary history he had been reading. He began +by speculating as to the possibility of the personal presence of an +individual making itself perceived by some channel other than any of +the five senses. The study of the natural sciences teaches those who +are devoted to them that the most insignificant facts may lead the +way to the discovery of the most important, all-pervading laws of the +universe. From the kick of a frog's hind leg to the amazing triumphs +which began with that seemingly trivial incident is a long, a very +long stride if Madam Galvani had not been in delicate health, which +was the occasion of her having some frog-broth prepared for her, the +world of to-day might not be in possession of the electric telegraph +and the light which blazes like the sun at high noon. A common- +looking occurrence, one seemingly unimportant, which had hitherto +passed unnoticed with the ordinary course of things, was the means of +introducing us to a new and vast realm of closely related phenomena. +It was like a key that we might have picked up, looking so simple +that it could hardly fit any lock but one of like simplicity, but +which should all at once throw back the bolts of the one lock which +had defied the most ingenious of our complex implements and open our +way into a hitherto unexplored territory. + +It certainly was not through the eye alone that Maurice felt the +paralyzing influence. He could contemplate Euthymia from a distance, +as he did on the day of the boat-race, without any nervous +disturbance. A certain proximity was necessary for the influence to +be felt, as in the case of magnetism and electricity. An atmosphere +of danger surrounded every woman he approached during the period when +her sex exercises its most powerful attractions. How far did that +atmosphere extend, and through what channel did it act? + +The key to the phenomena of this case, he believed, was to be found +in a fact as humble as that which gave birth to the science of +galvanism and its practical applications. The circumstances +connected with the very common antipathy to cats were as remarkable +in many points of view as the similar circumstances in the case of +Maurice Kirkwood. The subjects of that antipathy could not tell what +it was which disturbed their nervous system. All they knew was that +a sense of uneasiness, restlessness, oppression, came over them in +the presence of one of these animals. He remembered the fact already +mentioned, that persons sensitive to this impression can tell by +their feelings if a cat is concealed in the apartment in which they +may happen to be. It may be through some emanation. It may be +through the medium of some electrical disturbance. What if the +nerve-thrills passing through the whole system of the animal +propagate themselves to a certain distance without any more regard to +intervening solids than is shown by magnetism? A sieve lets sand +pass through it; a filter arrests sand, but lets fluids pass, glass +holds fluids, but lets light through; wood shuts out light, but +magnetic attraction goes through it as sand went through the sieve. +No good reasons can be given why the presence of a cat should not +betray itself to certain organizations, at a distance, through the +walls of a box in which the animal is shut up. We need not +disbelieve the stories which allege such an occurrence as a fact and +a not very infrequent one. + +If the presence of a cat can produce its effects under these +circumstances, why should not that of a human being under similar +conditions, acting on certain constitutions, exercise its specific +influence? The doctor recalled a story told him by one of his +friends, a story which the friend himself heard from the lips of the +distinguished actor, the late Mr. Fechter. The actor maintained that +Rachel had no genius as an actress. It was all Samson's training and +study, according to him, which explained the secret of her wonderful +effectiveness on the stage. But magnetism, he said,--magnetism, she +was full of. He declared that he was made aware of her presence on +the stage, when he could not see her or know of her presence +otherwise, by this magnetic emanation. The doctor took the story for +what it was worth. There might very probably be exaggeration, +perhaps high imaginative coloring about it, but it was not a whit +more unlikely than the cat-stories, accepted as authentic. He +continued this train of thought into further developments. Into this +series of reflections we will try to follow him. + +What is the meaning of the halo with which artists have surrounded +the heads of their pictured saints, of the aureoles which wraps them +like a luminous cloud? Is it not a recognition of the fact that +these holy personages diffuse their personality in the form of a +visible emanation, which reminds us of Milton's definition of light: + + "Bright effluence of bright essence increate"? + +The common use of the term influence would seem to imply the +existence of its correlative, effluence. There is no good reason +that I can see, the doctor said to himself, why among the forces +which work upon the nervous centres there should not be one which +acts at various distances from its source. It may not be visible +like the "glory" of the painters, it may not be appreciable by any +one of the five senses, and yet it may be felt by the person reached +by it as much as if it were a palpable presence,--more powerfully, +perhaps, from the mystery which belongs to its mode of action. + +Why should not Maurice have been rendered restless and anxious by the +unseen nearness of a young woman who was in the next room to him, +just as the persons who have the dread of cats are made conscious of +their presence through some unknown channel? Is it anything strange +that the larger and more powerful organism should diffuse a +consciousness of its presence to some distance as well as the +slighter and feebler one? Is it strange that this mysterious +influence or effluence should belong especially or exclusively to the +period of complete womanhood in distinction from that of immaturity +or decadence? On the contrary, it seems to be in accordance with all +the analogies of nature,--analogies too often cruel in the sentence +they pass upon the human female. + +Among the many curious thoughts which came up in the doctor's mind +was this, which made him smile as if it were a jest, but which he +felt very strongly had its serious side, and was involved with the +happiness or suffering of multitudes of youthful persons who die +without telling their secret: + +How many young men have a mortal fear of woman, as woman, which they +never overcome, and in consequence of which the attraction which +draws man towards her, as strong in them as in others,--oftentimes, +in virtue of their peculiarly sensitive organizations, more potent in +them than in others of like age and conditions,--in consequence of +which fear, this attraction is completely neutralized, and all the +possibilities of doubled and indefinitely extended life depending +upon it are left unrealized! Think what numbers of young men in +Catholic countries devote themselves to lives of celibacy. Think how +many young men lose all their confidence in the presence of the young +woman to whom they are most attracted, and at last steal away from a +companionship which it is rapture to dream of and torture to endure, +so does the presence of the beloved object paralyze all the powers of +expression. Sorcerers have in all time and countries played on the +hopes and terrors of lovers. Once let loose a strong impulse on the +centre of inhibition, and the warrior who had faced bayonets and +batteries becomes a coward whom the well-dressed hero of the ball- +room and leader of the German will put to ignominious flight in five +minutes of easy, audacious familiarity with his lady-love. + +Yes, the doctor went on with his reflections, I do not know that I +have seen the term Gynophobia before I opened this manuscript, but I +have seen the malady many times. Only one word has stood between +many a pair of young people and their lifelong happiness, and that +word has got as far as the lips, but the lips trembled and would not, +could not, shape that little word. All young women are not like +Coleridge's Genevieve, who knew how to help her lover out of his +difficulty, and said yes before he had asked for an answer. So the +wave which was to have wafted them on to the shore of Elysium has +just failed of landing them, and back they have been drawn into the +desolate ocean to meet no more on earth. + +Love is the master-key, he went on thinking, love is the master-key +that opens the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and, most +easily of all, the gate of fear. How terrible is the one fact of +beauty!--not only the historic wonder of beauty, that "burnt the +topless towers of Ilium "for the smile of Helen, and fired the +palaces of Babylon by the hand of Thais, but the beauty which springs +up in all times and places, and carries a torch and wears a serpent +for a wreath as truly as any of the Eumenides. Paint Beauty with her +foot upon a skull and a dragon coiled around her. + +The doctor smiled at his own imposing classical allusions and +pictorial imagery. Drifting along from thought to thought, he +reflected on the probable consequences of the general knowledge of +Maurice Kirkwood's story, if it came before the public. + +What a piece of work it would make among the lively youths of the +village, to be sure! What scoffing, what ridicule, what +embellishments, what fables, would follow in the trail of the story! +If the Interviewer got hold of it, how "The People's Perennial and +Household Inquisitor" would blaze with capitals in its next issue! +The young fellows' of the place would be disposed to make fun of the +whole matter. The young girls-the doctor hardly dared to think what +would happen when the story got about among them. "The Sachem" of +the solitary canoe, the bold horseman, the handsome hermit,--handsome +so far as the glimpses they had got of him went,--must needs be an +object of tender interest among them, now that he was ailing, +suffering, in danger of his life, away from friends,--poor fellow! +Little tokens of their regard had reached his sick-chamber; bunches +of flowers with(dainty little notes, some of them pinkish, some +three-cornered, some of them with brief messages, others "criss- +crossed," were growing more frequent as it was understood that the +patient was likely to be convalescent before many days had passed. +If it should come to be understood that there was a deadly obstacle +to their coming into any personal relations with him, the doctor had +his doubts whether there were not those who would subject him to the +risk; for there were coquettes in the village,--strangers, visitors, +let us hope,--who would sacrifice anything or anybody to their vanity +and love of conquest. + + + + +XXI + +AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION. + +The illness from which Maurice had suffered left him in a state of +profound prostration. The doctor, who remembered the extreme danger +of any overexertion in such cases, hardly allowed him to lift his +head from the pillow. But his mind was gradually recovering its +balance, and he was able to hold some conversation with those about +him. His faithful Paolo had grown so thin in waiting upon him and +watching with him that the village children had to take a second look +at his face when they passed him to make sure that it was indeed +their old friend and no other. But as his master advanced towards +convalescence and the doctor assured him that he was going in all +probability to get well, Paolo's face began to recover something of +its old look and expression, and once more his pockets filled +themselves with comfits for his little circle of worshipping three +and four year old followers. + +How is Mr. Kirkwood?" was the question with which he was always +greeted. In the worst periods of the fever be rarely left his +master. When he did, and the question was put to him, he would shake +his head sadly, sometimes without a word, sometimes with tears and +sobs and faltering words,--more like a brokenhearted child than a +stalwart man as he was, such a man as soldiers are made of in the +great Continental armies. + +"He very bad,--he no eat nothing,--he--no say nothing,--he never be +no better," and all his Southern nature betrayed itself in a +passionate burst of lamentation. But now that he began to feel easy +about his master, his ready optimism declared itself no less +transparently. + +"He better every day now. He get well in few weeks, sure. You see +him on hoss in little while." The kind-hearted creature's life was +bound up in that of his "master," as he loved to call him, in +sovereign disregard of the comments of the natives, who held +themselves too high for any such recognition of another as their +better. They could not understand how he, so much their superior in +bodily presence, in air and manner, could speak of the man who +employed him in any other way than as "Kirkwood," without even +demeaning himself so far as to prefix a "Mr." to it. But "my +master" Maurice remained for Paolo in spite of the fact that all men +are born free and equal. And never was a servant more devoted to a +master than was Paolo to Maurice during the days of doubt and danger. +Since his improvement Maurice insisted upon his leaving his chamber +and getting out of the house, so as to breathe the fresh air of which +he was in so much need. It worried him to see his servant returning +after too short an absence. The attendant who had helped him in the +care of the patient was within call, and Paolo was almost driven out +of the house by the urgency of his master's command that he should +take plenty of exercise in the open air. + +Notwithstanding the fact of Maurice's improved condition, although +the force of the disease had spent itself, the state of weakness to +which he had been reduced was a cause of some anxiety, and required +great precautions to be taken. He lay in bed, wasted, enfeebled to +such a degree that he had to be cared for very much as a child is +tended. Gradually his voice was coming back to him, so that he could +hold some conversation, as was before mentioned, with those about +him. The doctor waited for the right moment to make mention of the +manuscript which Maurice had submitted to him. Up to this time, +although it had been alluded to and the doctor had told him of the +intense interest with which he had read it, he had never ventured to +make it the subject of any long talk, such as would be liable to +fatigue his patient. But now he thought the time had come. + +"I have been thinking," the doctor said, "of the singular seizures to +which you are liable, and as it is my business not merely to think +about such cases, but to do what I can to help any who may be capable +of receiving aid from my art, I wish to have some additional facts +about your history. And in the first place, will you allow me to ask +what led you to this particular place? It is so much less known to +the public at large than many other resorts that we naturally ask, +What brings this or that new visitor among us? We have no ill- +tasting, natural spring of bad water to be analyzed by the state +chemist and proclaimed as a specific. We have no great gambling- +houses, no racecourse (except that fox boats on the lake); we have no +coaching-club, no great balls, few lions of any kind, so we ask, What +brings this or that stranger here? And I think I may venture to ask +you whether any, special motive brought you among us, or whether it +was accident that determined your coming to this place." + +"Certainly, doctor," Maurice answered, "I will tell you with great +pleasure. Last year I passed on the border of a great river. The +year before I lived in a lonely cottage at the side of the ocean. I +wanted this year to be by a lake. You heard the paper read at the +meeting of your society, or at least you heard of it,--for such +matters are always talked over in a village like this. You can judge +by that paper, or could, if it were before you, of the frame of mind +in which I came here. I was tired of the sullen indifference of the +ocean and the babbling egotism of the river, always hurrying along on +its own private business. I wanted the dreamy stillness of a large, +tranquil sheet of water that had nothing in particular to do, and +would leave me to myself and my thoughts. I had read somewhere about +the place, and the old Anchor Tavern, with its paternal landlord and +motherly landlady and old-fashioned household, and that, though it +was no longer open as a tavern, I could find a resting-place there +early in the season, at least for a few days, while I looked about me +for a quiet place in which I might pass my summer. I have found this +a pleasant residence. By being up early and out late I have kept +myself mainly in the solitude which has become my enforced habit of +life. The season has gone by too swiftly for me since my dream has +become a vision." + +The doctor was sitting with his hand round Maurice's wrist, three +fingers on his pulse. As he spoke these last words he noticed that +the pulse fluttered a little,--beat irregularly a few times; +intermitted; became feeble and thready; while his cheek grew whiter +than the pallid bloodlessness of his long illness had left it. + +"No more talk, now," he said. "You are too tired to be using your +voice. I will hear all the rest another time." + +The doctor had interrupted Maurice at an interesting point. What did +he mean by saying that his dream had become a vision? This is what +the doctor was naturally curious, and professionally anxious, to +know. But his hand was still on his patient's pulse, which told him +unmistakably that the heart had taken the alarm and was losing its +energy under the depressing nervous influence. Presently, however, +it recovered its natural force and rhythm, and a faint flush came +back to the pale cheek. The doctor remembered the story of Galen, +and the young maiden whose complaint had puzzled the physicians. + +The next day his patient was well enough to enter once more into +conversation. + +"You said something about a dream of yours which had become a +vision," said the doctor, with his fingers on his patient's wrist, as +before. He felt the artery leap, under his pressure, falter a +little, stop, then begin again, growing fuller in its beat. The +heart had felt the pull of the bridle, but the spur had roused it to +swift reaction. + +"You know the story of my past life, doctor," Maurice answered; "and, +I will tell you what is the vision which has taken the place of my +dreams. You remember the boat-race? I watched it from a distance, +but I held a powerful opera-glass in my hand, which brought the whole +crew of the young ladies' boat so close to me that I could see the +features, the figures, the movements, of every one of the rowers. I +saw the little coxswain fling her bouquet in the track of the other +boat,--you remember how the race was lost and won,--but I saw one +face among those young girls which drew me away from all the rest. +It was that of the young lady who pulled the bow oar, the captain of +the boat's crew. I have since learned her name, you know it well,--I +need not name her. Since that day I have had many distant glimpses +of her; and once I met her so squarely that the deadly sensation came +over me, and I felt that in another moment I should fall senseless at +her feet. But she passed on her way and I on mine, and the spasm +which had clutched my heart gradually left it, and I was as well as +before. You know that young lady, doctor?" + +"I do; and she is a very noble creature. You are not the first young +man who has been fascinated, almost at a glance, by Miss Euthymia +Tower. And she is well worth knowing more intimately." + +The doctor gave him a full account of the young lady, of her early +days, her character, her accomplishments. To all this he listened +devoutly, and when the doctor left him he said to himself, +"I will see her and speak with her, if it costs me my life." + + + + +XXII + +EUTHYMIA. + +"The Wonder" of the Corinna Institute had never willingly made a show +of her gymnastic accomplishments. Her feats, which were so much +admired, were only her natural exercise. Gradually the dumb-bells +others used became too light for her, the ropes she climbed too +short, the clubs she exercised with seemed as if they were made of +cork instead of being heavy wood, and all the tests and meters of +strength and agility had been strained beyond the standards which the +records of the school had marked as their historic maxima. It was +not her fault that she broke a dynamometer one day; she apologized +for it, but the teacher said he wished he could have a dozen broken +every year in the same way. The consciousness of her bodily strength +had made her very careful in her movements. The pressure of her hand +was never too hard for the tenderest little maiden whose palm was +against her own. So far from priding herself on her special gifts, +she was disposed to be ashamed of them. There were times and places +in which she could give full play to her muscles without fear or +reproach. She had her special costume for the boat and for the +woods. She would climb the rugged old hemlocks now and then for the +sake of a wide outlook, or to peep into the large nest where a hawk, +or it may be an eagle, was raising her little brood of air-pirates. + +There were those who spoke of her wanderings in lonely places as an +unsafe exposure. One sometimes met doubtful characters about the +neighborhood, and stories were--told of occurrences which might well +frighten a young girl, and make her cautious of trusting herself +alone in the wild solitudes which surrounded the little village.. +Those who knew Euthymia thought her quite equal to taking care of +herself. Her very look was enough to ensure the respect of any +vagabond who might cross her path, and if matters came to the worst +she would prove as dangerous as a panther. + +But it was a pity to associate this class of thoughts with a noble +specimen of true womanhood. Health, beauty, strength, were fine +qualities, and in all these she was rich. She enjoyed all her +natural gifts, and thought little about them. Unwillingly, but over- +persuaded by some of her friends, she had allowed her arm and hand to +be modelled. The artists who saw the cast wondered if it would be +possible to get the bust of the maiden from whom it was taken. +Nobody would have dared to suggest such an idea to her except Lurida. +For Lurida sex was a trifling accident, to be disregarded not only in +the interests of humanity, but for the sake of art. + +"It is a shame," she said to Euthymia, "that you will not let your +exquisitely moulded form be perpetuated in marble. You have no right +to withhold such a model from the contemplation of your fellow- +creatures. Think how rare it is to see a woman who truly represents +the divine idea! You belong to your race, and not to yourself,--at +least, your beauty is a gift not to be considered as a piece of +private property. Look at the so-called Venus of Milo. Do you +suppose the noble woman who was the original of that divinely chaste +statue felt any scruple about allowing the sculptor to reproduce her +pure, unblemished perfections?" + +Euthymia was always patient with her imaginative friend. She +listened to her eloquent discourse, but she could not help blushing, +used as she was to Lurida's audacities. "The Terror's" brain had run +away with a large share of the blood which ought to have gone to the +nourishment of her general system. She could not help admiring, +almost worshipping, a companion whose being was rich in the womanly +developments with which nature had so economically endowed herself. +An impoverished organization carries with it certain neutral +qualities which make its subject appear, in the presence of complete +manhood and womanhood, like a deaf-mute among speaking persons. The +deep blush which crimsoned Euthymia's cheek at Lurida's suggestion +was in a strange contrast to her own undisturbed expression. There +was a range of sensibilities of which Lurida knew far less than she +did of those many and difficult studies which had absorbed her vital +forces. She was startled to see what an effect her proposal had +produced, for Euthymia was not only blushing, but there was a flame +in her eyes which she had hardly ever seen before. + +"Is this only your own suggestion?" Euthymia said, "or has some one +been putting the idea into your head?" The truth was that she had +happened to meet the Interviewer at the Library, one day, and she was +offended by the long, searching stare with which that individual had +honored her. It occurred to her that he, or some such visitor to the +place, might have spoken of her to Lurida, or to some other person +who had repeated what was said to Lurida, as a good subject for the +art of the sculptor, and she felt all her maiden sensibilities +offended by the proposition. Lurida could not understand her +excitement, but she was startled by it. Natures which are +complementary of each other are liable to these accidental collisions +of feeling. They get along very well together, none the worse for +their differences, until all at once the tender spot of one or the +other is carelessly handled in utter unconsciousness on the part of +the aggressor, and the exclamation, the outcry, or the explosion +explains the situation altogether too emphatically. Such scenes did +not frequently occur between the two friends, and this little flurry +was soon over; but it served to warn Lurida that Miss Euthymia Tower +was not of that class of self-conscious beauties who would be ready +to dispute the empire of the Venus of Milo on her own ground, in +defences as scanty and insufficient as those of the marble divinity. + +Euthymia had had admirers enough, at a distance, while at school, and +in the long vacations, near enough to find out that she was anything +but easy to make love to. She fairly frightened more than one rash +youth who was disposed to be too sentimental in her company. They +overdid flattery, which she was used to and tolerated, but which +cheapened the admirer in her estimation, and now and then betrayed +her into an expression which made him aware of the fact, and was a +discouragement to aggressive amiability. The real difficulty was +that not one of her adorers had ever greatly interested her. It +could not be that nature had made her insensible. It must have been +because the man who was made for her had never yet shown himself. +She was not easy to please, that was certain; and she was one of +those young women who will not accept as a lover one who but half +pleases them. She could not pick up the first stick that fell in her +way and take it to shape her ideal out of. Many of the good people +of the village doubted whether Euthymia would ever be married. + +"There 's nothing good enough for her in this village," said the old +landlord of what had been the Anchor Tavern. + +"She must wait till a prince comes along," the old landlady said in +reply. "She'd make as pretty a queen as any of them that's born to +it. Wouldn't she be splendid with a gold crown on her head, and +di'monds a glitterin' all over her! D' you remember how handsome she +looked in the tableau, when the fair was held for the Dorcas Society? +She had on an old dress of her grandma's,--they don't make anything. +half so handsome nowadays,--and she was just as pretty as a pictur'. +But what's the use of good looks if they scare away folks? The young +fellows think that such a handsome girl as that would cost ten times +as much to keep as a plain one. She must be dressed up like an +empress,--so they seem to think. It ain't so with Euthymy: she'd +look like a great lady dressed anyhow, and she has n't got any more +notions than the homeliest girl that ever stood before a glass to +look at herself." + +In the humbler walks of Arrowhead Village society, similar opinions +were entertained of Miss Euthymia. The fresh-water fisherman +represented pretty well the average estimate of the class to which he +belonged. 'I tell ye," said he to another gentleman of leisure, +whose chief occupation was to watch the coming and going of the +visitors to Arrowhead Village,--"I tell ye that girl ain't a gon to +put up with any o' them slab-sided fellahs that you see hangin' +raound to look at her every Sunday when she comes aout o' meetin'. +It's one o' them big gents from Boston or New York that'll step up +an' kerry her off." + +In the mean time nothing could be further from the thoughts of +Euthymia than the prospect of an ambitious worldly alliance. The +ideals of young women cost them many and great disappointments, but +they save them very often from those lifelong companionships which +accident is constantly trying to force upon them, in spite of their +obvious unfitness. The higher the ideal, the less likely is the +commonplace neighbor who has the great advantage of easy access, or +the boarding-house acquaintance who can profit by those vacant hours +when the least interesting of visitors is better than absolute +loneliness,--the less likely are these undesirable personages to be +endured, pitied, and, if not embraced, accepted, for want of +something better. Euthymia found so much pleasure in the +intellectual companionship of Lurida, and felt her own prudence and +reserve so necessary to that independent young lady, that she had +been contented, so far, with friendship, and thought of love only in +an abstract sort of way. Beneath her abstractions there was a +capacity of loving which might have been inferred from the expression +of her features, the light that shone in her eyes, the tones of her +voice, all of which were full of the language which belongs to +susceptible natures. How many women never say to themselves that +they were born to love, until all at once the discovery opens upon +them, as the sense that he was born a painter is said to have dawned +suddenly upon Correggio! + +Like all the rest of the village and its visitors, she could not help +thinking a good deal about the young man lying ill amongst strangers. +She was not one of those who had sent him the three-cornered notes or +even a bunch of flowers. She knew that he was receiving abounding +tokens of kindness and sympathy from different quarters, and a +certain inward feeling restrained her from joining in these +demonstrations. If he had been suffering from some deadly and +contagious malady she would have risked her life to help him, without +a thought that there was any wonderful heroism in such self-devotion. +Her friend Lurida might have been capable of the same sacrifice, but +it would be after reasoning with herself as to the obligations which +her sense of human rights and duties laid upon her, and fortifying +her courage with the memory of noble deeds recorded of women in +ancient and modern history. With Euthymia the primary human +instincts took precedence of all reasoning or reflection about them. +All her sympathies were excited by the thought of this forlorn +stranger in his solitude, but she felt the impossibility of giving +any complete expression to them. She thought of Mungo Park in the +African desert, and she envied the poor negress who not only pitied +him, but had the blessed opportunity of helping and consoling him. +How near were these two human creatures, each needing the other! How +near in bodily presence, how far apart in their lives, with a barrier +seemingly impassable between them ! + + + + +XXIII + +THE MEETING OF MAURICE AND EUTHYMIA. + +These autumnal fevers, which carry off a large number of our young +people every year, are treacherous and deceptive diseases. Not only +are they liable, as has been mentioned, to various accidental +complications which may prove suddenly fatal, but too often, after +convalescence seems to be established, relapses occur which are more +serious than the disease had appeared to be in its previous course. +One morning Dr. Butts found Maurice worse instead of better, as he +had hoped and expected to find him. Weak as he was, there was every +reason to fear the issue of this return of his threatening symptoms. +There was not much to do besides keeping up the little strength which +still remained. It was all needed. + +Does the reader of these pages ever think of the work a sick man as +much as a well one has to perform while he is lying on his back and +taking what we call his "rest"? More than a thousand times an hour, +between a hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand times a week, he +has to lift the bars of the cage in which his breathing organs are +confined, to save himself from asphyxia. Rest! There is no rest +until the last long sigh tells those who look upon the dying that the +ceaseless daily task, to rest from which is death, is at last +finished. We are all galley-slaves, pulling at the levers of +respiration,--which, rising and falling like so many oars, drive us +across an unfathomable ocean from one unknown shore to another. No! +Never was a galley-slave so chained as we are to these four and +twenty oars, at which we must tug day and night all our life long + +The doctor could not find any accidental cause to account for this +relapse. It presently occurred to him that there might be some local +source of infection which had brought on the complaint, and was still +keeping up the symptoms which were the ground of alarm. He +determined to remove Maurice to his own house, where he could be sure +of pure air, and where he himself could give more constant attention +to his patient during this critical period of his disease. It was a +risk to take, but he could be carried on a litter by careful men, and +remain wholly passive during the removal. Maurice signified his +assent, as he could hardly help doing,--for the doctor's suggestion +took pretty nearly the form of a command. He thought it a matter of +life and death, and was gently urgent for his patient's immediate +change of residence. The doctor insisted on having Maurice's books +and other movable articles carried to his own house, so that he +should be surrounded by familiar sights, and not worry himself about +what might happen to objects which he valued, if they were left +behind him. + +All these dispositions were quickly and quietly made, and everything +was ready for the transfer of the patient to the house of the +hospitable physician. Paolo was at the doctor's, superintending the +arrangement of Maurice's effects and making all ready for his master. +The nurse in attendance, a trustworthy man enough in the main, +finding his patient in a tranquil sleep, left his bedside for a +little fresh air. While he was at the door he heard a shouting which +excited his curiosity, and he followed the sound until he found +himself at the border of the lake. It was nothing very wonderful +which had caused the shouting. A Newfoundland dog had been showing +off his accomplishments, and some of the idlers were betting as to +the time it would take him to bring back to his master the various +floating objects which had been thrown as far from the shore as +possible. He watched the dog a few minutes, when his attention was +drawn to a light wherry, pulled by one young lady and steered by +another. It was making for the shore, which it would soon reach. +The attendant remembered all at once, that he had left his charge, +and just before the boat came to land he turned and hurried back to +the patient. Exactly how long he had been absent he could not have +said,--perhaps a quarter of an hour, perhaps longer; the time +appeared short to him, wearied with long sitting and watching. + +It had seemed, when he stole away from Maurice's bedside, that he was +not in the least needed. The patient was lying perfectly quiet, and +to all appearance wanted nothing more than letting alone. It was +such a comfort to look at something besides the worn features of a +sick man, to hear something besides his labored breathing and faint, +half-whispered words, that the temptation to indulge in these +luxuries for a few minutes had proved irresistible. + +Unfortunately, Maurice's slumbers did not remain tranquil during the +absence of the nurse. He very soon fell into a dream, which began +quietly enough, but in the course of the sudden transitions which +dreams are in the habit of undergoing became successively anxious, +distressing, terrifying. His earlier and later experiences came up +before him, fragmentary, incoherent, chaotic even, but vivid as +reality. He was at the bottom of a coal-mine in one of those long, +narrow galleries, or rather worm-holes, in which human beings pass a +large part of their lives, like so many larvae boring their way into +the beams and rafters of some old building. How close the air was in +the stifling passage through which he was crawling! The scene +changed, and he was climbing a slippery sheet of ice with desperate +effort, his foot on the floor of a shallow niche, his hold an icicle +ready to snap in an instant, an abyss below him waiting for his foot +to slip or the icicle to break. How thin the air seemed, how +desperately hard to breathe! He was thinking of Mont Blanc, it may +be, and the fearfully rarefied atmosphere which he remembered well as +one of the great trials in his mountain ascents. No, it was not Mont +Blanc,--it was not any one of the frozen Alpine summits; it was Hecla +that he was climbing + +The smoke of the burning mountain was wrapping itself around him; he +was choking with its dense fumes; he heard the flames roaring around +him, he felt the hot lava beneath his feet, he uttered a faint cry, +and awoke. + +The room was full of smoke. He was gasping for breath, strangling in +the smothering oven which his chamber had become. + +The house was on fire! + +He tried to call for help, but his voice failed him, and died away in +a whisper. He made a desperate effort, and rose so as to sit up in +the bed for an instant, but the effort was too much for him, and he +sank back upon his pillow, helpless. He felt that his hour had come, +for he could not live in this dreadful atmosphere, and he was left +alone. He could hear the crackle of fire as the flame crept along +from one partition to another. It was a cruel fate to be left to +perish in that way,--the fate that many a martyr had had to face,--to +be first strangled and then burned. Death had not the terror for him +that it has for most young persons. He was accustomed to thinking of +it calmly, sometimes wistfully, even to such a degree that the +thought of self-destruction had come upon him as a temptation. But +here was death in an unexpected and appalling shape. He did not know +before how much he cared to live. All his old recollections came +before him as it were in one long, vivid flash. The closed vista of +memory opened to its far horizon-line, and past and present were +pictured in a single instant of clear vision. The dread moment which +had blighted his life returned in all its terror. He felt the +convulsive spring in the form of a faint, impotent spasm,--the rush +of air,--the thorns of the stinging and lacerating cradle into which +he was precipitated. One after another those paralyzing seizures +which had been like deadening blows on the naked heart seemed to +repeat themselves, as real as at the moment of their occurrence. The +pictures passed in succession with such rapidity that they appeared +almost as if simultaneous. The vision of the "inward eye " was so +intensified in this moment of peril that an instant was like an hour +of common existence. Those who have been very near drowning know +well what this description means. The development of a photograph +may not explain it, but it illustrates the curious and familiar fact +of the revived recollections of the drowning man's experience. The +sensitive plate has taken one look at a scene, and remembers it all, + + +Every little circumstance is there,--the hoof in air, the wing in +flight, the leaf as it falls, the wave as it breaks. All there, but +invisible; potentially present, but impalpable, inappreciable, as if +not existing at all. A wash is poured over it, and the whole scene +comes out in all its perfection of detail. In those supreme moments +when death stares a man suddenly in the face the rush of unwonted +emotion floods the undeveloped pictures of vanished years, stored +away in the memory, the vast panorama of a lifetime, and in one swift +instant the past comes out as vividly as if it were again the +present. So it was at this moment with the sick man, as he lay +helpless and felt that he was left to die. For he saw no hope of +relief: the smoke was drifting in clouds into the room; the flames +were very near; if he was not reached and rescued immediately it was +all over with him. + +His past life had flashed before him. Then all at once rose the +thought of his future,--of all its possibilities, of the vague hopes +which he had cherished of late that his mysterious doom would be +lifted from him. There was something, then, to be lived for, +something! There was a new life, it might be, in store for him, and +such a new life! He thought of all he was losing. Oh, could he but +have lived to know the meaning of love! And the passionate desire of +life came over him,--not the dread of death, but the longing for what +the future might yet have of happiness for him. + +All this took place in the course of a very few moments. Dreams and +visions have little to do with measured time, and ten minutes, +possibly fifteen or twenty, were all that had passed since the +beginning of those nightmare terrors which were evidently suggested +by the suffocating air he was breathing. + +What had happened? In the confusion of moving books and other +articles to the doctor's house, doors and windows had been forgotten. +Among the rest a window opening into the cellar, where some old +furniture had been left by a former occupant, had been left unclosed. +One of the lazy natives, who had lounged by the house smoking a bad +cigar, had thrown the burning stump in at this open window. He had +no particular intention of doing mischief, but he had that +indifference to consequences which is the next step above the +inclination to crime. The burning stump happened to fall among the +straw of an old mattress which had been ripped open. The smoker went +his way without looking behind him, and it so chanced that no other +person passed the house for some time. Presently the straw was in a +blaze, and from this the fire extended to the furniture, to the +stairway leading up from the cellar, and was working its way along +the entry under the stairs leading up to the apartment where Maurice +was lying. + +The blaze was fierce and swift, as it could not help being with such +a mass of combustibles,--loose straw from the mattress, dry old +furniture, and old warped floors which had been parching and +shrinking for a score or two of years. The whole house was, in the +common language of the newspaper reports, "a perfect tinder-box," and +would probably be a heap of ashes in half an hour. And there was +this unfortunate deserted sick man lying between life and death, +beyond all help unless some unexpected assistance should come to his +rescue. + +As the attendant drew near the house where Maurice was lying, he was +horror-struck to see dense volumes of smoke pouring out of the lower +windows. It was beginning to make its way through the upper windows, +also, and presently a tongue of fire shot out and streamed upward +along the side of the house. The man shrieked Fire! Fire! with all +his might, and rushed to the door of the building to make his way to +Maurice's room and save him. He penetrated but a short distance +when, blinded and choking with the smoke, he rushed headlong down the +stairs with a cry of despair that roused every man, woman, and child +within reach of a human voice. Out they came from their houses in +every quarter of the village. The shout of Fire! Fire! was the +chief aid lent by many of the young and old. Some caught up pails +and buckets: the more thoughtful ones filling them; the hastier +snatching them up empty, trusting to find water nearer the burning +building. + +Is the sick man moved? + +This was the awful question first asked,--for in the little village +all knew that Maurice was about being transferred to the doctor's +house. The attendant, white as death, pointed to the chamber where +he had left him, and gasped out, + +"He is there!" + +A ladder! A ladder! was the general cry, and men and boys rushed +off in search of one. But a single minute was an age now, and there +was no ladder to be had without a delay of many minutes. The sick +man was going to be swallowed up in the flames before it could +possibly arrive. Some were going for a blanket or a coverlet, in the +hope that the young man might have strength enough to leap from the +window and be safely caught in it. The attendant shook his head, and +said faintly, + +"He cannot move from his bed." + +One of the visitors at the village,--a millionaire, it was said,--a +kind-hearted man, spoke in hoarse, broken tones: + +"A thousand dollars to the man that will bring him from his chamber!" + +The fresh-water fisherman muttered, "I should like to save the man +and to see the money, but it ain't a thaousan' dollars, nor ten +thaousan' dollars, that'll pay a fellah for burnin' to death,--or +even chokin' to death, anyhaow." + +The carpenter, who knew the framework of every house in the village, +recent or old, shook his head. + +"The stairs have been shored up," he said, "and when the fists that +holds 'em up goes, down they'll come. It ain't safe for no man to go +over them stairs. Hurry along your ladder,--that's your only +chance." + +All was wild confusion around the burning house. The ladder they had +gone for was missing from its case,--a neighbor had carried it off +for the workmen who were shingling his roof. It would never get +there in time. There was a fire-engine, but it was nearly half a +mile from the lakeside settlement. Some were throwing on water in an +aimless, useless way; one was sending a thin stream through a garden +syringe: it seemed like doing something, at least. But all hope of +saving Maurice was fast giving way, so rapid was the progress of the +flames, so thick the cloud of smoke that filled the house and poured +from the windows. Nothing was heard but confused cries, shrieks of +women, all sorts of orders to do this and that, no one knowing what +was to be done. The ladder! The ladder! Five minutes more and it +will be too late! + +In the mean time the alarm of fire had reached Paolo, and he had +stopped his work of arranging Maurice's books in the same way as that +in which they had stood in his apartment, and followed in the +direction of the sound, little thinking that his master was lying +helpless in the burning house. "Some chimney afire," he said to +himself; but he would go and take a look, at any rate. + +Before Paolo had reached the scene of destruction and impending +death, two young women, in boating dresses of decidedly Bloomerish +aspect, had suddenly joined the throng. "The Wonder" and "The +Terror" of their school-days--Miss Euthymia rower and Miss Lurida +Vincent had just come from the shore, where they had left their +wherry. A few hurried words told them the fearful story. Maurice +Kirkwood was lying in the chamber to which every eye was turned, +unable to move, doomed to a dreadful death. All that could be hoped +was that he would perish by suffocation rather than by the flames, +which would soon be upon him. The man who had attended him had just +tried to reach his chamber, but had reeled back out of the door, +almost strangled by the smoke. A thousand dollars had been offered +to any one who would rescue the sick man, but no one had dared to +make the attempt; for the stairs might fall at any moment, if the +smoke did not blind and smother the man who passed them before they +fell. + +The two young women looked each other in the face for one swift +moment. + +"How can he be reached? " asked Lurida. "Is there nobody that will +venture his life to save a brother like that?" + +"I will venture mine," said Euthymia. + +"No! no!" shrieked Lurida,--"not you! not you ! It is a man's work, +not yours! You shall not go! Poor Lurida had forgotten all her +theories in this supreme moment. But Euthymia was not to be held +back. Taking a handkerchief from her neck, she dipped it in a pail +of water and bound it about her head. Then she took several deep +breaths of air, and filled her lungs as full as they would hold. She +knew she must not take a single breath in the choking atmosphere if +she could possibly help it, and Euthymia was noted for her power of +staying under water so long that more than once those who saw her +dive thought she would never come up again. So rapid were her +movements that they paralyzed the bystanders, who would forcibly have +prevented her from carrying out her purpose. Her imperious +determination was not to be resisted. And so Euthymia, a willing +martyr, if martyr she was to be, and not saviour, passed within the +veil that hid the sufferer. + +Lurida turned deadly pale, and sank fainting to the ground. She was +the first, but not the only one, of her sex that fainted as Euthymia +disappeared in the smoke of the burning building. Even the rector +grew very white in the face,--so white that one of his vestry-men +begged him to sit down at once, and sprinkled a few drops of water on +his forehead, to his great disgust and manifest advantage. The old +landlady was crying and moaning, and her husband was wiping his eyes +and shaking his head sadly. + +"She will nevar come out alive," he said solemnly. + +"Nor dead, neither," added the carpenter. "Ther' won't be nothing +left of neither of 'em but ashes." And the carpenter hid his face in +his hands. + +The fresh-water fisherman had pulled out a rag which he called a +"hangkercher,"--it had served to carry bait that morning,--and was +making use of its best corner to dry the tears which were running +down his cheeks. The whole village was proud of Euthymia, and with +these more quiet signs of grief were mingled loud lamentations, +coming alike from old and young. + +All this was not so much like a succession of events as it was like a +tableau. The lookers-on were stunned with its suddenness, and before +they had time to recover their bewildered senses all was lost, or +seemed lost. They felt that they should never look again on either +of those young faces. + +The rector, not unfeeling by nature, but inveterately professional by +habit, had already recovered enough to be thinking of a text for the +funeral sermon. The first that occurred to him was this,--vaguely, +of course, in the background of consciousness: + +"Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth of the midst of the +fire." + +The village undertaker was of naturally sober aspect and reflective +disposition. He had always been opposed to cremation, and here was a +funeral pile blazing before his eyes. He, too, had his human +sympathies, but in the distance his imagination pictured the final +ceremony, and how he himself should figure in a spectacle where the +usual centre piece of attraction would be wanting,--perhaps his own +services uncalled for. + +Blame him not, you whose garden-patch is not watered with the tears +of mourners. The string of self-interest answers with its chord to +every sound; it vibrates with the funeral-bell, it finds itself +trembling to the wail of the De Profundis. Not always,--not always; +let us not be cynical in our judgments, but common human nature, we +may safely say, is subject to those secondary vibrations under the +most solemn and soul-subduing influences. + +It seems as if we were doing great wrong to the scene we are +contemplating in delaying it by the description of little +circumstances and individual thoughts and feelings. But linger as we +may, we cannot compress into a chapter--we could not crowd into a +volume--all that passed through the minds and stirred the emotions of +the awe-struck company which was gathered about the scene of danger +and of terror. We are dealing with an impossibility: consciousness +is a surface; narrative is a line. + +Maurice had given himself up for lost. His breathing was becoming +every moment more difficult, and he felt that his strength could hold +out but a few minutes longer. + +"Robert!" he called in faint accents. But the attendant was not +there to answer. + +"Paolo! Paolo!" But the faithful servant, who would have given his +life for his master, had not yet reached the place where the crowd +was gathered. + +"Oh, for a breath of air! Oh, for an arm to lift me from this bed! +Too late! Too late!" he gasped, with what might have seemed his +dying expiration. + +"Not too late!" The soft voice reached his obscured consciousness as +if it had come down to him from heaven. + +In a single instant he found himself rolled in a blanket and in the +arms of--a woman! + +Out of the stifling chamber,--over the burning stairs,--close by the +tongues of fire that were lapping up all they could reach,--out into +the open air, he was borne swiftly and safely,--carried as easily as +if he had been a babe, in the strong arms of "The Wonder" of the +gymnasium, the captain of the Atalanta, who had little dreamed of the +use she was to make of her natural gifts and her school-girl +accomplishments. + +Such a cry as arose from the crowd of on-lookers! It was a sound +that none of them had ever heard before or could expect ever to hear +again, unless he should be one of the last boat-load rescued from a +sinking vessel. Then, those who had resisted the overflow of their +emotion, who had stood in white despair as they thought of these two +young lives soon to be wrapped in their burning shroud,--those stern +men--the old sea-captain, the hard-faced, moneymaking, cast-iron +tradesmen of the city counting-room--sobbed like hysteric women; it +was like a convulsion that overcame natures unused to those deeper +emotions which many who are capable of experiencing die without ever +knowing. + +This was the scene upon which the doctor and Paolo suddenly appeared +at the same moment. + +As the fresh breeze passed over the face of the rescued patient, his +eyes opened wide, and his consciousness returned in almost +supernatural lucidity. Euthymia had sat down upon a bank, and was +still supporting him. His head was resting on her bosom. Through +his awakening senses stole the murmurs of the living cradle which +rocked him with the wavelike movements of respiration, the soft +susurrus of the air that entered with every breath, the double beat +of the heart which throbbed close to his ear. And every sense, and +every instinct, and every reviving pulse told him in language like a +revelation from another world that a woman's arms were around +him, and that it was life, and not death, which her embrace had +brought him. + +She would have disengaged him from her protecting hold, but the +doctor made her a peremptory sign, which he followed by a sharp +command:-- + +"Do not move him a hair's breadth," he said. "Wait until the litter +comes. Any sudden movement might be dangerous. Has anybody a brandy +flask about him?" + +One or two members of the local temperance society looked rather +awkward, but did not come forward. + +The fresh-water fisherman was the first who spoke. + +"I han't got no brandy," he said, "but there's a drop or two of old +Medford rum in this here that you're welcome to, if it'll be of any +help. I alliz kerry a little on 't in case o' gettin' wet 'n' +chilled." + +So saying he held forth a flat bottle with the word ,Sarsaparilla +stamped on the green glass, but which contained half a pint or more +of the specific on which he relied in those very frequent exposures +which happen to persons of his calling. + +The doctor motioned back Paolo, who would have rushed at once to the +aid of Maurice, and who was not wanted at that moment. So poor +Paolo, in an agony of fear for his master, was kept as quiet as +possible, and had to content himself with asking all sorts of +questions and repeating all the prayers he could think of to Our Lady +and to his holy namesake the Apostle. + +The doctor wiped the mouth of the fisherman's bottle very carefully. +"Take a few drops of this cordial," he said, as he held it to his +patient's lips. "Hold him just so, Euthymia, without stirring. I +will watch him, and say when he is ready to be moved. The litter is +near by, waiting." Dr. Butts watched Maurice's pulse and color. The +"old Medford " knew its business. It had knocked over its tens of +thousands; it had its redeeming virtue, and helped to set up a poor +fellow now and then. It did this for Maurice very effectively. When +he seemed somewhat restored, the doctor had the litter brought to his +side, and Euthymia softly resigned her helpless burden, which Paolo +and the attendant Robert lifted with the aid of the doctor, who +walked by the patient as he was borne to the home where Mrs. Butts +had made all ready for his reception. + +As for poor Lurida, who had thought herself equal to the sanguinary +duties of the surgeon, she was left lying on the grass with an old +woman over her, working hard with fan and smelling-salts to bring her +back from her long fainting fit. + + + + +XXIV + +THE INEVITABLE. + +Why should not human nature be the same in Arrowhead Village as +elsewhere? It could not seem strange to the good people of that +place and their visitors that these two young persons, brought +together under circumstances that stirred up the deepest emotions of +which the human soul is capable, should become attached to each +other. But the bond between them was stronger than any knew, except +the good doctor, who had learned the great secret of Maurice's life. +For the first time since his infancy he had fully felt the charm +which the immediate presence of youthful womanhood carries with it. +He could hardly believe the fact when he found himself no longer the +subject of the terrifying seizures of which he had had many and +threatening experiences. + +It was the doctor's business to save his patient's life, if he could +possibly do it. Maurice had been reduced to the most perilous state +of debility by the relapse which had interrupted his convalescence. +Only by what seemed almost a miracle had he survived the exposure to +suffocation and the mental anguish through which he had passed. It +was perfectly clear to Dr. Butts that if Maurice could see the young +woman to whom he owed his life, and, as the doctor felt assured, the +revolution in his nervous system which would be the beginning of a +new existence, it would be of far more value as a restorative agency +than any or all of the drugs in the pharmacopoeia. He told this to +Euthymia, and explained the matter to her parents and friends. She +must go with him on some of his visits. Her mother should go with +her, or her sister; but this was a case of life and death, and no +maidenly scruples must keep her from doing her duty. + +The first of her visits to the sick, perhaps dying, man presented a +scene not unlike the picture before spoken of on the title-page of +the old edition of Galen. The doctor was perhaps the most agitated +of the little group. He went before the others, took his seat by the +bedside, and held the patient's wrist with his finger on the pulse. +As Euthymia entered it gave a single bound, fluttered for an instant +as if with a faint memory of its old habit, then throbbed full and +strong, comparatively, as if under the spur of some powerful +stimulus. Euthymia's task was a delicate one, but she knew how to +disguise its difficulty. + +"Here is a flower I have brought you, Mr. Kirkwood," she said, and +handed him a white chrysanthemum. He took it from her hand, and +before she knew it he took her hand into his own, and held it with a +gentle constraint. What could she do? Here was the young man whose +life she had saved, at least for the moment, and who was yet in +danger from the disease which had almost worn out his powers of +resistance. + +"Sit down by Mr. Kirkwood's side," said the doctor. "He wants to +thank you, if he has strength to do it, for saving him from the death +which seemed inevitable." + +Not many words could Maurice command. He was weak enough for womanly +tears, but their fountains no longer flowed; it was with him as with +the dying, whose eyes may light up, but rarely shed a tear. + +The river which has found a new channel widens and deepens--it; it +lets the old water-course fill up, and never returns to its forsaken +bed. The tyrannous habit was broken. The prophecy of the gitana had +verified itself, and the ill a fair woman had wrought a fairer woman +bad conquered and abolished. + +The history of Maurice Kirkwood loses its exceptional character from +the time of his restoration to his natural conditions. His +convalescence was very slow and gradual, but no further accident +interrupted its even progress. The season was over, the summer +visitors had left Arrowhead Village; the chrysanthemums were going +out of flower, the frosts had come, and Maurice was still beneath the +roof of the kind physician. The relation between him and his +preserver was so entirely apart from all common acquaintances and +friendships that no ordinary rules could apply to it. Euthymia +visited him often during the period of his extreme prostration. + +"You must come every day," the doctor said. "He gains with every +visit you make him; he pines if you miss him for a single day." So +she came and sat by him, the doctor or good Mrs. Butts keeping her +company in his presence. He grew stronger,--began to sit up in bed; +and at last Euthymia found him dressed as in health, and beginning to +walk about the room. She was startled. She had thought of herself +as a kind of nurse, but the young gentleman could hardly be said to +need a nurse any longer. She had scruples about making any further +visits. She asked Lurida what she thought about it. + +"Think about it?" said Lurida. " Why should n't you go to see a +brother as well as a sister, I should like to know? If you are +afraid to go to see Maurice Kirkwood, I am not afraid, at any rate. +If you would rather have me go than go yourself, I will do it, and +let people talk just as much as they want to. Shall I go instead of +you?" + +Euthymia was not quite sure that this would be the best thing for the +patient. The doctor had told her he thought there were special +reasons for her own course in coming daily to see him. "I am +afraid," she said, " you are too bright to be safe for him in his +weak state. Your mind is such a stimulating one, you know. A dull +sort of person like myself is better for him just now. I will +continue visiting him as long as the doctor says it is important that +I should; but you must defend me, Lurida,--I know you can explain it +all so that people will not blame me." + +Euthymia knew full well what the effect of Lurida's penetrating head- +voice would be in a convalescent's chamber. She knew how that active +mind of hers would set the young man's thoughts at work, when what he +wanted was rest of every faculty. Were not these good and sufficient +reasons for her decision? What others could there be? + +So Euthymia kept on with her visits, until she blushed to see that +she was continuing her charitable office for one who was beginning to +look too well to be called an invalid. It was a dangerous condition +of affairs, and the busy tongues of the village gossips were free in +their comments. Free, but kindly, for the story of the rescue had +melted every heart; and what could be more natural than that these +two young people whom God had brought together in the dread moment of +peril should find it hard to tear themselves asunder after the hour +of danger was past? When gratitude is a bankrupt, love only can pay +his debts; and if Maurice gave his heart to Euthymia, would not she +receive it as payment in full? + +The change which had taken place in the vital currents of Maurice +Kirkwood's system was as simple and solid a fact as the change in a +magnetic needle when the boreal becomes the austral pole, and the +austral the boreal. It was well, perhaps, that this change took +place while he was enfeebled by the wasting effects of long illness. +For all the long-defeated, disturbed, perverted instincts had found +their natural channel from the centre of consciousness to the organ +which throbs in response to every profound emotion. As his health +gradually returned, Euthymia could not help perceiving a flush in his +cheek, a glitter in his eyes, a something in the tone of his voice, +which altogether were a warning to the young maiden that the highway +of friendly intercourse was fast narrowing to a lane, at the head of +which her woman's eye could read plainly enough, "Dangerous passing." + +"You look so much better to-day, Mr. Kirkwood," she said, "that I +think I had better not play Sister of Charity any longer. The next +time we meet I hope you will be strong enough to call on me." + +She was frightened to see how pale he turned,--he was weaker than she +thought. There was a silence so profound and so long that Mrs. Butts +looked up from the stocking she was knitting. They had forgotten the +good woman's presence. + +Presently Maurice spoke,--very faintly, but Mrs. Butts dropped a +stitch at the first word, and her knitting fell into her lap as she +listened to what followed. + +"No! you must not leave me. You must never leave me. You saved my +life. But you have done more than that,--more than you know or can +ever know. To you I owe it that I am living; with you I live +henceforth, if I am to live at all. All I am, all I hope,--will you +take this poor offering from one who owes you everything, whose lips +never touched those of woman or breathed a word of love before you? + +What could Euthymia reply to this question, uttered with all the +depth of a passion which had never before found expression. + +Not one syllable of answer did listening Mrs. Butts overhear. But +she told her husband afterwards that there was nothing in the +tableaux they had had in September to compare with what she then saw. +It was indeed a pleasing picture which those two young heads +presented as Euthymia gave her inarticulate but infinitely expressive +answer to the question of Maurice Kirkwood. The good-hearted woman +thought it time to leave the young people. Down went the stocking +with the needles in it; out of her lap tumbled the ball of worsted, +rolling along the floor with its yarn trailing after it, like some +village matron who goes about circulating from hearth to hearth, +leaving all along her track the story of the new engagement or of the +arrival of the last "little stranger." + +Not many suns had set before it was told all through Arrowhead +Village that Maurice Kirkwood was the accepted lover of Euthymia +Tower. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT: AFTER-GLIMPSES. + + +MISS LURIDA VINCENT TO MRS. EUTHYMIA KIRKWOOD. +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, May 18. + +MY DEAREST EUTHYMIA,--Who would have thought, when you broke your oar +as the Atalanta flashed by the Algonquin, last June, that before the +roses came again you would find yourself the wife of a fine scholar +and grand gentleman, and the head of a household such as that of +which you are the mistress? You must not forget your old Arrowhead +Village friends. What am I saying?---you forget them! No, dearest, +I know your heart too well for that! You are not one of those who +lay aside their old friendships as they do last years bonnet when +they get a new one. You have told me all about yourself and your +happiness, and now you want me to tell you about myself and what is +going on in our little place. + +And first about myself. I have given up the idea of becoming a +doctor. I have studied mathematics so much that I have grown fond of +certainties, of demonstrations, and medicine deals chiefly in +probabilities. The practice of the art is so mixed up with the +deepest human interests that it is hard to pursue it with that even +poise of the intellect which is demanded by science. I want +knowledge pure and simple,--I do not fancy having it mixed. Neither +do I like the thought of passing my life in going from one scene of +suffering to another; I am not saintly enough for such a daily +martyrdom, nor callous enough to make it an easy occupation. I +fainted at the first operation I saw, and I have never wanted to see +another. I don't say that I wouldn't marry a physician, if the right +one asked me, but the young doctor is not forthcoming at present. +Yes, I think I might make a pretty good doctor's wife. I could teach +him a good deal about headaches and backaches and all sorts of +nervous revolutions, as the doctor says the French women call their +tantrums. I don't know but I should be willing to let him try his +new medicines on me. If he were a homeopath, I know I should; for if +a billionth of a grain of sugar won't begin to sweeten my tea or +coffee, I don't feel afraid that a billionth of a grain of anything +would poison me,--no, not if it were snake-venom; and if it were not +disgusting, I would swallow a handful of his lachesis globules, to +please my husband. But if I ever become a doctor's wife, my husband +will not be one of that kind of practitioners, you may be sure of +that, nor an "eclectic," nor a "faith-cure man." On the whole, I +don't think I want to be married at all. I don't like the male +animal very well (except such noble specimens as your husband). They +are all tyrants,--almost all,--so far as our sex is concerned, and I +often think we could get on better without them. + +However, the creatures are useful in the Society. They send us +papers, some of them well worth reading. You have told me so often +that you would like to know how the Society is getting on, and to +read some of the papers sent to it if they happened to be +interesting, that I have laid aside one or two manuscripts expressly +for your perusal. You will get them by and by. + +I am delighted to know that you keep Paolo with you. Arrowhead +Village misses him dreadfully, I can tell you. That is the reason +people become so attached to these servants with Southern sunlight in +their natures? I suppose life is not long enough to cool their blood +down to our Northern standard. Then they are so child-like, whereas +the native of these latitudes is never young after he is ten or +twelve years old. Mother says,--you know mother's old-fashioned +notions, and how shrewd and sensible she is in spite of them,--mother +says that when she was a girl families used to import young men and +young women from the country towns, who called themselves "helps," +not servants,--no, that was Scriptural; " but they did n't know +everything down in Judee," and it is not good American language. She +says that these people would live in the same household until they +were married, and the women often remain in the same service until +they died or were old and worn out, and then, what with the money +they had saved and the care and assistance they got from their former +employers, would pass a decent and comfortable old age, and be buried +in the family lot. Mother has made up her mind to the change, but +grandmother is bitter about it. She says there never was a country +yet where the population was made up of "ladies" and "gentlemen," and +she does n't believe there can be; nor that putting a spread eagle on +a copper makes a gold dollar of it. She is a pessimist after her own +fashion. She thinks all sentiment is dying out of our people. No +loyalty for the sovereign, the king-post of the political edifice, +she says; no deep attachment between employer and employed; no +reverence of the humbler members of a household for its heads; and to +make sure of continued corruption and misery, what she calls +"universal suffrage" emptying all the sewers into the great aqueduct +we all must drink from. "Universal suffrage!" I suppose we women +don't belong to the universe! Wait until we get a chance at the +ballot-box, I tell grandma, and see if we don't wash out the sewers +before they reach the aqueduct! But my pen has run away with men I +was thinking of Paolo, and what a pleasant thing it is to have one of +those child-like, warm-hearted, attachable, cheerful, contented, +humble, faithful, companionable, but never presuming grownup children +of the South waiting on one, as if everything he could do for one was +a pleasure, and carrying a look of content in his face which makes +every one who meets him happier for a glimpse of his features. + +It does seem a shame that the charming relation of master and +servant, intelligent authority and cheerful obedience, mutual +interest in each other's welfare, thankful recognition of all the +advantages which belong to domestic service in the better class of +families, should be almost wholly confined to aliens and their +immediate descendants. Why should Hannah think herself so much +better than Bridget? When they meet at the polls together, as they +will before long, they will begin to feel more of an equality than is +recognized at present. The native female turns her nose up at the +idea of "living out;" does she think herself so much superior to the +women of other nationalities? Our women will have to come to it,--so +grandmother says,--in another generation or two, and in a hundred +years, according to her prophecy, there will be a new set of old +"Miss Pollys" and " Miss Betseys" who have lived half a century in +the same families, respectful and respected, cherished, cared for in +time of need (citizens as well as servants, holding a ballot as well +as a broom, I tell her), and bringing back to us the lowly, underfoot +virtues of contentment and humility, which we do so need to carpet +the barren and hungry thoroughfare of our unstratified existence. + +There, I have got a-going, and am forgetting all the news I have to +tell you. There is an engagement you will want to know all about. +It came to pass through our famous boat-race, which you and I +remember, and shall never forget as long as we live. It seems that +the young fellow who pulled the bow oar of that men's college boat +which we had the pleasure of beating got some glimpses of Georgina, +our handsome stroke oar. I believe he took it into his head that it +was she who threw the bouquet that won the race for us. He was, as +you know, greatly mistaken, and ought to have made love to me, only +he did n't. Well, it seems he came posting down to the Institute +just before the vacation was over, and there got a sight of Georgina. +I wonder whether she told him she didn't fling the bouquet! Anyhow, +the acquaintance began in that way, and now it seems that this young +fellow, good-looking and a bright scholar, but with a good many +months more to pass in college, is her captive. It was too bad. +Just think of my bouquet's going to another girl's credit! No +matter, the old Atalanta story was paid off, at any rate. + +You want to know all about dear Dr. Butts. They say he has just been +offered a Professorship in one of the great medical colleges. I +asked him about it, and he did not say that he had or had not. +"But," said be, "suppose that I had been offered such a place; do you +think I ought to accept it and leave Arrowhead Village? Let us talk +it over," said he, "just as if I had had such an offer." I told him +he ought to stay. There are plenty of men that can get into a +Professor's chair, I said, and talk like Solomons to a class of +wondering pupils: but once get a really good doctor in a place, a man +who knows all about everybody, whether they have this or that +tendency, whether when they are sick they have a way of dying or a +way of getting well, what medicines agree with them and what drugs +they cannot take, whether they are of the sort that think nothing is +the matter with them until they are dead as smoked herring, or of the +sort that send for the minister if they get a stomach-ache from +eating too many cucumbers,--who knows all about all the people within +half a dozen miles (all the sensible ones, that is, who employ a +regular practitioner),--such a man as that, I say, is not to be +replaced like a missing piece out of a Springfield musket or a +Waltham watch. Don't go! said I. Stay here and save our precious +lives, if you can, or at least put us through in the proper way, so +that we needn't be ashamed of ourselves for dying, if we must die. +Well, Dr. Butts is not going to leave us. I hope you will have no +unwelcome occasion for his services,--you are never ill, you know,-- +but, anyhow, he is going to be here, and no matter what happens he +will be on hand. + +The village news is not of a very exciting character. Item 1. A new +house is put up over the ashes of the one in which your husband lived +while he was here. It was planned by one of the autochthonous +inhabitants with the most ingenious combination of inconveniences +that the natural man could educe from his original perversity of +intellect. To get at any one room you must pass through every other. +It is blind, or nearly so, on the only side which has a good +prospect, and commands a fine view of the barn and pigsty through +numerous windows. Item 2. We have a small fire-engine near the new +house which can be worked by a man or two, and would be equal to the +emergency of putting out a bunch of fire-crackers. Item 3. We have +a new ladder, in a bog, close to the new fire-engine, so if the new +house catches fire, like its predecessor, and there should happen to, +be a sick man on an upper floor, he can be got out without running +the risk of going up and down a burning staircase. What a blessed +thing it was that there was no fire-engine near by and no ladder at +hand on the day of the great rescue! If there had been, what a +change in your programme of life! You remember that "cup of tea +spilt on Mrs. Masham's apron," which we used to read of in one of +Everett's Orations, and all its wide-reaching consequences in the +affairs of Europe. I hunted up that cup of tea as diligently as ever +a Boston matron sought for the last leaves in her old caddy after the +tea-chests had been flung overboard at Griffin's wharf,--but no +matter about that, now. That is the way things come about in this +world. I must write a lecture on lucky mishaps, or, more elegantly, +fortunate calamities. It will be just the converse of that odd essay +of Swift's we read together, the awkward and stupid things done with +the best intentions. Perhaps I shall deliver the lecture in your +city: you will come and hear it, and bring him, won't +you, dearest? +Always, your loving + +LURIDA. + + + + +MISS LURIDA VINCENT TO MRS. EUTHYMIA KIRKWOOD. + +It seems forever since you left us, dearest Euthymia! And are you, +and is your husband, and Paolo,--good Paolo,--are you all as well and +happy as you have been and as you ought to be? I suppose our small +village seems a very quiet sort of place to pass the winter in, now +that you have become accustomed to the noise and gayety of a great +city. For all that, it is a pretty busy place this winter, I can +tell you. We have sleighing parties,--I never go to them, myself, +because I can't keep warm, and my mind freezes up when my blood cools +down below 95 or 96 deg. Fahrenheit. I had a great deal rather sit +by a good fire and read about Arctic discoveries. But I like very +well to hear the bells' jingling and to see the young people trying +to have a good time as hard as they do at a picnic. It may be that +they do, but to me a picnic is purgatory and a sleigh-ride that other +place, where, as my favorite Milton says, "frost performs the effect +of fire." I believe I have quoted him correctly; I ought to, for I +could repeat half his poems from memory once, if I cannot now. + +You must have plenty of excitement in your city life. I suppose you +recognized yourself in one of the society columns of the "Household +Inquisitor:" "Mrs. E. K., very beautiful, in an elegant," etc., etc, +"with pearls," etc., etc.,--as if you were not the ornament of all +that you wear, no matter what it is! + +I am so glad that you have married a scholar! Why should not +Maurice--you both tell me to call him so--take the diplomatic office +which has been offered him? It seems to me that he would find +himself in exactly the right place. He can talk in two or three +languages, has good manners, and a wife who--well, what shall I say +of Mrs. Kirkwood but that "she would be good company for a queen," as +our old friend the quondam landlady of the Anchor Tavern used to say? +I should so like to see you presented at Court! It seems to me that +I should be willing to hold your train for the sake of seeing you in +your court feathers and things. + +As for myself, I have been thinking of late that I would become +either a professional lecturer or head mistress of a great school or +college for girls. I have tried the first business a little. Last +month I delivered a lecture on Quaternions. I got three for my +audience; two came over from the Institute, and one from that men's +college which they try to make out to be a university, and where no +female is admitted unless she belongs among the quadrupeds. I +enjoyed lecturing, but the subject is a difficult one, and I don't +think any one of them had any very clear notion of what I was talking +about, except Rhodora,--and I know she did n't. To tell the truth, I +was lecturing to instruct myself. I mean to try something easier +next time. I have thought of the Basque language and literature. +What do you say to that? + +The Society goes on famously. We have had a paper presented and read +lately which has greatly amused some of us and provoked a few of the +weaker sort. The writer is that crabbed old Professor of Belles- +Lettres at that men's college over there. He is dreadfully hard on +the poor "poets," as they call themselves. It seems that a great +many young persons, and more especially a great many young girls, of +whom the Institute has furnished a considerable proportion, have +taken to sending him their rhymed productions to be criticised,-- +expecting to be praised, no doubt, every one of them. I must give +you one of the sauciest extracts from his paper in his own words: + +"It takes half my time to read the 'poems' sent me by young people of +both sexes. They would be more shy of doing it if they knew that I +recognize a tendency to rhyming as a common form of mental weakness, +and the publication of a thin volume of verse as prima facie evidence +of ambitious mediocrity, if not inferiority. Of course there are +exceptions to this rule of judgment, but I maintain that the +presumption is always against the rhymester as compared with the less +pretentious persons about him or her, busy with some useful calling, +--too busy to be tagging rhymed commonplaces together. Just now +there seems to be an epidemic of rhyming as bad as the dancing mania, +or the sweating sickness. After reading a certain amount of +manuscript verse one is disposed to anathematize the inventor of +homophonous syllabification. [This phrase made a great laugh when it +was read.] This, that is rhyming, must have been found out very +early, + + 'Where are you, Adam?' + + 'Here am I, Madam;' + +but it can never have been habitually practised until after the Fall. +The intrusion of tintinnabulating terminations into the +conversational intercourse of men and angels would have spoiled +Paradise itself. Milton would not have them even in Paradise Lost, +you remember. For my own part, I wish certain rhymes could be +declared contraband of written or printed language. Nothing should +be allowed to be hurled at the world or whirled with it, or furled +upon it or curled over it; all eyes should be kept away from the +skies, in spite of os homini sublime dedit; youth should be coupled +with all the virtues except truth; earth should never be reminded of +her birth; death should never be allowed to stop a mortal's breath, +nor the bell to sound his knell, nor flowers from blossoming bowers +to wave over his grave or show their bloom upon his tomb. We have +rhyming dictionaries,--let us have one from which all rhymes are +rigorously excluded. The sight of a poor creature grubbing for +rhymes to fill up his sonnet, or to cram one of those voracious, +rhyme-swallowing rigmaroles which some of our drudging poetical +operatives have been exhausting themselves of late to satiate with +jingles, makes my head ache and my stomach rebel. Work, work of some +kind, is the business of men and women, not the making of jingles! +No,--no,--no! I want to see the young people in our schools and +academies and colleges, and the graduates of these institutions, +lifted up out of the little Dismal Swamp of self-contemplating and +self-indulging and self-commiserating emotionalism which is +surfeiting the land with those literary sandwiches,--thin slices of +tinkling sentimentality between two covers looking like hard-baked +gilt gingerbread. But what faces these young folks make up at my +good advice! They get tipsy on their rhymes. Nothing intoxicates +one like his--or her--own verses, and they hold on to their metre- +ballad-mongering as the fellows that inhale nitrous oxide hold on to +the gas-bag." + +We laughed over this essay of the old Professor; though it hit us +pretty hard. The best part of the joke is that the old man himself +published a thin volume of poems when he was young, which there is +good reason to think he is not very proud of, as they say he buys up +all the copies he can find in the shops. No matter what they say, I +can't help agreeing with him about this great flood of "poetry," as +it calls itself, and looking at the rhyming mania much as he does. + +How I do love real poetry! That is the reason hate rhymes which have +not a particle of it in them. The foolish scribblers that deal in +them are like bad workmen in a carpenter's shop. They not only turn +out bad jobs of work, but they spoil the tools for better workmen. +There is hardly a pair of rhymes in the English language that is not +so dulled and hacked and gapped by these 'prentice hands that a +master of the craft hates to touch them, and yet he cannot very well +do without them. I have not been besieged as the old Professor has +been with such multitudes of would-be-poetical aspirants that he +could not even read their manuscripts, but I have had a good many +letters containing verses, and I have warned the writers of the +delusion under which they were laboring. + +You may like to know that I have just been translating some extracts +from the Greek Anthology. I send you a few specimens of my work, +with a Dedication to the Shade of Sappho. I hope you will find +something of the Greek rhythm in my versions, and that I have caught +a spark of inspiration from the impassioned Lesbian. I have found +great delight in this work, at any rate, and am never so happy as +when I read from my manuscript or repeat from memory the lines into +which I have transferred the thought of the men and women of two +thousand years ago, or given rhythmical expression to my own +rapturous feelings with regard to them. I must read you my +Dedication to the Shade of Sappho. I cannot help thinking that you +will like it better than either of my last two, The Song of the +Roses, or The Wail of the Weeds. + +How I do miss you, dearest! I want you: I want you to listen to what +I have written; I want you to hear all about my plans for the future; +I want to look at you, and think how grand it must be to feel one's +self to be such a noble and beautiful-creature; I want to wander in +the woods with you, to float on the lake, to share your life and talk +over every day's doings with you. Alas! I feel that we have parted +as two friends part at a port of embarkation: they embrace, they kiss +each other's cheeks, they cover their faces and weep, they try to +speak good-by to each other, they watch from the pier and from the +deck; the two forms grow less and less, fainter and fainter in the +distance, two white handkerchiefs flutter once and again, and yet +once more, and the last visible link of the chain which binds them +has parted. Dear, dear, dearest Euthymia, my eyes are running over +with tears when I think that we may never, never meet again. + +Don't you want some more items of village news? We are threatened +with an influx of stylish people: "Buttons" to answer the door-bell, +in place of the chamber-maid; "butler," in place of the "hired man;" +footman in top-boots and breeches, cockade on hat, arms folded a la +Napoleon; tandems, "drags," dogcarts, and go-carts of all sorts. It +is rather amusing to look at their ambitious displays, but it takes +away the good old country flavor of the place. + +I don't believe you mean to try to astonish us when you come back to +spend your summers here. I suppose you must have a large house, and +I am sure you will have a beautiful one. I suppose you will have +some fine horses, and who would n't be glad to? But I do not believe +you will try to make your old Arrowhead Village friends stare their +eyes out of their heads with a display meant to outshine everybody +else that comes here. You can have a yacht on the lake, if you like, +but I hope you will pull a pair of oars in our old boat once in a +while, with me to steer you. I know you will be just the same dear- +Euthymia you always were and always must be. How happy you must make +such a man as Maurice Kirkwood! And how happy you ought to be with +him!--a man who knows what is in books, and who has seen for himself, +what is in men. If he has not seen so much of women, where could he +study all that is best in womanhood as he can in his own wife? Only +one thing that dear Euthymia lacks. She is not quite pronounced +enough in her views as to the rights and the wrongs of the sex. When +I visit you, as you say I shall, I mean to indoctrinate Maurice with +sound views on that subject. I have written an essay for the +Society, which I hope will go a good way towards answering all the +objections to female suffrage. I mean to read it to your husband, if +you will let me, as I know you will, and perhaps you would like to +hear it,--only you know my thoughts on the subject pretty well +already. + +With all sorts of kind messages to your dear husband, and love to +your precious self, +I am ever your + +LURIDA. + + + + +DR. BUTTS TO MRS. EUTHYMIA KIRKWOOD. + +MY DEAR EUTHYMIA,--My pen refuses to call you by any other name. +Sweet-souled you are, and your Latinized Greek name is--the one which +truly designates you. I cannot tell you how we have followed you, +with what interest and delight through your travels, as you have told +their story in your letters to your mother. She has let us have the +privilege of reading them, and we have been with you in steamer, +yacht, felucca, gondola, Nile-boat; in all sorts of places, from +crowded capitals to "deserts where no men abide,"--everywhere keeping +company with you in your natural and pleasant descriptions of your +experiences. And now that you have returned to your home in the +great city I must write you a few lines of welcome, if nothing more. + +You will find Arrowhead Village a good deal changed since you left +it. We are discovered by some of those over-rich people who make the +little place upon which they swarm a kind of rural city. When this +happens the consequences are striking,--some of them desirable and +some far otherwise. The effect of well-built, well-furnished, well- +kept houses and of handsome grounds always maintained in good order +about them shows itself in a large circuit around the fashionable +centre. Houses get on a new coat of paint, fences are kept in better +order, little plots of flowers show themselves where only ragged +weeds had rioted, the inhabitants present themselves in more comely +attire and drive in handsomer vehicles with more carefully groomed +horses. On the other hand, there is a natural jealousy on the part +of the natives of the region suddenly become fashionable. They have +seen the land they sold at farm prices by the acre coming to be +valued by the foot, like the corner lots in a city. Their simple and +humble modes of life look almost poverty-stricken in the glare of +wealth and luxury which so outshines their plain way of living. It +is true that many of them have found them selves richer than in +former days, when the neighborhood lived on its own resources. They +know how to avail themselves of their altered position, and soon +learn to charge city prices for country products; but nothing can +make people feel rich who see themselves surrounded by men whose +yearly income is many times their own whole capital. I think it +would be better if our rich men scattered themselves more than they +do,--buying large country estates, building houses and stables which +will make it easy to entertain their friends, and depending for +society on chosen guests rather than on the mob of millionaires who +come together for social rivalry. But I do not fret myself about it. +Society will stratify itself according to the laws of social +gravitation. It will take a generation or two more, perhaps, to +arrange the strata by precipitation and settlement, but we can always +depend on one principle to govern the arrangement of the layers. +People interested in the same things will naturally come together. +The youthful heirs of fortunes who keep splendid yachts have little +to talk about with the oarsman who pulls about on the lake or the +river. What does young Dives, who drives his four-in-hand and keeps +a stable full of horses, care about Lazarus, who feels rich in the +possession of a horse-railroad ticket? You know how we live at our +house, plainly, but with a certain degree of cultivated propriety. +We make no pretensions to what is called "style." We are still in +that social stratum where the article called "a napkin-ring" is +recognized as admissible at the dinner-table. That fact sufficiently +defines our modest pretensions. The napkin-ring is the boundary mark +between certain classes. But one evening Mrs. Butts and I went out +to a party given by the lady of a worthy family, where the napkin +itself was a newly introduced luxury. The conversation of the +hostess and her guests turned upon details of the kitchen and the +laundry; upon the best mode of raising bread, whether with "emptins" +(emptyings, yeast) or baking powder; about "bluing" and starching and +crimping, and similar matters. Poor Mrs. Butts! She knew nothing +more about such things than her hostess did about Shakespeare and the +musical glasses. What was the use of trying to enforce social +intercourse under such conditions? Incompatibility of temper has +been considered ground for a divorce; incompatibility of interests is +a sufficient warrant for social separation. The multimillionaires +have so much that is common among themselves, and so little that they +share with us of moderate means, that they will naturally form a +specialized class, and in virtue of their palaces, their picture- +galleries, their equipages, their yachts, their large hospitality, +constitute a kind of exclusive aristocracy. Religion, which ought to +be the great leveller, cannot reduce these elements to the same +grade. You may read in the parable, "Friend, how camest thou in +hither not having a wedding garment?" The modern version would be, +"How came you at Mrs. Billion's ball not having a dress on your back +which came from Paris?" + +The little church has got a new stained window, a saint who reminds +me of Hamlet's uncle,--a thing "of shreds and patches," but rather +pretty to look at, with an inscription under it which is supposed to +be the name of the person in whose honor the window was placed in the +church. Smith was a worthy man and a faithful churchwarden, and I +hope posterity will be able to spell out his name on his monumental +window; but that old English lettering would puzzle Mephistopheles +himself, if he found himself before this memorial tribute, on the +inside,--you know he goes to church sometimes, if you remember your +Faust. + +The rector has come out, in a quiet way, as an evolutionist. He has +always been rather "broad " in his views, but cautious in their +expression. You can tell the three branches of the mother-island +church by the way they carry their heads. The low-church clergy look +down, as if they felt themselves to be worms of the dust; the high- +church priest drops his head on one side, after the pattern of the +mediaeval saints; the broad-church preacher looks forward and round +about him, as if he felt himself the heir of creation. Our rector +carries his head in the broad-church aspect, which I suppose is the +least open to the charge of affectation,--in fact, is the natural and +manly way of carrying it. + +The Society has justified its name of Pansophian of late as never +before. Lurida has stirred up our little community and its +neighbors, so that we get essays on all sorts of subjects, poems and +stories in large numbers. I know all about it, for she often +consults me as to the merits of a particular contribution. + +What is to be the fate of Lurida? I often think, with no little +interest and some degree of anxiety, about her future. Her body is +so frail and her mind so excessively and constantly active that I am +afraid one or the other will give way. I do not suppose she thinks +seriously of ever being married. She grows more and more zealous in +behalf of her own sex, and sterner in her judgment of the other. She +declares that she never would marry any man who was not an advocate +of female suffrage, and as these gentlemen are not very common +hereabouts the chance is against her capturing any one of the hostile +sex. + +What do you think? I happened, just as I was writing the last +sentence, to look out of my window, and whom should I see but Lurida, +with a young man in tow, listening very eagerly to her conversation, +according to all appearance! I think he must be a friend of the +rector, as I have seen a young man like this one in his company. Who +knows? + +Affectionately yours, etc. + + + + +DR. BUTTS TO MRS. BUTTS. + +MY BELOVED WIFE,--This letter will tell you more news than you would +have thought could have been got together in this little village +during the short time you have been staying away from it. + +Lurida Vincent is engaged! He is a clergyman with a mathematical +turn. The story is that he put a difficult problem into one of the +mathematical journals, and that Lurida presented such a neat solution +that the young man fell in love with her on the strength of it. I +don't think the story is literally true, nor do I believe that other +report that he offered himself to her in the form of an equation +chalked on the blackboard; but that it was an intellectual rather +than a sentimental courtship I do not doubt. Lurida has given up the +idea of becoming a professional lecturer,--so she tells me,--thinking +that her future husband's parish will find her work enough to do. A +certain amount of daily domestic drudgery and unexciting intercourse +with simple-minded people will be the best thing in the world for +that brain of hers, always simmering with some new project in its +least fervid condition. + +All our summer visitors have arrived. Euthymia Mrs. Maurice +Kirkwood and her husband and little Maurice are here in their +beautiful house looking out on the lake. They gave a grand party the +other evening. You ought to have been there, but I suppose you could +not very well have left your sister in the middle of your visit: All +the grand folks were there, of course. Lurida and her young man-- +Gabriel is what she calls him--were naturally the objects of special +attention. Paolo acted as major-domo, and looked as if he ought to +be a major-general. Nothing could be pleasanter than the way in +which Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood received their plain country neighbors; +that is, just as they did the others of more pretensions, as if they +were really glad to see them, as I am sure they were. The old +landlord and his wife had two arm-chairs to themselves, and I saw +Miranda with the servants of the household looking in at the dancers +and out at the little groups in the garden, and evidently enjoying it +as much as her old employers. It was a most charming and successful +party. We had two sensations in the course of the evening. One was +pleasant and somewhat exciting, the other was thrilling and of +strange and startling interest. + +You remember how emaciated poor Maurice Kirkwood was left after his +fever, in that first season when he was among us. He was out in a +boat one day, when a ring slipped off his thin finger and sunk in a +place where the water was rather shallow. "Jake"--you know Jake,-- +everybody knows Jake--was rowing him. He promised to come to the +spot and fish up the ring if he could possibly find it. He was seen +poking about with fish-hooks at the end of a pole, but nothing was +ever heard from him about the ring. It was an antique intaglio stone +in an Etruscan setting,--a wild goose flying over the Campagna. Mr. +Kirkwood valued it highly, and regretted its loss very much. + +While we were in the garden, who should appear at the gate but Jake, +with a great basket, inquiring for Mr. Kirkwood. "Come," said +Maurice to me, "let us see what our old friend the fisherman has +brought us. What have you got there, Jake?" + +"What I 've got? Wall, I 'll tell y' what I've got: I 've got the +biggest pickerel that's been ketched in this pond for these ten year. +An' I 've got somethin' else besides the pickerel. When I come to +cut him open, what do you think I faound in his insides but this here +ring o' yourn,"--and he showed the one Maurice had lost so long +before. There it was, as good as new, after having tried Jonah's +style of housekeeping for all that time. There are those who +discredit Jake's story about finding the ring in the fish; anyhow, +there was the ring and there was the pickerel. I need not say that +Jake went off well paid for his pickerel and the precious contents of +its stomach. Now comes the chief event of the evening. I went early +by special invitation. Maurice took me into his library, and we sat +down together. + +"I have something of great importance," he said, " to say to you. I +learned within a few days that my cousin Laura is staying with a +friend in the next town to this. You know, doctor, that we have +never met since the last, almost fatal, experience of my early years. +I have determined to defy the strength of that deadly chain of +associations connected with her presence, and I have begged her to +come this evening with the friends with whom she is staying. Several +letters passed between us, for it was hard to persuade her that there +was no longer any risk in my meeting her. Her imagination was almost +as deeply impressed as mine had been at those alarming interviews, +and I had to explain to her fully that I had become quite indifferent +to the disturbing impressions of former years. So, as the result of +our correspondence, Laura is coming this evening, and I wish you to +be present at our meeting. There is another reason why I wish you to +be here. My little boy is not far from the--age at which I received +my terrifying, almost disorganizing shock. I mean to have little +Maurice brought into the presence of Laura, who is said to be still a +very handsome woman, and see if he betrays any hint of that peculiar +sensitiveness which showed itself in my threatening seizure. It +seemed to me not impossible that he might inherit some tendency of +that nature, and I wanted you to be at hand if any sign of danger +should declare itself. For myself I have no fear. Some radical +change has taken place in my nervous system. I have been born again, +as it were, in my susceptibilities, and am in certain respects a new +man. But I must know how it is with my little Maurice." + +Imagine with what interest I looked forward to this experiment; for +experiment it was, and not without its sources of anxiety, as it +seemed to me. The evening wore along; friends and neighbors came in, +but no Laura as yet. At last I heard the sound of wheels, and a +carriage stopped at the door. Two ladies and a gentleman got out, +and soon entered the drawing room. + +"My cousin Laura!" whispered Maurice to me, and went forward to meet +her. A very handsome woman, who might well have been in the +thirties,--one of those women so thoroughly constituted that they +cannot help being handsome at every period of life. I watched them +both as they approached each other. Both looked pale at first, but +Maurice soon recovered his usual color, and Laura's natural, rich +bloom came back by degrees. Their emotion at meeting was not to be +wondered at, but there was no trace in it of the paralyzing influence +on the great centres of life which had once acted upon its fated +victim like the fabled head which turned the looker-on into a stone. + +"Is the boy still awake?" said Maurice to Paolo, who, as they used to +say of Pushee at the old Anchor Tavern, was everywhere at once on +that gay and busy evening. + +"What! Mahser Maurice asleep an' all this racket going on? I hear +him crowing like young cockerel when he fus' smell daylight." + +"Tell the nurse to bring him down quietly to the little room that +leads out of the library." + +The child was brought down in his night-clothes, wide awake, +wondering apparently at the noise he heard, which he seemed to think +was for his special amusement. + +"See if he will go to that lady," said his father. Both of us held +our breath as Laura stretched her arms towards little Maurice. + +The child looked for an instant searchingly, but fearlessly, at her +glowing cheeks, her bright eyes, her welcoming smile, and met her +embrace as she clasped him to her bosom as if he had known her all +his days. + +The mortal antipathy had died out of the soul and the blood of +Maurice Kirkwood at that supreme moment when he found himself +snatched from the grasp of death and cradled in the arms of Euthymia. + + + -------------------------- + + +In closing the New Portfolio I remember that it began with a prefix +which the reader may by this time have forgotten, namely, the First +Opening. It was perhaps presumptuous to thus imply the probability +of a second opening. + +I am reminded from time to time by the correspondents who ask a +certain small favor of me that, as I can only expect to be with my +surviving contemporaries a very little while longer, they would be +much obliged if I would hurry up my answer before it is too late. +They are right, these delicious unknown friends of mine, in reminding +me of a fact which I cannot gainsay and might suffer to pass from my +recollection. I thank them for recalling my attention to a truth +which I shall be wiser, if not more hilarious, for remembering. + +No, I had no right to say the First Opening. How do I know that I +shall have a chance to open it again? How do I know that anybody +will want it to be opened a second time? How do I know that I shall +feel like opening it? It is safest neither to promise to open the +New Portfolio once more, nor yet to pledge myself to keep it closed +hereafter. There are many papers potentially existent in it, some of +which might interest a reader here and there. The Records of the +Pansophian Society contain a considerable number of essays, poems, +stories, and hints capable of being expanded into presentable +dimensions. In the mean time I will say with Prospero, addressing my +old readers, and my new ones, if such I have, + + "If you be pleased, retire into my cell + And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk, + To still my beating mind." + +When it has got quiet I may take up the New Portfolio again, and +consider whether it is worth while to open it. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext A Mortal Antipathy, by Oliver W. Holmes + diff --git a/old/antip10.zip b/old/antip10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..adb7542 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/antip10.zip diff --git a/old/antip11.txt b/old/antip11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6745bcd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/antip11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9318 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Mortal Antipathy, by O. W. Holmes, Sr. +#7 in our series by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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A very wise +and very distinguished physician who is as much at home in literature +as he is in science and the practice of medicine, wrote to me in +referring to this story: "I should have been afraid of my subject." +He did not explain himself, but I can easily understand that he felt +the improbability of the, physiological or pathological occurrence on +which the story is founded to be so great that the narrative could +hardly be rendered plausible. I felt the difficulty for myself as +well as for my readers, and it was only by recalling for our +consideration a series of extraordinary but well-authenticated facts +of somewhat similar character that I could hope to gain any serious +attention to so strange a narrative. + +I need not recur to these wonderful stories. There is, however, one, +not to be found on record elsewhere, to which I would especially call +the reader's attention. It is that of the middle-aged man, who +assured me that he could never pass a tall hall clock without an +indefinable terror. While an infant in arms the heavy weight of one +of these tall clocks had fallen with aloud crash and produced an +impression on his nervous system which he had never got over. + +The lasting effect of a shock received by the sense of sight or that +of hearing is conceivable enough. + +But there is another sense, the nerves of which are in close relation +with the higher organs of consciousness. The strength of the +associations connected with the function of the first pair of nerves, +the olfactory, is familiar to most persons in their own experience +and as related by others. Now we know that every human being, as +well as every other living organism, carries its own distinguishing +atmosphere. If a man's friend does not know it, his dog does, and +can track him anywhere by it. This personal peculiarity varies with +the age and conditions of the individual. It may be agreeable or +otherwise, a source of attraction or repulsion, but its influence is +not less real, though far less obvious and less dominant, than in the +lower animals. It was an atmospheric impression of this nature which +associated itself with a terrible shock experienced by the infant +which became the subject of this story. The impression could not be +outgrown, but it might possibly be broken up by some sudden change in +the nervous system effected by a cause as potent as the one which had +produced the disordered condition. + +This is the best key that I can furnish to a story which must have +puzzled some, repelled others, and failed to interest many who did +not suspect the true cause of the mysterious antipathy. + +BEVERLY FARMS, MASS., August, 1891. + +O. W. H. + + + + + + +A MORTAL ANTIPATHY. + +FIRST OPENING OF THE NEW PORTFOLIO. + +INTRODUCTION. + +"And why the New Portfolio, I would ask?" + +Pray, do you remember, when there was an accession to the nursery in +which you have a special interest, whether the new-comer was commonly +spoken of as a baby? Was it not, on the contrary, invariably, under +all conditions, in all companies, by the whole household, spoken of +as the baby? And was the small receptacle provided for it commonly +spoken of as a cradle; or was it not always called the cradle, as if +there were no other in existence? + +Now this New Portfolio is the cradle in which I am to rock my +new-born thoughts, and from which I am to lift them carefully and +show them to callers, namely, to the whole family of readers +belonging to my list of intimates, and such other friends as may drop +in by accident. And so it shall have the definite article, and not +be lost in the mob of its fellows as a portfolio. + +There are a few personal and incidental matters of which I wish to +say something before reaching the contents of the Portfolio, whatever +these may be. I have had other portfolios before this,--two, more +especially, and the first thing I beg leave to introduce relates to +these. + +Do not throw this volume down, or turn to another page, when I tell +you that the earliest of them, that of which I now am about to speak, +was opened more than fifty years ago. This is a very dangerous +confession, for fifty years make everything hopelessly old-fashioned, +without giving it the charm of real antiquity. If I could say a +hundred years, now, my readers would accept all I had to tell them +with a curious interest; but fifty years ago,--there are too many +talkative old people who know all about that time, and at best half a +century is a half-baked bit of ware. A coin-fancier would say that +your fifty-year-old facts have just enough of antiquity to spot them +with rust, and not enough to give them--the delicate and durable +patina which is time's exquisite enamel. + +When the first Portfolio was opened the coin of the realm bore for +its legend,--or might have borne if the more devout hero-worshippers +could have had their way,--Andreas Jackson, Populi Gratia, Imp. +Caesrzr. Aug. Div., Max., etc., etc. I never happened to see any +gold or silver with that legend, but the truth is I was not very +familiarly acquainted with the precious metals at that period of my +career, and, there might have been a good deal of such coin in +circulation without my handling it, or knowing much about it. + +Permit me to indulge in a few reminiscences of that far-off time. + +In those days the Athenaeum Picture Gallery was a principal centre of +attraction to young Boston people and their visitors. Many of us got +our first ideas of art, to say nothing of our first lessons in the +comparatively innocent flirtations of our city's primitive period, in +that agreeable resort of amateurs and artists. + +How the pictures on those walls in Pearl Street do keep their places +in the mind's gallery! Trumbull's Sortie of Gibraltar, with red +enough in it for one of our sunset after-glows; and Neagle's full- +length portrait of the blacksmith in his shirt-sleeves; and Copley's +long-waistcoated gentlemen and satin-clad ladies,--they looked like +gentlemen and ladies, too; and Stuart's florid merchants and high- +waisted matrons; and Allston's lovely Italian scenery and dreamy, +unimpassioned women, not forgetting Florimel in full flight on her +interminable rocking-horse,--you may still see her at the Art Museum; +and the rival landscapes of Doughty and Fisher, much talked of and +largely praised in those days; and the Murillo,--not from Marshal +Soup's collection; and the portrait of Annibale Caracci by himself, +which cost the Athenaeum a hundred dollars; and Cole's allegorical +pictures, and his immense and dreary canvas, in which the prostrate +shepherds and the angel in Joseph's coat of many colors look as if +they must have been thrown in for nothing; and West's brawny Lear +tearing his clothes to pieces. But why go on with the catalogue, +when most of these pictures can be seen either at the Athenaeum +building in Beacon Street or at the Art Gallery, and admired or +criticised perhaps more justly, certainly not more generously, than +in those earlier years when we looked at them through the japanned +fish-horns? + +If one happened to pass through Atkinson Street on his way to the +Athenaeum, he would notice a large, square, painted, brick house, in +which lived a leading representative of old-fashioned coleopterous +Calvinism, and from which emerged one of the liveliest of literary +butterflies. The father was editor of the "Boston Recorder," a very +respectable, but very far from amusing paper, most largely patronized +by that class of the community which spoke habitually of the first +day of the week as "the Sahbuth." The son was the editor of several +different periodicals in succession, none of them over severe or +serious, and of many pleasant books, filled with lively descriptions +of society, which be studied on the outside with a quick eye for form +and color, and with a certain amount of sentiment, not very deep, but +real, though somewhat frothed over by his worldly experiences. + +Nathaniel Parker Willis was in full bloom when I opened my first +Portfolio. He had made himself known by his religious poetry, +published in his father's paper, I think, and signed "Roy." He had +started the "American Magazine," afterwards merged in the New York +Mirror." He had then left off writing scripture pieces, and taken to +lighter forms of verse. He had just written + + "I'm twenty-two, I'm twenty-two, + They idly give me joy, + As if I should be glad to know + That I was less a boy." + +He was young, therefore, and already famous. He came very near being +very handsome. He was tall; his hair, of light brown color, waved in +luxuriant abundance; his cheek was as rosy as if it had been painted +to show behind the footlights; he dressed with artistic elegance. He +was something between a remembrance of Count D'Orsay and an +anticipation of Oscar Wilde. There used to be in the gallery of the +Luxembourg a picture of Hippolytus and Phxdra, in which the beautiful +young man, who had kindled a passion in the heart of his wicked step- +mother, always reminded me of Willis, in spite of the shortcomings of +the living face as compared with the ideal. The painted youth is +still blooming on the canvas, but the fresh-cheecked, jaunty young +author of the year 1830 has long faded out of human sight. I took +the leaves which lie before me at this moment, as I write, from his +coffin, as it lay just outside the door of Saint Paul's Church, on a +sad, overclouded winter's day, in the year 1867. At that earlier +time, Willis was by far the most prominent young American author. +Cooper, Irving, Bryant, Dana, Halleck, Drake, had all done their best +work. Longfellow was not yet conspicuous. Lowell was a school-boy. +Emerson was unheard of. Whittier was beginning to make his way +against the writers with better educational advantages whom he was +destined to outdo and to outlive. Not one of the great histories, +which have done honor to our literature, had appeared. Our school- +books depended, so far as American authors were concerned, on +extracts from the orations and speeches of Webster and Everett; on +Bryant's Thanatopsis, his lines To a Waterfowl, and the Death of the +Flowers, Halleck's Marco Bozzaris, Red Jacket, and Burns; on Drake's +American Flag, and Percival's Coral Grove, and his Genius Sleeping +and Genius Waking,--and not getting very wide awake, either. These +could be depended upon. A few other copies of verses might be found, +but Dwight's "Columbia, Columbia," and Pierpont's Airs of Palestine, +were already effaced, as many of the favorites of our own day and +generation must soon be, by the great wave which the near future will +pour over the sands in which they still are legible. + +About this time, in the year 1832, came out a small volume entitled +"Truth, a Gift for Scribblers," which made some talk for a while, and +is now chiefly valuable as a kind of literary tombstone on which may +be read the names of many whose renown has been buried with their +bones. The "London Athenaeum" spoke of it as having been described +as a "tomahawk sort of satire." As the author had been a trapper in +Missouri, he was familiarly acquainted with that weapon and the +warfare of its owners. Born in Boston, in 1804, the son of an army +officer, educated at West Point, he came back to his native city +about the year 1830. He wrote an article on Bryant's Poems for the +"North American Review," and another on the famous Indian chief, +Black Hawk. In this last-mentioned article he tells this story as +the great warrior told it himself. It was an incident of a fight +with the Osages. + +"Standing by my father's side, I saw him kill his antagonist and tear +the scalp from his head. Fired with valor and ambition, I rushed +furiously upon another, smote him to the earth with my tomahawk, ran +my lance through his body, took off his scalp, and returned in +triumph to my father. He said nothing, but looked pleased." + +This little red story describes very well Spelling's style of +literary warfare. His handling of his most conspicuous victim, +Willis, was very much like Black Hawk's way of dealing with the +Osage. He tomahawked him in heroics, ran him through in prose, and +scalped him in barbarous epigrams. Bryant and Halleck were +abundantly praised; hardly any one else escaped. + +If the reader wishes to see the bubbles of reputation that were +floating, some of them gay with prismatic colors, half a century ago, +he will find in the pages of "Truth" a long catalogue of celebrities +he never heard of. I recognize only three names, of all which are +mentioned in the little book, as belonging to persons still living; +but as I have not read the obituaries of all the others, some of them +may be still flourishing in spite of Mr. Spelling's exterminating +onslaught. Time dealt as hardly with poor Spelling, who was not +without talent and instruction, as he had dealt with our authors. I +think he found shelter at last under a roof which held numerous +inmates, some of whom had seen better and many of whom had known +worse days than those which they were passing within its friendly and +not exclusive precincts. Such, at least, was the story I heard after +he disappeared from general observation. + +That was the day of Souvenirs, Tokens, Forget-me-nots, Bijous, and +all that class of showy annuals. Short stories, slender poems, steel +engravings, on a level with the common fashion-plates of advertising +establishments, gilt edges, resplendent binding,--to manifestations +of this sort our lighter literature had very largely run for some +years. The "Scarlet Letter" was an unhinted possibility. The +"Voices of the Night" had not stirred the brooding silence; the +Concord seer was still in the lonely desert; most of the contributors +to those yearly volumes, which took up such pretentious positions on +the centre table, have shrunk into entire oblivion, or, at best, hold +their place in literature by a scrap or two in some omnivorous +collection. + +What dreadful work Spelling made among those slight reputations, +floating in swollen tenuity on the surface of the stream, and +mirroring each other in reciprocal reflections! Violent, abusive as +he was, unjust to any against whom he happened to have a prejudice, +his castigation of the small litterateurs of that day was not +harmful, but rather of use. His attack on Willis very probably did +him good; he needed a little discipline, and though he got it too +unsparingly, some cautions came with it which were worth the stripes +he had to smart under. One noble writer Spelling treated with +rudeness, probably from some accidental pique, or equally +insignificant reason. I myself, one of the three survivors before +referred to, escaped with a love-pat, as the youngest son of the +Muse. Longfellow gets a brief nod of acknowledgment. Bailey, an +American writer, "who made long since a happy snatch at fame," which +must have been snatched away from him by envious time, for I cannot +identify him; Thatcher, who died early, leaving one poem, The Last +Request, not wholly unremembered; Miss Hannah F. Gould, a very +bright and agreeable writer of light verse,--all these are commended +to the keeping of that venerable public carrier, who finds his scythe +and hour-glass such a load that he generally drops the burdens +committed to his charge, after making a show of paying every possible +attention to them so long as he is kept in sight. + +It was a good time to open a portfolio. But my old one had boyhood +written on every page. A single passionate outcry when the old +warship I had read about in the broadsides that were a part of our +kitchen literature, and in the "Naval Monument," was threatened with +demolition; a few verses suggested by the sight of old Major Melville +in his cocked hat and breeches, were the best scraps that came out of +that first Portfolio, which was soon closed that it should not +interfere with the duties of a profession authorized to claim all the +time and thought which would have been otherwise expended in filling +it. + +During a quarter of a century the first Portfolio remained closed for +the greater part of the time. Only now and then it would be taken up +and opened, and something drawn from it for a special occasion, more +particularly for the annual reunions of a certain class of which I +was a member. + +In the year 1857, towards its close, the "Atlantic Monthly," which I +had the honor of naming, was started by the enterprising firm of +Phillips & Sampson, under the editorship of Mr. James Russell Lowell. +He thought that I might bring something out of my old Portfolio which +would be not unacceptable in the new magazine. I looked at the poor +old receptacle, which, partly from use and partly from neglect, had +lost its freshness, and seemed hardly presentable to the new company +expected to welcome the new-comer in the literary world of Boston, +the least provincial of American centres of learning and letters. +The gilded covering where the emblems of hope and aspiration had +looked so bright had faded; not wholly, perhaps, but how was the gold +become dim!---how was the most fine gold changed! Long devotion to +other pursuits had left little time for literature, and the waifs and +strays gathered from the old Portfolio had done little more than keep +alive the memory that such a source of supply was still in existence. +I looked at the old Portfolio, and said to myself, "Too late! too +late. This tarnished gold will never brighten, these battered covers +will stand no more wear and tear; close them, and leave them to the +spider and the book-worm." + +In the mean time the nebula of the first quarter of the century had +condensed into the constellation of the middle of the same period. +When, a little while after the establishment of the new magazine, the +"Saturday Club" gathered about the long table at "Parker's," such a +representation of all that was best in American literature had never +been collected within so small a compass. Most of the Americans whom +educated foreigners cared to see-leaving out of consideration +official dignitaries, whose temporary importance makes them objects +of curiosity--were seated at that board. But the club did not yet +exist, and the "Atlantic Monthly" was an experiment. There had +already been several monthly periodicals, more or less successful and +permanent, among which "Putnam's Magazine" was conspicuous, owing its +success largely to the contributions of that very accomplished and +delightful writer, Mr. George William Curtis. That magazine, after a +somewhat prolonged and very honorable existence, had gone where all +periodicals go when they die, into the archives of the deaf, dumb, +and blind recording angel whose name is Oblivion. It had so well +deserved to live that its death was a surprise and a source of +regret. Could another monthly take its place and keep it when that, +with all its attractions and excellences, had died out, and left a +blank in our periodical literature which it would be very hard to +fill as well as that had filled it? + +This was the experiment which the enterprising publishers ventured +upon, and I, who felt myself outside of the charmed circle drawn +around the scholars and poets of Cambridge and Concord, having given +myself to other studies and duties, wondered somewhat when Mr. Lowell +insisted upon my becoming a contributor. And so, yielding to a +pressure which I could not understand, and yet found myself unable to +resist, I promised to take a part in the new venture, as an +occasional writer in the columns of the new magazine. + +That was the way in which the second Portfolio found its way to my +table, and was there opened in the autumn of the year 1857. I was +already at least + + 'Nel mezzo del cammin di mia, vita,' + +when I risked myself, with many misgivings, in little-tried paths of +what looked at first like a wilderness, a selva oscura, where, if I +did not meet the lion or the wolf, I should be sure to find the +critic, the most dangerous of the carnivores, waiting to welcome me +after his own fashion. + +The second Portfolio is closed and laid away. Perhaps it was hardly +worth while to provide and open a new one; but here it lies before +me, and I hope I may find something between its covers which will +justify me in coming once more before my old friends. But before I +open it I want to claim a little further indulgence. + +There is a subject of profound interest to almost every writer, I +might say to almost every human being. No matter what his culture or +ignorance, no matter what his pursuit, no matter what his character, +the subject I refer to is one of which he rarely ceases to think, +and, if opportunity is offered, to talk. On this he is eloquent, if +on nothing else. The slow of speech becomes fluent; the torpid +listener becomes electric with vivacity, and alive all over with +interest. + +The sagacious reader knows well what is coming after this prelude. +He is accustomed to the phrases with which the plausible visitor, who +has a subscription book in his pocket, prepares his victim for the +depressing disclosure of his real errand. He is not unacquainted +with the conversational amenities of the cordial and interesting +stranger, who, having had the misfortune of leaving his carpet-bag in +the cars, or of having his pocket picked at the station, finds +himself without the means of reaching that distant home where +affluence waits for him with its luxurious welcome, but to whom for +the moment the loan of some five and twenty dollars would be a +convenience and a favor for which his heart would ache with gratitude +during the brief interval between the loan and its repayment. + +I wish to say a few words in my own person relating to some passages +in my own history, and more especially to some of the recent +experiences through which I have been passing. + +What can justify one in addressing himself to the general public as +if it were his private correspondent? There are at least three +sufficient reasons: first, if he has a story to tell that everybody +wants to hear,--if be has been shipwrecked, or has been in a battle, +or has witnessed any interesting event, and can tell anything new +about it; secondly, if he can put in fitting words any common +experiences not already well told, so that readers will say, "Why, +yes! I have had that sensation, thought, emotion, a hundred times, +but I never heard it spoken of before, and I never saw any mention of +it in print;" and thirdly, anything one likes, provided he can so +tell it as to make it interesting. + +I have no story to tell in this Introduction which can of itself +claim any general attention. My first pages relate the effect of a +certain literary experience upon myself,--a series of partial +metempsychoses of which I have been the subject. Next follows a +brief tribute to the memory of a very dear and renowned friend from +whom I have recently been parted. The rest of the Introduction will +be consecrated to the memory of my birthplace. + +I have just finished a Memoir, which will appear soon after this page +is written, and will have been the subject of criticism long before +it is in the reader's hands. The experience of thinking another +man's thoughts continuously for a long time; of living one's self +into another man's life for a month, or a year, or more, is a very +curious one. No matter how much superior to the biographer his +subject may be, the man who writes the life feels himself, in a +certain sense, on the level of the person whose life he is writing. +One cannot fight over the battles of Marengo or Austerlitz with +Napoleon without feeling as if he himself had a fractional claim to +the victory, so real seems the transfer of his personality into that +of the conqueror while he reads. Still more must this identification +of "subject" and "object" take place when one is writing of a person +whose studies or occupations are not unlike his own. + +Here are some of my metempsychoses: +Ten years ago I wrote what I called A Memorial Outline of a +remarkable student of nature. He was a born observer, and such are +far from common. He was also a man of great enthusiasm and +unwearying industry. His quick eye detected what others passed by +without notice: the Indian relic, where another would see only +pebbles and fragments; the rare mollusk, or reptile, which his +companion would poke with his cane, never suspecting that there was a +prize at the end of it. Getting his single facts together with +marvellous sagacity and long-breathed patience, he arranged them, +classified them, described them, studied them in their relations, and +before those around him were aware of it the collector was an +accomplished naturalist. When--he died his collections remained, and +they still remain, as his record in the hieratic language of science. +In writing this memoir the spirit of his quiet pursuits, the even +temper they bred in him, gained possession of my own mind, so that I +seemed to look at nature through his gold-bowed spectacles, and to +move about his beautifully ordered museum as if I had myself prepared +and arranged its specimens. I felt wise with his wisdom, fair-minded +with his calm impartiality; it seemed as if for the time his placid, +observant, inquiring, keen-sighted nature "slid into my soul," and if +I had looked at myself in the glass I should almost have expected to +see the image of the Hersey professor whose life and character I was +sketching. + +A few years hater I lived over the life of another friend in writing +a Memoir of which he was the subject. I saw him, the beautiful, +bright-eyed boy, with dark, waving hair; the youthful scholar, first +at Harvard, then at Gottingen and Berlin, the friend and companion of +Bismarck; the young author, making a dash for renown as a novelist, +and showing the elements which made his failures the promise of +success in a larger field of literary labor; the delving historian, +burying his fresh young manhood in the dusty alcoves of silent +libraries, to come forth in the face of Europe and America as one of +the leading historians of the time; the diplomatist, accomplished, of +captivating presence and manners, an ardent American, and in the time +of trial an impassioned and eloquent advocate of the cause of +freedom; reaching at last the summit of his ambition as minister at +the Court of Saint James. All this I seemed to share with him as I +tracked his career from his birthplace in Dorchester, and the house +in Walnut Street where he passed his boyhood, to the palaces of +Vienna and London. And then the cruel blow which struck him from the +place he adorned; the great sorrow that darkened his later years; the +invasion of illness, a threat that warned of danger, and after a +period of invalidism, during a part of which I shared his most +intimate daily life, the sudden, hardly unwelcome, final summons. +Did not my own consciousness migrate, or seem, at least, to transfer +itself into this brilliant life history, as I traced its glowing +record? I, too, seemed to feel the delight of carrying with me, as +if they were my own, the charms of a presence which made its own +welcome everywhere. I shared his heroic toils, I partook of his +literary and social triumphs, I was honored by the marks of +distinction which gathered about him, I was wronged by the indignity +from which he suffered, mourned with him in his sorrow, and thus, +after I had been living for months with his memory, I felt as if I +should carry a part of his being with me so long as my self- +consciousness might remain imprisoned in the ponderable elements. + +The years passed away, and the influences derived from the +companionships I have spoken of had blended intimately with my own +current of being. Then there came to me a new experience in my +relations with an eminent member of the medical profession, whom I +met habitually for a long period, and to whose memory I consecrated a +few pages as a prelude to a work of his own, written under very +peculiar circumstances. He was the subject of a slow, torturing, +malignant, and almost necessarily fatal disease. Knowing well that +the mind would feed upon itself if it were not supplied with food +from without, he determined to write a treatise on a subject which +had greatly interested him, and which would oblige him to bestow much +of his time and thought upon it, if indeed he could hold out to +finish the work. During the period while he was engaged in writing +it, his wife, who had seemed in perfect health, died suddenly of +pneumonia. Physical suffering, mental distress, the prospect of +death at a near, if uncertain, time always before him, it was hard to +conceive a more terrible strain than that which he had to endure. +When, in the hour of his greatest need, his faithful companion, the +wife of many years of happy union, whose hand had smoothed his +pillow, whose voice had consoled and cheered him, was torn from him +after a few days of illness, I felt that my, friend's trial was such +that the cry of the man of many afflictions and temptations might +well have escaped from his lips: "I was at ease, but he hath broken +me asunder; he hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces, +and set me up for his mark. His archers compass me round about, he +cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall +upon the ground." + +I had dreaded meeting him for the first time after this crushing +blow. What a lesson he gave me of patience under sufferings which +the fearful description of the Eastern poet does not picture too +vividly! We have been taught to admire the calm philosophy of +Haller, watching his faltering pulse as he lay dying; we have heard +the words of pious resignation said to have been uttered with his +last breath by Addison: but here was a trial, not of hours, or days, +or weeks, but of months, even years, of cruel pain, and in the midst +of its thick darkness the light of love, which had burned steadily at +his bedside, was suddenly extinguished. + +There were times in which the thought would force itself upon my +consciousness, How long is the universe to look upon this dreadful +experiment of a malarious planet, with its unmeasurable freight of +suffering, its poisonous atmosphere, so sweet to breathe, so sure to +kill in a few scores of years at farthest, and its heart-breaking +woes which make even that brief space of time an eternity? There can +be but one answer that will meet this terrible question, which must +arise in every thinking nature that would fain "justify the ways of +God to men." So must it be until that + + "one far-off divine event + To which the whole creation moves" + +has become a reality, and the anthem in which there is no discordant +note shall be joined by a voice from every life made "perfect through +sufferings." + +Such was the lesson into which I lived in those sad yet placid years +of companionship with my suffering and sorrowing friend, in retracing +which I seemed to find another existence mingled with my own. + +And now for many months I have been living in daily relations of +intimacy with one who seems nearer to me since he has left us than +while he was here in living form and feature. I did not know how +difficult a task I had undertaken in venturing upon a memoir of a man +whom all, or almost all, agree upon as one of the great lights of the +New World, and whom very many regard as an unpredicted Messiah. +Never before was I so forcibly reminded of Carlyle's description of +the work of a newspaper editor,--that threshing of straw already +thrice beaten by the flails of other laborers in the same field. +What could be said that had not been said of "transcendentalism" and +of him who was regarded as its prophet; of the poet whom some admired +without understanding, a few understood, or thought they did, without +admiring, and many both understood and admired,--among these there +being not a small number who went far beyond admiration, and lost +themselves in devout worship? While one exalted him as "the greatest +man that ever lived," another, a friend, famous in the world of +letters, wrote expressly to caution me against the danger of +overrating a writer whom he is content to recognize as an American +Montaigne, and nothing more. + +After finishing this Memoir, which has but just left my hands, I +would gladly have let my brain rest for a while. The wide range of +thought which belonged to the subject of the Memoir, the occasional +mysticism and the frequent tendency toward it, the sweep of +imagination and the sparkle of wit which kept his reader's mind on +the stretch, the union of prevailing good sense with exceptional +extravagances, the modest audacity of a nature that showed itself in +its naked truthfulness and was not ashamed, the feeling that I was in +the company of a sibylline intelligence which was discounting the +promises of the remote future long before they were due,--all this +made the task a grave one. But when I found myself amidst the +vortices of uncounted, various, bewildering judgments, Catholic and +Protestant, orthodox and liberal, scholarly from under the tree of +knowledge and instinctive from over the potato-hill; the passionate +enthusiasm of young adorers and the cool, if not cynical, estimate of +hardened critics, all intersecting each other as they whirled, each +around its own centre, I felt that it was indeed very difficult to +keep the faculties clear and the judgment unbiassed. + +It is a great privilege to have lived so long in the society of such +a man. "He nothing common" said, "or mean." He was always the same +pure and high-souled companion. After being with him virtue seemed +as natural to man as its opposite did according to the old +theologies. But how to let one's self down from the high level of +such a character to one's own poor standard? I trust that the +influence of this long intellectual and spiritual companionship never +absolutely leaves one who has lived in it. It may come to him in the +form of self-reproach that he falls so far short of the superior +being who has been so long the object of his contemplation. But it +also carries him at times into the other's personality, so that he +finds himself thinking thoughts that are not his own, using phrases +which he has unconsciously borrowed, writing, it may be, as nearly +like his long-studied original as Julio Romano's painting was like +Raphael's; and all this with the unquestioning conviction that he is +talking from his own consciousness in his own natural way. So far as +tones and expressions and habits which belonged to the idiosyncrasy +of the original are borrowed by the student of his life, it is a +misfortune for the borrower. But to share the inmost consciousness +of a noble thinker, to scan one's self in the white light of a pure +and radiant soul,--this is indeed the highest form of teaching and +discipline. + +I have written these few memoirs, and I am grateful for all that they +have taught me. But let me write no more. There are but two +biographers who can tell the story of a man's or a woman's life. One +is the person himself or herself; the other is the Recording Angel. +The autobiographer cannot be trusted to tell the whole truth, though +he may tell nothing but the truth, and the Recording Angel never lets +his book go out of his own hands. As for myself, I would say to my +friends, in the Oriental phrase, "Live forever!" Yes, live forever, +and I, at least, shall not have to wrong your memories by my +imperfect record and unsatisfying commentary. + +In connection with these biographies, or memoirs, more properly, in +which I have written of my departed friends, I hope my readers will +indulge me in another personal reminiscence. I have just lost my +dear and honored contemporary of the last century. A hundred years +ago this day, December 13, 1784, died the admirable and ever to be +remembered Dr. Samuel Johnson. The year 1709 was made ponderous and +illustrious in English biography by his birth. My own humble advent +to the world of protoplasm was in the year 1809 of the present +century. Summer was just ending when those four letters, "son b." +were written under the date of my birth, August 29th. Autumn had +just begun when my great pre-contemporary entered this un-Christian +universe and was made a member of the Christian church on the same +day, for he was born and baptized on the 18th of September. + +Thus there was established a close bond of relationship between the +great English scholar and writer and myself. Year by year, and +almost month by month, my life has kept pace in this century with his +life in the last century. I had only to open my Boswell at any time, +and I knew just what Johnson at my age, twenty or fifty or seventy, +was thinking and doing; what were his feelings about life; what +changes the years had wrought in his body, his mind, his feelings, +his companionships, his reputation. It was for me a kind of unison +between two instruments, both playing that old familiar air, "Life," +--one a bassoon, if you will, and the other an oaten pipe, if you +care to find an image for it, but still keeping pace with each other +until the players both grew old and gray. At last the thinner thread +of sound is heard by itself, and its deep accompaniment rolls out its +thunder no more. + +I feel lonely now that my great companion and friend of so many years +has left me. I felt more intimately acquainted with him than I do +with many of my living friends. I can hardly remember when I did not +know him. I can see him in his bushy wig, exactly like that of the +Reverend Dr. Samuel Cooper (who died in December, 1783) as Copley +painted him,--he hangs there on my wall, over the revolving bookcase. +His ample coat, too, I see, with its broad flaps and many buttons and +generous cuffs, and beneath it the long, still more copiously +buttoned waistcoat, arching in front of the fine crescentic, almost +semi-lunar Falstaffian prominence, involving no less than a dozen of +the above-mentioned buttons, and the strong legs with their sturdy +calves, fitting columns of support to the massive body and solid, +capacious brain enthroned over it. I can hear him with his heavy +tread as he comes in to the Club, and a gap is widened to make room +for his portly figure. "A fine day," says Sir Joshua. "Sir," he +answers, "it seems propitious, but the atmosphere is humid and the +skies are nebulous," at which the great painter smiles, shifts his +trumpet, and takes a pinch of snuff. + +Dear old massive, deep-voiced dogmatist and hypochondriac of the +eighteenth century, how one would like to sit at some ghastly Club, +between you and the bony, "mighty-mouthed," harsh-toned termagant and +dyspeptic of the nineteenth! The growl of the English mastiff and +the snarl of the Scotch terrier would make a duet which would enliven +the shores of Lethe. I wish I could find our "spiritualist's" paper +in the Portfolio, in which the two are brought together, but I hardly +know what I shall find when it is opened. + +Yes, my life is a little less precious to me since I have lost that +dear old friend; and when the funeral train moves to Westminster +Abbey next Saturday, for I feel as if this were 1784, and not 1884,-- +I seem to find myself following the hearse, one of the silent +mourners. + +Among the events which have rendered the past year memorable to me +has been the demolition of that venerable and interesting old +dwelling-house, precious for its intimate association with the +earliest stages of the war of the Revolution, and sacred to me as my +birthplace and the home of my boyhood. + +The "Old Gambrel-roofed House" exists no longer. I remember saying +something, in one of a series of papers published long ago, about the +experience of dying out of a house,--of leaving it forever, as the +soul dies out of the body. We may die out of many houses, but the +house itself can die but once; and so real is the life of a house to +one who has dwelt in it, more especially the life of the house which +held him in dreamy infancy, in restless boyhood, in passionate +youth,--so real, I say, is its life, that it seems as if something +like a soul of it must outlast its perishing frame. + +The slaughter of the Old Gambrel-roofed House was, I am ready to +admit, a case of justifiable domicide. Not the less was it to be +deplored by all who love the memories of the past. With its +destruction are obliterated some of the footprints of the heroes and +martyrs who took the first steps in the long and bloody march which +led us through the wilderness to the promised land of independent +nationality. Personally, I have a right to mourn for it as a part of +my life gone from me. My private grief for its loss would be a +matter for my solitary digestion, were it not that the experience +through which I have just passed is one so familiar to my fellow- +countrymen that, in telling my own reflections and feelings, I am +repeating those of great numbers of men and women who have had the +misfortune to outlive their birthplace. + +It is a great blessing to be born surrounded by a natural horizon. +The Old Gambrel-roofed House could not boast an unbroken ring of +natural objects encircling it. Northerly it looked upon its own +outbuildings and some unpretending two-story houses which had been +its neighbors for a century and more. To the south of it the square +brick dormitories and the belfried hall of the university helped to +shut out the distant view. But the west windows gave a broad outlook +across the common, beyond which the historical "Washington elm" and +two companions in line with it, spread their leaves in summer and +their networks in winter. And far away rose the hills that bounded +the view, with the glimmer here and there of the white walls or the +illuminated casements of some embowered, half-hidden villa. +Eastwardly also, the prospect was, in my earlier remembrance, widely +open, and I have frequently seen the sunlit sails gliding along as if +through the level fields, for no water was visible. So there were +broad expanses on two sides at least, for my imagination to wander +over. + +I cannot help thinking that we carry our childhood's horizon with us +all our days. Among these western wooded hills my day-dreams built +their fairy palaces, and even now, as I look at them from my library +window, across the estuary of the Charles, I find myself in the +familiar home of my early visions. The "clouds of glory" which we +trail with us in after life need not be traced to a pre-natal state. +There is enough to account for them in that unconsciously remembered +period of existence before we have learned the hard limitations of +real life. Those earliest months in which we lived in sensations +without words, and ideas not fettered in sentences, have all the +freshness of proofs of an engraving "before the letter." I am very +thankful that the first part of my life was not passed shut in +between high walls and treading the unimpressible and unsympathetic +pavement. + +Our university town was very much like the real country, in those +days of which I am thinking. There were plenty of huckleberries and +blueberries within half a mile of the house. Blackberries ripened in +the fields, acorns and shagbarks dropped from the trees, squirrels +ran among the branches, and not rarely the hen-hawk might be seen +circling over the barnyard. Still another rural element was not +wanting, in the form of that far-diffused, infragrant effluvium, +which, diluted by a good half mile of pure atmosphere, is no longer +odious, nay is positively agreeable, to many who have long known it, +though its source and centre has an unenviable reputation. I need +not name the animal whose Parthian warfare terrifies and puts to +flight the mightiest hunter that ever roused the tiger from his +jungle or faced the lion of the desert. Strange as it may seem, an +aerial hint of his personality in the far distance always awakens in +my mind pleasant remembrances and tender reflections. A whole +neighborhood rises up before me: the barn, with its haymow, where the +hens laid their eggs to hatch, and we boys hid our apples to ripen, +both occasionally illustrating the sic vos non vobis; the shed, where +the annual Tragedy of the Pig was acted with a realism that made +Salvini's Othello seem but a pale counterfeit; the rickety old +outhouse, with the "corn-chamber" which the mice knew so well; the +paved yard, with its open gutter,--these and how much else come up at +the hint of my far-off friend, who is my very near enemy. Nothing is +more familiar than the power of smell in reviving old memories. +There was that quite different fragrance of the wood-house, the smell +of fresh sawdust. It comes back to me now, and with it the hiss of +the saw; the tumble of the divorced logs which God put together and +man has just put asunder; the coming down of the axe and the hah! +that helped it,--the straight-grained stick opening at the first +appeal of the implement as if it were a pleasure, and the stick with +a knot in the middle of it that mocked the blows and the hahs! until +the beetle and wedge made it listen to reason,--there are just such +straight-grained and just such knotty men and women. All this passes +through my mind while Biddy, whose parlor-name is Angela, contents +herself with exclaiming "egh!*******!" + +How different distances were in those young days of which I am +thinking! From the old house to the old yellow meeting-house, where +the head of the family preached and the limbs of the family listened, +was not much more than two or three times the width of Commonwealth +Avenue. But of a hot summer's afternoon, after having already heard +one sermon, which could not in the nature of things have the charm of +novelty of presentation to the members of the home circle, and the +theology of which was not too clear to tender apprehensions; with +three hymns more or less lugubrious, rendered by a village-choir, got +into voice by many preliminary snuffles and other expiratory efforts, +and accompanied by the snort of a huge bassviol which wallowed +through the tune like a hippopotamus, with other exercises of the +customary character,--after all this in the forenoon, the afternoon +walk to the meeting-house in the hot sun counted for as much, in my +childish dead-reckoning, as from old Israel Porter's in Cambridge to +the Exchange Coffeehouse in Boston did in after years. It takes a +good while to measure the radius of the circle that is about us, for +the moon seems at first as near as the watchface. Who knows but +that, after a certain number of ages, the planet we live on may seem +to us no bigger than our neighbor Venus appeared when she passed +before the sun a few months ago, looking as if we could take her +between our thumb and finger, like a bullet or a marble? And time, +too; how long was it from the serious sunrise to the joyous "sun- +down" of an old-fashioned, puritanical, judaical first day of the +week, which a pious fraud christened "the Sabbath"? Was it a +fortnight, as we now reckon duration, or only a week? Curious +entities, or non-entities, space and tithe? When you see a +metaphysician trying to wash his hands of them and get rid of these +accidents, so as to lay his dry, clean palm on the absolute, does +it not remind you of the hopeless task of changing the color of the +blackamoor by a similar proceeding? For space is the fluid in which +he is washing, and time is the soap which he is using up in the +process, and he cannot get free from them until he can wash himself +in a mental vacuum. + +In my reference to the old house in a former paper, published years +ago, I said, + +"By and by the stony foot of the great University will plant itself +on this whole territory, and the private recollections which clung so +tenaciously to the place and its habitations will have died with +those who cherished them." + +What strides the great University has taken since those words were +written! During all my early years our old Harvard Alma Mater sat +still and lifeless as the colossi in the Egyptian desert. Then all +at once, like the statue in Don Giovanni, she moved from her +pedestal. The fall of that "stony foot" has effected a miracle like +the harp that Orpheus played, like the teeth which Cadmus sowed. The +plain where the moose and the bear were wandering while Shakespeare +was writing Hamlet, where a few plain dormitories and other needed +buildings were scattered about in my school-boy days, groans under +the weight of the massive edifices which have sprung up all around +them, crowned by the tower of that noble structure which stands in +full view before me as I lift my eyes from the portfolio on the back +of which I am now writing. + +For I must be permitted to remind you that I have not yet opened it. +I have told you that I have just finished a long memoir, and that it +has cost me no little labor to overcome some of its difficulties,--if +I have overcome them, which others must decide. And I feel exactly +as honest Dobbin feels when his harness is slipped off after a long +journey with a good deal of up-hill work. He wants to rest a little, +then to feed a little; then, if you will turn him loose in the +pasture, he wants to roll. I have left my starry and ethereal +companionship,--not for a long time, I hope, for it has lifted me +above my common self, but for a while. And now I want, so to speak, +to roll in the grass and among the dandelions with the other +pachyderms. So I have kept to the outside of the portfolio as yet, +and am disporting myself in reminiscences, and fancies, and vagaries, +and parentheses. + +How well I understand the feeling which led the Pisans to load their +vessels with earth from the Holy Land, and fill the area of the Campo +Santo with that sacred soil! The old house stood upon about as +perverse a little patch of the planet as ever harbored a half-starved +earth-worm. It was as sandy as Sahara and as thirsty as Tantalus. +The rustic aid-de-camps of the household used to aver that all +fertilizing matters "leached" through it. I tried to disprove their +assertion by gorging it with the best of terrestrial nourishment, +until I became convinced that I was feeding the tea-plants of China, +and then I gave over the attempt. And yet I did love, and do love, +that arid patch of ground. I wonder if a single flower could not be +made to grow in a pot of earth from that Campo Santo of my childhood! +One noble product of nature did not refuse to flourish there,--the +tall, stately, beautiful, soft-haired, many-jointed, generous maize +or Indian corn, which thrives on sand and defies the blaze of our +shrivelling summer. What child but loves to wander in its forest- +like depths, amidst the rustling leaves and with the lofty tassels +tossing their heads high above him! There are two aspects of the +cornfield which always impress my imagination: the first when it has +reached its full growth, and its ordered ranks look like an army on +the march with its plumed and bannered battalions; the second when, +after the battle of the harvest, the girdled stacks stand on the +field of slaughter like so many ragged Niobes,--say rather like the +crazy widows and daughters of the dead soldiery. + +Once more let us come back to the old house. It was far along in its +second century when the edict went forth that it must stand no +longer. + +The natural death of a house is very much like that of one of its +human tenants. The roof is the first part to show the distinct signs +of age. Slates and tiles loosen and at last slide off, and leave +bald the boards that supported them; shingles darken and decay, and +soon the garret or the attic lets in the rain and the snow; by and by +the beams sag, the floors warp, the walls crack, the paper peels +away, the ceilings scale off and fall, the windows are crusted with +clinging dust, the doors drop from their rusted hinges, the winds +come in without knocking and howl their cruel death-songs through the +empty rooms and passages, and at last there comes a crash, a great +cloud of dust rises, and the home that had been the shelter of +generation after generation finds its grave in its own cellar. Only +the chimney remains as its monument. Slowly, little by little, the +patient solvents that find nothing too hard for their chemistry pick +out the mortar from between the bricks; at last a mighty wind roars +around it and rushes against it, and the monumental relic crashes +down among the wrecks it has long survived. So dies a human +habitation left to natural decay, all that was seen above the surface +of the soil sinking gradually below it, + + Till naught remains the saddening tale to tell + Save home's last wrecks, the cellar and the well. + +But if this sight is saddening, what is it to see a human dwelling +fall by the hand of violence! The ripping off of the shelter that +has kept out a thousand storms, the tearing off of the once +ornamental woodwork, the wrench of the inexorable crowbar, the +murderous blows of the axe, the progressive ruin, which ends by +rending all the joints asunder and flinging the tenoned and mortised +timbers into heaps that will be sawed and split to warm some new +habitation as firewood,--what a brutal act of destruction it seems! + +Why should I go over the old house again, having already described it +more than ten years ago? Alas! how many remember anything they read +but once, and so long ago as that? How many would find it out if one +should say over in the same words that which he said in the last +decade? But there is really no need of telling the story a second +time, for it can be found by those who are curious enough to look it +up in a volume of which it occupies the opening chapter. + +In order, however, to save any inquisitive reader that trouble, let +me remind him that the old house was General Ward's headquarters at +the breaking out of the Revolution; that the plan for fortifying +Bunker's Hill was laid, as commonly believed, in the southeast lower +room, the floor of which was covered with dents, made, it was +alleged, by the butts of the soldiers' muskets. In that house, too, +General Warren probably passed the night before the Bunker Hill +battle, and over its threshold must the stately figure of Washington +have often cast its shadow. + +But the house in which one drew his first breath, and where he one +day came into the consciousness that he was a personality, an ego, a +little universe with a sky over him all his own, with a persistent +identity, with the terrible responsibility of a separate, +independent, inalienable existence,--that house does not ask for any +historical associations to make it the centre of the earth for him. + +If there is any person in the world to be envied, it is the one who +is born to an ancient estate, with a long line of family traditions +and the means in his hands of shaping his mansion and his domain to +his own taste, without losing sight of all the characteristic +features which surrounded his earliest years. The American is, for +the most part, a nomad, who pulls down his house as the Tartar pulls +up his tent-poles. If I had an ideal life to plan for him it would +be something like this: + +His grandfather should be a wise, scholarly, large-brained, large- +hearted country minister, from whom he should inherit the temperament +that predisposes to cheerfulness and enjoyment, with the finer +instincts which direct life to noble aims and make it rich with the +gratification of pure and elevated tastes and the carrying out of +plans for the good of his neighbors and his fellow-creatures. He +should, if possible, have been born, at any rate have passed some of +his early years, or a large part of them, under the roof of the good +old minister. His father should be, we will say, a business man in +one of our great cities,--a generous manipulator of millions, some of +which have adhered to his private fortunes, in spite of his liberal +use of his means. His heir, our ideally placed American, shall take +possession of the old house, the home of his earliest memories, and +preserve it sacredly, not exactly like the Santa Casa, but, as nearly +as may be, just as he remembers it. He can add as many acres as he +will to the narrow house-lot. He can build a grand mansion for +himself, if he chooses, in the not distant neighborhood. But the old +house, and all immediately round it, shall be as he recollects it +when be had to stretch his little arm up to reach the door-handles. +Then, having well provided for his own household, himself included, +let him become the providence of the village or the town where be +finds himself during at least a portion of every year. Its schools, +its library, its poor,--and perhaps the new clergyman who has +succeeded his grandfather's successor may be one of them,--all its +interests, he shall make his own. And from this centre his +beneficence shall radiate so far that all who hear of his wealth +shall also hear of him as a friend to his race. + +Is not this a pleasing programme? Wealth is a steep hill, which the +father climbs slowly and the son often tumbles down precipitately; +but there is a table-land on a level with it, which may be found by +those who do not lose their head in looking down from its sharply +cloven summit.---Our dangerously rich men can make themselves hated, +held as enemies of the race, or beloved and recognized as its +benefactors. The clouds of discontent are threatening, but if the +gold-pointed lightning-rods are rightly distributed the destructive +element may be drawn off silently and harmlessly. For it cannot be +repeated too often that the safety of great wealth with us lies in +obedience to the new version of the Old World axiom, RICHESS oblige. + + + + + + +THE NEW PORTFOLIO: FIRST OPENING. + + + + +A MORTAL ANTIPATHY. + + + +I + +GETTING READY. + +It is impossible to begin a story which must of necessity tax the +powers of belief of readers unacquainted with the class of facts to +which its central point of interest belongs without some words in the +nature of preparation. Readers of Charles Lamb remember that Sarah +Battle insisted on a clean-swept hearth before sitting down to her +favorite game of whist. + +The narrator wishes to sweep the hearth, as it were, in these opening +pages, before sitting down to tell his story. He does not intend to +frighten the reader away by prolix explanation, but he does mean to +warn him against hasty judgments when facts are related which are not +within the range of every-day experience. Did he ever see the +Siamese twins, or any pair like them? Probably not, yet he feels +sure that Chang and Eng really existed; and if he has taken the +trouble to inquire, he has satisfied himself that similar cases have +been recorded by credible witnesses, though at long intervals and in +countries far apart from each other. + +This is the first sweep of the brush, to clear the hearth of the +skepticism and incredulity which must be got out of the way before we +can begin to tell and to listen in peace with ourselves and each +other. + +One more stroke of the brush is needed before the stage will be ready +for the chief characters and the leading circumstances to which the +reader's attention is invited. If the principal personages made +their entrance at once, the reader would have to create for himself +the whole scenery of their surrounding conditions. In point of fact, +no matter how a story is begun, many of its readers have already +shaped its chief actors out of any hint the author may have dropped, +and provided from their own resources a locality and a set of outward +conditions to environ these imagined personalities. These are all to +be brushed away, and the actual surroundings of the subject of the +narrative represented as they were, at the risk of detaining the +reader a little while from the events most likely to interest him. +The choicest egg that ever was laid was not so big as the nest that +held it. If a story were so interesting that a maiden would rather +hear it than listen to the praise of her own beauty, or a poet would +rather read it than recite his own verses, still it would have to be +wrapped in some tissue of circumstance, or it would lose half its +effectiveness. + +It may not be easy to find the exact locality referred to in this +narrative by looking into the first gazetteer that is at hand. +Recent experiences have shown that it is unsafe to be too exact in +designating places and the people who live in them. There are, it +may be added, so many advertisements disguised under the form of +stories and other literary productions that one naturally desires to +avoid the suspicion of being employed by the enterprising proprietors +of this or that celebrated resort to use his gifts for their especial +benefit. There are no doubt many persons who remember the old sign +and the old tavern and its four chief personages presently to be +mentioned. It is to be hoped that they will not furnish the public +with a key to this narrative, and perhaps bring trouble to the writer +of it, as has happened to other authors. If the real names are a +little altered, it need not interfere with the important facts +relating to those who bear them. It might not be safe to tell a +damaging story about John or James Smythe; but if the slight change +is made of spelling the name Smith, the Smythes would never think of +bringing an action, as if the allusion related to any of them. The +same gulf of family distinction separates the Thompsons with a p from +the Thomsons without that letter. + +There are few pleasanter places in the Northern States for a summer +residence than that known from the first period of its settlement by +the name of Arrowhead Village. The Indians had found it out, as the +relics they left behind them abundantly testified. The commonest of +these were those chipped stones which are the medals of barbarism, +and from Which the place took its name,--the heads of arrows, of +various sizes, material, and patterns: some small enough for killing +fish and little birds, some large enough for such game as the moose +and the bear, to say nothing of the hostile Indian and the white +settler; some of flint, now and then one of white quartz, and others +of variously colored jasper. The Indians must have lived here for +many generations, and it must have been a kind of factory village of +the stone age,--which lasted up to near the present time, if we may +judge from the fact that many of these relics are met with close to +the surface of the ground. + +No wonder they found this a pleasant residence, for it is to-day one +of the most attractive of all summer resorts; so inviting, indeed, +that those who know it do not like to say too much about it, lest the +swarms of tourists should make it unendurable to those who love it +for itself, and not as a centre of fashionable display and extramural +cockneyism. + +There is the lake, in the first place,--Cedar Lake,--about five miles +long, and from half a mile to a mile and a half wide, stretching from +north to south. Near the northern extremity are the buildings of +Stoughton University, a flourishing young college with an ambitious +name, but well equipped and promising, the grounds of which reach the +water. At the southern end of the lake are the edifices of the +Corinna Institute, a favorite school for young ladies, where large +numbers of the daughters of America are fitted, so far as education +can do it, for all stations in life, from camping out with a husband +at the mines in Nevada to acting the part of chief lady of the land +in the White House at Washington. + +Midway between the two extremities, on the eastern shore of the lake, +is a valley between two hills, which come down to the very edge of +the lake, leaving only room enough for a road between their base and +the water. This valley, half a mile in width, has been long settled, +and here for a century or more has stood the old Anchor Tavern. A +famous place it was so long as its sign swung at the side of the +road: famous for its landlord, portly, paternal, whose welcome to a +guest that looked worthy of the attention was like that of a parent +to a returning prodigal, and whose parting words were almost as good +as a marriage benediction; famous for its landlady, ample in person, +motherly, seeing to the whole household with her own eyes, mistress +of all culinary secrets that Northern kitchens are most proud of; +famous also for its ancient servant, as city people would call her, +--help, as she was called in the tavern and would have called +herself,--the unchanging, seemingly immortal Miranda, who cared for +the guests as if she were their nursing mother, and pressed the +specially favorite delicacies on their attention as a connoisseur +calls the wandering eyes of an amateur to the beauties of a picture. +Who that has ever been at the old Anchor Tavern forgets Miranda's + + "A little of this fricassee?-it is ver-y nice;" + +or + + "Some of these cakes? You will find them ver-y good." + +Nor would it be just to memory to forget that other notable and noted +member of the household,--the unsleeping, unresting, omnipresent +Pushee, ready for everybody and everything, everywhere within the +limits of the establishment at all hours of the day and night. He +fed, nobody could say accurately when or where. There were rumors of +a "bunk," in which he lay down with his clothes on, but he seemed to +be always wide awake, and at the service of as many guest, at once as +if there had been half a dozen of him. + +So much for old reminiscences. + +The landlord of the Anchor Tavern had taken down his sign. He had +had the house thoroughly renovated and furnished it anew, and kept it +open in summer for a few boarders. It happened more than once that +the summer boarders were so much pleased with the place that they +stayed on through the autumn, and some of them through the winter. +The attractions of the village were really remarkable. Boating in +summer, and skating in winter; ice-boats, too, which the wild ducks +could hardly keep up with; fishing, for which the lake was renowned; +varied and beautiful walks through the valley and up the hillsides; +houses sheltered from the north and northeasterly winds, and +refreshed in the hot summer days by the breeze which came over the +water,--all this made the frame for a pleasing picture of rest and +happiness. But there was a great deal more than this. There was a +fine library in the little village, presented and richly endowed by a +wealthy native of the place. There was a small permanent population +of a superior character to that of an everyday country town; there +was a pretty little Episcopal church, with a good-hearted rector, +broad enough for the Bishop of the diocese to be a little afraid of, +and hospitable to all outsiders, of whom, in the summer season, there +were always some who wanted a place of worship to keep their religion +from dying out during the heathen months, while the shepherds of the +flocks to which they belonged were away from their empty folds. + +What most helped to keep the place alive all through the year was the +frequent coming together of the members of a certain literary +association. Some time before the tavern took down its sign the +landlord had built a hall, where many a ball had been held, to which +the young folks of all the country round had resorted. It was still +sometimes used for similar occasions, but it was especially notable +as being the place of meeting of the famous PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY. + +This association, the name of which might be invidiously interpreted +as signifying that its members knew everything, had no such +pretensions, but, as its Constitution said very plainly and modestly, +held itself open to accept knowledge on any and all subjects from +such as had knowledge to impart. Its President was the rector of the +little chapel, a man who, in spite of the Thirty-Nine Articles, could +stand fire from the widest-mouthed heretical blunderbuss without +flinching or losing his temper. The hall of the old Anchor Tavern +was a convenient place of meeting for the students and instructors of +the University and the Institute. Sometimes in boat-loads, sometimes +in carriage-loads, sometimes in processions of skaters, they came to +the meetings in Pansophian Hall, as it was now commonly called. + +These meetings had grown to be occasions of great interest. It was +customary to have papers written by members of the Society, for the +most part, but now and then by friends of the members, sometimes by +the students of the College or the Institute, and in rarer instances +by anonymous personages, whose papers, having been looked over and +discussed by the Committee appointed for that purpose, were thought +worth listening to. The variety of topics considered was very great. +The young ladies of the village and the Institute had their favorite +subjects, the young gentlemen a different set of topics, and the +occasional outside contributors their own; so that one who happened +to be admitted to a meeting never knew whether he was going to hear +an account of recent arctic discoveries, or an essay on the freedom +of the will, or a psychological experience, or a story, or even a +poem. + +Of late there had been a tendency to discuss the questions relating +to the true status and the legitimate social functions of woman. The +most conflicting views were held on the subject. Many of the young +ladies and some of the University students were strong in defence of +all the "woman's rights" doctrines. Some of these young people were +extreme in their views. They had read about Semiramis and Boadicea +and Queen Elizabeth, until they were ready, if they could get the +chance, to vote for a woman as President of the United States or as +General of the United States Army. They were even disposed to assert +the physical equality of woman to man, on the strength of the rather +questionable history of the Amazons, and especially of the story, +believed to be authentic, of the female body-guard of the King of +Dahomey,--females frightful enough to need no other weapon than their +looks to scare off an army of Cossacks. + +Miss Lurida Vincent, gold medallist of her year at the Corinna +Institute, was the leader of these advocates of virile womanhood. It +was rather singular that she should have elected to be the apostle of +this extreme doctrine, for she was herself far better equipped with +brain than muscles. In fact, she was a large-headed, large-eyed, +long-eyelashed, slender-necked, slightly developed young woman; +looking almost like a child at an age when many of the girls had +reached their full stature and proportions. In her studies she was +so far in advance of her different classes that there was always a +wide gap between her and the second scholar. So fatal to all rivalry +had she proved herself that she passed under the school name of The +Terror. She learned so easily that she undervalued her own +extraordinary gifts, and felt the deepest admiration for those of her +friends endowed with faculties of an entirely different and almost +opposite nature. After sitting at her desk until her head was hot +and her feet were like ice, she would go and look at the blooming +young girls exercising in the gymnasium of the school, and feel as if +she would give all her knowledge, all her mathematics and strange +tongues and history, all those accomplishments that made her the +encyclopaedia of every class she belonged to, if she could go through +the series of difficult and graceful exercises in which she saw her +schoolmates delighting. + +One among them, especially, was the object of her admiration, as she +was of all who knew her exceptional powers in the line for which +nature had specially organized her. All the physical perfections +which Miss Lurida had missed had been united in Miss Euthymia Tower, +whose school name was The Wonder. Though of full womanly stature, +there were several taller girls of her age. While all her contours +and all her movements betrayed a fine muscular development, there was +no lack of proportion, and her finely shaped hands and feet showed +that her organization was one of those carefully finished +masterpieces of nature which sculptors are always in search of, and +find it hard to detect among the imperfect products of the living +laboratory. + +This girl of eighteen was more famous than she cared to be for her +performances in the gymnasium. She commonly contented herself with +the same exercises that her companions were accustomed to. Only her +dumb-bells, with which she exercised easily and gracefully, were too +heavy for most of the girls to do more with than lift them from the +floor. She was fond of daring feats on the trapeze, and had to be +checked in her indulgence in them. The Professor of gymnastics at +the University came over to the Institute now and then, and it was a +source of great excitement to watch some of the athletic exercises in +which the young lady showed her remarkable muscular strength and +skill in managing herself in the accomplishment of feats which looked +impossible at first sight. How often The Terror had thought to +herself that she would gladly give up all her knowledge of Greek and +the differential and integral calculus if she could only perform the +least of those feats which were mere play to The Wonder! Miss +Euthymia was not behind the rest in her attainments in classical or +mathematical knowledge, and she was one of the very best students in +the out-door branches,--botany, mineralogy, sketching from nature,-- +to be found among the scholars of the Institute. + +There was an eight-oared boat rowed by a crew of the young ladies, of +which Miss Euthymia was the captain and pulled the bow oar. Poor +little Lurida could not pull an oar, but on great occasions, when +there were many boats out, she was wanted as coxswain, being a mere +feather-weight, and quick-witted enough to serve well in the +important office where brains are more needed than muscle. + +There was also an eight-oared boat belonging to the University, and +rowed by a picked crew of stalwart young fellows. The bow oar and +captain of the University crew was a powerful young man, who, like +the captain of the girls' boat, was a noted gymnast. He had had one +or two quiet trials with Miss Euthymia, in which, according to the +ultras of the woman's rights party, he had not vindicated the +superiority of his sex in the way which might have been expected. +Indeed, it was claimed that he let a cannon-ball drop when he ought +to have caught it, and it was not disputed that he had been +ingloriously knocked over by a sand-bag projected by the strong arms +of the young maiden. This was of course a story that was widely told +and laughingly listened to, and the captain of the University crew +had become a little sensitive on the subject. When there was a talk, +therefore, about a race between the champion boats of the two +institutions there was immense excitement in both of them, as well as +among the members of the Pansophian Society and all the good people +of the village. + +There were many objections to be overcome. Some thought it +unladylike for the young maidens to take part in a competition which +must attract many lookers-on, and which it seemed to them very +hoidenish to venture upon. Some said it was a shame to let a crew of +girls try their strength against an equal number of powerful young +men. These objections were offset by the advocates of the race by +the following arguments. They maintained that it was no more +hoidenish to row a boat than it was to take a part in the calisthenic +exercises, and that the girls had nothing to do with the young men's +boat, except to keep as much ahead of it as possible. As to +strength, the woman's righters believed that, weight for weight, +their crew was as strong as the other, and of course due allowance +would be made for the difference of weight and all other accidental +hindrances. It was time to test the boasted superiority of masculine +muscle. Here was a chance. If the girls beat, the whole country +would know it, and after that female suffrage would be only a +question of time. Such was the conclusion, from rather insufficient +premises, it must be confessed; but if nature does nothing per +saltum,--by jumps,--as the old adage has it, youth is very apt to +take long leaps from a fact to a possible sequel or consequence. So +it had come about that a contest between the two boat-crews was +looked forward to with an interest almost equal to that with which +the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii was regarded. + +The terms had been at last arranged between the two crews, after +cautious protocols and many diplomatic discussions. It was so novel +in its character that it naturally took a good deal of time to adjust +it in such a way as to be fair to both parties. The course must not +be too long for the lighter and weaker crew, for the staying power of +the young persons who made it up could not be safely reckoned upon. +A certain advantage must be allowed them at the start, and this was a +delicate matter to settle. The weather was another important +consideration. June would be early enough, in all probability, and +if the lake should be tolerably smooth the grand affair might come +off some time in that month. Any roughness of the water would be +unfavorable to the weaker crew. The rowing-course was on the eastern +side of the lake, the starting-point being opposite the Anchor +Tavern; from that three quarters of a mile to the south, where the +turning-stake was fixed, so that the whole course of one mile and a +half would bring the boats back to their starting-point. + +The race was to be between the Algonquin, eight-oared boat with +outriggers, rowed by young men, students of Stoughton University, and +the Atalanta, also eight-oared and outrigger boat, by young ladies +from the Corinna Institute. Their boat was three inches wider than +the other, for various sufficient reasons, one of which was to make +it a little less likely to go over and throw its crew into the water, +which was a sound precaution, though all the girls could swim, and +one at least, the bow oar, was a famous swimmer, who had pulled a +drowning man out of the water after a hard struggle to keep him from +carrying her down with him. + +Though the coming trial had not been advertised in the papers, so as +to draw together a rabble of betting men and ill-conditioned lookers- +on, there was a considerable gathering, made up chiefly of the +villagers and the students of the two institutions. Among them were +a few who were disposed to add to their interest in the trial by +small wagers. The bets were rather in favor of the "Quins," as the +University boat was commonly called, except where the natural +sympathy of the young ladies or the gallantry of some of the young +men led them to risk their gloves or cigars, or whatever it might be, +on the Atalantas. The elements of judgment were these: average +weight of the Algonquins one hundred and sixty-five pounds; average +weight of the Atalantas, one hundred and forty-eight pounds; skill in +practice about equal; advantage of the narrow boat equal to three +lengths; whole distance allowed the Atalantas eight lengths,--a long +stretch to be made up in a mile and a half. + +And so both crews began practising for the grand trial. + + + + +II + +THE BOAT-RACE. + +The 10th of June was a delicious summer day, rather warm, but still +and bright. The water was smooth, and the crews were in the best +possible condition. All was expectation, and for some time nothing +but expectation. No boat-race or regatta ever began at the time +appointed for the start. Somebody breaks an oar, or somebody fails +to appear in season, or something is the matter with a seat or an +outrigger; or if there is no such excuse, the crew of one or both or +all the boats to take part in the race must paddle about to get +themselves ready for work, to the infinite weariness of all the +spectators, who naturally ask why all this getting ready is not +attended to beforehand. The Algonquins wore plain gray flannel suits +and white caps. The young ladies were all in dark blue dresses, +touched up with a red ribbon here and there, and wore light straw +hats. The little coxswain of the Atalanta was the last to step on +board. As she took her place she carefully deposited at her feet a +white handkerchief wrapped about something or other, perhaps a +sponge, in case the boat should take in water. + +At last the Algonquin shot out from the little nook where she lay,-- +long, narrow, shining, swift as a pickerel when he darts from the +reedy shore. It was a beautiful sight to see the eight young fellows +in their close-fitting suits, their brown muscular arms bare, bending +their backs for the stroke and recovering, as if they were parts of a +single machine. + +"The gals can't stan' it agin them fellers," said the old blacksmith +from the village. + +"You wait till the gals get a-goin'," said the carpenter, who had +often worked in the gymnasium of the Corinna Institute, and knew +something of their muscular accomplishments. "Y' ought to see 'em +climb ropes, and swing dumb-bells, and pull in them rowin'-machines. +Ask Jake there whether they can't row a mild in double-quick time,-- +he knows all abaout it." + +Jake was by profession a fisherman, and a freshwater fisherman in a +country village is inspector-general of all that goes on out-of- +doors, being a lazy, wandering sort of fellow, whose study of the +habits and habitats of fishes gives him a kind of shrewdness of +observation, just as dealing in horses is an education of certain +faculties, and breeds a race of men peculiarly cunning, suspicious, +wary, and wide awake, with a rhetoric of appreciation and +depreciation all its own. + +Jake made his usual preliminary signal, and delivered himself to the +following effect: + +"Wahl, I don' know jest what to say. I've seed 'em both often enough +when they was practisin', an' I tell ye the' wa'n't no slouch abaout +neither on 'em. But them bats is all-fired long, 'n' eight on 'em +stretched in a straight line eendways makes a consid'able piece aout +'f a mile 'n' a haaf. I'd bate on them gals if it wa'n't that them +fellers is naterally longer winded, as the gals 'll find aout by the +time they git raound the stake 'n' over agin the big ellum. I'll go +ye a quarter on the pahnts agin the petticoats." + +The fresh-water fisherman had expressed the prevailing belief that +the young ladies were overmatched. Still there were not wanting +those who thought the advantage allowed the "Lantas," as they called +the Corinna boatcrew, was too great, and that it would be impossible +for the "Quins" to make it up and go by them. + +The Algonquins rowed up and down a few times before the spectators. +They appeared in perfect training, neither too fat nor too fine, +mettlesome as colts, steady as draught-horses, deep-breathed as oxen, +disciplined to work together as symmetrically as a single sculler +pulls his pair of oars. The fisherman offered to make his quarter +fifty cents. No takers. + +Five minutes passed, and all eyes were strained to the south, looking +for the Atalanta. A clump of trees hid the edge of the lake along +which the Corinna's boat was stealing towards the starting-point. +Presently the long shell swept into view, with its blooming rowers, +who, with their ample dresses, seemed to fill it almost as full as +Raphael fills his skiff on the edge of the Lake of Galilee. But how +steadily the Atalanta came on!---no rocking, no splashing, no +apparent strain; the bow oar turning to look ahead every now and +then, and watching her course, which seemed to be straight as an +arrow, the beat of the strokes as true and regular as the pulse of +the healthiest rower among them all. And if the sight of the other +boat and its crew was beautiful, how lovely was the look of this! +Eight young girls,--young ladies, for those who prefer that more +dignified and less attractive expression,--all in the flush of youth, +all in vigorous health; every muscle taught its duty; each rower +alert, not to be a tenth of a second out of time, or let her oar +dally with the water so as to lose an ounce of its propelling virtue; +every eye kindling with the hope of victory. Each of the boats was +cheered as it came in sight, but the cheers for the Atalanta were +naturally the loudest, as the gallantry of one sex and the clear, +high voices of the other gave it life and vigor. + +"Take your places!" shouted the umpire, five minutes before the half +hour. The two boats felt their way slowly and cautiously to their +positions, which had been determined by careful measurement. After a +little backing and filling they got into line, at the proper distance +from each other, and sat motionless, their bodies bent forward, their +arms outstretched, their oars in the water, waiting for the word. + +"Go!" shouted the umpire. + +Away sprang the Atalanta, and far behind her leaped the Algonquin, +her oars bending like so many long Indian bows as their blades +flashed through the water. + +"A stern chase is a long chase," especially when one craft is a great +distance behind the other. It looked as if it would be impossible +for the rear boat to overcome the odds against it. Of course the +Algonquin kept gaining, but could it possibly gain enough? That was +the question. As the boats got farther and farther away, it became +more and more difficult to determine what change there was in the +interval between them. But when they came to rounding the stake it +was easier to guess at the amount of space which had been gained. It +was clear that something like half the distance, four lengths, as +nearly as could be estimated, had been made up in rowing the first +three quarters of a mile. Could the Algonquins do a little better +than this in the second half of the race-course, they would be sure +of winning. + +The boats had turned the stake, and were coming in rapidly. Every +minute the University boat was getting nearer the other. + +"Go it, Quins!" shouted the students. + +"Pull away, Lantas!" screamed the girls, who were crowding down to +the edge of the water. + +Nearer,--nearer,--the rear boat is pressing the other more and more +closely,--a few more strokes, and they will be even, for there is but +one length between them, and thirty rods will carry them to the line. +It looks desperate for the Atalantas. The bow oar of the Algonquin +turns his head. He sees the little coxswain leaning forward at every +stroke, as if her trivial weight were of such mighty consequence,-- +but a few ounces might turn the scale of victory. As he turned he +got a glimpse of the stroke oar of the Atalanta. What a flash of +loveliness it was! Her face was like the reddest of June roses, with +the heat and the strain and the passion of expected triumph. The +upper button of her close-fitting flannel suit had strangled her as +her bosom heaved with exertion, and it had given way before the +fierce clutch she made at it. The bow oar was a staunch and steady +rower, but he was human. The blade of his oar lingered in the water; +a little more and he would have caught a crab, and perhaps lost the +race by his momentary bewilderment. + +The boat, which seemed as if it had all the life and nervousness of a +Derby three-year-old, felt the slight check, and all her men bent +more vigorously to their oars. The Atalantas saw the movement, and +made a spurt to keep their lead and gain upon it if they could. It +was of no use. The strong arms of the young men were too much for +the young maidens; only a few lengths remained to be rowed, and they +would certainly pass the Atalanta before she could reach the line. + +The little coxswain saw that it was all up with the girls' crew if +she could not save them by some strategic device. + + "Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?" + +she whispered to herself,--for The Terror remembered her Virgil as +she did everything else she ever studied. As she stooped, she lifted +the handkerchief at her feet, and took from it a flaming bouquet. +"Look!" she cried, and flung it just forward of the track of the +Algonquin. The captain of the University boat turned his head, and +there was the lovely vision which had a moment before bewitched him. +The owner of all that loveliness must, he thought, have flung the +bouquet. It was a challenge: how could he be such a coward as to +decline accepting it + +He was sure he could win the race now, and he would sweep past the +line in triumph with the great bunch of flowers at the stem of his +boat, proud as Van Tromp in the British channel with the broom at his +mast-head. + +He turned the boat's head a little by backing water. He came up with +the floating flowers, and near enough to reach them. He stooped and +snatched them up, with the loss perhaps of a second in all,--no more. +He felt sure of his victory. + +How can one tell the story of the finish in cold-blooded preterites? +Are we not there ourselves? Are not our muscles straining with those +of these sixteen young creatures, full of hot, fresh blood, their +nerves all tingling like so many tight-strained harp-strings, all +their life concentrating itself in this passionate moment of supreme +effort? No! We are seeing, not telling about what somebody else +once saw! + +--The bow of the Algonquin passes the stern of the Atalanta! + +--The bow of the Algonquin is on a level with the middle of the +Atalanta! + +--Three more lengths' rowing and the college crew will pass the +girls! + +--"Hurrah for the Quins!" The Algonquin ranges up alongside of the +Atalanta! + +"Through with her! "shouts the captain of the Algonquin. + +"Now, girls!" shrieks the captain of the Atalanta. + +They near the line, every rower straining desperately, almost madly. + +--Crack goes the oar of the Atalanta's captain, and up flash its +splintered fragments, as the stem of her boat springs past the line, +eighteen inches at least ahead of the Algonquin. + +Hooraw for the Lantas! Hooraw for the Girls! Hooraw for the +Institoot! shout a hundred voices. + +"Hurrah for woman's rights and female suffrage!" pipes the small +voice of The Terror, and there is loud laughing and cheering all +round. + +She had not studied her classical dictionary and her mythology for +nothing. "I have paid off one old score," she said. "Set down my +damask roses against the golden apples of Hippomenes!" + +It was that one second lost in snatching up the bouquet which gave +the race to the Atalantas. + + + + +III + +THE WHITE CANOE. + +While the two boats were racing, other boats with lookers-on in them +were rowing or sailing in the neighborhood of the race-course. The +scene on the water was a gay one, for the young people in the boats +were, many of them, acquainted with each other. There was a good +deal of lively talk until the race became too exciting. Then many +fell silent, until, as the boats neared the line, and still more as +they crossed it, the shouts burst forth which showed how a cramp of +attention finds its natural relief in a fit of convulsive +exclamation. + +But far away, on the other side of the lake, a birchbark canoe was to +be seen, in which sat a young man, who paddled it skillfully and +swiftly. It was evident enough that he was watching the race +intently, but the spectators could see little more than that. One of +them, however, who sat upon the stand, had a powerful spy-glass, and +could distinguish his motions very minutely and exactly. It was seen +by this curious observer that the young man had an opera-glass with +him, which he used a good deal at intervals. The spectator thought +he kept it directed to the girls' boat, chiefly, if not exclusively. +He thought also that the opera-glass was more particularly pointed +towards the bow of the boat, and came to the natural conclusion that +the bow oar, Miss Euthymia Tower, captain of the Atalantas, "The +Wonder" of the Corinna Institute, was the attraction which determined +the direction of the instrument. + +"Who is that in the canoe over there?" asked the owner of the spy- +glass. + +"That's just what we should like to know," answered the old +landlord's wife. "He and his man boarded with us when they first +came, but we could never find out anything about him only just his +name and his ways of living. His name is Kirkwood, Maurice Kirkwood, +Esq., it used to come on his letters. As for his ways of living, he +was the solitariest human being that I ever came across. His man +carried his meals up to him. He used to stay in his room pretty much +all day, but at night he would be off, walking, or riding on +horseback, or paddling about in the lake, sometimes till nigh +morning. There's something very strange about that Mr. Kirkwood. +But there don't seem to be any harm in him. Only nobody can guess +what his business is. They got up a story about him at one time. +What do you think? They said he was a counterfeiter! And so they +went one night to his room, when he was out, and that man of his was +away too, and they carried keys, and opened pretty much everything; +and they found--well, they found just nothing at all except writings +and letters,--letters from places in America and in England, and some +with Italian postmarks: that was all. Since that time the sheriff +and his folks have let him alone and minded their own business. He +was a gentleman,--anybody ought to have known that; and anybody that +knew about his nice ways of living and behaving, and knew the kind of +wear he had for his underclothing, might have known it. I could have +told those officers that they had better not bother him. I know the +ways of real gentlemen and real ladies, and I know those fellows in +store clothes that look a little too fine,--outside. Wait till +washing-day comes!" + +The good lady had her own standards for testing humanity, and they +were not wholly unworthy of consideration; they were quite as much to +be relied on as the judgments of the travelling phrenologist, who +sent his accomplice on before him to study out the principal +personages in the village, and in the light of these revelations +interpreted the bumps, with very little regard to Gall and Spurzheim, +or any other authorities. + +Even with the small amount of information obtained by the search +among his papers and effects, the gossips of the village had +constructed several distinct histories for the mysterious stranger. +He was an agent of a great publishing house; a leading contributor to +several important periodicals; the author of that anonymously +published novel which had made so much talk; the poet of a large +clothing establishment; a spy of the Italian, some said the Russian, +some said the British, Government; a proscribed refugee from some +country where he had been plotting; a school-master without a school, +a minister without a pulpit, an actor without an engagement; in +short, there was no end to the perfectly senseless stories that were +told about him, from that which made him out an escaped convict to +the whispered suggestion that he was the eccentric heir to a great +English title and estate. + +The one unquestionable fact was that of his extraordinary seclusion. +Nobody in the village, no student in the University, knew his +history. No young lady in the Corinna Institute had ever had a word +from him. Sometimes, as the boats of the University or the Institute +were returning at dusk, their rowers would see the canoe stealing +into the shadows as they drew near it. Sometimes on a moonlight +night, when a party of the young ladies were out upon the lake, they +would see the white canoe gliding ghost-like in the distance. And it +had happened more than once that when a boat's crew had been out with +singers among them, while they were in the midst of a song, the white +canoe would suddenly appear and rest upon the water,--not very near +them, but within hearing distance,--and so remain until the singing +was over, when it would steal away and be lost sight of in some inlet +or behind some jutting rock. + +Naturally enough, there was intense curiosity about this young man. +The landlady had told her story, which explained nothing. There was +nobody to be questioned about him except his servant, an Italian, +whose name was Paolo, but who to the village was known as Mr. Paul. + +Mr. Paul would have seemed the easiest person in the world to worm a +secret out of. He was good-natured, child-like as a Heathen Chinee, +talked freely with everybody in such English as he had at command, +knew all the little people of the village, and was followed round by +them partly from his personal attraction for them, and partly because +he was apt to have a stick of candy or a handful of peanuts or other +desirable luxury in his pocket for any of his little friends he met +with. He had that wholesome, happy look, so uncommon in our arid +countrymen,--a look hardly to be found except where figs and oranges +ripen in the open air. A kindly climate to grow up in, a religion +which takes your money and gives you a stamped ticket good at Saint +Peter's box office, a roomy chest and a good pair of lungs in it, an +honest digestive apparatus, a lively temperament, a cheerful +acceptance of the place in life assigned to one by nature and +circumstance,--these are conditions under which life may be quite +comfortable to endure, and certainly is very pleasant to contemplate. +All these conditions were united in Paolo. He was the easiest; +pleasantest creature to talk with that one could ask for a companion. +His southern vivacity, his amusing English, his simplicity and +openness, made him friends everywhere. + +It seemed as if it would be a very simple matter to get the history +of his master out of this guileless and unsophisticated being. He +had been tried by all the village experts. The rector had put a +number of well-studied careless questions, which failed of their +purpose. The old librarian of the town library had taken note of all +the books he carried to his master, and asked about his studies and +pursuits. Paolo found it hard to understand his English, apparently, +and answered in the most irrelevant way. The leading gossip of the +village tried her skill in pumping him for information. It was all +in vain. + +His master's way of life was peculiar,--in fact, eccentric. He had +hired rooms in an old-fashioned three-story house. He had two rooms +in the second and third stories of this old wooden building: his +study in the second, his sleeping-room in the one above it. Paolo +lived in the basement, where he had all the conveniences for cooking, +and played the part of chef for his master and himself. This was +only a part of his duty, for he was a man-of-all-work, purveyor, +steward, chambermaid,--as universal in his services for one man as +Pushee at the Anchor Tavern used to be for everybody. + +It so happened that Paolo took a severe cold one winter's day, and +had such threatening symptoms that he asked the baker, when he +called, to send the village physician to see him. In the course of +his visit the doctor naturally inquired about the health of Paolo's +master. + +"Signor Kirkwood well,--molto bene," said Paolo. "Why does he keep +out of sight as he does?" asked the doctor. + +"He always so," replied Paolo. "Una antipatia." + +Whether Paolo was off his guard with the doctor, whether he revealed +it to him as to a father confessor, or whether he thought it time +that the reason of his master's seclusion should be known, the doctor +did not feel sure. At any rate, Paolo was not disposed to make any +further revelations. Una antipatia,--an antipathy,--that was all the +doctor learned. He thought the matter over, and the more he +reflected the more he was puzzled. What could an antipathy be that +made a young man a recluse! Was it a dread of blue sky and open air, +of the smell of flowers, or some electrical impression to which be +was unnaturally sensitive? + +Dr. Butts carried these questions home with him. His wife was a +sensible, discreet woman, whom he could trust with many professional +secrets. He told her of Paolo's revelation, and talked it over with +her in the light of his experience and her own; for she had known +some curious cases of constitutional likes and aversions. + +Mrs. Butts buried the information in the grave of her memory, where +it lay for nearly a week. At the end of that time it emerged in a +confidential whisper to her favorite sister-in-law, a perfectly safe +person. Twenty-four hours later the story was all over the village +that Maurice Kirkwood was the subject of a strange, mysterious, +unheard-of antipathy to something, nobody knew what; and the whole +neighborhood naturally resolved itself into an unorganized committee +of investigation. + + + + +IV + +What is a country village without its mysterious personage? Few are +now living who can remember the advent of the handsome young man who +was the mystery of our great university town "sixty years since,"-- +long enough ago for a romance to grow out of a narrative, as Waverley +may remind us. The writer of this narrative remembers him well, and +is not sure that he has not told the strange story in some form or +other to the last generation, or to the one before the last. No +matter: if he has told it they have forgotten it,--that is, if they +have ever read it; and whether they have or have not, the story is +singular enough to justify running the risk of repetition. + +This young man, with a curious name of Scandinavian origin, appeared +unheralded in the town, as it was then, of Cantabridge. He wanted +employment, and soon found it in the shape of manual labor, which he +undertook and performed cheerfully. But his whole appearance showed +plainly enough that he was bred to occupations of a very different +nature, if, in deed, he had been accustomed to any kind of toil for +his living. His aspect was that of one of gentle birth. His hands +were not those of a laborer, and his features were delicate and +refined, as well as of remarkable beauty. Who he was, where he came +from, why he had come to Cantabridge, was never clearly explained. +He was alone, without friends, except among the acquaintances he had +made in his new residence. If he had any correspondents, they were +not known to the neighborhood where he was living. But if he had +neither friends nor correspondents, there was some reason for +believing that he had enemies. Strange circumstances occurred which +connected themselves with him in an ominous and unaccountable way. A +threatening letter was slipped under the door of a house where he was +visiting. He had a sudden attack of illness, which was thought to +look very much like the effect of poison. At one time he +disappeared, and was found wandering, bewildered, in a town many +miles from that where he was residing. When questioned how he came +there; he told a coherent story that he had been got, under some +pretext, or in some not incredible way, into a boat, from which, at a +certain landing-place, he had escaped and fled for his life, which he +believed was in danger from his kidnappers. + +Whoever his enemies may have been,--if they really existed,--he did +not fall a victim to their plots, so far as known to or remembered by +this witness. + +Various interpretations were put upon his story. Conjectures were as +abundant as they were in the case of Kaspar Hauser. That he was of +good family seemed probable; that he was of distinguished birth, not +impossible; that he was the dangerous rival of a candidate for a +greatly coveted position in one of the northern states of Europe was +a favorite speculation of some of the more romantic young persons. +There was no dramatic ending to this story,--at least none is +remembered by the present writer. + +"He left a name," like the royal Swede, of whose lineage he may have +been for aught that the village people knew, but not a name at which +anybody "grew pale;" for he had swindled no one, and broken no +woman's heart with false vows. Possibly some withered cheeks may +flush faintly as they recall the handsome young man who came before +the Cantabridge maidens fully equipped for a hero of romance when the +century was in its first quarter. + +The writer has been reminded of the handsome Swede by the incidents +attending the advent of the unknown and interesting stranger who had +made his appearance at Arrowhead Village. + +It was a very insufficient and unsatisfactory reason to assign for +the young man's solitary habits that he was the subject of an +antipathy. For what do we understand by that word? When a young +lady screams at the sight of a spider, we accept her explanation that +she has a natural antipathy to the creature. When a person expresses +a repugnance to some wholesome article of food, agreeable to most +people, we are satisfied if he gives the same reason. And so of +various odors, which are pleasing to some persons and repulsive to +others. We do not pretend to go behind the fact. It is an +individual, and it may be a family, peculiarity. Even between +different personalities there is an instinctive elective dislike as +well as an elective affinity. We are not bound to give a reason why +Dr. Fell is odious to us any more than the prisoner who peremptorily +challenges a juryman is bound to say why he does it; it is enough +that he "does not like his looks." + +There was nothing strange, then, that Maurice Kirkwood should have +his special antipathy; a great many other people have odd likes and +dislikes. But it was a very curious thing that this antipathy should +be alleged as the reason for his singular mode of life. All sorts of +explanations were suggested, not one of them in the least +satisfactory, but serving to keep the curiosity of inquirers active +until they were superseded by a new theory. One story was that +Maurice had a great fear of dogs. It grew at last to a connected +narrative, in which a fright in childhood from a rabid mongrel was +said to have given him such a sensitiveness to the near presence of +dogs that he was liable to convulsions if one came close to him. + +This hypothesis had some plausibility. No other creature would be so +likely to trouble a person who had an antipathy to it. Dogs are very +apt to make the acquaintance of strangers, in a free and easy way. +They are met with everywhere,--in one's daily walk, at the thresholds +of the doors one enters, in the gentleman's library, on the rug of my +lady's sitting-room and on the cushion of her carriage. It is true +that there are few persons who have an instinctive repugnance to this +"friend of man." But what if this so-called antipathy were only a +fear, a terror, which borrowed the less unmanly name? It was a fair +question, if, indeed, the curiosity of the public had a right to ask +any questions at all about a harmless individual who gave no offence, +and seemed entitled to the right of choosing his way of living to +suit himself, without being submitted to espionage. + +There was no positive evidence bearing on the point as yet. But one +of the village people had a large Newfoundland dog, of a very +sociable disposition, with which he determined to test the question. +He watched for the time when Maurice should leave his house for the +woods or the lake, and started with his dog to meet him. The animal +walked up to the stranger in a very sociable fashion, and began +making his acquaintance, after the usual manner of well-bred dogs; +that is, with the courtesies and blandishments by which the canine +Chesterfield is distinguished from the ill-conditioned cur. Maurice +patted him in a friendly way, and spoke to him as one who was used to +the fellowship of such companions. That idle question and foolish +story were disposed of, therefore, and some other solution must be +found, if possible. + +A much more common antipathy is that which is entertained with regard +to cats. This has never been explained. It is not mere aversion to +the look of the creature, or to any sensible quality known to the +common observer. The cat is pleasing in aspect, graceful in +movement, nice in personal habits, and of amiable disposition. No +cause of offence is obvious, and yet there are many persons who +cannot abide the presence of the most innocent little kitten. They +can tell, in some mysterious way, that there is a cat in the room +when they can neither see nor hear the creature. Whether it is an +electrical or quasi-magnetic phenomenon, or whatever it may be, of +the fact of this strange influence there are too many well- +authenticated instances to allow its being questioned. But suppose +Maurice Kirkwood to be the subject of this antipathy in its extremest +degree, it would in no manner account for the isolation to which he +had condemned himself. He might shun the firesides of the old women +whose tabbies were purring by their footstools, but these worthy +dames do not make up the whole population. + +These two antipathies having been disposed of, a new suggestion was +started, and was talked over with a curious sort of half belief, very +much as ghost stories are told in a circle of moderately instructed +and inquiring persons. This was that Maurice was endowed with the +unenviable gift of the evil eye. He was in frequent communication +with Italy, as his letters showed, and had recently been residing in +that country, as was learned from Paolo. Now everybody knows that +the evil eye is not rarely met with in Italy. Everybody who has ever +read Mr. Story's "Roba di Roma" knows what a terrible power it is +which the owner of the evil eye exercises. It can blight and destroy +whatever it falls upon. No person's life or limb is safe if the +jettatura, the withering glance of the deadly organ, falls upon him. +It must be observed that this malign effect may follow a look from +the holiest personages, that is, if we may assume that a monk is such +as a matter of course. Certainly we have a right to take it for +granted that the late Pope, Pius Ninth, was an eminently holy man, +and yet he had the name of dispensing the mystic and dreaded +jettatura as well as his blessing. If Maurice Kirkwood carried that +destructive influence, so that his clear blue eyes were more to be +feared than the fascinations of the deadliest serpent, it could +easily be understood why he kept his look away from all around him +whom he feared he might harm. + +No sensible person in Arrowhead Village really believed in the evil +eye, but it served the purpose of a temporary hypothesis, as do many +suppositions which we take as a nucleus for our observations without +putting any real confidence in them. It was just suited to the +romantic notions of the more flighty persons in the village, who had +meddled more or less with Spiritualism, and were ready for any new +fancy, if it were only wild enough. + +The riddle of the young stranger's peculiarity did not seem likely to +find any very speedy solution. Every new suggestion furnished talk +for the gossips of the village and the babble of the many tongues in +the two educational institutions. Naturally, the discussion was +liveliest among the young ladies. Here is an extract from a letter +of one of these young ladies, who, having received at her birth the +ever-pleasing name of Mary, saw fit to have herself called Mollie in +the catalogue and in her letters. The old postmaster of the town to +which her letter was directed took it up to stamp, and read on the +envelope the direction to "Miss Lulu Pinrow." He brought the stamp +down with a vicious emphasis, coming very near blotting out the +nursery name, instead of cancelling the postage-stamp. "Lulu!" he +exclaimed. "I should like to know if that great strapping girl isn't +out of her cradle yet! I suppose Miss Louisa will think that belongs +to her, but I saw her christened and I heard the name the minister +gave her, and it was n't 'Lulu,' or any such baby nonsense." And so +saying, he gave it a fling to the box marked P, as if it burned his +fingers. Why a grown-up young woman allowed herself to be cheapened +in the way so many of them do by the use of names which become them +as well as the frock of a ten-year-old schoolgirl would become a +graduate of the Corinna Institute, the old postmaster could not +guess. He was a queer old man. + +The letter thus scornfully treated runs over with a young girl's +written loquacity: + +"Oh, Lulu, there is such a sensation as you never saw or heard of +'in all your born days,' as mamma used to say. He has been at the +village for some time, but lately we have had--oh, the weirdest +stories about him! 'The Mysterious Stranger is the name some give +him, but we girls call him the Sachem, because he paddles about in an +Indian canoe. If I should tell you all the things that are said +about him I should use up all my paper ten times over. He has never +made a visit to the Institute, and none of the girls have ever spoken +to him, but the people at the village say he is very, very handsome. +We are dying to get a look at him, of course--though there is a +horrid story about him--that he has the evil eye did you ever hear +about the evil eye? If a person who is born with it looks at you, +you die, or something happens--awful--is n't it? + +"The rector says he never goes to church, but then you know a good +many of the people that pass the summer at the village never do--they +think their religion must have vacations--that's what I've heard they +say--vacations, just like other hard work--it ought not to be hard +work, I'm sure, but I suppose they feel so about it. Should you feel +afraid to have him look at you? Some of the girls say they would n't +have him for the whole world, but I shouldn't mind it--especially if +I had on my eyeglasses. Do you suppose if there is anything in the +evil eye it would go through glass? I don't believe it. Do you +think blue eye-glasses would be better than common ones? Don't laugh +at me--they tell such weird stories! The Terror--Lurida Vincent, you +know-makes fun of all they say about it, but then she 'knows +everything and doesn't believe anything,' the girls say--Well, I +should be awfully scared, I know, if anybody that had the evil eye +should look at me--but--oh, I don't know--but if it was a young man-- +and if he was very--very good-looking--I think--perhaps I would run +the risk--but don't tell anybody I said any such horrid thing--and +burn this letter right up--there 's a dear good girl." + +It is to be hoped that no reader will doubt the genuineness of this +letter. There are not quite so many "awfuls" and "awfullys" as one +expects to find in young ladies' letters, but there are two "weirds," +which may be considered a fair allowance. How it happened that +"jolly" did not show itself can hardly be accounted for; no doubt it +turns up two or three times at least in the postscript. + +Here is an extract from another letter. This was from one of the +students of Stoughton University to a friend whose name as it was +written on the envelope was Mr. Frank Mayfield. The old postmaster +who found fault with Miss "Lulu's" designation would probably have +quarrelled with this address, if it had come under his eye. "Frank" +is a very pretty, pleasant-sounding name, and it is not strange that +many persons use it in common conversation all their days when +speaking of a friend. Were they really christened by that name, any +of these numerous Franks? Perhaps they were, and if so there is +nothing to be said. But if not, was the baptismal name Francis or +Franklin? The mind is apt to fasten in a very perverse and +unpleasant way upon this question, which too often there is no +possible way of settling. One might hope, if he outlived the bearer +of the appellation, to get at the fact; but since even gravestones +have learned to use the names belonging to childhood and infancy in +their solemn record, the generation which docks its Christian names +in such an un-Christian way will bequeath whole churchyards full of +riddles to posterity. How it will puzzle and distress the historians +and antiquarians of a coming generation to settle what was the real +name of Dan and Bert and Billy, which last is legible on a white +marble slab, raised in memory of a grown person, in a certain burial- +ground in a town in Essex County, Massachusetts! + +But in the mean time we are forgetting the letter directed to Mr. +Frank Mayfield. + + +"DEAR FRANK,--Hooray! Hurrah! Rah! + +"I have made the acquaintance of 'The Mysterious Stranger'! It +happened by a queer sort of accident, which came pretty near +relieving you of the duty of replying to this letter. I was out in +my little boat, which carries a sail too big for her, as I know and +ought to have remembered. One of those fitful flaws of wind to which +the lake is so liable struck the sail suddenly, and over went my +boat. My feet got tangled in the sheet somehow, and I could not get +free. I had hard work to keep my head above water, and I struggled +desperately to escape from my toils; for if the boat were to go down +I should be dragged down with her. I thought of a good many things +in the course of some four or five minutes, I can tell you, and I got +a lesson about time better than anything Kant and all the rest of +them have to say of it. After I had been there about an ordinary +lifetime, I saw a white canoe making toward me, and I knew that our +shy young gentleman was coming to help me, and that we should become +acquainted without an introduction. So it was, sure enough. He saw +what the trouble was, managed to disentangle my feet without drowning +me in the process or upsetting his little flimsy craft, and, as I was +somewhat tired with my struggle, took me in tow and carried me to the +landing where he kept his canoe. I can't say that there is anything +odd about his manners or his way of talk. I judge him to be a native +of one of our Northern States,--perhaps a New Englander. He has +lived abroad during some parts of his life. He is not an artist, as +it was at one time thought he might be. He is a good-looking fellow, +well developed, manly in appearance, with nothing to excite special +remark unless it be a certain look of anxiety or apprehension which +comes over him from time to time. You remember our old friend Squire +B., whose companion was killed by lightning when he was standing +close to him. You know the look he had whenever anything like a +thundercloud came up in the sky. Well, I should say there was a look +like that came over this Maurice Kirkwood's face every now and then. +I noticed that he looked round once or twice as if to see whether +some object or other was in sight. There was a little rustling in +the grass as if of footsteps, and this look came over his features. +A rabbit ran by us, and I watched to see if he showed any sign of +that antipathy we have heard so much of, but he seemed to be pleased +watching the creature. + +"If you ask me what my opinion is about this Maurice Kirkwood, I +think he is eccentric in his habit of life, but not what they call a +'crank' exactly. He talked well enough about such matters as we +spoke of,--the lake, the scenery in general, the climate. I asked +him to come over and take a look at the college. He did n't promise, +but I should not be surprised if I should get him over there some +day. I asked him why he did n't go to the Pansophian meetings. He +did n't give any reason, but he shook his head in a very peculiar +way, as much as to say that it was impossible. + +"On the whole, I think it is nothing more than the same feeling of +dread of human society, or dislike for it, which under the name of +religion used to drive men into caves and deserts. What a pity that +Protestantism does not make special provision for all the freaks of +individual character! If we had a little more faith and a few more +caverns, or convenient places for making them, we should have hermits +in these holes as thick as woodchucks or prairie dogs. I should like +to know if you never had the feeling, + + "'Oh, that the desert were my dwelling-place!' + +"I know what your answer will be, of course. You will say, +'Certainly, + + "'With one fair spirit for my minister;"' + +"but I mean alone,--all alone. Don't you ever feel as if you should +like to have been a pillar-saint in the days when faith was as strong +as lye (spelt with a y), instead of being as weak as dish-water? +(Jerry is looking over my shoulder, and says this pun is too bad to +send, and a disgrace to the University--but never mind.) I often feel +as if I should like to roost on a pillar a hundred feet high,--yes, +and have it soaped from top to bottom. Wouldn't it be fun to look +down at the bores and the duns? Let us get up a pillar-roosters' +association. (Jerry--still looking over says there is an absurd +contradiction in the idea.) + +"What a matter-of-fact idiot Jerry is! + +"How do you like looking over, Mr. Inspector general?" + +The reader will not get much information out of this lively young +fellow's letter, but he may get a little. It is something to know +that the mysterious resident of Arrowhead Village did not look nor +talk like a crazy person; that he was of agreeable aspect and +address, helpful when occasion offered, and had nothing about him, so +far as yet appeared, to prevent his being an acceptable member of +society. + +Of course the people in the village could never be contented without +learning everything there was to be learned about their visitor. All +the city papers were examined for advertisements. If a cashier had +absconded, if a broker had disappeared, if a railroad president was +missing, some of the old stories would wake up and get a fresh +currency, until some new circumstance gave rise to a new hypothesis. +Unconscious of all these inquiries and fictions, Maurice Kirkwood +lived on in his inoffensive and unexplained solitude, and seemed +likely to remain an unsolved enigma. The "Sachem" of the boating +girls became the "Sphinx" of the village ramblers, and it was agreed +on all hands that Egypt did not hold any hieroglyphics harder to make +out than the meaning of this young man's odd way of living. + + + + +V + +THE ENIGMA STUDIED. + +It was a curious, if it was not a suspicious, circumstance that a +young man, seemingly in good health, of comely aspect, looking as if +made for companionship, should keep himself apart from all the world +around him in a place where there was a general feeling of good +neighborhood and a pleasant social atmosphere. The Public Library +was a central point which brought people together. The Pansophian +Society did a great deal to make them acquainted with each other for +many of the meetings were open to outside visitors, and the subjects +discussed in the meetings furnished the material for conversation in +their intervals. A card of invitation had been sent by the Secretary +to Maurice, in answer to which Paolo carried back a polite note of +regret. The paper had a narrow rim of black, implying apparently +some loss of relative or friend, but not any very recent and crushing +bereavement. This refusal to come to the meetings of the society was +only what was expected. It was proper to ask him, but his declining +the invitation showed that he did not wish for attentions or +courtesies. There was nothing further to be done to bring him out of +his shell, and seemingly nothing more to be learned about him at +present. + +In this state of things it was natural that all which had been +previously gathered by the few who had seen or known anything of him +should be worked over again. When there is no new ore to be dug, the +old refuse heaps are looked over for what may still be found in them. +The landlord of the Anchor Tavern, now the head of the boarding- +house, talked about Maurice, as everybody in the village did at one +time or another. He had not much to say, but he added a fact or two. + +The young gentleman was good pay,--so they all said. Sometimes he +paid in gold; sometimes in fresh bills, just out of the bank. He +trusted his man, Mr. Paul, with the money to pay his bills. He knew +something about horses; he showed that by the way he handled that +colt,--the one that threw the hostler and broke his collar-bone. +"Mr. Paul come down to the stable. 'Let me see that cult you all +'fraid of,' says he. 'My master, he ride any hoss,' says Paul. 'You +saddle him,' says be; and so they did, and Paul, he led that colt-- +the kickinest and ugliest young beast you ever see in your life--up +to the place where his master, as he calls him, and he lives. What +does that Kirkwood do but clap on a couple of long spurs and jump on +to that colt's back, and off the beast goes, tail up, heels flying, +standing up on end, trying all sorts of capers, and at last going it +full run for a couple of miles, till he'd got about enough of it. +That colt went off as ferce as a wild-cat, and come back as quiet as +a cosset lamb. A man that pays his bills reg'lar, in good money, and +knows how to handle a hoss is three quarters of a gentleman, if he is +n't a whole one,--and most likely he is a whole one." + +So spake the patriarch of the Anchor Tavern. His wife had already +given her favorable opinion of her former guest. She now added +something to her description as a sequel to her husband's remarks. + +"I call him," she said, "about as likely a young gentleman as ever I +clapped my eyes on. He is rather slighter than I like to see a young +man of his age; if he was my sun, I should like to see him a little +more fleshy. I don't believe he weighs more than a hundred and +thirty or forty pounds. Did y' ever look at those eyes of his, +M'randy? Just as blue as succory flowers. I do like those light- +complected young fellows, with their fresh cheeks and their curly +hair; somehow, curly hair doos set off anybody's face. He is n't any +foreigner, for all that he talks Italian with that Mr. Paul that's +his help. He looks just like our kind of folks, the college kind, +that's brought up among books, and is handling 'em, and reading of +'em, and making of 'em, as like as not, all their lives. All that +you say about his riding the mad colt is just what I should think he +was up to, for he's as spry as a squirrel; you ought to see him go +over that fence, as I did once. I don't believe there's any harm in +that young gentleman,--I don't care what people say. I suppose he +likes this place just as other people like it, and cares more for +walking in the woods and paddling about in the water than he doos for +company; and if he doos, whose business is it, I should like to +know?" + +The third of the speakers was Miranda, who had her own way of judging +people. + +"I never see him but two or three times," Miranda said. "I should +like to have waited on him, and got a chance to look stiddy at him +when he was eatin' his vittles. That 's the time to watch folks, +when their jaws get a-goin' and their eyes are on what's afore 'em. +Do you remember that chap the sheriff come and took away when we kep' +tahvern? Eleven year ago it was, come nex' Thanksgivin' time. A +mighty grand gentleman from the City he set up for. I watched him, +and I watched him. Says I, I don't believe you're no gentleman, +says I. He eat with his knife, and that ain't the way city folks +eats. Every time I handed him anything I looked closeter and +closeter. Them whiskers never grooved on them cheeks, says I to +myself. Them 's paper collars, says I. That dimun in your shirt- +front hain't got no life to it, says I. I don't believe it's +nothiri' more 'n a bit o' winderglass. So says I to Pushee, 'You +jes' step out and get the sheriff to come in and take a look at that +chap.' I knowed he was after a fellah. He come right in, an' he goes +up to the chap. 'Why, Bill,' says he, 'I'm mighty glad to see yer. +We've had the hole in the wall you got out of mended, and I want your +company to come and look at the old place,' says he, and he pulls out +a couple of handcuffs and has 'em on his wrists in less than no time, +an' off they goes together! I know one thing about that young +gentleman, anyhow,--there ain't no better judge of what's good eatin' +than he is. I cooked him some maccaroni myself one day, and he sends +word to me by that Mr. Paul, 'Tell Miss Miranda,' says he, I that the +Pope o' Rome don't have no better cooked maccaroni than what she sent +up to me yesterday,' says he. I don' know much about the Pope o' +Rome except that he's a Roman Catholic, and I don' know who cooks for +him, whether it's a man or a woman; but when it comes to a dish o' +maccaroni, I ain't afeard of their shefs, as they call 'em,--them he- +cooks that can't serve up a cold potater without callin' it by some +name nobody can say after 'em. But this gentleman knows good +cookin', and that's as good a sign of a gentleman as I want to tell +'em by." + + + + +VI + +STILL AT FAULT. + +The house in which Maurice Kirkwood had taken up his abode was not a +very inviting one. It was old, and had been left in a somewhat +dilapidated and disorderly condition by the tenants who had lived in +the part which Maurice now occupied. They had piled their packing- +boxes in the cellar, with broken chairs, broken china, and other +household wrecks. A cracked mirror lay on an old straw mattress, the +contents of which were airing themselves through wide rips and rents. +A lame clothes-horse was saddled with an old rug fringed with a +ragged border, out of which all the colors had been completely +trodden. No woman would have gone into a house in such a condition. +But the young man did not trouble himself much about such matters, +and was satisfied when the rooms which were to be occupied by himself +and his servant were made decent and tolerably comfortable. During +the fine season all this was not of much consequence, and if Maurice +made up his mind to stay through the winter he would have his choice +among many more eligible places. + +The summer vacation of the Corinna Institute had now arrived, and the +young ladies had scattered to their homes. Among the graduates of +the year were Miss Euthymia Tower and Miss Lurida Vincent, who had +now returned to their homes in Arrowhead Village. They were both +glad to rest after the long final examinations and the exercises of +the closing day, in which each of them had borne a conspicuous part. +It was a pleasant life they led in the village, which was lively +enough at this season. Walking, riding, driving, boating, visits to +the Library, meetings of the Pansophian Society, hops, and picnics +made the time pass very cheerfully, and soon showed their restoring +influences. The Terror's large eyes did not wear the dull, glazed +look by which they had too often betrayed the after effects of over- +excitement of the strong and active brain behind them. The Wonder +gained a fresher bloom, and looked full enough of life to radiate +vitality into a statue of ice. They had a boat of their own, in +which they passed many delightful hours on the lake, rowing, +drifting, reading, telling of what had been, dreaming of what might +be. + +The Library was one of the chief centres of the fixed population, and +visited often by strangers. The old Librarian was a peculiar +character, as these officials are apt to be. They have a curious +kind of knowledge, sometimes immense in its way. They know the backs +of books, their title-pages, their popularity or want of it, the +class of readers who call for particular works, the value of +different editions, and a good deal besides. Their minds catch up +hints from all manner of works on all kinds of subjects. They will +give a visitor a fact and a reference which they are surprised to +find they remember and which the visitor might have hunted for a +year. Every good librarian, every private book-owner, who has grown +into his library, finds he has a bunch of nerves going to every +bookcase, a branch to every shelf, and a twig to every book. These +nerves get very sensitive in old librarians, sometimes, and they do +not like to have a volume meddled with any more than they would like +to have their naked eyes handled. They come to feel at last that the +books of a great collection are a part, not merely of their own +property, though they are only the agents for their distribution, but +that they are, as it were, outlying portions of their own +organization. The old Librarian was getting a miserly feeling about +his books, as he called them. Fortunately, he had a young lady for +his assistant, who was never so happy as when she could find the work +any visitor wanted and put it in his hands,--or her hands, for there +were more readers among the wives and--daughters, and especially +among the aunts, than there were among their male relatives. The old +Librarian knew the books, but the books seemed to know the young +assistant; so it looked, at least, to the impatient young people who +wanted their services. + +Maurice had a good many volumes of his own,--a great many, according +to Paolo's account; but Paolo's ideas were limited, and a few well- +filled shelves seemed a very large collection to him. His master +frequently sent him to the Public Library for books, which somewhat +enlarged his notions; still, the Signor was a very learned man, he +was certain, and some of his white books (bound in vellum and richly +gilt) were more splendid, according to Paolo, than anything in the +Library. + +There was no little curiosity to know what were the books that +Maurice was in the habit of taking out, and the Librarian's record +was carefully searched by some of the more inquisitive investigators. +The list proved to be a long and varied one. It would imply a +considerable knowledge of modern languages and of the classics; a +liking for mathematics and physics, especially all that related to +electricity and magnetism; a fancy for the occult sciences, if there +is any propriety in coupling these words; and a whim for odd and +obsolete literature, like the Parthenologia of Fortunius Licetus, the +quaint treatise 'De Sternutatione,' books about alchemy, and +witchcraft, apparitions, and modern works relating to Spiritualism. +With these were the titles of novels and now and then of books of +poems; but it may be taken for granted that his own shelves held the +works he was most frequently in the habit of reading or consulting. +Not much was to be made out of this beyond the fact of wide +scholarship,--more or less deep it might be, but at any rate implying +no small mental activity; for he appeared to read very rapidly, at +any rate exchanged the books he had taken out for new ones very +frequently. To judge by his reading, he was a man of letters. But +so wide-reading a man of letters must have an object, a literary +purpose in all probability. Why should not he be writing a novel? +Not a novel of society, assuredly, for a hermit is not the person to +report the talk and manners of a world which he has nothing to do +with. Novelists and lawyers understand the art of "cramming" better +than any other persons in the world. Why should not this young man +be working up the picturesque in this romantic region to serve as a +background for some story with magic, perhaps, and mysticism, and +hints borrowed from science, and all sorts of out-of-the-way +knowledge which his odd and miscellaneous selection of books +furnished him? That might be, or possibly he was only reading for +amusement. Who could say? + +The funds of the Public Library of Arrowhead Village allowed the +managers to purchase many books out of the common range of reading. +The two learned people of the village were the rector and the doctor. +These two worthies kept up the old controversy between the +professions, which grows out of the fact that one studies nature from +below upwards, and the other from above downwards. The rector +maintained that physicians contracted a squint which turns their eyes +inwardly, while the muscles which roll their eyes upward become +palsied. The doctor retorted that theological students developed a +third eyelid,--the nictitating membrane, which is so well known in +birds, and which serves to shut out, not all light, but all the light +they do not want. Their little skirmishes did not prevent their +being very good friends, who had a common interest in many things and +many persons. Both were on the committee which had the care of the +Library and attended to the purchase of books. Each was scholar +enough to know the wants of scholars, and disposed to trust the +judgment of the other as to what books should be purchased. +Consequently, the clergyman secured the addition to the Library of a +good many old theological works which the physician would have called +brimstone divinity, and held to be just the thing to kindle fires +with,--good books still for those who know how to use them, +oftentimes as awful examples of the extreme of disorganization the +whole moral system may undergo when a barbarous belief has strangled +the natural human instincts. The physician, in the mean time, +acquired for the collection some of those medical works where one may +find recorded various rare and almost incredible cases, which may not +have their like for a whole century, and then repeat themselves, so +as to give a new lease of credibility to stories which had come to be +looked upon as fables. + +Both the clergyman and the physician took a very natural interest in +the young man who had come to reside in their neighborhood for the +present, perhaps for a long period. The rector would have been glad +to see him at church. He would have liked more especially to have +had him hear his sermon on the Duties of Young Men to Society. The +doctor, meanwhile, was meditating on the duties of society to young +men, and wishing that he could gain the young man's confidence, so as +to help him out of any false habit of mind or any delusion to which +he might be subject, if he had the power of being useful to him. + +Dr. Butts was the leading medical practitioner, not only of Arrowhead +Village, but of all the surrounding region. He was an excellent +specimen of the country doctor, self-reliant, self-sacrificing, +working a great deal harder for his living than most of those who +call themselves the laboring classes,--as if none but those whose +hands were hardened by the use of farming or mechanical implements +had any work to do. He had that sagacity without which learning is a +mere incumbrance, and he had also a fair share of that learning +without which sagacity is like a traveller with a good horse, but who +cannot read the directions on the guideboards. He was not a man to +be taken in by names. He well knew that oftentimes very innocent- +sounding words mean very grave disorders; that all, degrees of +disease and disorder are frequently confounded under the same term; +that "run down" may stand for a fatigue of mind or body from which a +week or a month of rest will completely restore the over-worked +patient, or an advanced stage of a mortal illness; that "seedy" may +signify the morning's state of feeling, after an evening's over- +indulgence, which calls for a glass of soda-water and a cup of +coffee, or a dangerous malady which will pack off the subject of it, +at the shortest notice, to the south of France. He knew too well +that what is spoken lightly of as a "nervous disturbance" may imply +that the whole machinery of life is in a deranged condition, and that +every individual organ would groan aloud if it had any other language +than the terrible inarticulate one of pain by which to communicate +with the consciousness. + +When, therefore, Dr. Butts heard the word antipatia he did not smile, +and say to himself that this was an idle whim, a foolish fancy, which +the young man had got into his head. Neither was he satisfied to set +down everything to the account of insanity, plausible as that +supposition might seem. He was prepared to believe in some +exceptional, perhaps anomalous, form of exaggerated sensibility, +relating to what class of objects he could not at present conjecture, +but which was as vital to the subject of it as the insulating +arrangement to a piece of electrical machinery. With this feeling he +began to look into tho history of antipathies as recorded in all the +books and journals on which he could lay his hands. + + ------------------------------ + +The holder of the Portfolio asks leave to close it for a brief +interval. He wishes to say a few words to his readers, before +offering them some verses which have no connection with the narrative +now in progress. + +If one could have before him a set of photographs taken annually, +representing the same person as he or she appeared for thirty or +forty or fifty years, it would be interesting to watch the gradual +changes of aspect from the age of twenty, or even of thirty or forty, +to that of threescore and ten. The face might be an uninteresting +one; still, as sharing the inevitable changes wrought by time, it +would be worth looking at as it passed through the curve of life,-- +the vital parabola, which betrays itself in the symbolic changes of +the features. An inscription is the same thing, whether we read it +on slate-stone, or granite, or marble. To watch the lights and +shades, the reliefs and hollows, of a countenance through a lifetime, +or a large part of it, by the aid of a continuous series of +photographs would not only be curious; it would teach us much more +about the laws of physiognomy than we could get from casual and +unconnected observations. + +The same kind of interest, without any assumption of merit to be +found in them, I would claim for a series of annual poems, beginning +in middle life and continued to what many of my correspondents are +pleased to remind me--as if I required to have the fact brought to my +knowledge--is no longer youth. Here is the latest of a series of +annual poems read during the last thirty-four years. There seems to +have been one interruption, but there may have been other poems not +recorded or remembered. This, the latest poem of the series, was +listened to by the scanty remnant of what was a large and brilliant +circle of classmates and friends when the first of the long series +was read before them, then in the flush of ardent manhood:-- + + + THE OLD SONG. + +The minstrel of the classic lay +Of love and wine who sings +Still found the fingers run astray +That touched the rebel strings. + +Of Cadmus he would fair have sung, +Of Atreus and his line; +But all the jocund echoes rung +With songs of love and wine. + +Ah, brothers! I would fair have caught +Some fresher fancy's gleam; +My truant accents find, unsought, +The old familiar theme. + +Love, Love! but not the sportive child +With shaft and twanging bow, +Whose random arrows drove us wild +Some threescore years ago; + +Not Eros, with his joyous laugh, +The urchin blind and bare, +But Love, with spectacles and staff, +And scanty, silvered hair. + +Our heads with frosted locks are white, +Our roofs are thatched with snow, +But red, in chilling winter's spite, +Our hearts and hearthstones glow. + +Our old acquaintance, Time, drops in, +And while the running sands +Their golden thread unheeded spin, +He warms his frozen hands. + +Stay, winged hours, too swift, too sweet, +And waft this message o'er +To all we miss, from all we meet +On life's fast-crumbling shore: + +Say that to old affection true +We hug the narrowing chain +That binds our hearts,--alas, how few +The links that yet remain! + +The fatal touch awaits them all +That turns the rocks to dust; +From year to year they break and fall, +They break, but never rust. + +Say if one note of happier strain +This worn-out harp afford,-- +One throb that trembles, not in vain, +Their memory lent its chord. + +Say that when Fancy closed her wings +And Passion quenched his fire, +Love, Love, still echoed from the strings +As from Anacreon's lyre! + +January 8, 1885. + + + + +VII + +A RECORD OF ANTIPATHIES + +In thinking the whole matter over, Dr. Butts felt convinced that, +with care and patience and watching his opportunity, he should get at +the secret, which so far bad yielded nothing but a single word. It +might be asked why he was so anxious to learn what, from all +appearances, the young stranger was unwilling to explain. He may +have been to some extent infected by the general curiosity of the +persons around him, in which good Mrs. Butts shared, and which she +had helped to intensify by revealing the word dropped by Paolo. But +this was not really his chief motive. He could not look upon this +young man, living a life of unwholesome solitude, without a natural +desire to do all that his science and his knowledge of human nature +could help him to do towards bringing him into healthy relations with +the world about him. Still, he would not intrude upon him in any +way. He would only make certain general investigations, which might +prove serviceable in case circumstances should give him the right to +counsel the young man as to his course of life. The first thing to +be done was to study systematically the whole subject of antipathies. +Then, if any further occasion offered itself, he would be ready to +take advantage of it. The resources of the Public Library of the +place and his own private collection were put in requisition to +furnish him the singular and widely scattered facts of which he was +in search. + +It is not every reader who will care to follow Dr. Butts in his study +of the natural history of antipathies. The stories told about them +are, however, very curious; and if some of them may be questioned, +there is no doubt that many of the strangest are true, and +consequently take away from the improbability of others which we are +disposed to doubt. + +But in the first place, what do we mean by an antipathy? It is an +aversion to some object, which may vary in degree from mere dislike +to mortal horror. What the cause of this aversion is we cannot say. +It acts sometimes through the senses, sometimes through the +imagination, sometimes through an unknown channel. The relations +which exist between the human being and all that surrounds him vary +in consequence of some adjustment peculiar to each individual. The +brute fact is expressed in the phrase "One man's meat is another +man's poison." + +In studying the history of antipathies the doctor began with those +referable to the sense of taste, which are among the most common. In +any collection of a hundred persons there will be found those who +cannot make use of certain articles of food generally acceptable. +This may be from the disgust they occasion or the effects they have +been found to produce. Every one knows individuals who cannot +venture on honey, or cheese, or veal, with impunity. Carlyle, for +example, complains of having veal set before him,--a meat he could +not endure. There is a whole family connection in New England, and +that a very famous one, to many of whose members, in different +generations, all the products of the dairy are the subjects of a +congenital antipathy. Montaigne says there are persons who dread the +smell of apples more than they would dread being exposed to a fire of +musketry. The readers of the charming story "A Week in a French +Country-House" will remember poor Monsieur Jacque's piteous cry in +the night: "Ursula, art thou asleep? Oh, Ursula, thou sleepest, but +I cannot close my eyes. Dearest Ursula, there is such a dreadful +smell! Oh, Ursula, it is such a smell! I do so wish thou couldst +smell it! Good-night, my angel!----Dearest! I have found them! +They are apples! "The smell of roses, of peonies, of lilies, has +been known to cause faintness. The sight of various objects has had +singular effects on some persons. A boar's head was a favorite dish +at the table of great people in Marshal d'Albret's time; yet he used +to faint at the sight of one. It is not uncommon to meet with +persons who faint at the sight of blood. One of the most +inveterately pugnacious of Dr. Butts's college-mates confessed that +he had this infirmity. Stranger and far more awkward than this is +the case mentioned in an ancient collection, where the subject of the +antipathy fainted at the sight of any object of a red color. There +are sounds, also, which have strange effects on some individuals. +Among the obnoxious noises are the crumpling of silk stuffs, the +sound of sweeping, the croaking of frogs. The effects in different +cases have been spasms, a sense of strangling, profuse sweating,--all +showing a profound disturbance of the nervous system. + +All these effects were produced by impressions on the organs of +sense, seemingly by direct agency on certain nerve centres. But +there is another series of cases in which the imagination plays a +larger part in the phenomena. Two notable examples are afforded in +the lives of two very distinguished personages. + +Peter the Great was frightened, when an infant, by falling from a +bridge into the water. Long afterward, when he had reached manhood, +this hardy and resolute man was so affected by the sound of wheels +rattling over a bridge that he had to discipline himself by listening +to the sound, in spite of his dread of it, in order to overcome his +antipathy. The story told by Abbe Boileau of Pascal is very similar +to that related of Peter. As he was driving in his coach and four +over the bridge at Neuilly, his horses took fright and ran away, and +the leaders broke from their harness and sprang into the river, +leaving the wheel-horses and the carriage on the bridge. Ever after +this fright it is said that Pascal had the terrifying sense that he +was just on the edge of an abyss, ready to fall over. + +What strange early impression was it which led a certain lady always +to shriek aloud if she ventured to enter a church, as it is recorded? +The old and simple way of accounting for it would be the scriptural +one, that it was an unclean spirit who dwelt in her, and who, when +she entered the holy place and brought her spiritual tenant into the +presence of the sacred symbols, "cried with a loud voice, and came +out of" her. A very singular case, the doctor himself had recorded, +and which the reader may accept as authentic, is the following: At +the head of the doctor's front stairs stood, and still stands, a tall +clock, of early date and stately presence. A middle-aged visitor, +noticing it as he entered the front door, remarked that he should +feel a great unwillingness to pass that clock. He could not go near +one of those tall timepieces without a profound agitation, which he +dreaded to undergo. This very singular idiosyncrasy he attributed to +a fright when he was an infant in the arms of his nurse. + +She was standing near one of those tall clocks, when the cord which +supported one of its heavy leaden weights broke, and the weight came +crashing down to the bottom of the case. Some effect must have been +produced upon the pulpy nerve centres from which they never +recovered. Why should not this happen, when we know that a sudden +mental shock may be the cause of insanity? The doctor remembered the +verse of "The Ancient Mariner:" + + "I moved my lips; the pilot shrieked + And fell down in a fit; + The holy hermit raised his eyes + And prayed where he did sit. + I took the oars; the pilot's boy, + Who now doth crazy go, + Laughed loud and long, and all the while + His eyes went to and fro." + +This is only poetry, it is true, but the poet borrowed the +description from nature, and the records of our asylums could furnish +many cases where insanity was caused by a sudden fright. + +More than this, hardly a year passes that we do not read of some +person, a child commonly, killed outright by terror,--scared to +death, literally. Sad cases they often are, in which, nothing but a +surprise being intended, the shock has instantly arrested the +movements on which life depends. If a mere instantaneous impression +can produce effects like these, such an impression might of course be +followed by consequences less fatal or formidable, but yet serious in +their nature. If here and there a person is killed, as if by +lightning, by a sudden startling sight or sound, there must be more +numerous cases in which a terrible shock is produced by similar +apparently insignificant causes,--a shock which falls short of +overthrowing the reason and does not destroy life, yet leaves a +lasting effect upon the subject of it. + +This point, then, was settled in the mind of Dr. Butts, namely, that, +as a violent emotion caused by a sudden shock can kill or craze a +human being, there is no perversion of the faculties, no prejudice, +no change of taste or temper, no eccentricity, no antipathy, which +such a cause may not rationally account for. He would not be +surprised, he said to himself, to find that some early alarm, like +that which was experienced by Peter the Great or that which happened +to Pascal, had broken some spring in this young man's nature, or so +changed its mode of action as to account for the exceptional +remoteness of his way of life. But how could any conceivable +antipathy be so comprehensive as to keep a young man aloof from all +the world, and make a hermit of him? He did not hate the human race; +that was clear enough. He treated Paolo with great kindness, and the +Italian was evidently much attached to him. He had talked naturally +and pleasantly with the young man he had helped out of his dangerous +situation when his boat was upset. Dr. Butts heard that he had once +made a short visit to this young man, at his rooms in the University. +It was not misanthropy, therefore, which kept him solitary. What +could be broad enough to cover the facts of the case? Nothing that +the doctor could think of, unless it were some color, the sight of +which acted on him as it did on the individual before mentioned, who +could not look at anything red without fainting. Suppose this were a +case of the same antipathy. How very careful it would make the +subject of it as to where he went and with whom he consorted! Time +and patience would be pretty sure to bring out new developments, and +physicians, of all men in the world, know how to wait as well as how +to labor. + +Such were some of the crude facts as Dr. Butts found them in books or +gathered them from his own experience. He soon discovered that the +story had got about the village that Maurice Kirkwood was the victim +of an "antipathy," whatever that word might mean in the vocabulary of +the people of the place. If he suspected the channel through which +it had reached the little community, and, spreading from that centre, +the country round, he did not see fit to make out of his suspicions a +domestic casus belli. Paolo might have mentioned it to others as +well as to himself. Maurice might have told some friend, who had +divulged it. But to accuse Mrs. Butts, good Mrs. Butts, of petit +treason in telling one of her husband's professional secrets was too +serious a matter to be thought of. He would be a little more +careful, he promised himself, the next time, at any rate; for he had +to concede, in spite of every wish to be charitable in his judgment, +that it was among the possibilities that the worthy lady had +forgotten the rule that a doctor's patients must put their tongues +out, and a doctor's wife must keep her tongue in. + + + + +VIII + +THE PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY. + +The Secretary of this association was getting somewhat tired of the +office, and the office was getting somewhat tired of him. It +occurred to the members of the Society that a little fresh blood +infused into it might stir up the general vitality of the +organization. The woman suffragists saw no reason why the place of +Secretary need as a matter of course be filled by a person of the +male sex. They agitated, they made domiciliary visits, they wrote +notes to influential citizens, and finally announced as their +candidate the young lady who had won and worn the school name of "The +Terror," who was elected. She was just the person for the place: +wide awake, with all her wits about her, full of every kind of +knowledge, and, above all, strong on points of order and details of +management, so that she could prompt the presiding officer, to do +which is often the most essential duty of a Secretary. The +President, the worthy rector, was good at plain sailing in the track +of the common moralities and proprieties, but was liable to get +muddled if anything came up requiring swift decision and off-hand +speech. The Terror had schooled herself in the debating societies of +the Institute, and would set up the President, when he was floored by +an awkward question, as easily as if he were a ninepin which had been +bowled over. + +It has been already mentioned that the Pansophian Society received +communications from time to time from writers outside of its own +organization. Of late these had been becoming more frequent. Many +of them were sent in anonymously, and as there were numerous visitors +to the village, and two institutions not far removed from it, both +full of ambitious and intelligent young persons, it was often +impossible to trace the papers to their authors. The new Secretary +was alive with curiosity, and as sagacious a little body as one might +find if in want of a detective. She could make a pretty shrewd guess +whether a paper was written by a young or old person, by one of her +own sex or the other, by an experienced hand or a novice. + +Among the anonymous papers she received was one which exercised her +curiosity to an extraordinary degree. She felt a strong suspicion +that "the Sachem," as the boat-crews used to call him, "the Recluse," +"the Night-Hawk," "the Sphinx," as others named him, must be the +author of it. It appeared to her the production of a young person of +a reflective, poetical turn of mind. It was not a woman's way of +writing; at least, so thought the Secretary. The writer had +travelled much; had resided in Italy, among other places. But so had +many of the summer visitors and residents of Arrowhead Village. The +handwriting was not decisive; it had some points of resemblance with +the pencilled orders for books which Maurice sent to the Library, but +there were certain differences, intentional or accidental, which +weakened this evidence. There was an undertone in the essay which +was in keeping with the mode of life of the solitary stranger. It +might be disappointment, melancholy, or only the dreamy sadness of a +young person who sees the future he is to climb, not as a smooth +ascent, but as overhanging him like a cliff, ready to crush him, with +all his hopes and prospects. This interpretation may have been too +imaginative, but here is the paper, and the reader can form his own +opinion: + + MY THREE COMPANIONS. + +"I have been from my youth upwards a wanderer. I do not mean +constantly flitting from one place to another, for my residence has +often been fixed for considerable periods. From time to time I have +put down in a notebook the impressions made upon me by the scenes +through which I have passed. I have long hesitated whether to let +any of my notes appear before the public. My fear has been that they +were too subjective, to use the metaphysician's term,--that I have +seen myself reflected in Nature, and not the true aspects of Nature +as she was meant to be understood. One who should visit the Harz +Mountains would see--might see, rather his own colossal image shape +itself on the morning mist. But if in every mist that rises from the +meadows, in every cloud that hangs upon the mountain, he always finds +his own reflection, we cannot accept him as an interpreter of the +landscape. + +"There must be many persons present at the meetings of the Society to +which this paper is offered who have had experiences like that of its +author. They have visited the same localities, they have had many of +the same thoughts and feelings. Many, I have no doubt. Not all,-- +no, not all. Others have sought the companionship of Nature; I have +been driven to it. Much of my life has been passed in that +communion. These pages record some of the intimacies I have formed +with her under some of her various manifestations. + +"I have lived on the shore of the great ocean, where its waves broke +wildest and its voice rose loudest. + +"I have passed whole seasons on the banks of mighty and famous +rivers. + +"I have dwelt on the margin of a tranquil lake, and floated through +many a long, long summer day on its clear waters. + +"I have learned the 'various language' of Nature, of which poetry has +spoken,--at least, I have learned some words and phrases of it. I +will translate some of these as I best may into common speech. + +"The OCEAN says to the dweller on its shores:-- + +"You are neither welcome nor unwelcome. I do not trouble myself with +the living tribes that come down to my waters. I have my own people, +of an older race than yours, that grow to mightier dimensions than +your mastodons and elephants; more numerous than all the swarms that +fill the air or move over the thin crust of the earth. Who are you +that build your palaces on my margin? I see your white faces as +I saw the dark faces of the tribes that came before you, as I shall +look upon the unknown family of mankind that will come after you. +And what is your whole human family but a parenthesis in a single +page of my history? The raindrops stereotyped themselves on my +beaches before a living creature left his footprints there. This +horseshoe-crab I fling at your feet is of older lineage than your +Adam,--perhaps, indeed, you count your Adam as one of his +descendants. What feeling have I for you? Not scorn, not hatred,-- +not love,--not loathing. No!---indifference,--blank indifference to +you and your affairs that is my feeling, say rather absence of +feeling, as regards you.---Oh yes, I will lap your feet, I will cool +you in the hot summer days, I will bear you up in my strong arms, I +will rock you on my rolling undulations, like a babe in his cradle. +Am I not gentle? Am I not kind? Am I not harmless? But hark! The +wind is rising, and the wind and I are rough playmates! What do you +say to my voice now? Do you see my foaming lips? Do you feel the +rocks tremble as my huge billows crash against them? Is not my anger +terrible as I dash your argosy, your thunder-bearing frigate, into +fragments, as you would crack an eggshell?--No, not anger; deaf, +blind, unheeding indifference,--that is all. Out of me all things +arose; sooner or later, into me all things subside. All changes +around me; I change not. I look not at you, vain man, and your frail +transitory concerns, save in momentary glimpses: I look on the white +face of my dead mistress, whom I follow as the bridegroom follows the +bier of her who has changed her nuptial raiment for the shroud. + +"Ye whose thoughts are of eternity, come dwell at my side. +Continents and islands grow old, and waste and disappear. The +hardest rock crumbles; vegetable and animal kingdoms come into being, +wax great, decline, and perish, to give way to others, even as human +dynasties and nations and races come and go. Look on me! "Time +writes no wrinkle" on my forehead. Listen to me! All tongues are +spoken on my shores, but I have only one language: the winds taught +me their vowels the crags and the sands schooled me in my rough or +smooth consonants. Few words are mine but I have whispered them and +sung them and shouted them to men of all tribes from the time when +the first wild wanderer strayed into my awful presence. Have you a +grief that gnaws at your heart-strings? Come with it to my shore, as +of old the priest of far-darting Apollo carried his rage and anguish +to the margin of the loud-roaring sea. There, if anywhere you will +forget your private and short-lived woe, for my voice speaks to the +infinite and the eternal in your consciousness.' + + +"To him who loves the pages of human history, who listens to the +voices of the world about him, who frequents the market and the +thoroughfare, who lives in the study of time and its accidents rather +than in the deeper emotions, in abstract speculation and spiritual +contemplation, the RIVER addresses itself as his natural companion. + +"Come live with me. I am active, cheerful, communicative, a natural +talker and story-teller. I am not noisy, like the ocean, except +occasionally when I am rudely interrupted, or when I stumble and get +a fall. When I am silent you can still have pleasure in watching my +changing features. My idlest babble, when I am toying with the +trifles that fall in my way, if not very full of meaning, is at least +musical. I am not a dangerous friend, like the ocean; no highway is +absolutely safe, but my nature is harmless, and the storms that strew +the beaches with wrecks cast no ruins upon my flowery borders. Abide +with me, and you shall not die of thirst, like the forlorn wretches +left to the mercies of the pitiless salt waves. Trust yourself to +me, and I will carry you far on your journey, if we are travelling to +the same point of the compass. If I sometimes run riot and overflow +your meadows, I leave fertility behind me when I withdraw to my +natural channel. Walk by my side toward the place of my destination. +I will keep pace with you, and you shall feel my presence with you as +that of a self-conscious being like yourself. You will find it hard +to be miserable in my company; I drain you of ill-conditioned +thoughts as I carry away the refuse of your dwelling and its grounds." + + +But to him whom the ocean chills and crushes with its sullen +indifference, and the river disturbs with its never-pausing and +never-ending story, the silent LAKE shall be a refuge and a place of +rest for his soul. + +"'Vex not yourself with thoughts too vast for your limited +faculties,' it says; 'yield not yourself to the babble of the running +stream. Leave the ocean, which cares nothing for you or any living +thing that walks the solid earth; leave the river, too busy with its +own errand, too talkative about its own affairs, and find peace with +me, whose smile will cheer you, whose whisper will soothe you. Come +to me when the morning sun blazes across my bosom like a golden +baldric; come to me in the still midnight, when I hold the inverted +firmament like a cup brimming with jewels, nor spill one star of all +the constellations that float in my ebon goblet. Do you know the +charm of melancholy? Where will you find a sympathy like mine in +your hours of sadness? Does the ocean share your grief? Does the +river listen to your sighs? The salt wave, that called to you from +under last month's full moon, to-day is dashing on the rocks of +Labrador; the stream, that ran by you pure and sparkling, has +swallowed the poisonous refuse of a great city, and is creeping to +its grave in the wide cemetery that buries all things in its tomb of +liquid crystal. It is true that my waters exhale and are renewed +from one season to another; but are your features the same, +absolutely the same, from year to year? We both change, but we know +each other through all changes. Am I not mirrored in those eyes of +yours? And does not Nature plant me as an eye to behold her beauties +while she is dressed in the glories of leaf and flower, and draw the +icy lid over my shining surface when she stands naked and ashamed in +the poverty of winter?' + +"I have had strange experiences and sad thoughts in the course of a +life not very long, but with a record which much longer lives could +not match in incident. Oftentimes the temptation has come over me +with dangerous urgency to try a change of existence, if such change +is a part of human destiny,--to seek rest, if that is what we gain by +laying down the burden of life. I have asked who would be the friend +to whom I should appeal for the last service I should have need of. +Ocean was there, all ready, asking no questions, answering none. +What strange voyages, downward through its glaucous depths, upwards +to its boiling and frothing surface, wafted by tides, driven by +tempests, disparted by rude agencies; one remnant whitening on the +sands of a northern beach, one perhaps built into the circle of a +coral reef in the Pacific, one settling to the floor of the vast +laboratory where continents are built, to emerge in far-off ages! +What strange companions for my pall-bearers! Unwieldy sea-monsters, +the stories of which are counted fables by the spectacled collectors +who think their catalogues have exhausted nature; naked-eyed +creatures, staring, glaring, nightmare-like spectres of the ghastly- +green abysses; pulpy islands, with life in gelatinous immensity,-- +what a company of hungry heirs at every ocean funeral! No! No! +Ocean claims great multitudes, but does not invite the solitary who +would fain be rid of himself. + +"Shall I seek a deeper slumber at the bottom of the lake I love than +I have ever found when drifting idly over its surface? No, again. I +do not want the sweet, clear waters to know me in the disgrace of +nature, when life, the faithful body-servant, has ceased caring for +me. That must not be. The mirror which has pictured me so often +shall never know me as an unwelcome object. + +"If I must ask the all-subduing element to be my last friend, and +lead me out of my prison, it shall be the busy, whispering, not +unfriendly, pleasantly companionable river. + +"But Ocean and River and Lake have certain relations to the periods +of human life which they who are choosing their places of abode +should consider. Let the child play upon the seashore. The wide +horizon gives his imagination room to grow in, untrammelled. That +background of mystery, without which life is a poor mechanical +arrangement, is shaped and colored, so far as it can have outline, or +any hue but shadow, on a vast canvas, the contemplation of which +enlarges and enriches the sphere of consciousness. The mighty ocean +is not too huge to symbolize the aspirations and ambitions of the yet +untried soul of the adolescent. + +"The time will come when his indefinite mental horizon has found a +solid limit, which shuts his prospect in narrower bounds than he +would have thought could content him in the years of undefined +possibilities. Then he will find the river a more natural intimate +than the ocean. It is individual, which the ocean, with all its +gulfs and inlets and multitudinous shores, hardly seems to be. It +does not love you very dearly, and will not miss you much when you +disappear from its margin; but it means well to you, bids you good- +morning with its coming waves, and good-evening with those which are +leaving. It will lead your thoughts pleasantly away, upwards to its +source, downwards to the stream to which it is tributary, or the wide +waters in which it is to lose itself. A river, by choice, to live by +in middle age. + +"In hours of melancholy reflection, in those last years of life which +have little left but tender memories, the still companionship of the +lake, embosomed in woods, sheltered, fed by sweet mountain brooks and +hidden springs, commends itself to the wearied and saddened spirit. +I am not thinking of those great inland seas, which have many of the +features and much of the danger that belong to the ocean, but of +those 'ponds,' as our countrymen used to call them until they were +rechristened by summer visitors; beautiful sheets of water from a +hundred to a few thousand acres in extent, scattered like raindrops +over the map of our Northern sovereignties. The loneliness of +contemplative old age finds its natural home in the near neighborhood +of one of these tranquil basins." + +Nature does not always plant her poets where they belong, but if we +look carefully their affinities betray themselves. The youth will +carry his Byron to the rock which overlooks the ocean the poet loved +so well. The man of maturer years will remember that the sonorous +couplets of Pope which ring in his ears were written on the banks of +the Thames. The old man, as he nods over the solemn verse of +Wordsworth, will recognize the affinity between the singer and the +calm sheet that lay before him as he wrote,--the stainless and sleepy +Windermere. + +"The dwellers by Cedar Lake may find it an amusement to compare their +own feelings with those of one who has lived by the Atlantic and the +Mediterranean, by the Nile and the Tiber, by Lake Leman and by one of +the fairest sheets of water that our own North America embosoms in +its forests." + + +Miss Lurida Vincent, Secretary of the Pansophian Society, read this +paper, and pondered long upon it. She was thinking very seriously of +studying medicine, and had been for some time in frequent +communication with Dr. Butts, under whose direction she had begun +reading certain treatises, which added to such knowledge of the laws +of life in health and in disease as she had brought with her from the +Corinna Institute. Naturally enough, she carried the anonymous paper +to the doctor, to get his opinion about it, and compare it with her +own. They both agreed that it was probably, they would not say +certainly, the work of the solitary visitor. There was room for +doubt, for there were visitors who might well have travelled to all +the places mentioned, and resided long enough on the shores of the +waters the writer spoke of to have had all the experiences mentioned +in the paper. The Terror remembered a young lady, a former +schoolmate, who belonged to one of those nomadic families common in +this generation, the heads of which, especially the female heads, can +never be easy where they are, but keep going between America and +Europe, like so many pith-balls in the electrical experiment, +alternately attracted and repelled, never in contented equilibrium. +Every few years they pull their families up by the roots, and by the +time they have begun to take hold a little with their radicles in the +spots to which they have been successively transplanted up they come +again, so that they never get a tap-root anywhere. The Terror +suspected the daughter of one of these families of sending certain +anonymous articles of not dissimilar character to the one she had +just received. But she knew the style of composition common among +the young girls, and she could hardly believe that it was one of them +who had sent this paper. Could a brother of this young lady have +written it? Possibly; she knew nothing more than that the young lady +had a brother, then a student at the University. All the chances +were that Mr. Maurice Kirkwood was the author. So thought Lurida, +and so thought Dr. Butts. + +Whatever faults there were in this essay, it interested them both. +There was nothing which gave the least reason to suspect insanity on +the part of the writer, whoever he or she might be. There were +references to suicide, it is true, but they were of a purely +speculative nature, and did not look to any practical purpose in that +direction. Besides, if the stranger were the author of the paper, he +certainly would not choose a sheet of water like Cedar Lake to +perform the last offices for him, in case he seriously meditated +taking unceremonious leave of life and its accidents. He could find +a river easily enough, to say nothing of other methods of effecting +his purpose; but he had committed himself as to the impropriety of +selecting a lake, so they need not be anxious about the white canoe +and its occupant, as they watched it skimming the surface of the deep +waters. + +The holder of the Portfolio would never have ventured to come before +the public if he had not counted among his resources certain papers +belonging to the records of the Pansophian Society, which he can make +free use of, either for the illustration of the narrative, or for a +diversion during those intervals in which the flow of events is +languid, or even ceases for the time to manifest any progress. The +reader can hardly have failed to notice that the old Anchor Tavern +had become the focal point where a good deal of mental activity +converged. There were the village people, including a number of +cultivated families; there were the visitors, among them many +accomplished and widely travelled persons; there was the University, +with its learned teachers and aspiring young men; there was the +Corinna Institute, with its eager, ambitious, hungry-souled young +women, crowding on, class after class coming forward on the broad +stream of liberal culture, and rounding the point which, once passed, +the boundless possibilities of womanhood opened before them. All +this furnished material enough and to spare for the records and the +archives of the society. + +The new Secretary infused fresh life into the meetings. It may be +remembered that the girls had said of her, when she was The Terror, +that "she knew everything and didn't believe anything." That was +just the kind of person for a secretary of such an association. +Properly interpreted, the saying meant that she knew a great deal, +and wanted to know a great deal more, and was consequently always on +the lookout for information; that she believed nothing without +sufficient proof that it was true, and therefore was perpetually +asking for evidence where, others took assertions on trust. + +It was astonishing to see what one little creature like The Terror +could accomplish in the course of a single season. She found out +what each member could do and wanted to do. She wrote to the outside +visitors whom she suspected of capacity, and urged them to speak at +the meetings, or send written papers to be read. As an official, +with the printed title at the head of her notes, PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY, +she was a privileged personage. She begged the young persons who had +travelled to tell something of their experiences. She had +contemplated getting up a discussion on the woman's rights question, +but being a wary little body, and knowing that the debate would +become a dispute and divide the members into two hostile camps, she +deferred this project indefinitely. It would be time enough after +she had her team well in hand, she said to herself,--had felt their +mouths and tried their paces. This expression, as she used it in her +thoughts, seems rather foreign to her habits, but there was room in +her large brain for a wide range of illustrations and an ample +vocabulary. She could not do much with her own muscles, but she had +known the passionate delight of being whirled furiously over the road +behind four scampering horses, in a rocking stage-coach, and thought +of herself in the Secretary's chair as not unlike the driver on his +box. A few weeks of rest had allowed her nervous energy to store +itself up, and the same powers which had distanced competition in the +classes of her school had of necessity to expend themselves in +vigorous action in her new office. + + +Her appeals had their effect. A number of papers were very soon sent +in; some with names, some anonymously. She looked these papers over, +and marked those which she thought would be worth reading and +listening to at the meetings. One of them has just been presented to +the reader. As to the authorship of the following one there were +many conjectures. A well-known writer, who had spent some weeks at +Arrowhead Village, was generally suspected of being its author. +Some, however, questioned whether it was not the work of a new hand, +who wrote, not from experience, but from his or her ideas of the +condition to which a story-teller, a novelist, must in all +probability be sooner or later reduced. The reader must judge for +himself whether this first paper is the work of an old hand or a +novice. + + + SOME EXPERIENCES OF A NOVELIST. + +"I have written a frightful number of stories, forty or more, I +think. Let me see. For twelve years two novels a year regularly: +that makes twenty-four. In three different years I have written +three stories annually: that makes thirty-three. In five years one a +year,--thirty-eight. That is all, is n't it? Yes. Thirty-eight, +not forty. I wish I could make them all into one composite story, as +Mr. Galton does his faces. + +"Hero--heroine--mamma--papa--uncle--sister, and so on. Love-- +obstacles--misery--tears--despair--glimmer of hope--unexpected +solution of difficulties--happy finale. + +"Landscape for background according to season. Plants of each month +got up from botanical calendars. + +"I should like much to see the composite novel. Why not apply Mr. +Galton's process, and get thirty-eight stories all in one? All the +Yankees would resolve into one Yankee, all the P---- West Britons +into one Patrick, etc., what a saving of time it would be! + +"I got along pretty well with my first few stories. I had some +characters around me which, a little disguised, answered well enough. +There was the minister of the parish, and there was an old +schoolmaster either of them served very satisfactorily for +grandfathers and old uncles. All I had to do was to shift some of +their leading peculiarities, keeping the rest. The old minister wore +knee-breeches. I clapped them on to the schoolmaster. The +schoolmaster carried a tall gold-headed cane. I put this in the +minister's hands. So with other things,--I shifted them round, and +got a set of characters who, taken together, reproduced the chief +persons of the village where I lived, but did not copy any individual +exactly. Thus it went on for a while; but by and by my stock company +began to be rather too familiarly known, in spite of their change of +costume, and at last some altogether too sagacious person published +what he called a 'key' to several of my earlier stories, in which I +found the names of a number of neighbors attached to aliases of my +own invention. All the 'types,' as he called them, represented by +these personages of my story had come to be recognized, each as +standing for one and the same individual of my acquaintance. It had +been of no use to change the costume. Even changing the sex did no +good. I had a famous old gossip in one of my tales,--a much-babbling +Widow Sertingly. 'Sho!' they all said, that 's old Deacon Spinner, +the same he told about in that other story of his,--only the deacon's +got on a petticoat and a mob-cap,--but it's the same old sixpence.' +So I said to myself, I must have some new characters. I had no +trouble with young characters; they are all pretty much alike,--dark- +haired or light-haired, with the outfits belonging to their +complexion, respectively. I had an old great-aunt, who was a tip-top +eccentric. I had never seen anything just like her in books. So I +said, I will have you, old lady, in one of my stories; and, sure +enough, I fitted her out with a first-rate odd-sounding name, which I +got from the directory, and sent her forth to the world, disguised, +as I supposed, beyond the possibility of recognition. The book sold +well, and the eccentric personage was voted a novelty. A few weeks +after it was published a lawyer called upon me, as the agent of the +person in the directory, whose family name I had used, as he +maintained, to his and all his relatives' great damage, wrong, loss, +grief, shame, and irreparable injury, for which the sum of blank +thousand dollars would be a modest compensation. The story made the +book sell, but not enough to pay blank thousand dollars. In the mean +time a cousin of mine had sniffed out the resemblance between the +character in my book and our great-aunt. We were rivals in her good +graces. 'Cousin Pansie' spoke to her of my book and the trouble it +was bringing on me,--she was so sorry about it! She liked my story, +--only those personalities, you know. 'What personalities?' says old +granny-aunt. 'Why, auntie, dear, they do say that he has brought in +everybody we know,--did n't anybody tell you about--well,--I suppose +you ought to know it,--did n't anybody tell you you were made fun of +in that novel?' Somebody--no matter who--happened to hear all this, +and told me. She said granny-aunt's withered old face had two red +spots come to it, as if she had been painting her cheeks from a pink +saucer. No, she said, not a pink saucer, but as if they were two +coals of fire. She sent out and got the book, and made her (the +somebody that I was speaking of) read it to her. When she had heard +as much as she could stand,--for 'Cousin Pansie' explained passages +to her,--explained, you know,--she sent for her lawyer, and that same +somebody had to be a witness to a new will she had drawn up. It was +not to my advantage. 'Cousin Pansie' got the corner lot where the +grocery is, and pretty much everything else. The old woman left me a +legacy. What do you think it was? An old set of my own books, that +looked as if it had been bought out of a bankrupt circulating +library. + +"After that I grew more careful. I studied my disguises much more +diligently. But after all, what could I do? Here I was, writing +stories for my living and my reputation. I made a pretty sum enough, +and worked hard enough to earn it. No tale, no money. Then every +story that went from my workshop had to come up to the standard of my +reputation, and there was a set of critics,--there is a set of +critics now and everywhere,--that watch as narrowly for the decline +of a man's reputation as ever a village half drowned out by an +inundation watched for the falling of the waters. The fame I had +won, such as it was, seemed to attend me,--not going before me in the +shape of a woman with a trumpet, but rather following me like one of +Actaeon's hounds, his throat open, ready to pull me down and tear me. +What a fierce enemy is that which bays behind us in the voice of our +proudest bygone achievement! + +"But, as I said above, what could I do? I must write novels, and I +must have characters. 'Then why not invent them?' asks some novice. +Oh, yes! Invent them! You can invent a human being that in certain +aspects of humanity will answer every purpose for which your +invention was intended. A basket of straw, an old coat and pair of +breeches, a hat which has been soaked, sat upon, stuffed a broken +window, and had a brood of chickens raised in it,--these elements, +duly adjusted to each other, will represent humanity so truthfully +that the crows will avoid the cornfield when your scarecrow displays +his personality. Do you think you can make your heroes and +heroines,--nay, even your scrappy supernumeraries,--out of refuse +material, as you made your scarecrow? You can't do it. You must +study living people and reproduce them. And whom do you know so well +as your friends? You will show up your friends, then, one after +another. When your friends give out, who is left for you? Why, +nobody but your own family, of course. When you have used up your +family, there is nothing left for you but to write your +autobiography. + +"After my experience with my grand-aunt, I be came more cautious, +very naturally. I kept traits of character, but I mixed ages as well +as sexes. In this way I continued to use up a large amount of +material, which looked as if it were as dangerous as dynamite to +meddle with. Who would have expected to meet my maternal uncle in +the guise of a schoolboy? Yet I managed to decant his +characteristics as nicely as the old gentleman would have decanted a +bottle of Juno Madeira through that long siphon which he always used +when the most sacred vintages were summoned from their crypts to +render an account of themselves on his hospitable board. It was a +nice business, I confess, but I did it, and I drink cheerfully to +that good uncle's memory in a glass of wine from his own cellar, +which, with many other more important tokens of his good will, I call +my own since his lamented demise. + +"I succeeded so well with my uncle that I thought I would try a +course of cousins. I had enough of them to furnish out a whole +gallery of portraits. There was cousin 'Creeshy,' as we called her; +Lucretia, more correctly. She was a cripple. Her left lower limb +had had something happen to it, and she walked with a crutch. Her +patience under her trial was very pathetic and picturesque, so to +speak,--I mean adapted to the tender parts of a story; nothing could +work up better in a melting paragraph. But I could not, of course, +describe her particular infirmity; that would point her out at once. +I thought of shifting the lameness to the right lower limb, but even +that would be seen through. So I gave the young woman that stood for +her in my story a lame elbow, and put her arm in a sling, and made +her such a model of uncomplaining endurance that my grandmother cried +over her as if her poor old heart would break. She cried very +easily, my grandmother; in fact, she had such a gift for tears that I +availed myself of it, and if you remember old Judy, in my novel +"Honi Soit" (Honey Sweet, the booksellers called it),--old Judy, the +black-nurse,--that was my grandmother. She had various other +peculiarities, which I brought out one by one, and saddled on to +different characters. You see she was a perfect mine of +singularities and idiosyncrasies. After I had used her up pretty +well, I came dawn upon my poor relations. They were perfectly fair +game; what better use could I put them to? I studied them up very +carefully, and as there were a good many of them I helped myself +freely. They lasted me, with occasional intermissions, I should say, +three or four years. I had to be very careful with my poor +relations,--they were as touchy as they could be; and as I felt bound +to send a copy of my novel, whatever it might be, to each one of +them,--there were as many as a dozen,--I took care to mix their +characteristic features, so that, though each might suspect I meant +the other, no one should think I meant him or her. I got through all +my relations at last except my father and mother. I had treated my +brothers and sisters pretty fairly, all except Elisha and Joanna. +The truth is they both had lots of odd ways,--family traits, I +suppose, but were just different enough from each other to figure +separately in two different stories. These two novels made me some +little trouble; for Elisha said he felt sure that I meant Joanna in +one of them, and quarrelled with me about it; and Joanna vowed and +declared that Elnathan, in the other, stood for brother 'Lisha, and +that it was a real mean thing to make fun of folks' own flesh and +blood, and treated me to one of her cries. She was n't handsome when +she cried, poor, dear Joanna; in fact, that was one of the personal +traits I had made use of in the story that Elisha found fault with. + +"So as there was nobody left but my father and mother, you see for +yourself I had no choice. There was one great advantage in dealing +with them,--I knew them so thoroughly. One naturally feels a certain +delicacy it handling from a purely artistic point of view persons who +have been so near to him. One's mother, for instance: suppose some +of her little ways were so peculiar that the accurate delineation of +them would furnish amusement to great numbers of readers; it would +not be without hesitation that a writer of delicate sensibility would +draw her portrait, with all its whimsicalities, so plainly that it +should be generally recognized. One's father is commonly of tougher +fibre than one's mother, and one would not feel the same scruples, +perhaps, in using him professionally as material in a novel; still, +while you are employing him as bait,--you see I am honest and plain- +spoken, for your characters are baits to catch readers with,--I would +follow kind Izaak Walton's humane counsel about the frog you are +fastening to your fish-hook: fix him artistically, as he directs, but +in so doing I use him as though you loved him.' + +"I have at length shown up, in one form and another, all my townsmen +who have anything effective in their bodily or mental make-up, all my +friends, all my relatives; that is, all my blood relatives. It has +occurred to me that I might open a new field in the family connection +of my father-in-law and mother-in-law. We have been thinking of +paying them a visit, and I shall have an admirable opportunity of +studying them and their relatives and visitors. I have long wanted a +good chance for getting acquainted with the social sphere several +grades below that to which I am accustomed, and I have no doubt that +I shall find matter for half a dozen new stories among those +connections of mine. Besides, they live in a Western city, and one +doesn't mind much how he cuts up the people of places he does n't +himself live in. I suppose there is not really so much difference in +people's feelings, whether they live in Bangor or Omaha, but one's +nerves can't be expected to stretch across the continent. It is all +a matter of greater or less distance. I read this morning that a +Chinese fleet was sunk, but I did n't think half so much about it as +I did about losing my sleeve button, confound it! People have +accused me of want of feeling; they misunderstand the artist-nature, +--that is all. I obey that implicitly; I am sorry if people don't +like my descriptions, but I have done my best. I have pulled to +pieces all the persons I am acquainted with, and put them together +again in my characters. The quills I write with come from live +geese, I would have you know. I expect to get some first-rate +pluckings from those people I was speaking of, and I mean to begin my +thirty-ninth novel as soon as I have got through my visit." + + + + +IX + +THE SOCIETY AND ITS NEW SECRETARY. + +There is no use in trying to hurry the natural course of events, in a +narrative like this. June passed away, and July, and August had +come, and as yet the enigma which had completely puzzled Arrowhead +Village and its visitors remained unsolved. The white canoe still +wandered over the lake, alone, ghostly, always avoiding the near +approach of the boats which seemed to be coming in its direction. +Now and then a circumstance would happen which helped to keep inquiry +alive. Good horsemanship was not so common among the young men of +the place and its neighborhood that Maurice's accomplishment in that +way could be overlooked. If there was a wicked horse or a wild colt +whose owner was afraid of him, he would be commended to Maurice's +attention. Paolo would lead him to his master with all due +precaution,--for he had no idea of risking his neck on the back of +any ill-conditioned beast,--and Maurice would fasten on his long +spurs, spring into the saddle, and very speedily teach the creature +good behavior. There soon got about a story that he was what the +fresh-water fisherman called "one o' them whisperers." It is a +common legend enough, coming from the Old World, but known in +American horse-talking circles, that some persons will whisper +certain words in a horse's ear which will tame him if he is as wild +and furious as ever Cruiser was. All this added to the mystery which +surrounded the young man. A single improbable or absurd story +amounts to very little, but when half a dozen such stories are told +about the same individual or the same event, they begin to produce +the effect of credible evidence. If the year had been 1692 and the +place had been Salem Village, Maurice Kirkwood would have run the +risk of being treated like the Reverend George Burroughs. + +Miss Lurida Vincent's curiosity had been intensely excited with +reference to the young man of whom so many stories were told. She +had pretty nearly convinced herself that he was the author of the +paper on Ocean, Lake, and River, which had been read at one of the +meetings of the Pansophian Society. She was very desirous of meeting +him, if it were possible. It seemed as if she might, as Secretary of +the Society, request the cooperation of any of the visitors, without +impropriety. So, after much deliberation, she wrote a careful note, +of which the following is an exact copy. Her hand was bold, almost +masculine, a curious contrast to that of Euthymia, which was +delicately feminine. + + +PANSOPHIAN SOCIETY. + +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, August 3, 18-. + +MAURICE KIRKWOOD, ESQ. + +DEAR SIR,--You have received, I trust, a card of invitation to the +meetings of our Society, but I think we have not yet had the pleasure +of seeing you at any of them. We have supposed that we might be +indebted to you for a paper read at the last meeting, and listened to +with much interest. As it was anonymous, we do not wish to be +inquisitive respecting its authorship; but we desire to say that any +papers kindly sent us by the temporary residents of our village will +be welcome, and if adapted to the wants of our Association will be +read at one of its meetings or printed in its records, or perhaps +both read and printed. May we not hope for your presence at the +meeting, which is to take place next Wednesday evening? +Respectfully yours, + +LURIDA VINCENT, +Secretary of the Pansophian Society. + + +To this note the Secretary received the following reply: + +MISS LURIDA VINCENT, + +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, August 4, 18-. + +Secretary of the Pansophian Society: + +DEAR MISS VINCENT,--I have received the ticket you refer to, and +desire to express my acknowledgments for the polite attention. I +regret that I have not been and I fear shall not be able to attend +the meetings of the Society; but if any subject occurs to me on which +I feel an inclination to write, it will give me pleasure to send a +paper, to be disposed of as the Society may see fit. + +Very respectfully yours, + +MAURICE KIRKWOOD. + + +"He says nothing about the authorship of the paper that was read the +other evening," the Secretary said to herself. "No matter,--he +wrote it,--there is no mistaking his handwriting. We know something +about him, now, at any rate. But why doesn't he come to our +meetings? What has his antipathy to do with his staying away? I +must find out what his secret is, and I will. I don't believe it's +harder than it was to solve that prize problem which puzzled so many +teachers, or than beating Crakowitz, the great chess-player." + +To this enigma, then, The Terror determined to bend all the faculties +which had excited the admiration and sometimes the amazement of those +who knew her in her school-days. It was a very delicate piece of +business; for though Lurida was an intrepid woman's rights advocate, +and believed she was entitled to do almost everything that men dared +to, she knew very well there were certain limits which a young woman +like herself must not pass. + +In the mean time Maurice had received a visit from the young student +at the University,--the same whom he had rescued from his dangerous +predicament in the lake. With him had called one of the teachers,-- +an instructor in modern languages, a native of Italy. Maurice and +the instructor exchanged a few words in Italian. The young man spoke +it with the ease which implied long familiarity with its use. + +After they left, the instructor asked many curious questions about +him,--who he was, how long he had been in the village, whether +anything was known of his history,--all these inquiries with an +eagerness which implied some special and peculiar reason for the +interest they evinced. + +"I feel satisfied," the instructor said, "that I have met that young +man in my own country. It was a number of years ago, and of course +he has altered in appearance a good deal; but there is a look about +him of--what shall I call it?---apprehension,--as if he were fearing +the approach of something or somebody. I think it is the way a man +would look that was haunted; you know what I mean,--followed by a +spirit or ghost. He does not suggest the idea of a murderer,--very +far from it; but if he did, I should think he was every minute in +fear of seeing the murdered man's spirit." + +The student was curious, in his turn, to know all the instructor +could recall. He had seen him in Rome, he thought, at the Fountain +of Trevi, where so many strangers go before leaving the city. The +youth was in the company of a man who looked like a priest. He could +not mistake the peculiar expression of his countenance, but that was +all he now remembered about his appearance. His attention had been +called to this young man by seeing that some of the bystanders were +pointing at him, and noticing that they were whispering with each +other as if with reference to him. He should say that the youth was +at that time fifteen or sixteen years old, and the time was about ten +years ago. + +After all, this evidence was of little or no value. Suppose the +youth were Maurice; what then? We know that he had been in Italy, +and had been there a good while,--or at least we infer so much from +his familiarity with the language, and are confirmed in the belief by +his having an Italian servant, whom he probably brought from Italy +when he returned. If he wrote the paper which was read the other +evening, that settles it, for the writer says he had lived by the +Tiber. We must put this scrap of evidence furnished by the Professor +with the other scraps; it may turn out of some consequence, sooner or +later. It is like a piece of a dissected map; it means almost +nothing by itself, but when we find the pieces it joins with we may +discover a very important meaning in it. + +In a small, concentrated community like that which centred in and +immediately around Arrowhead Village, every day must have its local +gossip as well as its general news. The newspaper tells the small +community what is going on in the great world, and the busy tongues +of male and female, especially the latter, fill in with the +occurrences and comments of the ever-stirring microcosm. The fact +that the Italian teacher had, or thought he had, seen Maurice ten +years before was circulated and made the most of,--turned over and +over like a cake, until it was thoroughly done on both sides and all +through. It was a very small cake, but better than nothing. Miss +Vincent heard this story, as others did, and talked about it with her +friend, Miss Tower. Here was one more fact to help along. + +The two young ladies who had recently graduated at the Corinna +Institute remained, as they had always been, intimate friends. They +were the natural complements of each other. Euthymia represented a +complete, symmetrical womanhood. Her outward presence was only an +index of a large, wholesome, affluent life. She could not help being +courageous, with such a firm organization. She could not help being +generous, cheerful, active. She had been told often enough that she +was fair to look upon. She knew that she was called The Wonder by +the schoolmates who were dazzled by her singular accomplishments, but +she did not overvalue them. She rather tended to depreciate her own +gifts, in comparison with those of her friend, Miss Lurida Vincent. +The two agreed all the better for differing as they did. The octave +makes a perfect chord, when shorter intervals jar more or less on the +ear. Each admired the other with a heartiness which if they had been +less unlike, would have been impossible. + +It was a pleasant thing to observe their dependence on each other. +The Terror of the schoolroom was the oracle in her relations with her +friend. All the freedom of movement which The Wonder showed in her +bodily exercises The Terror manifested in the world of thought. She +would fling open a book, and decide in a swift glance whether it had +any message for her. Her teachers had compared her way of reading to +the taking of an instantaneous photograph. When she took up the +first book on Physiology which Dr. Butts handed her, it seemed to him +that if she only opened at any place, and gave one look, her mind +drank its meaning up, as a moist sponge absorbs water. "What can I +do with such a creature as this?" he said to himself. "There is +only one way to deal with her, treat her as one treats a silkworm: +give it its mulberry leaf, and it will spin its own cocoon. Give her +the books, and she will spin her own web of knowledge." + +"Do you really think of studying medicine?" said Dr. Butts to her. + +"I have n't made up my mind about that," she answered, "but I want to +know a little more about this terrible machinery of life and death we +are all tangled in. I know something about it, but not enough. I +find some very strange beliefs among the women I meet with, and I +want to be able to silence them when they attempt to proselyte me to +their whims and fancies. Besides, I want to know everything." + +"They tell me you do, already," said Dr. Butts. + +"I am the most ignorant little wretch that draws the breath of life!" +exclaimed The Terror. + +The doctor smiled. He knew what it meant. She had reached that +stage of education in which the vast domain of the unknown opens its +illimitable expanse before the eyes of the student. We never know +the extent of darkness until it is partially illuminated. + +"You did not leave the Institute with the reputation of being the +most ignorant young lady that ever graduated there," said the doctor. +"They tell me you got the highest marks of any pupil on their record +since the school was founded." + +"What a grand thing it was to be the biggest fish in our small +aquarium, to be sure!" answered The Terror. "He was six inches long, +the monster,--a little too big for bait to catch a pickerel with! +What did you hand me that schoolbook for? Did you think I did n't +know anything about the human body?" + +"You said you were such an ignorant creature I thought I would try +you with an easy book, by way of introduction." + +The Terror was not confused by her apparent self-contradiction. + +"I meant what I said, and I mean what I say. When I talk about my +ignorance, I don't measure myself with schoolgirls, doctor. I don't +measure myself with my teachers, either. You must talk to me as if I +were a man, a grown man, if you mean to teach me anything. Where is +your hat, doctor? Let me try it on." + +The doctor handed her his wide-awake. The Terror's hair was not +naturally abundant, like Euthymia's, and she kept it cut rather +short. Her head used to get very hot when she studied hard. She +tried to put the hat on. + +"Do you see that?" she said. "I could n't wear it--it would squeeze +my eyes out of my head. The books told me that women's brains were +smaller than men's: perhaps they are,--most of them,--I never +measured a great many. But when they try to settle what women are +good for, by phrenology, I like to have them put their tape round my +head. I don't believe in their nonsense, for all that. You might as +well tell me that if one horse weighs more than another horse he is +worth more,--a cart-horse that weighs twelve or fourteen hundred +pounds better than Eclipse, that may have weighed a thousand. Give +me a list of the best books you can think of, and turn me loose in +your library. I can find what I want, if you have it; and what I +don't find there I will get at the Public Library. I shall want to +ask you a question now and then." + +The doctor looked at her with a kind of admiration, but thoughtfully, +as if he feared she was thinking of a task too formidable for her +slight constitutional resource. + +She returned, instinctively, to the apparent contradiction in her +statements about herself. + +"I am not a fool, if I am ignorant. Yes, doctor, I sail on a wide +sea of ignorance, but I have taken soundings of some of its shallows +and some of its depths. Your profession deals with the facts of life +that interest me most just now, and I want to know something of it. +Perhaps I may find it a calling such as would suit me." + +"Do you seriously think of becoming a practitioner of medicine?" said +the doctor. + +"Certainly, I seriously think of it as a possibility, but I want to +know something more about it first. Perhaps I sha'n't believe in +medicine enough to practise it. Perhaps I sha'n't like it well +enough. No matter about that. I wish to study some of your best +books on some of the subjects that most interest me. I know about +bones and muscles and all that, and about digestion and respiration +and such things. I want to study up the nervous system, and learn +all about it. I am of the nervous temperament myself, and perhaps +that is the reason. I want to read about insanity and all that +relates to it." + +A curious expression flitted across the doctor's features as The +Terror said this. + +"Nervous system. Insanity. She has headaches, I know,--all those +large-headed, hard-thinking girls do, as a matter of course; but what +has set her off about insanity and the nervous system? I wonder if +any of her more remote relatives are subject to mental disorder. +Bright people very often have crazy relations. Perhaps some of her +friends are in that way. I wonder whether"--the doctor did not speak +any of these thoughts, and in fact hardly shaped his "whether," for +The Terror interrupted his train of reflection, or rather struck into +it in a way which startled him. + +"Where is the first volume of this Medical Cyclopaedia?" she asked, +looking at its empty place on the shelf. + +"On my table," the doctor answered. "I have been consulting it." + +Lurida flung it open, in her eager way, and turned the pages rapidly +until she came to the one she wanted. The doctor cast his eye on the +beading of the page, and saw the large letters A N T. + +"I thought so," he said to himself. "We shall know everything there +is in the books about antipathies now, if we never did before. She +has a special object in studying the nervous system, just as I +suspected. I think she does not care to mention it at this time; but +if she finds out anything of interest she will tell me, if she does +anybody. Perhaps she does not mean to tell anybody. It is a rather +delicate business,--a young girl studying the natural history of a +young man. Not quite so safe as botany or palaeontology!" + +Lurida, lately The Terror, now Miss Vincent, had her own plans, and +chose to keep them to herself, for the present, at least. Her hands +were full enough, it might seem, without undertaking the solution of +the great Arrowhead Village enigma. But she was in the most perfect +training, so far as her intelligence was concerned; and the summer +rest had restored her bodily vigor, so that her brain was like an +overcharged battery which will find conductors somewhere to carry off +its crowded energy. + +At this time Arrowhead Village was enjoying the most successful +season it had ever known. The Pansophian Society flourished to an +extraordinary degree under the fostering care of the new Secretary. +The rector was a good figure-head as President, but the Secretary was +the life of the Society. Communications came in abundantly: some +from the village and its neighborhood, some from the University and +the Institute, some from distant and unknown sources. The new +Secretary was very busy with the work of examining these papers. +After a forenoon so employed, the carpet of her room looked like a +barn floor after a husking-match. A glance at the manuscripts +strewed about, or lying in heaps, would have frightened any young +writer away from the thought of authorship as a business. If the +candidate for that fearful calling had seen the process of selection +and elimination, he would have felt still more desperately. A paper +of twenty pages would come in, with an underscored request to please +read through, carefully. That request alone is commonly sufficient +to condemn any paper, and prevent its having any chance of a hearing; +but the Secretary was not hardened enough yet for that kind of +martial law in dealing with manuscripts. The looker-on might have +seen her take up the paper, cast one flashing glance at its title, +read the first sentence and the last, dip at a venture into two or +three pages, and decide as swiftly as the lightning calculator would +add up a column of figures what was to be its destination. If +rejected, it went into the heap on the left; if approved, it was laid +apart, to be submitted to the Committee for their judgment. The +foolish writers who insist on one's reading through their manuscript +poems and stories ought to know how fatal the request is to their +prospects. It provokes the reader, to begin with. The reading of +manuscript is frightful work, at the best; the reading of worthless +manuscript--and most of that which one is requested to read through +is worthless--would add to the terrors of Tartarus, if any infernal +deity were ingenious enough to suggest it as a punishment. + +If a paper was rejected by the Secretary, it did not come before the +Committee, but was returned to the author, if he sent for it, which +he commonly did. Its natural course was to try for admission into +some one of the popular magazines: into "The Sifter," the most +fastidious of them all; if that declined it, into "The Second Best;" +and if that returned it, into "The Omnivorous." If it was refused +admittance at the doors of all the magazines, it might at length find +shelter in the corner of a newspaper, where a good deal of very +readable verse is to be met with nowadays, some of which has been, no +doubt, presented to the Pansophian Society, but was not considered up +to its standard. + + + + +X + +A NEW ARRIVAL. + +There was a recent accession to the transient population of the +village which gave rise to some speculation. The new-comer was a +young fellow, rather careless in his exterior, but apparently as much +at home as if he owned Arrowhead Village and everything in it. He +commonly had a cigar in his mouth, carried a pocket pistol, of the +non-explosive sort, and a stick with a bulldog's bead for its knob; +wore a soft bat, a coarse check suit, a little baggy, and gaiterboots +which had been half-soled,--a Bohemian-looking personage, altogether. + +This individual began making explorations in every direction. He was +very curious about the place and all the people in it. He was +especially interested in the Pansophian Society, concerning which he +made all sorts of inquiries. This led him to form a summer +acquaintance with the Secretary, who was pleased to give him whatever +information he asked for; being proud of the Society, as she had a +right to be, and knowing more about it than anybody else. + +The visitor could not have been long in the village without hearing +something of Maurice Kirkwood, and the stories, true and false, +connected with his name. He questioned everybody who could tell him +anything about Maurice, and set down the answers in a little note- +book he always had with him. + +All this naturally excited the curiosity of the village about this +new visitor. Among the rest, Miss Vincent, not wanting in an +attribute thought to belong more especially to her sex, became +somewhat interested to know more exactly who this inquiring, note- +taking personage, who seemed to be everywhere and to know everybody, +might himself be. Meeting him at the Public Library at a fortunate +moment, when there was nobody but the old Librarian, who was hard of +hearing, to interfere with their conversation, the little Secretary +had a chance to try to find out something about him. + +"This is a very remarkable library for a small village to possess," +he remarked to Miss Lurida. + +"It is, indeed," she said. "Have you found it well furnished with +the books you most want?" + +"Oh, yes,--books enough. I don't care so much for the books as I do +for the Newspapers. I like a Review well enough,--it tells you all +there is in a book; but a good abstract of the Review in a Newspaper +saves a fellow the trouble of reading it." + +"You find the papers you want, here, I hope," said the young lady. + +"Oh, I get along pretty well. It's my off-time, and I don't do much +reading or writing. Who is the city correspondent of this place?" + +"I don't think we have any one who writes regularly. Now and then, +there is a letter, with the gossip of the place in it, or an account +of some of the doings at our Society. The city papers are always +glad to get the reports of our meetings, and to know what is going on +in the village." + +"I suppose you write about the Society to the papers, as you are the +Secretary." + +This was a point-blank shot. She meant to question the young man +about his business, and here she was on the witness-stand. She +ducked her head, and let the question go over her. + +"Oh, there are plenty of members who are willing enough to write,-- +especially to give an account of their own papers. I think they like +to have me put in the applause, when they get any. I do that +sometimes." (How much more, she did not say.) + +"I have seen some very well written articles, which, from what they +tell me of the Secretary, I should have thought she might have +written herself." + +He looked her straight in the eyes. + +"I have transmitted some good papers," she said, without winking, or +swallowing, or changing color, precious little color she had to +change; her brain wanted all the blood it could borrow or steal, and +more too. "You spoke of Newspapers," she said, without any change of +tone or manner: "do you not frequently write for them yourself?" + +"I should think I did," answered the young man. "I am a regular +correspondent of 'The People's Perennial and Household Inquisitor.'" + +"The regular correspondent from where?" + +"Where! Oh, anywhere,--the place does not make much difference. I +have been writing chiefly from Naples and St. Petersburg, and now and +then from Constantinople." + +"How long since your return to this country, may I ask?" + +"My return? I have never been out of this country. I travel with a +gazetteer and some guide-books. It is the cheapest way, and you can +get the facts much better from them than by trusting your own +observation. I have made the tour of Europe by the help of them and +the newspapers. But of late I have taken to interviewing. I find +that a very pleasant specialty. It is about as good sport as trout- +tickling, and much the same kind of business. I should like to send +the Society an account of one of my interviews. Don't you think they +would like to hear it?" + +"I have no doubt they would. Send it to me, and I will look it over; +and if the Committee approve it, we will have it at the next meeting. +You know everything has to be examined and voted on by the +Committee," said the cautious Secretary. + +"Very well,--I will risk it. After it is read, if it is read, please +send it back to me, as I want to sell it to 'The Sifter,' or 'The +Second Best,' or some of the paying magazines." + +This is the paper, which was read at the next meeting of the +Pansophian Society. + + +"I was ordered by the editor of the newspaper to which I am attached, +'The People's Perennial and Household Inquisitor,' to make a visit to +a certain well-known writer, and obtain all the particulars I could +concerning him and all that related to him. I have interviewed a +good many politicians, who I thought rather liked the process; but I +had never tried any of these literary people, and I was not quite +sure how this one would feel about it. I said as much to the chief, +but he pooh-poohed my scruples. 'It is n't our business whether they +like it or not,' said he; 'the public wants it, and what the public +wants it's bound to have, and we are bound to furnish it. Don't be +afraid of your man; he 's used to it,--he's been pumped often enough +to take it easy, and what you've got to do is to pump him dry. You +need n't be modest,--ask him what you like; he is n't bound to +answer, you know.' + +"As he lived in a rather nice quarter of the town, I smarted myself up +a little, put on a fresh collar and cuffs, and got a five-cent shine +on my best high-lows. I said to myself, as I was walking towards the +house where he lived, that I would keep very shady for a while and +pass for a visitor from a distance; one of those 'admiring strangers' +who call in to pay their respects, to get an autograph, and go home +and say that they have met the distinguished So and So, which gives +them a certain distinction in the village circle to which they +belong. + +"My man, the celebrated writer, received me in what was evidently his +reception-room. I observed that he managed to get the light full on +my face, while his own was in the shade. I had meant to have his +face in the light, but he knew the localities, and had arranged +things so as to give him that advantage. It was like two frigates +manoeuvring,--each trying to get to windward of the other. I never +take out my note-book until I and my man have got engaged in artless +and earnest conversation,--always about himself and his works, of +course, if he is an author. + +"I began by saying that he must receive a good many callers. Those +who had read his books were naturally curious to see the writer of +them. + +"He assented, emphatically, to this statement. He had, he said, a +great many callers. + +"I remarked that there was a quality in his books which made his +readers feel as if they knew him personally, and caused them to +cherish a certain attachment to him. + +"He smiled, as if pleased. He was himself disposed to think so, he +said. In fact, a great many persons, strangers writing to him, had +told him so. + +"My dear sir, I said, there is nothing wonderful in the fact you +mention. You reach a responsive chord in many human breasts. + + 'One touch of Nature makes the whole world kin.' + +"Everybody feels as if he, and especially she (his eyes sparkled), +were your blood relation. Do they not name their children after you +very frequently? + +"He blushed perceptibly. 'Sometimes,' he answered. 'I hope they +will all turn out well.' + +"I am afraid I am taking up too much of your time, I said. + +"No, not at all,' he replied. 'Come up into my library; it is warmer +and pleasanter there.' + +"I felt confident that I had him by the right handle then; for an +author's library, which is commonly his working-room, is, like a +lady's boudoir, a sacred apartment. + +"So we went upstairs, and again he got me with the daylight on my +face, when I wanted it on has. + +"You have a fine library, I remarked. There were books all round the +room, and one of those whirligig square book-cases. I saw in front a +Bible and a Concordance, Shakespeare and Mrs. Cowden Clarke's book, +and other classical works and books of grave aspect. I contrived to +give it a turn, and on the side next the wall I got a glimpse of +Barnum's Rhyming Dictionary, and several Dictionaries of Quotations +and cheap compends of knowledge. Always twirl one of those revolving +book-cases when you visit a scholar's library. That is the way to +find out what books he does n't want you to see, which of course are +the ones you particularly wish to see. + +"Some may call all this impertinent and inquisitive. What do you +suppose is an interviewer's business? Did you ever see an oyster +opened? Yes? Well, an interviewer's business is the same thing. +His man is his oyster, which he, not with sword, but with pencil and +note-book, must open. Mark how the oysterman's thin blade insinuates +itself,--how gently at first, how strenuously when once fairly +between the shells! + +"And here, I said, you write your books,--those books which have +carried your name to all parts of the world, and will convey it down +to posterity! Is this the desk at which you write? And is this the +pen you write with? + +"'It is the desk and the very pen,' he replied. + +"He was pleased with my questions and my way of putting them. I took +up the pen as reverentially as if it had been made of the feather +which the angel I used to read about in Young's "Night Thoughts" +ought to have dropped, and did n't. + +"Would you kindly write your autograph in my note-book, with that +pen? I asked him. Yes, he would, with great pleasure. + +"So I got out my note-book. + +"It was a spick and span new one, bought on purpose for this +interview. I admire your bookcases, said I. Can you tell me just +how high they are? + +"'They are about eight feet, with the cornice.' + +"I should like to have some like those, if I ever get rich enough, +said I. Eight feet,--eight feet, with the cornice. I must put that +down. + +"So I got out my pencil. + +"I sat there with my pencil and note-book in my hand, all ready, but +not using them as yet. + +"I have heard it said, I observed, that you began writing poems at a +very early age. Is it taking too great a liberty to ask how early +you began to write in verse? + +"He was getting interested, as people are apt to be when they are +themselves the subjects of conversation. + +"'Very early,--I hardly know how early. I can say truly, as Louise +Colet said, + + "'Je fis mes premiers vers sans savoir les ecrire.'" + +"I am not a very good French scholar, said I; perhaps you will be +kind enough to translate that line for me. + +"'Certainly. With pleasure. I made my first +verses without knowing how to write them.' + +"How interesting! But I never heard of Louise Colet. Who was she? + +"My man was pleased to gi-ve me a piece of literary information. + +"'Louise the lioness! Never heard of her? You have heard of +Alphonse Karr?' + +"Why,--yes,--more or less. To tell the truth, I am not very well up +in French literature. What had he to do with your lioness? + +"'A good deal. He satirized her, and she waited at his door with a +case-knife in her hand, intending to stick him with it. By and by he +came down, smoking a cigarette, and was met by this woman flourishing +her case-knife. He took it from her, after getting a cut in his +dressing-gown, put it in his pocket, and went on with his cigarette. +He keeps it with an inscription: + + + "Donne a Alphonse Karr + Par Madame Louise Colet.... + Dans le dos. + +"Lively little female!' + +"I could n't help thinking that I should n't have cared to interview +the lively little female. He was evidently tickled with the interest +I appeared to take in the story he told me. That made him feel +amiably disposed toward me. + +"I began with very general questions, but by degrees I got at +everything about his family history and the small events of his +boyhood. Some of the points touched upon were delicate, but I put a +good bold face on my most audacious questions, and so I wormed out a +great deal that was new concerning my subject. He had been written +about considerably, and the public wouldn't have been satisfied +without some new facts; and these I meant to have, and I got. No +matter about many of them now, but here are some questions and +answers that may be thought worth reading or listening to: + +"How do you enjoy being what they call 'a celebrity,' or a celebrated +man? + +"'So far as one's vanity is concerned it is well enough. But self- +love is a cup without any bottom, and you might pour the Great Lakes +all through it, and never fill it up. It breeds an appetite for more +of the same kind. It tends to make the celebrity a mere lump of +egotism. It generates a craving for high-seasoned personalities +which is in danger of becoming slavery, like that following the abuse +of alcohol, or opium, or tobacco. Think of a man's having every day, +by every post, letters that tell him he is this and that and the +other, with epithets and endearments, one tenth part of which would +have made him blush red hot before he began to be what you call a +celebrity!' + +"Are there not some special inconveniences connected with what is +called celebrity? + +"'I should think so! Suppose you were obliged every day of your life +to stand and shake hands, as the President of the United States has +to after his inauguration: how do you think your hand would feel +after a few months' practice of that exercise? Suppose you had given +you thirty-five millions of money a year, in hundred-dollar coupons, +on condition that you cut them all off yourself in the usual manner: +how do you think you should like the look of a pair of scissors at +the end of a year, in which you had worked ten hours a day every day +but Sunday, cutting off a hundred coupons an hour, and found you had +not finished your task, after all? Yon have addressed me as what you +are pleased to call "a literary celebrity." I won't dispute with you +as to whether or not I deserve that title. I will take it for +granted I am what you call me, and give you some few hints on my +experience. + +"'You know there was formed a while ago an Association of Authors for +Self-Protection. It meant well, and it was hoped that something +would come of it in the way of relieving that oppressed class, but I +am sorry to say that it has not effected its purpose.' + +"I suspected he had a hand in drawing up the Constitution and Laws of +that Association. Yes, I said, an admirable Association it was, and +as much needed as the one for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. +I am sorry to hear that it has not proved effectual in putting a stop +to the abuse of a deserving class of men. It ought to have done it; +it was well conceived, and its public manifesto was a masterpiece. +(I saw by his expression that he was its author.) + +"'I see I can trust you,' he said. 'I will unbosom myself freely of +some of the grievances attaching to the position of the individual to +whom you have applied the term "Literary Celebrity." + +"'He is supposed to be a millionaire, in virtue of the immense sales +of his books, all the money from which, it is taken for granted, goes +into his pocket. Consequently, all subscription papers are handed to +him for his signature, and every needy stranger who has heard his +name comes to him for assistance. + +"'He is expected to subscribe for all periodicals, and is goaded by +receiving blank formulae, which, with their promises to pay, he is +expected to fill up. + +"'He receives two or three books daily, with requests to read and +give his opinion about each of them, which opinion, if it has a word +which can be used as an advertisement, he will find quoted in all the +newspapers. + +"'He receives thick masses of manuscript, prose and verse, which he +is called upon to examine and pronounce on their merits; these +manuscripts having almost invariably been rejected by the editors to +whom they have been sent, and having as a rule no literary value +whatever. + +"'He is expected to sign petitions, to contribute to journals, to +write for fairs, to attend celebrations, to make after-dinner +speeches, to send money for objects he does not believe in to places +he never heard of. + +"'He is called on to keep up correspondences with unknown admirers, +who begin by saying they have no claim upon his time, and then +appropriate it by writing page after page, if of the male sex; and +sheet after sheet, if of the other. + +"'If a poet, it is taken for granted that he can sit down at any +moment and spin off any number of verses on any subject which may be +suggested to him; such as congratulations to the writer's great- +grandmother on her reaching her hundredth year, an elegy on an infant +aged six weeks, an ode for the Fourth of July in a Western township +not to be found in Lippincott's last edition, perhaps a valentine for +some bucolic lover who believes that wooing in rhyme is the way to +win the object of his affections.' + +"Is n't it so? I asked the Celebrity. + +"'I would bet on the prose lover. She will show the verses to him, +and they will both have a good laugh over them.' + +"I have only reported a small part of the conversation I had with the +Literary Celebrity. He was so much taken up with his pleasing self- +contemplation, while I made him air his opinions and feelings and +spread his characteristics as his laundress spreads and airs his +linen on the clothes-line, that I don't believe it ever occurred to +him that he had been in the hands of an interviewer until he found +himself exposed to the wind and sunshine in full dimensions in the +columns of The People's Perennial and Household Inquisitor.'" + +After the reading of this paper, much curiosity was shown as to who +the person spoken of as the "Literary Celebrity" might be. Among the +various suppositions the startling idea was suggested that he was +neither more nor less than the unexplained personage known in the +village as Maurice Kirkwood. Why should that be his real name? Why +should not he be the Celebrity, who had taken this name and fled to +this retreat to escape from the persecutions of kind friends, who +were pricking him and stabbing him nigh to death with their daggers +of sugar candy? + +The Secretary of the Pansophian Society determined to question the +Interviewer the next time she met him at the Library, which happened +soon after the meeting when his paper was read. + +"I do not know," she said, in the course of a conversation in which +she had spoken warmly of his contribution to the literary +entertainment of the Society, "that you mentioned the name of the +Literary Celebrity whom you interviewed so successfully." + +"I did not mention him, Miss Vincent," he answered, "nor do I think +it worth while to name him. He might not care to have the whole +story told of how he was handled so as to make him communicative. +Besides, if I did, it would bring him a new batch of sympathetic +letters, regretting that he was bothered by those horrid +correspondents, full of indignation at the bores who presumed to +intrude upon him with their pages of trash, all the writers of which +would expect answers to their letters of condolence." + +The Secretary asked the Interviewer if he knew the young gentleman +who called himself Maurice Kirkwood. + +"What," he answered, "the man that paddles a birch canoe, and rides +all the wild horses of the neighborhood? No, I don't know him, but I +have met him once or twice, out walking. A mighty shy fellow, they +tell me. Do you know anything particular about him?" + +"Not much. None of us do, but we should like to. The story is that +be has a queer antipathy to something or to somebody, nobody knows +what or whom." + +"To newspaper correspondents, perhaps," said the interviewer. "What +made you ask me about him? You did n't think he was my 'Literary +Celebrity,' did you?" + +"I did not know. I thought he might be. Why don't you interview +this mysterious personage? He would make a good sensation for your +paper, I should think." + +"Why, what is there to be interviewed in him? Is there any story of +crime, or anything else to spice a column or so, or even a few +paragraphs, with? If there is, I am willing to handle him +professionally." + +"I told you he has what they call an antipathy. I don't know how +much wiser you are for that piece of information." + +"An antipathy! Why, so have I an antipathy. I hate a spider, and as +for a naked caterpillar,--I believe I should go into a fit if I had +to touch one. I know I turn pale at the sight of some of those great +green caterpillars that come down from the elm-trees in August and +early autumn." + +"Afraid of them?" asked the young lady. + +"Afraid? What should I be afraid of? They can't bite or sting. I +can't give any reason. All I know is that when I come across one of +these creatures in my path I jump to one side, and cry out,-- +sometimes using very improper words. The fact is, they make me crazy +for the moment." + +"I understand what you mean," said Miss Vincent. "I used to have the +same feeling about spiders, but I was ashamed of it, and kept a +little menagerie of spiders until I had got over the feeling; that +is, pretty much got over it, for I don't love the creatures very +dearly, though I don't scream when I see one." + +"What did you tell me, Miss Vincent, was this fellow's particular +antipathy?" + +That is just the question. I told you that we don't know and we +can't guess what it is. The people here are tired out with trying to +discover some good reason for the young man's keeping out of the way +of everybody, as he does. They say he is odd or crazy, and they +don't seem to be able to tell which. It would make the old ladies of +the village sleep a great deal sounder,--yes, and some of the young +ladies, too,--if they could find out what this Mr. Kirkwood has got +into his head, that he never comes near any of the people here." + +"I think I can find out," said the Interviewer, whose professional +ambition was beginning to be excited. "I never came across anybody +yet that I could n't get something out of. I am going to stay here a +week or two, and before I go I will find out the secret, if there is +any, of this Mr. Maurice Kirkwood." + +We must leave the Interviewer to his contrivances until they present +us with some kind of result, either in the shape of success or +failure. + + + + +XI + +THE INTERVIEWER ATTACKS THE SPHINX. + +When Miss Euthymia Tower sent her oar off in flashing splinters, as +she pulled her last stroke in the boat-race, she did not know what a +strain she was putting upon it. She did know that she was doing her +best, but how great the force of her best was she was not aware until +she saw its effects. Unconsciousness belonged to her robust nature, +in all its manifestations. She did not pride herself on her +knowledge, nor reproach herself for her ignorance. In every way she +formed a striking contrast to her friend, Miss Vincent. Every word +they spoke betrayed the difference between them: the sharp tones of +Lurida's head-voice, penetrative, aggressive, sometimes irritating, +revealed the corresponding traits of mental and moral character; the +quiet, conversational contralto of Euthymia was the index of a nature +restful and sympathetic. + +The friendships of young girls prefigure the closer relations which +will one day come in and dissolve their earlier intimacies. The +dependence of two young friends may be mutual, but one will always +lean more heavily than the other; the masculine and feminine elements +will be as sure to assert themselves as if the friends were of +different sexes. + +On all common occasions Euthymia looked up to her friend as her +superior. She fully appreciated all her varied gifts and knowledge, +and deferred to her opinion in every-day matters, not exactly as an +oracle, but as wiser than herself or any of her other companions. It +was a different thing, however, when the graver questions of life +came up. Lurida was full of suggestions, plans, projects, which were +too liable to run into whims before she knew where they were tending. +She would lay out her ideas before Euthymia so fluently and +eloquently that she could not help believing them herself, and +feeling as if her friend must accept them with an enthusiasm like her +own. Then Euthymia would take them up with her sweet, deliberate +accents, and bring her calmer judgment to bear on them. + +Lurida was in an excited condition, in the midst of all her new +interests and occupations. She was constantly on the lookout for +papers to be read at the meetings of her Society,--for she made it +her own in great measure, by her zeal and enthusiasm,--and in the +mean time she was reading in various books which Dr. Butts selected +for her, all bearing on the profession to which, at least as a +possibility, she was looking forward. Privately and in a very still +way, she was occupying herself with the problem of the young +stranger, the subject of some delusion, or disease, or obliquity of +unknown nature, to which the vague name of antipathy had been +attached. Euthymia kept an eye upon her, partly in the fear that +over-excitement would produce some mental injury, and partly from +anxiety lest she should compromise her womanly dignity in her desire +to get at the truth of a very puzzling question. + +"How do you like the books I see you reading?" said Euthymia to +Lurida, one day, as they met at the Library. + +"Better than all the novels I ever read," she answered. "I have been +reading about the nervous system, and it seems to me I have come +nearer the springs of life than ever before in all my studies. I +feel just as if I were a telegraph operator. I was sure that I had a +battery in my head, for I know my brain works like one; but I did not +know how many centres of energy there are, and how they are played +upon by all sorts of influences, external and internal. Do you know, +I believe I could solve the riddle of the 'Arrowhead Village Sphinx,' +as the paper called him, if he would only stay here long enough?" + +"What paper has had anything about it, Lurida? I have not seen or +heard of its being mentioned in any of the papers." + +"You know that rather queer-looking young man who has been about here +for some time,--the same one who gave the account of his interview +with a celebrated author? Well, he has handed me a copy of a paper +in which he writes, 'The People's Perennial and Household +Inquisitor.' He talks about this village in a very free and easy way. +He says there is a Sphinx here, who has mystified us all." + +"And you have been chatting with that fellow! Don't you know that +he'll have you and all of us in his paper? Don't you know that +nothing is safe where one of those fellows gets in with his note-book +and pencil? Oh, Lurida, Lurida, do be careful!" What with this +mysterious young man and this very questionable newspaper-paragraph +writer, you will be talked about, if you don't mind, before you know +it. You had better let the riddle of the Sphinx alone. If you must +deal with such dangerous people, the safest way is to set one of them +to find out the other.--I wonder if we can't get this new man to +interview the visitor you have so much curiosity about. That might +be managed easily enough without your having anything to do with it. +Let me alone, and I will arrange it. But mind, now, you must not +meddle; if you do, you will spoil everything, and get your name in +the 'Household Inquisitor' in a way you won't like." + +"Don't be frightened about me, Euthymia. I don't mean to give him a +chance to work me into his paper, if I can help it. But if you can +get him to try his skill upon this interesting personage and his +antipathy, so much the better. I am very curious about it, and +therefore about him. I want to know what has produced this strange +state of feeling in a young man who ought to have all the common +instincts of a social being. I believe there are unexplained facts +in the region of sympathies and antipathies which will repay study +with a deeper insight into the mysteries of life than we have dreamed +of hitherto. I often wonder whether there are not heart-waves and +soul-waves as well as 'brain-waves,' which some have already +recognized." + +Euthymia wondered, as well she might, to hear this young woman +talking the language of science like an adept. The truth is, Lurida +was one of those persons who never are young, and who, by way of +compensation, will never be old. They are found in both sexes. Two +well-known graduates of one of our great universities are living +examples of this precocious but enduring intellectual development. +If the readers of this narrative cannot pick them out, they need not +expect the writer of it to help them. If they guess rightly who they +are, they will recognize the fact that just such exceptional +individuals as the young woman we are dealing with are met with from +time to time in families where intelligence has been cumulative for +two or three generations. + +Euthymia was very willing that the questioning and questionable +visitor should learn all that was known in the village about the +nebulous individual whose misty environment all the eyes in the +village were trying to penetrate, but that he should learn it from +some other informant than Lurida. + +The next morning, as the Interviewer took his seat on a bench outside +his door, to smoke his after-breakfast cigar, a bright-looking and +handsome youth, whose features recalled those of Euthymia so +strikingly that one might feel pretty sure he was her brother, took a +seat by his side. Presently the two were engaged in conversation. +The Interviewer asked all sorts of questions about everybody in the +village. When he came to inquire about Maurice, the youth showed a +remarkable interest regarding him. The greatest curiosity, he said, +existed with reference to this personage. Everybody was trying to +find out what his story was,--for a story, and a strange one, he must +surely have,--and nobody had succeeded. + +The Interviewer began to be unusually attentive. The young man told +him the various antipathy stories, about the evil-eye hypothesis, +about his horse-taming exploits, his rescuing the student whose boat +was overturned, and every occurrence he could recall which would help +out the effect of his narrative. + +The Interviewer was becoming excited. "Can't find out anything about +him, you said, did n-'t you? How do you know there's anything to +find? Do you want to know what I think he is? I'll tell you. I +think he is an actor,--a fellow from one of the city theatres. Those +fellows go off in their summer vacation, and like to puzzle the +country folks. They are the very same chaps, like as not, the +visitors have seen in plays at the city theatres; but of course they +don't know 'em in plain clothes. Kings and Emperors look pretty +shabby off the stage sometimes, I can tell you." + +The young man followed the Interviewer's lead. "I shouldn't wonder +if you were right," he said. "I remember seeing a young fellow in +Romeo that looked a good deal like this one. But I never met the +Sphinx, as they call him, face to face. He is as shy as a woodchuck. +I believe there are people here that would give a hundred dollars to +find out who he is, and where he came from, and what he is here for, +and why he does n't act like other folks. I wonder why some of those +newspaper men don't come up here and get hold of this story. It +would be just the thing for a sensational writer." + +To all this the Interviewer listened with true professional interest. +Always on the lookout for something to make up a paragraph or a +column about; driven oftentimes to the stalest of repetitions,--to +the biggest pumpkin story, the tall cornstalk, the fat ox, the live +frog from the human stomach story, the third set of teeth and reading +without spectacles at ninety story, and the rest of the marvellous +commonplaces which are kept in type with e o y or e 6 m (every +other year or every six months) at the foot; always in want of a +fresh incident, a new story, an undescribed character, an unexplained +mystery, it is no wonder that the Interviewer fastened eagerly upon +this most tempting subject for an inventive and emotional +correspondent. + +He had seen Paolo several times, and knew that he was Maurice's +confidential servant, but had never spoken to him. So he said to +himself that he must make Paolo's acquaintance, to begin with. In +the summer season many kinds of small traffic were always carried on +in Arrowhead Village. Among the rest, the sellers of fruits-- +oranges, bananas, and others, according to the seasons--did an active +business. The Interviewer watched one of these fruit-sellers, and +saw that his hand-cart stopped opposite the house where, as he knew, +Maurice Kirkwood was living. Presently Paolo came out of the door, +and began examining the contents of the hand-cart. The Interviewer +saw his opportunity. Here was an introduction to the man, and the +man must introduce him to the master. + +He knew very well how to ingratiate himself with the man,--there was +no difficulty about that. He had learned his name, and that he was +an Italian whom Maurice had brought to this country with him. + +"Good morning, Mr. Paul," he said. "How do you like the look of +these oranges?" + +"They pretty fair," said Paolo: "no so good as them las' week; no +sweet as them was." + +"Why, how do you know without tasting them?" said the Interviewer. + +"I know by his look,--I know by his smell,--he no good yaller,--he no +smell ripe,--I know orange ever since my head no bigger than he is," +and Paolo laughed at his own comparison. + +The Interviewer laughed louder than Paolo. + +"Good!" said he,--"first-rate! Of course you know all about 'em. +Why can't you pick me out a couple of what you think are the best of +'em? I shall be greatly obliged to you. I have a sick friend, and I +want to get two nice sweet ones for him." + +Paolo was pleased. His skill and judgment were recognized. He felt +grateful to the stranger, who had given him, an opportunity of +conferring a favor. He selected two, after careful examination and +grave deliberation. The Interviewer had sense and tact enough not to +offer him an orange, and so shift the balance of obligation. + +"How is Mr. Kirkwood, to-day?" he asked. + +"Signor? He very well. He always well. Why you ask? Anybody tell +you he sick?" + +"No, nobody said he was sick. I have n't seen him going about for a +day or two, and I thought be might have something the matter with +him. Is he in the house now?" + +"No: he off riding. He take long, long rides, sometime gone all day. +Sometime he go on lake, paddle, paddle in the morning, very, very +early,--in night when the moon shine; sometime stay in house, and +read, and study, and write,--he great scholar, Misser Kirkwood." + +"A good many books, has n't he?" + +"He got whole shelfs full of books. Great books, little books, old +books, new books, all sorts of books. He great scholar, I tell you." + +"Has n't he some curiosities,--old figures, old jewelry, old coins, +or things of that sort?" + +Paolo looked at the young man cautiously, almost suspiciously. +"He don't keep no jewels nor no money in his chamber. He got some +old things,--old jugs, old brass figgers, old money, such as they +used to have in old times: she don't pass now." Paolo's genders were +apt to be somewhat indiscriminately distributed. + +A lucky thought struck the Interviewer. "I wonder if he would +examine some old coins of mine?" said he, in a modestly tentative +manner. + +"I think he like to see anything curious. When he come home I ask +him. Who will I tell him wants to ask him about old coin?" + +"Tell him a gentleman visiting Arrowhead Village would like to call +and show him some old pieces of money, said to be Roman ones." + +The Interviewer had just remembered that he had two or three old +battered bits of copper which he had picked up at a tollman's, where +they had been passed off for cents. He had bought them as +curiosities. One had the name of Gallienus upon it, tolerably +distinct,--a common little Roman penny; but it would serve his +purpose of asking a question, as would two or three others with less +legible legends. Paolo told him that if he came the next morning he +would stand a fair chance of seeing Mr. Kirkwood. At any rate, he +would speak to his master. + +The Interviewer presented himself the next morning, after finishing +his breakfast and his cigar, feeling reasonably sure of finding Mr. +Kirkwood at home, as he proved to be. He had told Paolo to show the +stranger up to his library,--or study, as he modestly called it. + +It was a pleasant room enough, with a lookout on the lake in one +direction, and the wooded hill in another. The tenant had fitted it +up in scholarly fashion. The books Paolo spoke of were conspicuous, +many of them, by their white vellum binding and tasteful gilding, +showing that probably they had been bound in Rome, or some other +Italian city. With these were older volumes in their dark original +leather, and recent ones in cloth or paper. As the Interviewer ran +his eye over them, he found that he could make very little out of +what their backs taught him. Some of the paper-covered books, some +of the cloth-covered ones, had names which he knew; but those on the +backs of many of the others were strange to his eyes. The classics +of Greek and Latin and Italian literature were there; and he saw +enough to feel convinced that he had better not attempt to display +his erudition in the company of this young scholar. + +The first thing the Interviewer had to do was to account for his +visiting a person who had not asked to make his acquaintance, and who +was living as a recluse. He took out his battered coppers, and +showed them to Maurice. + +"I understood that you were very skilful in antiquities, and had a +good many yourself. So I took the liberty of calling upon you, +hoping that you could tell me something about some ancient coins I +have had for a good while." So saying, he pointed to the copper with +the name of Gallienus. + +"Is this very rare and valuable? I have heard that great prices have +been paid for some of these ancient coins,--ever so many guineas, +sometimes. I suppose this is as much as a thousand years old." + +"More than a thousand years old," said Maurice. + +"And worth a great deal of money?" asked the Interviewer. + +"No, not a great deal of money," answered Maurice. + +"How much, should you say?" said the Interviewer. + +Maurice smiled. "A little more than the value of its weight in +copper,--I am afraid not much more. There are a good many of these +coins of Gallienus knocking about. The peddlers and the shopkeepers +take such pieces occasionally, and sell them, sometimes for five or +ten cents, to young collectors. No, it is not very precious in money +value, but as a relic any piece of money that was passed from hand to +hand a thousand or fifteen hundred years ago is interesting. The +value of such relics is a good deal a matter of imagination." + +"And what do you say to these others?" asked the Interviewer. Poor +old worn-out things they were, with a letter or two only, and some +faint trace of a figure on one or two of them. + +"Very interesting, always, if they carry your imagination back to the +times when you may suppose they were current. Perhaps Horace tossed +one of them to a beggar. Perhaps one of these was the coin that was +brought when One said to those about Him, 'Bring me a penny, that I +may see it.' But the market price is a different matter. That +depends on the beauty and preservation, and above all the rarity, of +the specimen. Here is a coin, now,"--he opened a small cabinet, and +took one from it. "Here is a Syracusan decadrachm with the head of +Persephone, which is at once rare, well preserved, and beautiful. I +am afraid to tell what I paid for it." + +The Interviewer was not an expert in numismatics. He cared very +little more for an old coin than he did for an old button, but he had +thought his purchase at the tollman's might prove a good speculation. +No matter about the battered old pieces: he had found out, at any +rate, that Maurice must have money and could be extravagant, or what +he himself considered so; also that he was familiar with ancient +coins. That would do for a beginning. + +"May I ask where you picked up the coin you are showing me?" he said + +"That is a question which provokes a negative answer. One does not +'pick up' first-class coins or paintings, very often, in these times. +I bought this of a great dealer in Rome." + +"Lived in Rome once?" said the Interviewer. + +"For some years. Perhaps you have been there yourself?" + +The Interviewer said he had never been there yet, but he hoped he +should go there, one of these years. "suppose you studied art and +antiquities while you were there?" he continued. + +"Everybody who goes to Rome must learn something of art and +antiquities. Before you go there I advise you to review Roman +history and the classic authors. You had better make a study of +ancient and modern art, and not have everything to learn while you +are going about among ruins, and churches, and galleries. You know +your Horace and Virgil well, I take it for granted?" + +The Interviewer hesitated. The names sounded as if he had heard +them. "Not so well as I mean to before going to Rome," he answered. +"May I ask how long you lived in Rome?" + +"Long enough to know something of what is to be seen in it. No one +should go there without careful preparation beforehand. You are +familiar with Vasari, of course?" + +The Interviewer felt a slight moisture on his forehead. He took out +his handkerchief. "It is a warm day," he said. "I have not had time +to read all--the works I mean to. I have had too much writing to do, +myself, to find all the time for reading and study I could have +wished." + +"In what literary occupation have you been engaged, if you will +pardon my inquiry? said Maurice. + +"I am connected with the press. I understood that you were a man of +letters, and I hoped I might have the privilege of hearing from your +own lips some account of your literary experiences." + +"Perhaps that might be interesting, but I think I shall reserve it +for my autobiography. You said you were connected with the press. +Do I understand that you are an author?" + +By this time the Interviewer had come to the conclusion that it was a +very warm day. He did not seem to be getting hold of his pitcher by +the right handle, somehow. But he could not help answering Maurice's +very simple question. + +"If writing for a newspaper gives one a right to be called an author, +I may call myself one. I write for the "People's Perennial and +Household Inquisitor.'" + +"Are you the literary critic of that well-known journal, or do you +manage the political column?" + +"I am a correspondent from different places and on various matters of +interest." + +"Places you have been to, and people you have known?" + +"Well, yes,-generally, that is. Sometimes I have to compile my +articles." + +"Did you write the letter from Rome, published a few weeks ago?" + +The Interviewer was in what he would call a tight place. However, he +had found that his man was too much for him, and saw that the best +thing he could do was to submit to be interviewed himself. He +thought that he should be able to pick up something or other which he +could work into his report of his visit. + +"Well, I--prepared that article for our columns. You know one does +not have to see everything he describes. You found it accurate, I +hope, in its descriptions?" + +"Yes, Murray is generally accurate. Sometimes he makes mistakes, but +I can't say how far you have copied them. You got the Ponte Molle-- +the old Milvian bridge--a good deal too far down the stream, if I +remember. I happened to notice that, but I did not read the article +carefully. May I ask whether you propose to do me the honor of +reporting this visit and the conversation we have had, for the +columns of the newspaper with which you are connected?" + +The Interviewer thought he saw an opening. "If you have no +objections," he said, "I should like very much to ask a few +questions." He was recovering his professional audacity. + +"You can ask as many questions as you consider proper and discreet,-- +after you have answered one or two of mine: Who commissioned you to +submit me to examination?" + +"The curiosity of the public wishes to be gratified, and I am the +humble agent of its investigations." + +"What has the public to do with my private affairs?" + +"I suppose it is a question of majority and minority. That settles +everything in this country. You are a minority of one opposed to a +large number of curious people that form a majority against you. +That is the way I've heard the chief put it." + +Maurice could not help smiling at the quiet assumption of the +American citizen. The Interviewer smiled, too, and thought he had +his man, sure, at last. Maurice calmly answered, "There is nothing +left for minorities, then, but the right of rebellion. I don't care +about being made the subject of an article for your paper. I am here +for my pleasure, minding my own business, and content with that +occupation. I rebel against your system of forced publicity. +Whenever I am ready I shall tell the public all it has any right to +know about me. In the mean time I shall request to be spared reading +my biography while I am living. I wish you a good-morning." + +The Interviewer had not taken out his note-book and pencil. In his +next communication from Arrowhead Village he contented himself with a +brief mention of the distinguished and accomplished gentleman now +visiting the place, whose library and cabinet of coins he had had the +privilege of examining, and whose courtesy was equalled only by the +modesty that shunned the public notoriety which the organs of popular +intelligence would otherwise confer upon him. + +The Interviewer had attempted the riddle of the Sphinx, and had +failed to get the first hint of its solution. + +The many tongues of the village and its visitors could not remain +idle. The whole subject of antipathies had been talked over, and the +various cases recorded had become more or less familiar to the +conversational circles which met every evening in the different +centres of social life. The prevalent hypothesis for the moment was +that Maurice had a congenital aversion to some color, the effects of +which upon him were so painful or disagreeable that he habitually +avoided exposure to it. It was known, and it has already been +mentioned, that such cases were on record. There had been a great +deal of discussion, of late, with reference to a fact long known to a +few individuals, but only recently made a matter of careful +scientific observation and brought to the notice of the public. This +was the now well-known phenomenon of color-blindness. It did not +seem very strange that if one person in every score or two could not +tell red from green there might be other curious individual +peculiarities relating to color. A case has already been referred to +where the subject of observation fainted at the sight of any red +object. What if this were the trouble with Maurice Kirkwood? It +will be seen at once how such a congenital antipathy would tend to +isolate the person who was its unfortunate victim. It was an +hypothesis not difficult to test, but it was a rather delicate +business to be experimenting on an inoffensive stranger. Miss +Vincent was thinking it over, but said nothing, even to Euthymia, of +any projects she might entertain. + + + + +XII + +MISS VINCENT AS A MEDICAL STUDENT. + +The young lady whom we have known as The Terror, as Lurida, as Miss +Vincent, Secretary of the Pansophian Society, had been reading +various works selected for her by Dr. Butts,--works chiefly relating +to the nervous system and its different affections. She thought it +was about time to talk over the general subject of the medical +profession with her new teacher,--if such a self-directing person as +Lurida could be said to recognize anybody as teacher. + +She began at the beginning. "What is the first book you would put in +a student's hands, doctor?" she said to him one day. They were in +his study, and Lurida had just brought back a thick volume on +Insanity, one of Bucknill and Puke's, which she had devoured as if it +had been a pamphlet. + +"Not that book, certainly," he said. "I am afraid it will put all +sorts of notions into your head. Who or what set you to reading +that, I should like to know?" + +"I found it on one of your shelves, and as I thought I might perhaps +be crazy some time or other, I felt as if I should like to know what +kind of a condition insanity is. I don't believe they were ever very +bright, those insane people, most of them. I hope I am not stupid +enough ever to lose my wits." + +"There is no telling, my dear, what may happen if you overwork that +busy brain of yours. But did n't it make you nervous, reading about +so many people possessed with such strange notions?" + +"Nervous? Not a bit. I could n't help thinking, though, how many +people I had known that had a little touch of craziness about them. +Take that poor woman that says she is Her Majesty's Person,--not Her +Majesty, but Her Majesty's Person,--a very important distinction, +according to her: how she does remind me of more than one girl I have +known! She would let her skirts down so as to make a kind of train, +and pile things on her head like a sort of crown, fold her arms and +throw her head back, and feel as grand as a queen. I have seen more +than one girl act very much in that way. Are not most of us a little +crazy, doctor,--just a little? I think so. It seems to me I never +saw but one girl who was free from every hint of craziness." + +"And who was that, pray?" + +"Why, Euthymia,--nobody else, of course. She never loses her head,-- +I don't believe she would in an earthquake. Whenever we were at work +with our microscopes at the Institute I always told her that her mind +was the only achromatic one I ever looked into,--I did n't say looked +through.---But I did n't come to talk about that. I read in one of +your books that when Sydenham was asked by a student what books he +should read, the great physician said, 'Read "Don Quixote."' I want +you to explain that to me; and then I want you to tell me what is the +first book, according to your idea, that a student ought to read." + +"What do you say to my taking your question as the subject of a paper +to be read before the Society? I think there may be other young +ladies at the meeting, besides yourself, who are thinking of pursuing +the study of medicine. At any rate, there are a good many who are +interested in the subject; in fact, most people listen readily to +anything doctors tell them about their calling." + +"I wish you would, doctor. I want Euthymia to hear it, and I don't +doubt there will be others who will be glad to hear everything you +have to say about it. But oh, doctor, if you could only persuade +Eutbymia to become a physician! What a doctor she would make! So +strong, so calm, so full of wisdom! I believe she could take the +wheel of a steamboat in a storm, or the hose of a fire-engine in a +conflagration, and handle it as well as the captain of the boat or of +the fire-company." + +"Have you ever talked with her about studying medicine?" + +"Indeed I have. Oh, if she would only begin with me! What good +times we would have studying together!" + +"I don't doubt it. Medicine is a very pleasant study. But how do +you think practice would be? How would you like being called up to +ride ten miles in a midnight snow-storm, just when one of your raging +headaches was racking you?" + +"Oh, but we could go into partnership, and Euthymia is n't afraid of +storms or anything else. If she would only study medicine with me!" + +"Well, what does she say to it?" + +"She does n't like the thought of it. She does n't believe in women +doctors. She thinks that now and then a woman may be fitted for it +by nature, but she does n't think there are many who are. She gives +me a good many reasons against their practising medicine, you know +what most of them are, doctor,--and ends by saying that the same +woman who would be a poor sort of doctor would make a first-rate +nurse; and that, she thinks, is a woman's business, if her instinct +carries her to the hospital or sick-chamber. I can't argue her ideas +out of her." + +"Neither can I argue you out of your feeling about the matter; but I +am disposed to agree with your friend, that you will often spoil a +good nurse to make a poor doctor. Doctors and side-saddles don't +seem to me to go together. Riding habits would be awkward things for +practitioners. But come, we won't have a controversy just now. I am +for giving women every chance for a good education, and if they think +medicine is one of their proper callings let them try it. I think +they will find that they had better at least limit themselves to +certain specialties, and always have an expert of the other sex to +fall back upon. The trouble is that they are so impressible and +imaginative that they are at the mercy of all sorts of fancy systems. +You have only to see what kinds of instruction they very commonly +flock to in order to guess whether they would be likely to prove +sensible practitioners. Charlatanism always hobbles on two crutches, +the tattle of women, and the certificates of clergymen, and I am +afraid that half the women doctors will be too much under both those +influences." + +Lurida believed in Dr. Butts, who, to use the common language of the +village, had "carried her through" a fever, brought on by over- +excitement and exhausting study. She took no offence at his +reference to nursery gossip, which she had learned to hold cheap. +Nobody so despises the weaknesses of women as the champion of woman's +rights. She accepted the doctor's concession of a fair field and +open trial of the fitness of her sex for medical practice, and did +not trouble herself about his suggested limitations. As to the +imaginative tendencies of women, she knew too well the truth of the +doctor's remark relating to them to wish to contradict it. + +"Be sure you let me have your paper in season for the next meeting, +doctor," she said; and in due season it came, and was of course +approved for reading. + + + + +XIII + +DR. BUTTS READS A PAPER. + +"Next to the interest we take in all that relates to our immortal +souls is that which we feel for our mortal bodies. I am afraid my +very first statement may be open to criticism. The care of the body +is the first thought with a great many,--in fact, with the larger +part of the world. They send for the physician first, and not until +he gives them up do they commonly call in the clergyman. Even the +minister himself is not so very different from other people. We must +not blame him if he is not always impatient to exchange a world of +multiplied interests and ever-changing sources of excitement for that +which tradition has delivered to us as one eminently deficient in the +stimulus of variety. Besides, these bodily frames, even when worn +and disfigured by long years of service, hang about our consciousness +like old garments. They are used to us, and we are used to them. +And all the accidents of our lives,--the house we dwell in, the +living people round us, the landscape we look over, all, up to the +sky that covers us like a bell glass,--all these are but looser +outside garments which we have worn until they seem a part of us, and +we do not like the thought of changing them for a new suit which we +have never yet tried on. How well I remember that dear ancient lady, +who lived well into the last decade of her century, as she repeated +the verse which, if I had but one to choose, I would select from that +string of pearls, Gray's 'Elegy'! + + "'For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey + This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned, + Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, + Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?' + +"Plotinus was ashamed of his body, we are told. Better so, it may be, +than to live solely for it, as so many do. But it may be well +doubted if there is any disciple of Plotinus in this Society. On the +contrary, there are many who think a great deal of their bodies, many +who have come here to regain the health they have lost in the wear +and tear of city life, and very few who have not at some time or +other of their lives had occasion to call in the services of a +physician. + +"There is, therefore, no impropriety in my offering to the members +some remarks upon the peculiar difficulties which beset the medical +practitioner in the discharge of his laborious and important duties. + +"A young friend of mine, who has taken an interest in medical +studies, happened to meet with a very familiar story about one of the +greatest and most celebrated of all English physicians, Thomas +Sydenham. The story is that, when a student asked him what books he +should read, the great doctor told him to read 'Don Quixote.' + +"This piece of advice has been used to throw contempt upon the study +of books, and furnishes a convenient shield for ignorant pretenders. +But Sydenham left many writings in which he has recorded his medical +experience, and he surely would not have published them if he had not +thought they would be better reading for the medical student than the +story of Cervantes. His own works are esteemed to this day, and he +certainly could not have supposed that they contained all the wisdom +of all the past. No remedy is good, it was said of old, unless +applied at the right time in the right way. So we may say of all +anecdotes, like this which I have told you about Sydenham and the +young man. It is very likely that he carried him to the bedside of +some patients, and talked to him about the cases he showed him, +instead of putting a Latin volume in his hand. I would as soon begin +in that way as any other, with a student who had already mastered the +preliminary branches,--who knew enough about the structure and +functions of the body in health. + +"But if you ask me what reading I would commend to the medical +student of a philosophical habit of mind, you may be surprised to +hear me say it would be certain passages in 'Rasselas.' They are the +ones where the astronomer gives an account to Imlac of his management +of the elements, the control of which, as he had persuaded himself, +had been committed to him. Let me read you a few sentences from this +story, which is commonly bound up with the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' like +a woollen lining to a silken mantle, but is full of stately wisdom in +processions of paragraphs which sound as if they ought to have a +grammatical drum-major to march before their tramping platoons. + +"The astronomer has taken Imlac into his confidence, and reveals to +him the secret of his wonderful powers:-- + +"'Hear, Imlac, what thou wilt not without difficulty credit. I have +possessed for five years the regulation of the weather and the +distribution of the seasons the sun has listened to my dictates, and +passed from tropic to tropic by my direction; the clouds, at my call, +have poured their waters, and the Nile has overflowed at my command; +I have restrained the rage of the dog-star, and mitigated the fervors +of the crab. The winds alone, of all the elemental powers, have +hitherto eluded my authority, and multitudes have perished by +equinoctial tempests, which I found myself unable to prohibit or +restrain.' + +"The reader naturally wishes to know how the astronomer, a sincere, +devoted, and most benevolent man, for forty years a student of the +heavens, came to the strange belief that he possessed these +miraculous powers. This is his account: + +"'One day, as I was looking on the fields withering with heat, I felt +in my mind a sudden wish that I could send rain on the southern +mountains, and raise the Nile to an inundation. In the hurry of my +imagination I commanded rain to fall, and by comparing the time of my +command with that of the inundation I found that the clouds had +listened to my lips.' + +"'Might not some other cause,' said I, 'produce this concurrence? +The Nile does not always rise on the same day.' + +"'Do not believe,' said he, with impatience, I that such objections +could escape me: I reasoned long against my own conviction, and +labored against truth with the utmost obstinacy. I sometimes +suspected myself of madness, and should not have dared to impart this +secret but to a man like you, capable of distinguishing the wonderful +from the impossible and the incredible from the false.' + +"The good old astronomer gives his parting directions to Imlac, whom +he has adopted as his successor in the government of the elements and +the seasons, in these impressive words: + +"Do not, in the administration of the year, indulge thy pride by +innovation; do not please thyself with thinking that thou canst make +thyself renowned to all future ages by disordering the seasons. The +memory of mischief is no desirable fame. Much less will it become +thee to let kindness or interest prevail. Never rob other countries +of rain to pour it on thine own. For us the Nile is sufficient.' + +"Do you wonder, my friends, why I have chosen these passages, in +which the delusions of an insane astronomer are related with all the +pomp of the Johnsonian vocabulary, as the first lesson for the young +person about to enter on the study of the science and art of healing? +Listen to me while I show you the parallel of the story of the +astronomer in the history of medicine. + +"This history is luminous with intelligence, radiant with +benevolence, but all its wisdom and all its virtue have had to +struggle with the ever-rising mists of delusion. The agencies which +waste and destroy the race of mankind are vast and resistless as the +elemental forces of nature; nay, they are themselves elemental +forces. They may be to some extent avoided, to some extent diverted +from their aim, to some extent resisted. So may the changes of the +seasons, from cold that freezes to heats that strike with sudden +death, be guarded against. So may the tides be in some small measure +restrained in their inroads. So may the storms be breasted by walls +they cannot shake from their foundations. But the seasons and the +tides and the tempests work their will on the great scale upon +whatever stands in their way; they feed or starve the tillers of the +soil; they spare or drown the dwellers by the shore; they waft the +seaman to his harbor or bury him in the angry billows. + +"The art of the physician can do much to remove its subjects from +deadly and dangerous influences, and something to control or arrest +the effects of these influences. But look at the records of the +life-insurance offices, and see how uniform is the action of nature's +destroying agencies. Look at the annual reports of the deaths in any +of our great cities, and see how their regularity approaches the +uniformity of the tides, and their variations keep pace with those of +the seasons. The inundations of the Nile are not more certainly to +be predicted than the vast wave of infantile disease which flows in +upon all our great cities with the growing heats of July,--than the +fevers and dysenteries which visit our rural districts in the months +of the falling leaf. + +"The physician watches these changes as the astronomer watched the +rise of the great river. He longs to rescue individuals, to protect +communities from the inroads of these destroying agencies. He uses +all the means which experience has approved, tries every rational +method which ingenuity can suggest. Some fortunate recovery leads +him to believe he has hit upon a preventive or a cure for a malady +which had resisted all known remedies. His rescued patient sounds +his praises, and a wide circle of his patient's friends joins in a +chorus of eulogies. Self-love applauds him for his sagacity. Self- +interest congratulates him on his having found the road to fortune; +the sense of having proved a benefactor of his race smooths the +pillow on which he lays his head to dream of the brilliant future +opening before him. If a single coincidence may lead a person of +sanguine disposition to believe that he has mastered a disease which +had baffled all who were before his time, and on which his +contemporaries looked in hopeless impotence, what must be the effect +of a series of such coincidences even on a mind of calmer temper! +Such series of coincidences will happen, and they may well deceive +the very elect. Think of Dr. Rush,--you know what a famous man he +was, the very head and front of American medical science in his day, +--and remember how he spoke about yellow fever, which he thought he +had mastered! + +"Thus the physician is entangled in the meshes of a wide conspiracy, +in which he and his patient and their friends, and-Nature herself, +are involved. What wonder that the history of Medicine should be to +so great an extent a record of self-delusion! + +"If this seems a dangerous concession to the enemies of the true +science and art of healing, I will remind you that it is all implied +in the first aphorism of Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine. Do not +draw a wrong inference from the frank statement of the difficulties +which beset the medical practitioner. Think rather, if truth is so +hard of attainment, how precious are the results which the consent of +the wisest and most experienced among the healers of men agrees in +accepting. Think what folly it is to cast them aside in favor of +palpable impositions stolen from the records of forgotten +charlatanism, or of fantastic speculations spun from the squinting +brains of theorists as wild as the Egyptian astronomer. + +"Begin your medical studies, then, by reading the fortieth and the +following four chapters of 'Rasselas.' Your first lesson will teach +you modesty and caution in the pursuit of the most deceptive of all +practical branches of knowledge. Faith will come later, when you +learn how much medical science and art have actually achieved for the +relief of mankind, and how great are the promises it holds out of +still larger triumphs over the enemies of human health and +happiness." + +After the reading of this paper there was a lively discussion, which +we have no room to report here, and the Society adjourned. + + + + +XIV + +MISS VINCENT'S STARTLING DISCOVERY. + +The sober-minded, sensible, well-instructed Dr. Butts was not a +little exercised in mind by the demands made upon his knowledge by +his young friend, and for the time being his pupil, Miss Lurida +Vincent. + +"I don't wonder they called her The Terror," he said to himself. +"She is enough to frighten anybody. She has taken down old books +from my shelves that I had almost forgotten the backs of, and as to +the medical journals, I believe the girl could index them from +memory. She is in pursuit of some special point of knowledge, I feel +sure, and I cannot doubt what direction she is working in, but her +wonderful way of dealing with books amazes me." + +What marvels those "first scholars" in the classes of our great +universities and colleges are, to be sure! They are not, as a rule, +the most distinguished of their class in the long struggle of life. +The chances are that "the field" will beat "the favorite" over the +long race-course. Others will develop a longer stride and more +staying power. But what fine gifts those "first scholars" have +received from nature! How dull we writers, famous or obscure, are in +the acquisition of knowledge as compared with them! To lead their +classmates they must have quick apprehension, fine memories, thorough +control of their mental faculties, strong will, power of +concentration, facility of expression,--a wonderful equipment of +mental faculties. I always want to take my hat off to the first +scholar of his year. + +Dr. Butts felt somewhat in the same way as he contemplated The +Terror. She surprised him so often with her knowledge that he was +ready to receive her without astonishment when she burst in upon him +one allay with a cry of triumph, "Eureka! Eureka!" + +"And what have you found, my dear?" said the doctor. + +Lurida was flushed and panting with the excitement of her new +discovery. + +"I do believe that I have found the secret of our strange visitor's +dread of all human intercourse!" + +The seasoned practitioner was not easily thrown off his balance. + +"Wait a minute and get your breath," said the doctor. "Are you not a +little overstating his peculiarity? It is not quite so bad as that. +He keeps a man to serve him, he was civil with the people at the Old +Tavern, he was affable enough, I understand, with the young fellow he +pulled out of the water, or rescued somehow,--I don't believe be +avoids the whole human race. He does not look as if he hated them, +so far as I have remarked his expression. I passed a few words with +him when his man was ailing, and found him polite enough. No, I +don't believe it is much more than an extreme case of shyness, +connected, perhaps, with some congenital or other personal repugnance +to which has been given the name of an antipathy." + +Lurida could hardly keep still while the doctor was speaking. When +he finished, she began the account of her discovery: + +"I do certainly believe I have found an account of his case in an +Italian medical journal of about fourteen years ago. I met with a +reference which led me to look over a file of the Giornale degli +Ospitali lying among the old pamphlets in the medical section of the +Library. I have made a translation of it, which you must read and +then tell me if you do not agree with me in my conclusion." + +"Tell me what your conclusion is, and I will read your paper and see +for myself whether I think the evidence justifies the conviction you +seem to have reached." + +Lurida's large eyes showed their whole rounds like the two halves of +a map of the world, as she said, + +"I believe that Maurice Kirkwood is suffering from the effects of the +bite of a TARANTULA!" + +The doctor drew a long breath. He remembered in a vague sort of way +the stories which used to be told of the terrible Apulian spider, but +he had consigned them to the limbo of medical fable where so many +fictions have clothed themselves with a local habitation and a name. +He looked into the round eyes and wide pupils a little anxiously, as +if he feared that she was in a state of undue excitement, but, true +to his professional training, he waited for another symptom, if +indeed her mind was in any measure off its balance. + +"I know what you are thinking," Lurida said, "but it is not so. 'I +am not mad, most noble Festus.' You shall see the evidence and judge +for yourself. Read the whole case,--you can read my hand almost as +if it were print, and tell me if you do not agree with me that this +young man is in all probability the same person as the boy described +in the Italian journal, + +"One thing you might say is against the supposition. The young +patient is spoken of as Signorino M . . . Ch. . . . But you +must remember that ch is pronounced hard in Italian, like k, which +letter is wanting in the Italian alphabet; and it is natural enough +that the initial of the second name should have got changed in the +record to its Italian equivalent." + +Before inviting the reader to follow the details of this +extraordinary case as found in a medical journal, the narrator wishes +to be indulged in a few words of explanation, in order that he may +not have to apologize for allowing the introduction of a subject +which may be thought to belong to the professional student rather +than to the readers of this record. There is a great deal in medical +books which it is very unbecoming to bring before the general +public,--a great deal to repel, to disgust, to alarm, to excite +unwholesome curiosity. It is not the men whose duties have made them +familiar with this class of subjects who are most likely to offend by +scenes and descriptions which belong to the physician's private +library, and not to the shelves devoted to polite literature. +Goldsmith and even Smollett, both having studied and practised +medicine, could not by any possibility have outraged all the natural +feelings of delicacy and decency as Swift and Zola have outraged +them. But without handling doubtful subjects, there are many curious +medical experiences which have interest for every one as extreme +illustrations of ordinary conditions with which all are acquainted. +No one can study the now familiar history of clairvoyance profitably +who has not learned something of the vagaries of hysteria. No one +can read understandingly the life of Cowper and that of Carlyle +without having some idea of the influence of hypochondriasis and of +dyspepsia upon the disposition and intellect of the subjects of these +maladies. I need not apologize, therefore, for giving publicity to +that part of this narrative which deals with one of the most singular +maladies to be found in the records of bodily and mental infirmities. + +The following is the account of the case as translated by Miss +Vincent. For obvious reasons the whole name was not given in the +original paper, and for similar reasons the date of the event and the +birthplace of the patient are not precisely indicated here. + +[Giornale degli Ospitali, Luglio 21, 18-.] + +REMARKABLE CASE OF TARANTISM. + +"The great interest attaching to the very singular and exceptional +instance of this rare affection induces us to give a full account of +the extraordinary example of its occurrence in a patient who was the +subject of a recent medical consultation in this city. + +"Signorino M . . . Ch . . . is the only son of a gentleman +travelling in Italy at this time. He is eleven years of age, of +sanguine-nervous temperament, light hair, blue eyes, intelligent +countenance, well grown, but rather slight in form, to all appearance +in good health, but subject to certain peculiar and anomalous nervous +symptoms, of which his father gives this history. + +"Nine years ago, the father informs us, he was travelling in Italy +with his wife, this child, and a nurse. They were passing a few days +in a country village near the city of Bari, capital of the province +of the same name in the division (compartamento) of Apulia. The +child was in perfect health and had never been affected by any +serious illness. On the 10th of July he was playing out in the field +near the house where the family was staying when he was heard to +scream suddenly and violently. The nurse rushing to him found him in +great pain, saying that something had bitten him in one of his feet. +A laborer, one Tommaso, ran up at the moment and perceived in the +grass, near where the boy was standing, an enormous spider, which he +at once recognized as a tarantula. He managed to catch the creature +in a large leaf, from which he was afterwards transferred to a wide- +mouthed bottle, where he lived without any food for a month or more. +The creature was covered with short hairs, and had a pair of nipper- +like jaws, with which he could inflict an ugly wound. His body +measured about an inch in length, and from the extremity of one of +the longest limbs to the other was between two and three inches. +Such was the account given by the physician to whom the peasant +carried the great spider. + +"The boy who had been bitten continued screaming violently while his +stocking was being removed and the foot examined. The place of the +bite was easily found and the two marks of the claw-like jaws already +showed the effects of the poison, a small livid circle extending +around them, with some puffy swelling. The distinguished Dr. Amadei +was immediately sent for, and applied cups over the wounds in the +hope of drawing forth the poison. In vain all his skill and efforts! +Soon, ataxic (irregular) nervous symptoms declared themselves, and it +became plain that the system had been infected by the poison. + +"The symptoms were very much like those of malignant fever, such as +distress about the region of the heart, difficulty of breathing, +collapse of all the vital powers, threatening immediate death. From +these first symptoms the child rallied, but his entire organism had +been profoundly affected by the venom circulating through it. His +constitution has never thrown off the malady resulting from this +toxic (poisonous) agent. The phenomena which have been observed in +this young patient correspond so nearly with those enumerated in the +elaborate essay of the celebrated Baglivi that one might think they +had been transcribed from his pages. + +"He is very fond of solitude,--of wandering about in churchyards and +other lonely places. He was once found hiding in an empty tomb, +which had been left open. His aversion to certain colors is +remarkable. Generally speaking, he prefers bright tints to darker +ones, but his likes and dislikes are capricious, and with regard to +some colors his antipathy amounts to positive horror. Some shades +have such an effect upon him that he cannot remain in the room with +them, and if he meets any one whose dress has any of that particular +color he will turn away or retreat so as to avoid passing that +person. Among these, purple and dark green are the least endurable. +He cannot explain the sensations which these obnoxious colors produce +except by saying that it is like the deadly feeling from a blow on +the epigastrium (pit of the stomach). + +"About the same season of the year at which the tarantular poisoning +took place he is liable to certain nervous seizures, not exactly like +fainting or epilepsy, but reminding the physician of those +affections. All the other symptoms are aggravated at this time. + +"In other respects than those mentioned the boy is in good health. +He is fond of riding, and has a pony on which he takes a great deal +of exercise, which seems to do him more good than any other remedy. + +"The influence of music, to which so much has been attributed by +popular belief and even by the distinguished Professor to whom we +shall again refer, has not as yet furnished any satisfactory results. +If the graver symptoms recur while the patient is under our +observation, we propose to make use of an agency discredited by +modern skepticism, but deserving of a fair trial as an exceptional +remedy for an exceptional disease. + +"The following extracts from the work of the celebrated Italian +physician of the last century are given by the writer of the paper in +the Giornale in the original Latin, with a translation into Italian, +subjoined. Here are the extracts, or rather here is a selection from +them, with a translation of them into English. + +"After mentioning the singular aversion to certain colors shown by +the subject of Tarantism, Baglivi writes as follows: +"'Et si astantes incedant vestibus eo colore difusis, qui Tarantatis +ingrates est, necesse est ut ab illorum aspectu recedant; nam ad +intuitum molesti coloris angore cordis, et symptomatum recrudescantia +stating corripiuntur.' (G. Baglivi, Op. Omnia, page 614. Lugduni, +1745.) + +"That is, 'if the persons about the patient wear dresses of the color +which is offensive to him, he must get away from the sight of them, +for on seeing the obnoxious color he is at once seized with distress +in the region of the heart, and a renewal of his symptoms.' + +"As to the recurrence of the malady, Baglivi says: +"'Dam calor solis ardentius exurere incip at, quod contingit circa +initia Julii et Augusti, Tarantati lente venientem recrudescentiam +veneni percipiunt.' (Ibid., page 619.) + +"Which I render, 'When the heat of the sun begins to burn more +fiercely, which happens about the beginning of July and August, the +subjects of Tarantism perceive the gradually approaching +recrudescence (returning symptoms) of the poisoning. Among the +remedies most valued by this illustrious physician is that mentioned +in the following sentence: + +"'Laudo magnopere equitationes in aere rusticano factas singulis +diebus, hord potissimum matutina, quibus equitationibus morbos +chronicos pene incurabiles protanus eliminavi.' + +"Or in translation, +"'I commend especially riding on horseback in country air, every day, +by preference in the morning hours, by the aid of which horseback +riding I have driven off chronic diseases which were almost +incurable.'" + +Miss Vincent read this paper aloud to Dr. Butts, and handed it to him +to examine and consider. He listened with a grave countenance and +devout attention. + +As she finished reading her account, she exclaimed in the passionate +tones of the deepest conviction, + +"There, doctor! Have n't I found the true story of this strange +visitor? Have n't I solved the riddle of the Sphinx? Who can this +man be but the boy of that story? Look at the date of the journal +when he was eleven years old, it would make him twenty-five now, and +that is just about the age the people here think he must be of. What +could account so entirely for his ways and actions as that strange +poisoning which produces the state they call Tarantism? I am just as +sure it must be that as I am that I am alive. Oh, doctor, doctor, I +must be right,--this Signprino M . . . Ch . . . was the boy +Maurice Kirkwood, and the story accounts for everything,--his +solitary habits, his dread of people,--it must be because they wear +the colors he can't bear. His morning rides on horseback, his coming +here just as the season was approaching which would aggravate all his +symptoms, does n't all this prove that I must be right in my +conjecture,--no, my conviction?" + +The doctor knew too much to interrupt the young enthusiast, and so he +let her run on until she ran down. He was more used to the rules of +evidence than she was, and could not accept her positive conclusion +so readily as she would have liked to have him. He knew that +beginners are very apt to make what they think are discoveries. But +he had been an angler and knew the meaning of a yielding rod and an +easy-running reel. He said quietly, + +"You are a most sagacious young lady, and a very pretty prima facie +case it is that you make out. I can see no proof that Mr. Kirkwood +is not the same person as the M . . . Ch . . . of the medical +journal,--that is, if I accept your explanation of the difference in +the initials of these two names. Even if there were a difference, +that would not disprove their identity, for the initials of patients +whose cases are reported by their physicians are often altered for +the purpose of concealment. I do not know, however, that Mr. +Kirkwood has shown any special aversion to any particular color. It +might be interesting to inquire whether it is so, but it is a +delicate matter. I don't exactly see whose business it is to +investigate Mr. Maurice Kirkwood's idiosyncrasies and constitutional +history. If he should have occasion to send for me at any time, he +might tell me all about himself, in confidence, you know. These old +accounts from Baglivi are curious and interesting, but I am cautious +about receiving any stories a hundred years old, if they involve an +improbability, as his stories about the cure of the tarantula bite by +music certainly do. I am disposed to wait for future developments, +bearing in mind, of course, the very singular case you have +unearthed. It wouldn't be very strange if our young gentleman had to +send for me before the season is over. He is out a good deal before +the dew is off the grass, which is rather risky in this neighborhood +as autumn comes on. I am somewhat curious, I confess, about the +young man, but I do not meddle where I am not asked for or wanted, +and I have found that eggs hatch just as well if you let them alone +in the nest as if you take them out and shake them every day. This +is a wonderfully interesting supposition of yours, and may prove to +be strictly in accordance with the facts. But I do not think we have +all the facts in this young man's case. If it were proved that he +had an aversion to any color, it would greatly strengthen your case. +His 'antipatia,' as his man called it, must be one which covers a +wide ground, to account for his self-isolation,--and the color +hypothesis seems as plausible as any. But, my dear Miss Vincent, +I think you had better leave your singular and striking hypothesis in +my keeping for a while, rather than let it get abroad in a community +like this, where so many tongues are in active exercise. I will +carefully study this paper, if you will leave it with me, and we will +talk the whole matter over. It is a fair subject for speculation, +only we must keep quiet about it." + +This long speech gave Lurida's perfervid brain time to cool off a +little. She left the paper with the doctor, telling him she would +come for it the next day, and went off to tell the result of this +visit to her bosom friend, Miss Euthymia Tower. + + + + +XV + +DR. BUTTS CALLS ON EUTHYMIA. + +The doctor was troubled in thinking over his interview with the young +lady. She was fully possessed with the idea that she had discovered +the secret which had defied the most sagacious heads of the village. +It was of no use to oppose her while her mind was in an excited +state. But he felt it his duty to guard her against any possible +results of indiscretion into which her eagerness and her theory of +the equality, almost the identity, of the sexes might betray her. +Too much of the woman in a daughter of our race leads her to forget +danger. Too little of the woman prompts her to defy it. Fortunately +for this last class of women, they are not quite so likely to be +perilously seductive as their more emphatically feminine sisters. + +Dr. Butts had known Lurida and her friend from the days of their +infancy. He had watched the development of Lurida's intelligence +from its precocious nursery-life to the full vigor of its trained +faculties. He had looked with admiration on the childish beauty of +Euthymia, and had seen her grow up to womanhood, every year making +her more attractive. He knew that if anything was to be done with +his self-willed young scholar and friend, it would be more easily +effected through the medium of Euthymia than by direct advice to the +young lady herself. So the thoughtful doctor made up his mind to +have a good talk with Euthymia, and put her on her guard, if Lurida +showed any tendency to forget the conventionalities in her eager +pursuit of knowledge. + +For the doctor's horse and chaise to stop at the door of Miss +Euthymia Tower's parental home was an event strange enough to set all +the tongues in the village going. This was one of those families +where illness was hardly looked for among the possibilities of life. +There were other families where a call from the doctor was hardly +more thought of than a call from the baker. But here he was a +stranger, at least on his professional rounds, and when he asked for +Miss Euthymia the servant, who knew his face well, stared as if he +had held in his hand a warrant for her apprehension. + +Euthymia did not keep the doctor waiting very long while she made +ready to meet him. One look at her glass to make sure that a lock +had not run astray, or a ribbon got out of place, and her toilet for +a morning call was finished. Perhaps if Mr. Maurice Kirkwood had +been announced, she might have taken a second look, but with the good +middle-aged, married doctor one was enough for a young lady who had +the gift of making all the dresses she wore look well, and had no +occasion to treat her chamber like the laboratory where an actress +compounds herself. + +Euthymia welcomed the doctor very heartily. She could not help +suspecting his errand, and she was very glad to have a chance to talk +over her friend's schemes and fancies with him. + +The doctor began without any roundabout prelude. + +"I want to confer with you about our friend Lurida. Does she tell +you all her plans and projects?" + +"Why, as to that, doctor, I can hardly say, positively, but I do not +believe she keeps back anything of importance from me. I know what +she has been busy with lately, and the queer idea she has got into +her head. What do you think of the Tarantula business? She has +shown you the paper, she has written, I suppose." + +"Indeed she has. It is a very curious case she has got hold of, and +I do not wonder at all that she should have felt convinced that she +had come at the true solution of the village riddle. It may be that +this young man is the same person as the boy mentioned in the Italian +medical journal. But it is very far from clear that he is so. You +know all her reasons, of course, as you have read the story. The +times seem to agree well enough. It is easy to conceive that Ch +might be substituted for K in the report. The singular solitary +habits of this young man entirely coincide with the story. If we +could only find out whether he has any of those feelings with +reference to certain colors, we might guess with more chance of +guessing right than we have at present. But I don't see exactly how +we are going to submit him to examination on this point. If he were +only a chemical compound, we could analyze him. If he were only a +bird or a quadruped, we could find out his likes and dislikes. But +being, as he is, a young man, with ways of his own, and a will of his +own, which he may not choose to have interfered with, the problem +becomes more complicated. I hear that a newspaper correspondent has +visited him so as to make a report to his paper,--do you know what he +found out?" + +"Certainly I do, very well. My brother has heard his own story, +which was this: He found out he had got hold of the wrong person to +interview. The young gentleman, he says, interviewed him, so that he +did not learn much about the Sphinx. But the newspaper man told +Willy about the Sphinx's library and a cabinet of coins he had; and +said he should make an article out of him, anyhow. I wish the man +would take himself off. I am afraid Lurida's love of knowledge will +get her into trouble!" + +"Which of the men do you wish would take himself off?" + +"I was thinking of the newspaper man." + +She blushed a little as she said, "I can't help feeling a strange +sort of interest about the other, Mr. Kirkwood. Do you know that I +met him this morning, and had a good look at him, full in the face?" + +"Well, to be sure! That was an interesting experience. And how did +you like his looks?" + +"I thought his face a very remarkable one. But he looked very pale +as he passed me, and I noticed that he put his hand to his left side +as if he had a twinge of pain, or something of that sort,--spasm or +neuralgia,--I don't know what. I wondered whether he had what you +call angina pectoris. It was the same kind of look and movement, I +remember, as you trust, too, in my uncle who died with that +complaint." + +The doctor was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Were you dressed +as you are now?" + +"Yes, I was, except that I had a thin mantle over my shoulders. I +was out early, and I have always remembered your caution." + +"What color was your mantle?" + +"It was black. I have been over all this with Lucinda. A black +mantle on a white dress. A straw hat with an old faded ribbon. +There can't be much in those colors to trouble him, I should think, +for his man wears a black coat and white linen,--more or less white, +as you must have noticed, and he must have seen ribbons of all colors +often enough. But Lurida believes it was the ribbon, or something in +the combination of colors. Her head is full of Tarantulas and +Tarantism. I fear that she will never be easy until the question is +settled by actual trial. And will you believe it? the girl is +determined in some way to test her supposition!" + +"Believe it, Euthymia? I can believe almost anything of Lurida. She +is the most irrepressible creature I ever knew. You know as well as +I do what a complete possession any ruling idea takes of her whole +nature. I have had some fears lest her zeal might run away with her +discretion. It is a great deal easier to get into a false position +than to get out of it." + +"I know it well enough. I want you to tell me what you think about +the whole business. I don't like the look of it at all, and yet I +can do nothing with the girl except let her follow her fancy, until I +can show her plainly that she will get herself into trouble in some +way or other. But she is ingenious,--full of all sorts of devices, +innocent enough in themselves, but liable to be misconstrued. You +remember how she won us the boat-race?" + +"To be sure I do. It was rather sharp practice, but she felt she was +paying off an old score. The classical story of Atalanta, told, like +that of Eve, as illustrating the weakness of woman, provoked her to +make trial of the powers of resistance in the other sex. But it was +audacious. I hope her audacity will not go too far. You must watch +her. Keep an eye on her correspondence." + +The doctor had great confidence in the good sense of Lurida's friend. +He felt sure that she would not let Lurida commit herself by writing +foolish letters to the subject of her speculations, or similar +indiscreet performances. The boldness of young girls, who think no +evil, in opening correspondence with idealized personages is +something quite astonishing to those who have had an opportunity of +knowing the facts. Lurida had passed the most dangerous age, but her +theory of the equality of the sexes made her indifferent to the +by-laws of social usage. She required watching, and her two +guardians were ready to check her, in case of need. + + + + +XVI + +MISS VINCENT WRITES A LETTER. + +Euthymia noticed that her friend had been very much preoccupied for +two or three days. She found her more than once busy at her desk, +with a manuscript before her, which she turned over and placed inside +the desk, as Euthymia entered. + +This desire of concealment was not what either of the friends +expected to see in the other. It showed that some project was under +way, which, at least in its present stage, the Machiavellian young +lady did not wish to disclose. It had cost her a good deal of +thought and care, apparently, for her waste-basket was full of scraps +of paper, which looked as if they were the remains of a manuscript +like that at which she was at work. "Copying and recopying, +probably," thought Euthymia, but she was willing to wait to learn +what Lurida was busy about, though she had a suspicion that it was +something in which she might feel called upon to interest herself. + +"Do you know what I think?" said Euthymia to the doctor, meeting him +as he left his door. "I believe Lurida is writing to this man, and I +don't like the thought of her doing such a thing. Of course she is +not like other girls in many respects, but other people will judge +her by the common rules of life." + +"I am glad that you spoke of it," answered the doctor; "she would +write to him just as quickly as to any woman of his age. Besides, +under the cover of her office, she has got into the way of writing to +anybody. I think she has already written to Mr. Kirkwood, asking him +to contribute a paper for the Society. She can find a pretext easily +enough if she has made up her mind to write. In fact, I doubt if she +would trouble herself for any pretext at all if she decided to write. +Watch her well. Don't let any letter go without seeing it, if you +can help it." + +Young women are much given to writing letters to persons whom they +only know indirectly, for the most part through their books, and +especially to romancers and poets. Nothing can be more innocent and +simple-hearted than most of these letters. They are the spontaneous +outflow of young hearts easily excited to gratitude for the pleasure +which some story or poem has given them, and recognizing their own +thoughts, their own feelings, in those expressed by the author, as if +on purpose for them to read. Undoubtedly they give great relief to +solitary young persons, who must have some ideal reflection of +themselves, and know not where to look since Protestantism has taken +away the crucifix and the Madonna. The recipient of these letters +sometimes wonders, after reading through one of them, how it is that +his young correspondent has managed to fill so much space with her +simple message of admiration or of sympathy. + +Lurida did not belong to this particular class of correspondents, but +she could not resist the law of her sex, whose thoughts naturally +surround themselves with superabundant drapery of language, as their +persons float in a wide superfluity of woven tissues. Was she indeed +writing to this unknown gentleman? Euthymia questioned her point- +blank. + +"Are you going to open a correspondence with Mr. Maurice Kirkwood, +Lurida? You seem to be so busy writing, I can think of nothing else. +Or are you going to write a novel, or a paper for the Society,--do +tell me what you are so much taken up with." + +"I will tell you, Euthymia, if you will promise not to find fault +with me for carrying out my plan as I have made up my mind to do. +You may read this letter before I seal it, and if you find anything +in it you don't like you can suggest any change that you think will +improve it. I hope you will see that it explains itself. I don't +believe that you will find anything to frighten you in it." + +This is the letter, as submitted to Miss Tower by her friend. The +bold handwriting made it look like a man's letter, and gave it +consequently a less dangerous expression than that which belongs to +the tinted and often fragrant sheet with its delicate thready +characters, which slant across the page like an April shower with a +south wind chasing it. + + +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, August--, 18--. + +MY DEAR SIR,--You will doubtless be surprised at the sight of a +letter like this from one whom you only know as the Secretary of the +Pansophian Society. There is a very common feeling that it is +unbecoming in one of my sex to address one of your own with whom she +is unacquainted, unless she has some special claim upon his +attention. I am by no means disposed to concede to the vulgar +prejudice on this point. If one human being has anything to +communicate to another,--anything which deserves being communicated, +--I see no occasion for bringing in the question of sex. I do not +think the homo sum of Terence can be claimed for the male sex as its +private property on general any more than on grammatical grounds, + +I have sometimes thought of devoting myself to the noble art of +healing. If I did so, it would be with the fixed purpose of giving +my whole powers to the service of humanity. And if I should carry +out that idea, should I refuse my care and skill to a suffering +fellow-mortal because that mortal happened to be a brother, and not a +sister? My whole nature protests against such one-sided humanity! +No! I am blind to all distinctions when my eyes are opened to any +form of suffering, to any spectacle of want. + +You may ask me why I address you, whom I know little or nothing of, +and to whom such an advance may seem presumptuous and intrusive. It +is because I was deeply impressed by the paper which I attributed to +you,--that on Ocean, River, and Lake, which was read at one of our +meetings. I say that I was deeply impressed, but I do not mean this +as a compliment to that paper. I am not bandying compliments now, +but thinking of better things than praises or phrases. I was +interested in the paper, partly because I recognized some of the +feelings expressed in it as my own,--partly because there was an +undertone of sadness in all the voices of nature as you echoed them +which made me sad to hear, and which I could not help longing to +cheer and enliven. I said to myself, I should like to hold communion +with the writer of that paper. I have had my lonely hours and days, +as he has had. I have had some of his experiences in my intercourse +with nature. And oh! if I could draw him into those better human +relations which await us all, if we come with the right dispositions, +I should blush if I stopped to inquire whether I violated any +conventional rule or not. + +You will understand me, I feel sure. You believe, do you not? in the +insignificance of the barrier which divides the sisterhood from the +brotherhood of mankind. You believe, do you not? that they should be +educated side by side, that they should share the same pursuits, due +regard being had to the fitness of the particular individual for hard +or light work, as it must always be, whether we are dealing with the +"stronger" or the "weaker" sex. I mark these words because, +notwithstanding their common use, they involve so much that is not +true. Stronger! Yes, to lift a barrel of flour, or a barrel of +cider,--though there have been women who could do that, and though +when John Wesley was mobbed in Staffordshire a woman knocked down +three or four men, one after another, until she was at last +overpowered and nearly murdered. Talk about the weaker sex! Go and +see Miss Euthymia Tower at the gymnasium! But no matter about which +sex has the strongest muscles. Which has most to suffer, and which +has most endurance and vitality? We go through many ordeals which +you are spared, but we outlast you in mind and body. I have been led +away into one of my accustomed trains of thought, but not so far away +from it as you might at first suppose. + +My brother! Are you not ready to recognize in me a friend, an equal, +a sister, who can speak to you as if she had been reared under the +same roof? And is not the sky that covers us one roof, which makes +us all one family? You are lonely, you must be longing for some +human fellowship. Take me into your confidence. What is there that +you can tell me to which I cannot respond with sympathy? What +saddest note in your spiritual dirges which will not find its chord +in mine? + +I long to know what influence has cast its shadow over your +existence. I myself have known what it is to carry a brain that +never rests in a body that is always tired. I have defied its +infirmities, and forced it to do my bidding. You have no such +hindrance, if we may judge by your aspect and habits. You deal with +horses like a Homeric hero. No wild Indian could handle his bark +canoe more dexterously or more vigorously than we have seen you +handling yours. There must be some reason for your seclusion which +curiosity has not reached, and into which it is not the province of +curiosity to inquire. But in the irresistible desire which I have to +bring you into kindly relations with those around you, I must run the +risk of giving offence that I may know in what direction to look for +those restorative influences which the sympathy of a friend and +sister can offer to a brother in need of some kindly impulse to +change the course of a life which is not, which cannot be, in +accordance with his true nature. + +I have thought that there may be something in the conditions with +which you are here surrounded which is repugnant to your feelings,-- +something which can be avoided only by keeping yourself apart from +the people whose acquaintance you would naturally have formed. There +can hardly be anything in the place itself, or you would not have +voluntarily sought it as a residence, even for a single season. +there might be individuals here whom you would not care to meet, +there must be such, but you cannot have a personal aversion to +everybody. I have heard of cases in which certain sights and sounds, +which have no particular significance for most persons, produced +feelings of distress or aversion that made, them unbearable to the +subjects of the constitutional dislike. It has occurred to me that +possibly you might have some such natural aversion to the sounds of +the street, or such as are heard in most houses, especially where a +piano is kept, as it is in fact in almost all of those in the +village. Or it might be, I imagined, that some color in the dresses +of women or the furniture of our rooms affected you unpleasantly. I +know that instances of such antipathy have been recorded, and they +would account for the seclusion of those who are subject to it. + +If there is any removable condition which interferes with your free +entrance into and enjoyment of the social life around you, tell me, I +beg of you, tell me what it is, and it shall be eliminated. Think it +not strange, O my brother, that I thus venture to introduce myself +into the hidden chambers of your life. I will never suffer myself to +be frightened from the carrying out of any thought which promises to +be of use to a fellow-mortal by a fear lest it should be considered +"unfeminine." I can bear to be considered unfeminine, but I cannot +endure to think of myself as inhuman. Can I help you, my brother'? + +Believe me your most sincere well-wisher, + +LURIDA VINCENT. + + +Euthymia had carried off this letter and read it by herself. As she +finished it, her feelings found expression in an old phrase of her +grandmother's, which came up of itself, as such survivals of early +days are apt to do, on great occasions. + +"Well, I never!" + +Then she loosened some button or string that was too tight, and went +to the window for a breath of outdoor air. Then she began at the +beginning and read the whole letter all over again. + +What should she do about it? She could not let this young girl send +a letter like that to a stranger of whose character little was known +except by inference,--to a young man, who would consider it a most +extraordinary advance on the part of the sender. She would have +liked to tear it into a thousand pieces, but she had no right to +treat it in that way. Lurida meant to send it the next morning, and +in the mean time Euthymia had the night to think over what she should +do about it. + +There is nothing like the pillow for an oracle. There is no voice +like that which breaks the silence--of the stagnant hours of the +night with its sudden suggestions and luminous counsels. When +Euthymia awoke in the morning, her course of action was as clear +before her as if it bad been dictated by her guardian angel. She +went straight over to the home of Lurida, who was just dressed for +breakfast. + +She was naturally a little surprised at this early visit. She was +struck with the excited look of Euthymia, being herself quite calm, +and contemplating her project with entire complacency. + +Euthymia began, in tones that expressed deep anxiety. + +"I have read your letter, my dear, and admired its spirit and force. +It is a fine letter, and does you great credit as an expression of +the truest human feeling. But it must not be sent to Mr. Kirkwood. +If you were sixty years old, perhaps if you were fifty, it might be +admissible to send it. But if you were forty, I should question its +propriety; if you were thirty, I should veto it, and you are but a +little more than twenty. How do you know that this stranger will not +show your letter to anybody or everybody? How do you know that he +will not send it to one of the gossiping journals like the 'Household +Inquisitor'? But supposing he keeps it to himself, which is more +than you have a right to expect, what opinion is he likely to form of +a young lady who invades his privacy with such freedom? Ten to one +he will think curiosity is at the bottom of it,--and,--come, don't be +angry at me for suggesting it,--may there not be a little of that +same motive mingled with the others? No, don't interrupt me quite +yet; you do want to know whether your hypothesis is correct. You are +full of the best and kindest feelings in the world, but your desire +for knowledge is the ferment under them just now, perhaps more than +you know." + +Lurida's pale cheeks flushed and whitened more than once while her +friend was speaking. She loved her too sincerely and respected her +intelligence too much to take offence at her advice, but she could +not give up her humane and sisterly intentions merely from the fear +of some awkward consequences to herself. She had persuaded herself +that she was playing the part of a Protestant sister of charity, and +that the fact of her not wearing the costume of these ministering +angels made no difference in her relations to those who needed her +aid. + +"I cannot see your objections in the light in which they appear to +you," she said gravely. "It seems to me that I give up everything +when I hesitate to help a fellow-creature because I am a woman. I am +not afraid to send this letter and take all the consequences." + +"Will you go with me to the doctor's, and let him read it in our +presence? And will you agree to abide by his opinion, if it +coincides with mine?" + +Lurida winced a little at this proposal. "I don't quite like," she +said, "showing this letter to--to" she hesitated, but it had to come +out--"to a man, that is, to another man than the one for whom it was +intended." + +The neuter gender business had got a pretty damaging side-hit. + +"Well, never mind about letting him read the letter. Will you go +over to his house with me at noon, when he comes back after his +morning visits, and have a talk over the whole matter with him? You +know I have sometimes had to say must to you, Lurida, and now I say +you must go to the doctor's with me and carry that letter." + +There was no resisting the potent monosyllable as the sweet but firm +voice delivered it. At noon the two maidens rang at the doctor's +door. The servant said he had been at the house after his morning +visits, but found a hasty summons to Mr. Kirkwood, who had been taken +suddenly ill and wished to see him at once. Was the illness +dangerous? The servant-maid did n't know, but thought it was pretty +bad, for Mr. Paul came in as white as a sheet, and talked all sorts +of languages which she couldn't understand, and took on as if he +thought Mr. Kirkwood was going to die right off. + +And so the hazardous question about sending the letter was disposed +of, at least for the present. + + + + +XVII + +Dr. BUTTS'S PATIENT. + +The physician found Maurice just regaining his heat after a chill of +a somewhat severe character. He knew too well what this meant, and +the probable series of symptoms of which it was the prelude. His +patient was not the only one in the neighborhood who was attacked in +this way. The autumnal fevers to which our country towns are +subject, in the place of those "agues," or intermittents, so largely +prevalent in the South and West, were already beginning, and Maurice, +who had exposed himself in the early and late hours of the dangerous +season, must be expected to go through the regular stages of this +always serious and not rarely fatal disease. + +Paolo, his faithful servant, would fain have taken the sole charge of +his master during his illness. But the doctor insisted that he must +have a nurse to help him in his task, which was likely to be long and +exhausting. + +At the mention of the word "nurse" Paolo turned white, and exclaimed +in an agitated and thoroughly frightened way, + +"No! no nuss! no woman! She kill him! I stay by him day and night, +but don' let no woman come near him,--if you do, he die!" + +The doctor explained that he intended to send a man who was used to +taking care of sick people, and with no little effort at last +succeeded in convincing Paolo that, as he could not be awake day and +night for a fortnight or three weeks, it was absolutely necessary to +call in some assistance from without. And so Mr. Maurice Kirkwood +was to play the leading part in that drama of nature's composing +called a typhoid fever, with its regular bedchamber scenery, its +properties of phials and pill-boxes, its little company of stock +actors, its gradual evolution of a very simple plot, its familiar +incidents, its emotional alternations, and its denouement, sometimes +tragic, oftener happy. + +It is needless to say that the sympathies of all the good people of +the village, residents and strangers, were actively awakened for the +young man about whom they knew so little and conjectured so much. +Tokens of their kindness came to him daily: flowers from the woods +and from the gardens; choice fruit grown in the open air or under +glass, for there were some fine houses surrounded by well-kept +grounds, and greenhouses and graperies were not unknown in the small +but favored settlement. + +On all these luxuries Maurice looked with dull and languid eyes. A +faint smile of gratitude sometimes struggled through the stillness of +his features, or a murmured word of thanks found its way through his +parched lips, and he would relapse into the partial stupor or the +fitful sleep in which, with intervals of slight wandering, the slow +hours dragged along the sluggish days one after another. With no +violent symptoms, but with steady persistency, the disease moved on +in its accustomed course. It was at no time immediately threatening, +but the experienced physician knew its uncertainties only too well. +He had known fever patients suddenly seized with violent internal +inflammation, and carried off with frightful rapidity. He remembered +the case of a convalescent, a young woman who had been attacked while +in apparently vigorous general health, who, on being lifted too +suddenly to a sitting position, while still confined to her bed, +fainted, and in a few moments ceased to breathe. It may well be +supposed that he took every possible precaution to avert the +accidents which tend to throw from its track a disease the regular +course of which is arranged by nature as carefully as the route of a +railroad from one city to another. The most natural interpretation +which the common observer would put upon the manifestations of one of +these autumnal maladies would be that some noxious combustible +element had found its way into the system which must be burned to +ashes before the heat which pervades the whole body can subside. +Sometimes the fire may smoulder and seem as if it were going out, or +were quite extinguished, and again it will find some new material to +seize upon, and flame up as fiercely as ever. Its coming on most +frequently at the season when the brush fires which are consuming the +dead branches, and withered leaves, and all the refuse of vegetation +are sending up their smoke is suggestive. Sometimes it seems as if +the body, relieved of its effete materials, renewed its youth after +one of these quiet, expurgating, internal fractional cremations. +Lean, pallid students have found themselves plump and blooming, and +it has happened that one whose hair was straight as gnat of an Indian +has been startled to behold himself in his mirror with a fringe of +hyacinthine curls about his rejuvenated countenance. + +There was nothing of what medical men call malignity in the case of +Maurice Kirkwood. The most alarming symptom was a profound +prostration, which at last reached such a point that he lay utterly +helpless, as unable to move without aid as the feeblest of +paralytics. In this state he lay for many days, not suffering pain, +but with the sense of great weariness, and the feeling that he should +never rise from his bed again. For the most part his intellect was +unclouded when his attention was aroused. He spoke only in whispers, +a few words at a time. The doctor felt sure, by the expression which +passed over his features from time to time, that something was +worrying and oppressing him; something which he wished to +communicate, and had not the force, or the tenacity of purpose, to +make perfectly clear. His eyes often wandered to a certain desk, and +once he had found strength to lift his emaciated arm and point to it. +The doctor went towards it as if to fetch it to him, but he slowly +shook his head. He had not the power to say at that time what he +wished. The next day he felt a little less prostrated; and succeeded +in explaining to the doctor what he wanted. His words, so far as the +physician could make them out, were these which follow. Dr. Butts +looked upon them as possibly expressing wishes which would be his +last, and noted them down carefully immediately after leaving his +chamber. + +"I commit the secret of my life to your charge. My whole story is +told in a paper locked in that desk. The key is--put your hand under +my pillow. If I die, let the story be known. It will show that I +was--human--and save my memory from reproach." + +He was silent for a little time. A single tear stole down his hollow +cheek. The doctor turned his head away, for his own eyes were full. +But he said to himself, "It is a good sign; I begin to feel strong +hopes that he will recover." + +Maurice spoke once more. "Doctor, I put full trust in you. You are +wise and kind. Do what you will with this paper, but open it at once +and read. I want you to know the story of my life before it is +finished--if the end is at hand. Take it with you and read it before +you sleep." He was exhausted and presently his eyes closed, but the +doctor saw a tranquil look on his features which added encouragement +to his hopes. + + + + +XVIII + +MAURICE KIRKWOOD'S STORY OF HIS LIFE. + +I am an American by birth, but a large part of my life has been +passed in foreign lands. My father was a man of education, possessed +of an ample fortune; my mother was considered, a very accomplished +and amiable woman. I was their first and only child. She died while +I was yet an infant. If I remember her at all it is as a vision, +more like a glimpse of a pre-natal existence than as a part of my +earthly life. At the death of my mother I was left in the charge of +the old nurse who had enjoyed her perfect confidence. She was +devoted to me, and I became absolutely dependent on her, who had for +me all the love and all the care of a mother. I was naturally the +object of the attentions and caresses of the family relatives. I +have been told that I was a pleasant, smiling infant, with nothing to +indicate any peculiar nervous susceptibility; not afraid of +strangers, but on the contrary ready to make their acquaintance. My +father was devoted to me and did all in his power to promote my +health and comfort. + + +I was still a babe, often carried in arms, when the event happened +which changed my whole future and destined me to a strange and lonely +existence. I cannot relate it even now without a sense of terror. I +must force myself to recall the circumstances as told me and vaguely +remembered, for I am not willing that my doomed and wholly +exceptional life should pass away unrecorded, unexplained, +unvindicated. My nature is, I feel sure, a kind and social one, but +I have lived apart, as if my heart were filled with hatred of my +fellow-creatures. If there are any readers who look without pity, +without sympathy, upon those who shun the fellowship of their fellow +men and women, who show by their downcast or averted eyes that they +dread companionship and long for solitude, I pray them, if this paper +ever reaches them, to stop at this point. Follow me no further, for +you will not believe my story, nor enter into the feelings which I am +about to reveal. But if there are any to whom all that is human is +of interest, who have felt in their own consciousness some stirrings +of invincible attraction to one individual and equally invincible +repugnance to another, who know by their own experience that elective +affinities have as their necessary counterpart, and, as it were, +their polar opposites, currents not less strong of elective +repulsions, let them read with unquestioning faith the story of a +blighted life I am about to relate, much of it, of course, received +from the lips of others. + +My cousin Laura, a girl of seventeen, lately returned from Europe, +was considered eminently beautiful. It was in my second summer that +she visited my father's house, where he was living with his servants +and my old nurse, my mother having but recently left him a widower. +Laura was full of vivacity, impulsive, quick in her movements, +thoughtless occasionally, as it is not strange that a young girl of +her age should be. It was a beautiful summer day when she saw me for +the first time. My nurse had me in her arms, walking back and +forward on a balcony with a low railing, upon which opened the +windows of the second story of my father's house. While the nurse +was thus carrying me, Laura came suddenly upon the balcony. She no +sooner saw me than with all the delighted eagerness of her youthful +nature she rushed toward me, and, catching me from the nurse's arms, +began tossing me after the fashion of young girls who have been so +lately playing with dolls that they feel as if babies were very much +of the same nature. The abrupt seizure frightened me; I sprang from +her arms in my terror, and fell over the railing of the balcony. I +should probably enough have been killed on the spot but for the fact +that a low thorn-bush grew just beneath the balcony, into which I +fell and thus had the violence of the shock broken. But the thorns +tore my tender flesh, and I bear to this day marks of the deep wounds +they inflicted. + +That dreadful experience is burned deep into my memory. The sudden +apparition of the girl; the sense of being torn away from the +protecting arms around me; the frantic effort to escape; the shriek +that accompanied my fall through what must have seemed unmeasurable +space; the cruel lacerations of the piercing and rending thorns,--all +these fearful impressions blended in one paralyzing terror. + +When I was taken up I was thought to be dead. I was perfectly white, +and the physician who first saw me said that no pulse was +perceptible. But after a time consciousness returned; the wounds, +though painful, were none of them dangerous, and the most alarming +effects of the accident passed away. My old nurse cared for me +tenderly day and night, and my father, who had been almost distracted +in the first hours which followed the injury, hoped and believed +that no permanent evil results would be found to result from it. My +cousin Laura was of course deeply distressed to feel that her +thoughtlessness had been the cause of so grave an accident. As soon +as I had somewhat recovered she came to see me, very penitent, very +anxious to make me forget the alarm she had caused me, with all its +consequences. I was in the nursery sitting up in my bed, bandaged, +but not in any pain, as it seemed, for I was quiet and to all +appearance in a perfectly natural state of feeling. As Laura came +near me I shrieked and instantly changed color. I put my hand upon +my heart as if I had been stabbed, and fell over, unconscious. It +was very much the same state as that in which I was found immediately +after my fall. + +The cause of this violent and appalling seizure was but too obvious. +The approach of the young girl and the dread that she was about to +lay her hand upon me had called up the same train of effects which +the moment of terror and pain had already occasioned. The old nurse +saw this in a moment. "Go! go!" she cried to Laura, "go, or the +child will die! "Her command did not have to be repeated. After +Laura had gone I lay senseless, white and cold as marble, for some +time. The doctor soon came, and by the use of smart rubbing and +stimulants the color came back slowly to my cheeks and the arrested +circulation was again set in motion. + +It was hard to believe that this was anything more than a temporary +effect of the accident. There could be little doubt, it was thought +by the doctor and by my father, that after a few days I should +recover from this morbid sensibility and receive my cousin as other +infants receive pleasant-looking young persons. The old nurse shook +her head. "The girl will be the death of the child," she said, "if +she touches him or comes near him. His heart stopped beating just as +when the girl snatched him out of my arms, and he fell over the +balcony railing." Once more the experiment was tried, cautiously, +almost insidiously. The same alarming consequences followed. It was +too evident that a chain of nervous disturbances had been set up in +my system which repeated itself whenever the original impression gave +the first impulse. I never saw my cousin Laura after this last +trial. Its result had so distressed her that she never ventured +again to show herself to me. + +If the effect of the nervous shock had stopped there, it would have +been a misfortune for my cousin and myself, but hardly a calamity. +The world is wide, and a cousin or two more or less can hardly be +considered an essential of existence. I often heard Laura's name +mentioned, but never by any one who was acquainted with all the +circumstances, for it was noticed that I changed color and caught at +my breast as if I wanted to grasp my heart in my hand whenever that +fatal name was mentioned. + +Alas! this was not all. While I was suffering from the effects of my +fall among the thorns I was attended by my old nurse, assisted by +another old woman, by a physician, and my father, who would take his +share in caring for me. It was thought best to keep--me perfectly +quiet, and strangers and friends were alike excluded from my nursery, +with one exception, that my old grandmother came in now and then. +With her it seems that I was somewhat timid and shy, following her +with rather anxious eyes, as if not quite certain whether or not she +was dangerous. But one day, when I was far advanced towards +recovery, my father brought in a young lady, a relative of his, who +had expressed a great desire to see me. She was, as I have been +told, a very handsome girl, of about the same age as my cousin Laura, +but bearing no personal resemblance to her in form, features, or +complexion. She had no sooner entered the room than the same sudden +changes which had followed my cousin's visit began to show +themselves, and before she had reached my bedside I was in a state of +deadly collapse, as on the occasions already mentioned. + +Some time passed before any recurrence of these terrifying seizures. +A little girl of five or six years old was allowed to come into the +nursery one day and bring me some flowers. I took them from her +hand, but turned away and shut my eyes. There was no seizure, but +there was a certain dread and aversion, nothing more than a feeling +which it might be hoped that time would overcome. Those around me +were gradually finding out the circumstances which brought on the +deadly attack to which I was subject. + +The daughter of one of our near neighbors was considered the +prettiest girl of the village where we were passing the summer. She +was very anxious to see me, and as I was now nearly well it was +determined that she should be permitted to pay me a short visit. I +had always delighted in seeing her and being caressed by her. I was +sleeping when she entered the nursery and came and took a seat at my +side in perfect silence. Presently I became restless, and a moment +later I opened my eyes and saw her stooping over me. My hand went to +my left breast,--the color faded from my cheeks,--I was again the +cold marble image so like death that it had well-nigh been mistaken +for it. + +Could it be possible that the fright which had chilled my blood had +left me with an unconquerable fear of woman at the period when she is +most attractive not only to adolescents, but to children of tender +age, who feel the fascination of her flowing locks, her bright eyes, +her blooming cheeks, and that mysterious magnetism of sex which draws +all life into its warm and potently vitalized atmosphere? So it did +indeed seem. The dangerous experiment could not be repeated +indefinitely. It was not intentionally tried again, but accident +brought about more than one renewal of it during the following years, +until it became fully recognized that I was the unhappy subject of a +mortal dread of woman,--not absolutely of the human female, for I had +no fear of my old nurse or of my grandmother, or of any old wrinkled +face, and I had become accustomed to the occasional meeting of a +little girl or two, whom I nevertheless regarded with a certain ill- +defined feeling that there was danger in their presence. I was sent +to a boys' school very early, and during the first ten or twelve +years of my life I had rarely any occasion to be reminded of my +strange idiosyncrasy. + +As I grew out of boyhood into youth, a change came over the feelings +which had so long held complete possession of me. This was what my +father and his advisers had always anticipated, and was the ground of +their confident hope in my return to natural conditions before I +should have grown to mature manhood. + +How shall I describe the conflicts of those dreamy, bewildering, +dreadful years? Visions of loveliness haunted me sleeping and +waking. Sometimes a graceful girlish figure would so draw my eyes +towards it that I lost sight of all else, and was ready to forget all +my fears and find myself at her side, like other youths by the side +of young maidens,--happy in their cheerful companionship, while I,-- +I, under the curse of one blighting moment, looked on, hopeless. +Sometimes the glimpse of a fair face or the tone of a sweet voice +stirred within me all the instincts that make the morning of life +beautiful to adolescence. I reasoned with myself: + +Why should I not have outgrown that idle apprehension which had been +the nightmare of my earlier years? Why should not the rising tide of +life have drowned out the feeble growths that infested the shallows +of childhood? How many children there are who tremble at being left +alone in the dark, but who, a few years later, will smile at their +foolish terrors and brave all the ghosts of a haunted chamber! Why +should I any longer be the slave of a foolish fancy that has grown +into a half insane habit of mind? I was familiarly acquainted with +all the stories of the strange antipathies and invincible repugnances +to which others, some of them famous men, had been subject. I said +to myself, Why should not I overcome this dread of woman as Peter the +Great fought down his dread of wheels rolling over a bridge? Was I, +alone of all mankind, to be doomed to perpetual exclusion from the +society which, as it seemed to me, was all that rendered existence +worth the trouble and fatigue of slavery to the vulgar need of +supplying the waste of the system and working at the task of +respiration like the daughters of Danaus,--toiling day and night as +the worn-out sailor labors at the pump of his sinking vessel? + +Why did I not brave the risk of meeting squarely, and without regard +to any possible danger, some one of those fair maidens whose far-off +smile, whose graceful movements, at once attracted and agitated me? +I can only answer this question to the satisfaction of any really +inquiring reader by giving him the true interpretation of the +singular phenomenon of which I was the subject. For this I shall +have to refer to a paper of which I have made a copy, and which will +be found included with this manuscript. It is enough to say here, +without entering into the explanation of the fact, which will be +found simple enough as seen by the light of modern physiological +science, that the "nervous disturbance" which the presence of a woman +in the flower of her age produced in my system was a sense of +impending death, sudden, overwhelming, unconquerable, appalling. It +was a reversed action of the nervous centres,--the opposite of that +which flushes the young lover's cheek and hurries his bounding pulses +as he comes into the presence of the object of his passion. No one +who has ever felt the sensation can have failed to recognize it as an +imperative summons, which commands instant and terrified submission. + +It was at this period of my life that my father determined to try the +effect of travel and residence in different localities upon my bodily +and mental condition. I say bodily as well as mental, for I was too +slender for my height and subject to some nervous symptoms which were +a cause of anxiety. That the mind was largely concerned in these +there was no doubt, but the mutual interactions of mind and body are +often too complex to admit of satisfactory analysis. Each is in part +cause and each also in part effect. + +We passed some years in Italy, chiefly in Rome, where I was placed in +a school conducted by priests, and where of course I met only those +of my own sex. There I had the opportunity of seeing the influences +under which certain young Catholics, destined for the priesthood, are +led to separate themselves from all communion with the sex associated +in their minds with the most subtle dangers to which the human soul +can be exposed. I became in some degree reconciled to the thought of +exclusion from the society of women by seeing around me so many who +were self-devoted to celibacy. The thought sometimes occurred to me +whether I should not find the best and the only natural solution of +the problem of existence, as submitted to myself, in taking upon me +the vows which settle the whole question and raise an impassable +barrier between the devotee and the object of his dangerous +attraction. + +How often I talked this whole matter over with the young priest who +was at once my special instructor and my favorite companion! But +accustomed as I had become to the forms of the Roman Church, and +impressed as I was with the purity and excellence of many of its +young members with whom I was acquainted, my early training rendered +it impossible for me to accept the credentials which it offered me as +authoritative. My friend and instructor had to set me down as a case +of "invincible ignorance." This was the loop-hole through which he +crept out of the prison-house of his creed, and was enabled to look +upon me without the feeling of absolute despair with which his +sterner brethren would, I fear, have regarded me. + +I have said that accident exposed me at times to the influence which +I had such reasons for dreading. Here is one example of such an +occurrence, which I relate as simply as possible, vividly as it is +impressed upon my memory. A young friend whose acquaintance I had +made in Rome asked me one day to come to his rooms and look at a +cabinet of gems and medals which he had collected. I had been but a +short time in his library when a vague sense of uneasiness came over +me. My heart became restless,--I could feel it stirring irregularly, +as if it were some frightened creature caged in my breast. There was +nothing that I could see to account for it. A door was partly open, +but not so that I could see into the next room. The feeling grew +upon me of some influence which was paralyzing my circulation. I +begged my friend to open a window. As be did so, the door swung in +the draught, and I saw a blooming young woman,--it was my friend's +sister, who had been sitting with a book in her hand, and who rose at +the opening of the door. Something had warned me of the presence of +a woman, that occult and potent aura of individuality, call it +personal magnetism, spiritual effluence, or reduce it to a simpler +expression if you will; whatever it was, it had warned me of the +nearness of the dread attraction which allured at a distance and +revealed itself with all the terrors of the Lorelei if approached too +recklessly. A sign from her brother caused her to withdraw at once, +but not before I had felt the impression which betrayed itself in my +change of color, anxiety about the region of the heart, and sudden +failure as if about to fall in a deadly fainting-fit. + +Does all this seem strange and incredible to the reader of my +manuscript? Nothing in the history of life is so strange or +exceptional as it seems to those who have not made a long study of +its mysteries. I have never known just such a case as my own, and +yet there must have been such, and if the whole history of mankind +were unfolded I cannot doubt that there have been many like it. Let +my reader suspend his judgment until he has read the paper I have +referred to, which was drawn up by a Committee of the Royal Academy +of the Biological Sciences. In this paper the mechanism of the +series of nervous derangements to which I have been subject since the +fatal shock experienced in my infancy is explained in language not +hard to understand. It will be seen that such a change of polarity +in the nervous centres is only a permanent form and an extreme degree +of an emotional disturbance, which as a temporary and comparatively +unimportant personal accident is far from being uncommon,--is so +frequent, in fact, that every one must have known instances of it, +and not a few must have had more or less serious experiences of it in +their own private history. + +It must not be supposed that my imagination dealt with me as I am now +dealing with the reader. I was full of strange fancies and wild +superstitions. One of my Catholic friends gave me a silver medal +which had been blessed by the Pope, and which I was to wear next my +body. I was told that this would turn black after a time, in virtue +of a power which it possessed of drawing out original sin, or certain +portions of it, together with the evil and morbid tendencies which +had been engrafted on the corrupt nature. I wore the medal +faithfully, as directed, and watched it carefully. It became +tarnished and after a time darkened, but it wrought no change in my +unnatural condition. + +There was an old gypsy who had the reputation of knowing more of +futurity than she had any right to know. The story was that she had +foretold the assassination of Count Rossi and the death of Cavour. + +However that may have been, I was persuaded to let her try her black +art upon my future. I shall never forget the strange, wild look of +the wrinkled hag as she took my hand and studied its lines and fixed +her wicked old eyes on my young countenance. After this examination +she shook her head and muttered some words, which as nearly as I +could get them would be in English like these: + + Fair lady cast a spell on thee, + Fair lady's hand shall set thee free. + +Strange as it may seem, these words of a withered old creature, whose +palm had to be crossed with silver to bring forth her oracular +response, have always clung to my memory as if they were destined to +fulfilment. The extraordinary nature of the affliction to which I +was subject disposed me to believe the incredible with reference to +all that relates to it. I have never ceased to have the feeling +that, sooner or later, I should find myself freed from the blight +laid upon me in my infancy. It seems as if it would naturally come +through the influence of some young and fair woman, to whom that +merciful errand should be assigned by the Providence that governs our +destiny. With strange hopes, with trembling fears, with mingled +belief and doubt, wherever I have found myself I have sought with +longing yet half-averted eyes for the "elect lady," as I have learned +to call her, who was to lift the curse from my ruined life. + +Three times I have been led to the hope, if not the belief, that I +had found the object of my superstitious belief.--Singularly enough +it was always on the water that the phantom of my hope appeared +before my bewildered vision. Once it was an English girl who was a +fellow passenger with me in one of my ocean voyages. I need not say +that she was beautiful, for she was my dream realized. I heard her +singing, I saw her walking the deck on some of the fair days when +sea-sickness was forgotten. The passengers were a social company +enough, but I had kept myself apart, as was my wont. At last the +attraction became too strong to resist any longer. "I will venture +into the charmed circle if it kills me," I said to my father. I did +venture, and it did not kill me, or I should not be telling this +story. But there was a repetition of the old experiences. I need +not relate the series of alarming consequences of my venture. The +English girl was very lovely, and I have no doubt has made some one +supremely happy before this, but she was not the "elect lady" of the +prophecy and of my dreams. + +A second time I thought myself for a moment in the presence of the +destined deliverer who was to restore me to my natural place among my +fellow men and women. It was on the Tiber that I met the young +maiden who drew me once more into that inner circle which surrounded +young womanhood with deadly peril for me, if I dared to pass its +limits. I was floating with the stream in the little boat in which I +passed many long hours of reverie when I saw another small boat with +a boy and a young girl in it. The boy had been rowing, and one of +his oars had slipped from his grasp. He did not know how to paddle +with a single oar, and was hopelessly rowing round and round, his oar +all the time floating farther away from him. I could not refuse my +assistance. I picked up the oar and brought my skiff alongside of +the boat. When I handed the oar to the boy the young girl lifted her +veil and thanked me in the exquisite music of the language which + + 'Sounds as if it should be writ on satin.' + +She was a type of Italian beauty,--a nocturne in flesh and blood, if +I may borrow a term certain artists are fond of; but it was her voice +which captivated me and for a moment made me believe that I was no +longer shut off from all relations with the social life of my race. +An hour later I was found lying insensible on the floor of my boat, +white, cold, almost pulseless. It cost much patient labor to bring +me back to consciousness. Had not such extreme efforts been made, it +seems probable that I should never have waked from a slumber which +was hardly distinguishable from that of death. + + +Why should I provoke a catastrophe which appears inevitable if I +invite it by exposing myself to its too well ascertained cause? The +habit of these deadly seizures has become a second nature. The +strongest and the ablest men have found it impossible to resist the +impression produced by the most insignificant object, by the most +harmless sight or sound to which they had a congenital or acquired +antipathy. What prospect have I of ever being rid of this long and +deep-seated infirmity? I may well ask myself these questions, but my +answer is that I will never give up the hope that time will yet bring +its remedy. It may be that the wild prediction which so haunts me +shall find itself fulfilled. I have had of late strange +premonitions, to which if I were superstitious I could not help +giving heed. But I have seen too much of the faith that deals in +miracles to accept the supernatural in any shape,--assuredly when it +comes from an old witch-like creature who takes pay for her +revelations of the future. Be it so: though I am not superstitious, +I have a right to be imaginative, and my imagination will hold to +those words of the old zingara with an irresistible feeling that, +sooner or later, they will prove true. + +Can it be possible that her prediction is not far from its +realization? I have had both waking and sleeping visions within +these last months and weeks which have taken possession of me and +filled my life with new thoughts, new hopes, new resolves. + +Sometimes on the bosom of the lake by which I am dreaming away this +season of bloom and fragrance, sometimes in the fields or woods in a +distant glimpse, once in a nearer glance, which left me pale and +tremulous, yet was followed by a swift reaction, so that my cheeks +flushed and my pulse bounded, I have seen her who--how do I dare to +tell it so that my own eyes can read it?---I cannot help believing is +to be my deliverer, my saviour. + +I have been warned in the most solemn and impressive language by the +experts most deeply read in the laws of life and the history of its +disturbing and destroying influences, that it would be at the +imminent risk of my existence if I should expose myself to the +repetition of my former experiences. I was reminded that unexplained +sudden deaths were of constant, of daily occurrence; that any emotion +is liable to arrest the movements of life: terror, joy, good news or +bad news,--anything that reaches the deeper nervous centres. I had +already died once, as Sir Charles Napier said of himself; yes, more +than once, died and been resuscitated. The next time, I might very +probably fail to get my return ticket after my visit to Hades. It +was a rather grim stroke of humor, but I understood its meaning full +well, and felt the force of its menace. + +After all, what had I to live for if the great primal instinct which +strives to make whole the half life of lonely manhood is defeated, +suppressed, crushed out of existence? Why not as well die in the +attempt to break up a wretched servitude to a perverted nervous +movement as in any other way? I am alone in the world,--alone save +for my faithful servant, through whom I seem to hold to the human +race as it were by a single filament. My father, who was my +instructor, my companion, my dearest and best friend through all my +later youth and my earlier manhood, died three years ago and left me +my own master, with the means of living as might best please my +fancy. This season shall decide my fate. One more experiment, and I +shall find myself restored to my place among my fellow-beings, or, as +I devoutly hope, in a sphere where all our mortal infirmities are +past and forgotten. + +I have told the story of a blighted life without reserve, so that +there shall not remain any mystery or any dark suspicion connected +with my memory if I should be taken away unexpectedly. It has cost +me an effort to do it, but now that my life is on record I feel more +reconciled to my lot, with all its possibilities, and among these +possibilities is a gleam of a better future. I have been told by my +advisers, some of them wise, deeply instructed, and kind-hearted men, +that such a life-destiny should be related by the subject of it for +the instruction of others, and especially for the light it throws on +certain peculiarities of human character often wrongly interpreted as +due to moral perversion, when they are in reality the results of +misdirected or reversed actions in some of the closely connected +nervous centres. + +For myself I can truly say that I have very little morbid sensibility +left with reference to the destiny which has been allotted to me. I +have passed through different stages of feeling with reference to it, +as I have developed from infancy to manhood. At first it was mere +blind instinct about which I had no thought, living like other +infants the life of impressions without language to connect them in +series. In my boyhood I began to be deeply conscious of the +infirmity which separated me from those around me. In youth began +that conflict of emotions and impulses with the antagonistic +influence of which I have already spoken, a conflict which has never +ceased, but to which I have necessarily become to a certain degree +accustomed; and against the dangers of which I have learned to guard +myself habitually. That is the meaning of my isolation. You, young +man,--if at any time your eyes shall look upon my melancholy record, +--you at least will understand me. Does not your heart throb, in the +presence of budding or blooming womanhood, sometimes as if it "were +ready to crack" with its own excess of strain? What if instead of +throbbing it should falter, flutter, and stop as if never to beat +again? You, young woman, who with ready belief and tender sympathy +will look upon these pages, if they are ever spread before you, know +what it is when your breast heaves with uncontrollable emotion and +the grip of the bodice seems unendurable as the embrace of the iron +virgin of the Inquisition. Think what it would be if the grasp were +tightened so that no breath of air could enter your panting chest! + +Does your heart beat in the same way, young man, when your honored +friend, a venerable matron of seventy years, greets you with her +kindly smile as it does in the presence of youthful loveliness? When +a pretty child brings you her doll and looks into your eyes with +artless grace and trustful simplicity, does your pulse quicken, do +you tremble, does life palpitate through your whole being, as when +the maiden of seventeen meets your enamored sight in the glow of her +rosebud beauty? Wonder not, then, if the period of mystic attraction +for you should be that of agitation, terror, danger, to one in whom +the natural current of the instincts has had its course changed as +that of a stream is changed by a convulsion of nature, so that the +impression which is new life to you is death to him. + +I am now twenty-five years old. I have reached the time of life +which I have dreamed, nay even ventured to hope, might be the limit +of the sentence which was pronounced upon me in my infancy. I can +assign no good reason for this anticipation. But in writing this +paper I feel as if I were preparing to begin a renewed existence. +There is nothing for me to be ashamed of in the story I have told. +There is no man living who would not have yielded to the sense of +instantly impending death which seized upon me under the conditions I +have mentioned. Martyrs have gone singing to their flaming shrouds, +but never a man could hold his breath long enough to kill himself; he +must have rope or water, or some mechanical help, or nature will make +him draw in a breath of air, and would make him do so though he knew +the salvation of the human race would be forfeited by that one gasp. + +This paper may never reach the eye of any one afflicted in the same +way that I have been. It probably never will; but for all that, +there are many shy natures which will recognize tendencies in +themselves in the direction of my unhappy susceptibility. Others, to +whom such weakness seems inconceivable, will find their scepticism +shaken, if not removed, by the calm, judicial statement of the Report +drawn up for the Royal Academy. It will make little difference to me +whether my story is accepted unhesitatingly or looked upon as largely +a product of the imagination. I am but a bird of passage that lights +on the boughs of different nationalities. I belong to no flock; my +home may be among the palms of Syria, the olives of Italy, the oaks +of England, the elms that shadow the Hudson or the Connecticut; I +build no nest; to-day I am here, to-morrow on the wing. + +If I quit my native land before the trees have dropped their leaves I +shall place this manuscript in the safe hands of one whom I feel sure +that I can trust; to do with it as he shall see fit. If it is only +curious and has no bearing on human welfare, he may think it well to +let it remain unread until I shall have passed away. If in his +judgment it throws any light on one of the deeper mysteries of our +nature,--the repulsions which play such a formidable part in social +life, and which must be recognized as the correlatives of the +affinities that distribute the individuals governed by them in the +face of impediments which seem to be impossibilities,--then it may be +freely given to the world. + +But if I am here when the leaves are all fallen, the programme of my +life will have changed, and this story of the dead past will be +illuminated by the light of a living present which will irradiate all +its saddening features. Who would not pray that my last gleam of +light and hope may be that of dawn and not of departing day? + +The reader who finds it hard to accept the reality of a story so far +from the common range of experience is once more requested to suspend +his judgment until he has read the paper which will next be offered +for his consideration. + + +THE REPORT OF THE BIOLOGICAL COMMITTEE. + +Perhaps it is too much to expect a reader who wishes to be +entertained, excited, amused, and does not want to work his passage +through pages which he cannot understand without some effort of his +own, to read the paper which follows and Dr. Butts's reflections upon +it. If he has no curiosity in the direction of these chapters, he +can afford to leave them to such as relish a slight flavor of +science. But if he does so leave them he will very probably remain +sceptical as to the truth of the story to which they are meant to +furnish him with a key. + +Of course the case of Maurice Kirkwood is a remarkable and +exceptional one, and it is hardly probable that any reader's +experience will furnish him with its parallel. But let him look back +over all his acquaintances, if he has reached middle life, and see if +he cannot recall more than one who, for some reason or other, shunned +the society of young women, as if they had a deadly fear of their +company. If he remembers any such, he can understand the simple +statements and natural reflections which are laid before him. + +One of the most singular facts connected with the history of Maurice +Kirkwood was the philosophical equanimity with which he submitted to +the fate which had fallen upon him. He did not choose to be pumped +by the Interviewer, who would show him up in the sensational columns +of his prying newspaper. He lived chiefly by himself, as the easiest +mode of avoiding those meetings to which he would be exposed in +almost every society into which he might venture. But he had learned +to look upon himself very much as he would upon an intimate not +himself,--upon a different personality. A young man will naturally +enough be ashamed of his shyness. It is something which others +believe, and perhaps he himself thinks, he might overcome. But in +the case of Maurice Kirkwood there was no room for doubt as to the +reality and gravity of the long enduring effects of his first +convulsive terror. He had accepted the fact as he would have +accepted the calamity of losing his sight or his hearing. When he +was questioned by the experts to whom his case was submitted, he told +them all that he knew about it almost without a sign of emotion. +Nature was so peremptory with him,--saying in language that had no +double meaning: "If you violate the condition on which you hold my +gift of existence I slay you on the spot,"--that he became as +decisive in his obedience as she was in her command, and accepted his +fate without repining. + +Yet it must not be thought for a moment,--it cannot be supposed,-- +that he was insensible because he looked upon himself with the +coolness of an enforced philosophy. He bore his burden manfully, +hard as it was to live under it, for he lived, as we have seen, in +hope. The thought of throwing it off with his life, as too grievous +to be borne, was familiar to his lonely hours, but he rejected it as +unworthy of his manhood. How he had speculated and dreamed about it +is plain enough from the paper the reader may remember on Ocean, +River, and Lake. + +With these preliminary hints the paper promised is submitted to such +as may find any interest in them. + + + ACCOUNT OF A CASE OF GYNOPHOBIA. + + WITH REMARKS. + +Being the Substance of a Report to the Royal Academy of the Biological +Sciences by a Committee of that Institution. + +"The singular nature of the case we are about to narrate and comment +upon will, we feel confident, arrest the attention of those who have +learned the great fact that Nature often throws the strongest light +upon her laws by the apparent exceptions and anomalies which from +time to time are observed. We have done with the lusus naturae of +earlier generations. We pay little attention to the stories of +'miracles,' except so far as we receive them ready-made at the hands +of the churches which still hold to them. Not the less do we meet +with strange and surprising facts, which a century or two ago would +have been handled by the clergy and the courts, but today are calmly +recorded and judged by the best light our knowledge of the laws of +life can throw upon them. It must be owned that there are stories +which we can hardly dispute, so clear and full is the evidence in +their support, which do, notwithstanding, tax our faith and sometimes +leave us sceptical in spite of all the testimony which supports them. + +" In this category many will be disposed to place the case we commend +to the candid attention of the Academy. If one were told that a +young man, a gentleman by birth and training, well formed, in +apparently perfect health, of agreeable physiognomy and manners, +could not endure the presence of the most attractive young woman, but +was seized with deadly terror and sudden collapse of all the powers +of life, if he came into her immediate presence; if it were added +that this same young man did not shrink from the presence of an old +withered crone; that he had a certain timid liking for little maidens +who had not yet outgrown the company of their dolls, the listener +would be apt to smile, if he did not laugh, at the absurdity of the +fable. Surely, he would say, this must be the fiction of some +fanciful brain, the whim of some romancer, the trick of some +playwright. It would make a capital farce, this idea, carried out. +A young man slighting the lovely heroine of the little comedy and +making love to her grandmother! This would, of course, be +overstating the truth of the story, but to such a misinterpretation +the plain facts lend themselves too easily. We will relate the +leading circumstances of the case, as they were told us with perfect +simplicity and frankness by the subject of an affection which, if +classified, would come under the general head of Antipathy, but to +which, if we give it a name, we shall have to apply the term +Gynophobia, or Fear of Woman." + +Here follows the account furnished to the writer of the paper, which +is in all essentials identical with that already laid before the +reader. + +" Such is the case offered to our consideration. Assuming its +truthfulness in all its particulars, it remains to see in the first +place whether or not it is as entirely exceptional and anomalous as +it seems at first sight, or whether it is only the last term of a +series of cases which in their less formidable aspect are well known +to us in literature, in the records of science, and even in our +common experience. + +"To most of those among us the explanations we are now about to give +are entirely superfluous. But there are some whose chief studies +have been in different directions, and who will not complain if +certain facts are mentioned which to the expert will seem +rudimentary, and which hardly require recapitulation to those who are +familiarly acquainted with the common text-books. + +"The heart is the centre of every living movement in the higher +animals, and in man, furnishing in varying amount, or withholding to +a greater or less extent, the needful supplies to all parts of the +system. If its action is diminished to a certain degree, faintness +is the immediate consequence; if it is arrested, loss of +consciousness; if its action is not soon restored, death, of which +fainting plants the white flag, remains in possession of the system. + +"How closely the heart is under the influence of the emotions we need +not go to science to learn, for all human experience and all +literature are overflowing with evidence that shows the extent of +this relation. Scripture is full of it; the heart in Hebrew poetry +represents the entire life, we might almost say. Not less forcible +is the language of Shakespeare, as for instance, in 'Measure for +Measure:' + + "'Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, + Making it both unable for itself + And dispossessing all my other parts + Of necessary fitness?' + +"More especially is the heart associated in every literature with the +passion of love. A famous old story is that of Galen, who was called +to the case of a young lady long ailing, and wasting away from some +cause the physicians who had already seen her were unable to make +out. The shrewd old practitioner suspected that love was at the +bottom of the young lady's malady. Many relatives and friends of +both sexes, all of them ready with their sympathy, came to see her. +The physician sat by her bedside during one of these visits, and in +an easy, natural way took her hand and placed a finger on her pulse. +It beat quietly enough until a certain comely young gentleman entered +the apartment, when it suddenly rose infrequency, and at the same +moment her hurried breathing, her changing color, pale and flushed by +turns, betrayed the profound agitation his presence excited. This +was enough for the sagacious Greek; love was the disease, the cure of +which by its like may be claimed as an anticipation of homoeopathy. +In the frontispiece to the fine old 'Junta' edition of the works of +Galen, you may find among the wood-cuts a representation of the +interesting scene, with the title Amantas Dignotio,--the diagnosis, +or recognition, of the lover. + +"Love has many languages, but the heart talks through all of them. +The pallid or burning cheek tells of the failing or leaping fountain +which gives it color. The lovers at the 'Brookside' could hear each +other's hearts beating. When Genevieve, in Coleridge's poem, forgot +herself, and was beforehand with her suitor in her sudden embrace, + + "'T was partly love and partly fear, + And partly 't was a bashful art, + That I might rather feel than see + The swelling of her heart' + +"Always the heart, whether its hurried action is seen, or heard, or +felt. But it is not always in this way that the 'deceitful' organ +treats the lover. + + "'Faint heart never won fair lady.' + +"This saying was not meant, perhaps, to be taken literally, but it has +its literal truth. Many a lover has found his heart sink within +him,--lose all its force, and leave him weak as a child in his +emotion at the sight of the object of his affections. When Porphyro +looked upon Madeline at her prayers in the chapel, it was too much +for him: + + "'She seemed a splendid angel, newly drest, + Save wings, for heaven:--Porphyro grew faint, + She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from earthly taint.' + +"And in Balzac's novel, 'Cesar Birotteau,' the hero of the story +'fainted away for-joy at the moment when, under a linden-tree, at +Sceaux, Constance-Barbe-Josephine accepted him as her future +husband.' + +"One who faints is dead if he does not I come to,' and nothing is +more likely than that too susceptible lovers have actually gone off +in this way. Everything depends on how the heart behaves itself in +these and similar trying moments. The mechanism of its actions +becomes an interesting subject, therefore, to lovers of both sexes, +and to all who are capable of intense emotions. + +"The heart is a great reservoir, which distributes food, drink, air, +and heat to every part of the system, in exchange for its waste +material. It knocks at the gate of every organ seventy or eighty +times in a minute, calling upon it to receive its supplies and unload +its refuse. Between it and the brain there is the closest relation. +The emotions, which act upon it as we have seen, govern it by a +mechanism only of late years thoroughly understood. This mechanism +can be made plain enough to the reader who is not afraid to believe +that he can understand it. + +"The brain, as all know, is the seat of ideas, emotions, volition. +It is the great central telegraphic station with which many lesser +centres are in close relation, from which they receive, and to which +they transmit, their messages. The heart has its own little brains, +so to speak,--small collections of nervous substance which govern its +rhythmical motions under ordinary conditions. But these lesser +nervous centres are to a large extent dominated by influences +transmitted from certain groups of nerve-cells in the brain and its +immediate dependencies. + +"There are two among the special groups of nerve-cells which produce +directly opposite effects. One of these has the power of +accelerating the action of the heart, while the other has the power +of retarding or arresting this action. One acts as the spur, the +other as the bridle. According as one or the other predominates, the +action of the heart will be stimulated or restrained. Among the +great modern discoveries in physiology is that of the existence of a +distinct centre of inhibition, as the restraining influence over the +heart is called. + +"The centre of inhibition plays a terrible part in the history of +cowardice and of unsuccessful love. No man can be brave without +blood to sustain his courage, any more than he can think, as the +German materialist says, not absurdly, without phosphorus. The +fainting lover must recover his circulation, or his lady will lend +him her smelling-salts and take a gallant with blood in his cheeks. +Porphyro got over his faintness before he ran away with Madeline, and +Cesar Birotteau was an accepted lover when he swooned with happiness: +but many an officer has been cashiered, and many a suitor has been +rejected, because the centre of inhibition has got the upper hand of +the centre of stimulation. + +"In the well-known cases of deadly antipathy which have been +recorded, the most frequent cause has been the disturbed and +depressing influence of the centre of inhibition. Fainting at the +sight of blood is one of the commonest examples of this influence. A +single impression, in a very early period of atmospheric existence,-- +perhaps, indirectly, before that period, as was said to have happened +in the case of James the First of England,--may establish a +communication between this centre and the heart which will remain +open ever afterwards. How does a footpath across a field establish +itself? Its curves are arbitrary, and what we call accidental, but +one after another follows it as if he were guided by a chart on which +it was laid down. So it is with this dangerous transit between the +centre of inhibition and the great organ of life. If once the path +is opened by the track of some profound impression, that same +impression, if repeated, or a similar one, is likely to find the old +footmarks and follow them. Habit only makes the path easier to +traverse, and thus the unreasoning terror of a child, of an infant, +may perpetuate itself in a timidity which shames the manhood of its +subject. + +"The case before us is an exceptional and most remarkable example of +the effect of inhibition on the heart. + +"We will not say that we believe it to be unique in the history of +the human race; on the contrary, we do not doubt that there have been +similar cases, and that in some rare instances sudden death has been +the consequence of seizures like that of the subject of this Report. +The case most like it is that of Colone Townsend, which is too well +known to require any lengthened description in this paper. It is +enough to recall the main facts. He could by a voluntary effort +suspend the action of his heart for a considerable period, during +which he lay like one dead, pulseless, and without motion. After a +time the circulation returned, and he does not seem to have been the +worse for his dangerous, or seemingly dangerous, experiment. But in +his case it was by an act of the will that the heart's action was +suspended. In the case before us it is an involuntary impulse +transmitted from the brain to the inhibiting centre, which arrests +the cardiac movements. + +"What is like to be the further history of the case? + +"The subject of this anomalous affliction is now more than twenty +years old. The chain of nervous actions has become firmly +established. It might have been hoped that the changes of +adolescence would have effected a transformation of the perverted +instinct. On the contrary, the whole force of this instinct throws +itself on the centre of inhibition, instead of quickening the heart- +beats, and sending the rush of youthful blood with fresh life through +the entire system to the throbbing finger-tips. + +"Is it probable that time and circumstances will alter a habit of +nervous interactions so long established? We are disposed to think +that there is a chance of its being broken up. And we are not afraid +to say that we suspect the old gypsy woman, whose prophecy took such +hold of the patient's imagination, has hit upon the way in which the +"spell,' as she called it, is to be dissolved. She must, in all +probability, have had a hint of the 'antipatia' to which the youth +before her was a victim, and its cause, and if so, her guess as to +the probable mode in which the young man would obtain relief from his +unfortunate condition was the one which would naturally suggest +itself. + +"If once the nervous impression which falls on the centre of +inhibition can be made to change its course, so as to follow its +natural channel, it will probably keep to that channel ever +afterwards. And this will, it is most likely, be effected by some +sudden, unexpected impression. If he were drowning, and a young +woman should rescue him, it is by no means impossible that the change +in the nervous current we have referred to might be brought about as +rapidly, as easily, as the reversal of the poles in a magnet, which +is effected in an instant. But he cannot be expected to throw +himself into the water just at the right moment when the 'fair lady' +of the gitana's prophecy is passing on the shore. Accident may +effect the cure which art seems incompetent to perform. It would not +be strange if in some future seizure he should never come back to +consciousness. But it is quite conceivable, on the other hand, that +a happier event may occur, that in a single moment the nervous +polarity may be reversed, the whole course of his life changed, and +his past terrible experiences be to him like a scarce-remembered +dream. + +"This is one, of those cases in which it is very hard to determine +the wisest course to be pursued. The question is not unlike that +which arises in certain cases of dislocation of the bones of the +neck. Shall the unfortunate sufferer go all his days with his face +turned far round to the right or the left, or shall an attempt be +made to replace the dislocated bones? an attempt which may succeed, +or may cause instant death. The patient must be consulted as to +whether he will take the chance. The practitioner may be unwilling +to risk it, if the patient consents. Each case must be judged on its +own special grounds. We cannot think that this young man is doomed +to perpetual separation from the society of womanhood during the +period of its bloom and attraction. But to provoke another seizure +after his past experiences would be too much like committing suicide. +We fear that we must trust to the chapter of accidents. The strange +malady--for such it is--has become a second nature, and may require +as energetic a shock to displace it as it did to bring it into +existence. Time alone can solve this question, on which depends the +well-being and, it may be, the existence of a young man every way +fitted to be happy, and to give happiness, if restored to his true +nature." + + + + +XX. + +DR. BUTTS REFLECTS. + +Dr. Butts sat up late at night reading these papers and reflecting +upon them. He was profoundly impressed and tenderly affected by the +entire frankness, the absence of all attempt at concealment, which +Maurice showed in placing these papers at his disposal. He believed +that his patient would recover from this illness for which he had +been taking care of him. He thought deeply and earnestly of what he +could do for him after he should have regained his health and +strength. + +There were references, in Maurice's own account of himself, which the +doctor called to mind with great interest after reading his brief +autobiography. Some one person--some young woman, it must be--had +produced a singular impression upon him since those earlier perilous +experiences through which he had passed. The doctor could not help +thinking of that meeting with Euthymia of which she had spoken to +him. Maurice, as she said, turned pale,--he clapped his hand to his +breast. He might have done so if be had met her chambermaid, or any +straggling damsel of the village. But Euthymia was not a young woman +to be looked upon with indifference. She held herself like a queen, +and walked like one, not a stage queen, but one born and bred to +self-reliance, and command of herself as well as others. One could +not pass her without being struck with her noble bearing and spirited +features. If she had known how Maurice trembled as he looked upon +her, in that conflict of attraction and uncontrollable dread,--if she +had known it! But what, even then, could she have done? Nothing but +get away from him as fast as she could. As it was, it was a long +time before his agitation subsided, and his heart beat with its +common force and frequency. + +Dr. Butts was not a male gossip nor a matchmaking go-between. But he +could not help thinking what a pity it was that these two young +persons could not come together as other young people do in the +pairing season, and find out whether they cared for and were fitted +for each other. He did not pretend to settle this question in his +own mind, but the thought was a natural one. And here was a gulf +between them as deep and wide as that between Lazarus and Dives. +Would it ever be bridged over? This thought took possession of the +doctor's mind, and he imagined all sorts of ways of effecting some +experimental approximation between Maurice and Euthymia. From this +delicate subject he glanced off to certain general considerations +suggested by the extraordinary history he had been reading. He began +by speculating as to the possibility of the personal presence of an +individual making itself perceived by some channel other than any of +the five senses. The study of the natural sciences teaches those who +are devoted to them that the most insignificant facts may lead the +way to the discovery of the most important, all-pervading laws of the +universe. From the kick of a frog's hind leg to the amazing triumphs +which began with that seemingly trivial incident is a long, a very +long stride if Madam Galvani had not been in delicate health, which +was the occasion of her having some frog-broth prepared for her, the +world of to-day might not be in possession of the electric telegraph +and the light which blazes like the sun at high noon. A common- +looking occurrence, one seemingly unimportant, which had hitherto +passed unnoticed with the ordinary course of things, was the means of +introducing us to a new and vast realm of closely related phenomena. +It was like a key that we might have picked up, looking so simple +that it could hardly fit any lock but one of like simplicity, but +which should all at once throw back the bolts of the one lock which +had defied the most ingenious of our complex implements and open our +way into a hitherto unexplored territory. + +It certainly was not through the eye alone that Maurice felt the +paralyzing influence. He could contemplate Euthymia from a distance, +as he did on the day of the boat-race, without any nervous +disturbance. A certain proximity was necessary for the influence to +be felt, as in the case of magnetism and electricity. An atmosphere +of danger surrounded every woman he approached during the period when +her sex exercises its most powerful attractions. How far did that +atmosphere extend, and through what channel did it act? + +The key to the phenomena of this case, he believed, was to be found +in a fact as humble as that which gave birth to the science of +galvanism and its practical applications. The circumstances +connected with the very common antipathy to cats were as remarkable +in many points of view as the similar circumstances in the case of +Maurice Kirkwood. The subjects of that antipathy could not tell what +it was which disturbed their nervous system. All they knew was that +a sense of uneasiness, restlessness, oppression, came over them in +the presence of one of these animals. He remembered the fact already +mentioned, that persons sensitive to this impression can tell by +their feelings if a cat is concealed in the apartment in which they +may happen to be. It may be through some emanation. It may be +through the medium of some electrical disturbance. What if the +nerve-thrills passing through the whole system of the animal +propagate themselves to a certain distance without any more regard to +intervening solids than is shown by magnetism? A sieve lets sand +pass through it; a filter arrests sand, but lets fluids pass, glass +holds fluids, but lets light through; wood shuts out light, but +magnetic attraction goes through it as sand went through the sieve. +No good reasons can be given why the presence of a cat should not +betray itself to certain organizations, at a distance, through the +walls of a box in which the animal is shut up. We need not +disbelieve the stories which allege such an occurrence as a fact and +a not very infrequent one. + +If the presence of a cat can produce its effects under these +circumstances, why should not that of a human being under similar +conditions, acting on certain constitutions, exercise its specific +influence? The doctor recalled a story told him by one of his +friends, a story which the friend himself heard from the lips of the +distinguished actor, the late Mr. Fechter. The actor maintained that +Rachel had no genius as an actress. It was all Samson's training and +study, according to him, which explained the secret of her wonderful +effectiveness on the stage. But magnetism, he said,--magnetism, she +was full of. He declared that he was made aware of her presence on +the stage, when he could not see her or know of her presence +otherwise, by this magnetic emanation. The doctor took the story for +what it was worth. There might very probably be exaggeration, +perhaps high imaginative coloring about it, but it was not a whit +more unlikely than the cat-stories, accepted as authentic. He +continued this train of thought into further developments. Into this +series of reflections we will try to follow him. + +What is the meaning of the halo with which artists have surrounded +the heads of their pictured saints, of the aureoles which wraps them +like a luminous cloud? Is it not a recognition of the fact that +these holy personages diffuse their personality in the form of a +visible emanation, which reminds us of Milton's definition of light: + + "Bright effluence of bright essence increate"? + +The common use of the term influence would seem to imply the +existence of its correlative, effluence. There is no good reason +that I can see, the doctor said to himself, why among the forces +which work upon the nervous centres there should not be one which +acts at various distances from its source. It may not be visible +like the "glory" of the painters, it may not be appreciable by any +one of the five senses, and yet it may be felt by the person reached +by it as much as if it were a palpable presence,--more powerfully, +perhaps, from the mystery which belongs to its mode of action. + +Why should not Maurice have been rendered restless and anxious by the +unseen nearness of a young woman who was in the next room to him, +just as the persons who have the dread of cats are made conscious of +their presence through some unknown channel? Is it anything strange +that the larger and more powerful organism should diffuse a +consciousness of its presence to some distance as well as the +slighter and feebler one? Is it strange that this mysterious +influence or effluence should belong especially or exclusively to the +period of complete womanhood in distinction from that of immaturity +or decadence? On the contrary, it seems to be in accordance with all +the analogies of nature,--analogies too often cruel in the sentence +they pass upon the human female. + +Among the many curious thoughts which came up in the doctor's mind +was this, which made him smile as if it were a jest, but which he +felt very strongly had its serious side, and was involved with the +happiness or suffering of multitudes of youthful persons who die +without telling their secret: + +How many young men have a mortal fear of woman, as woman, which they +never overcome, and in consequence of which the attraction which +draws man towards her, as strong in them as in others,--oftentimes, +in virtue of their peculiarly sensitive organizations, more potent in +them than in others of like age and conditions,--in consequence of +which fear, this attraction is completely neutralized, and all the +possibilities of doubled and indefinitely extended life depending +upon it are left unrealized! Think what numbers of young men in +Catholic countries devote themselves to lives of celibacy. Think how +many young men lose all their confidence in the presence of the young +woman to whom they are most attracted, and at last steal away from a +companionship which it is rapture to dream of and torture to endure, +so does the presence of the beloved object paralyze all the powers of +expression. Sorcerers have in all time and countries played on the +hopes and terrors of lovers. Once let loose a strong impulse on the +centre of inhibition, and the warrior who had faced bayonets and +batteries becomes a coward whom the well-dressed hero of the ball- +room and leader of the German will put to ignominious flight in five +minutes of easy, audacious familiarity with his lady-love. + +Yes, the doctor went on with his reflections, I do not know that I +have seen the term Gynophobia before I opened this manuscript, but I +have seen the malady many times. Only one word has stood between +many a pair of young people and their lifelong happiness, and that +word has got as far as the lips, but the lips trembled and would not, +could not, shape that little word. All young women are not like +Coleridge's Genevieve, who knew how to help her lover out of his +difficulty, and said yes before he had asked for an answer. So the +wave which was to have wafted them on to the shore of Elysium has +just failed of landing them, and back they have been drawn into the +desolate ocean to meet no more on earth. + +Love is the master-key, he went on thinking, love is the master-key +that opens the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and, most +easily of all, the gate of fear. How terrible is the one fact of +beauty!--not only the historic wonder of beauty, that "burnt the +topless towers of Ilium "for the smile of Helen, and fired the +palaces of Babylon by the hand of Thais, but the beauty which springs +up in all times and places, and carries a torch and wears a serpent +for a wreath as truly as any of the Eumenides. Paint Beauty with her +foot upon a skull and a dragon coiled around her. + +The doctor smiled at his own imposing classical allusions and +pictorial imagery. Drifting along from thought to thought, he +reflected on the probable consequences of the general knowledge of +Maurice Kirkwood's story, if it came before the public. + +What a piece of work it would make among the lively youths of the +village, to be sure! What scoffing, what ridicule, what +embellishments, what fables, would follow in the trail of the story! +If the Interviewer got hold of it, how "The People's Perennial and +Household Inquisitor" would blaze with capitals in its next issue! +The young fellows' of the place would be disposed to make fun of the +whole matter. The young girls-the doctor hardly dared to think what +would happen when the story got about among them. "The Sachem" of +the solitary canoe, the bold horseman, the handsome hermit,--handsome +so far as the glimpses they had got of him went,--must needs be an +object of tender interest among them, now that he was ailing, +suffering, in danger of his life, away from friends,--poor fellow! +Little tokens of their regard had reached his sick-chamber; bunches +of flowers with dainty little notes, some of them pinkish, some +three-cornered, some of them with brief messages, others "criss- +crossed," were growing more frequent as it was understood that the +patient was likely to be convalescent before many days had passed. +If it should come to be understood that there was a deadly obstacle +to their coming into any personal relations with him, the doctor had +his doubts whether there were not those who would subject him to the +risk; for there were coquettes in the village,--strangers, visitors, +let us hope,--who would sacrifice anything or anybody to their vanity +and love of conquest. + + + + +XXI + +AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION. + +The illness from which Maurice had suffered left him in a state of +profound prostration. The doctor, who remembered the extreme danger +of any overexertion in such cases, hardly allowed him to lift his +head from the pillow. But his mind was gradually recovering its +balance, and he was able to hold some conversation with those about +him. His faithful Paolo had grown so thin in waiting upon him and +watching with him that the village children had to take a second look +at his face when they passed him to make sure that it was indeed +their old friend and no other. But as his master advanced towards +convalescence and the doctor assured him that he was going in all +probability to get well, Paolo's face began to recover something of +its old look and expression, and once more his pockets filled +themselves with comfits for his little circle of worshipping three +and four year old followers. + +How is Mr. Kirkwood?" was the question with which he was always +greeted. In the worst periods of the fever be rarely left his +master. When he did, and the question was put to him, he would shake +his head sadly, sometimes without a word, sometimes with tears and +sobs and faltering words,--more like a brokenhearted child than a +stalwart man as he was, such a man as soldiers are made of in the +great Continental armies. + +"He very bad,--he no eat nothing,--he--no say nothing,--he never be +no better," and all his Southern nature betrayed itself in a +passionate burst of lamentation. But now that he began to feel easy +about his master, his ready optimism declared itself no less +transparently. + +"He better every day now. He get well in few weeks, sure. You see +him on hoss in little while." The kind-hearted creature's life was +bound up in that of his "master," as he loved to call him, in +sovereign disregard of the comments of the natives, who held +themselves too high for any such recognition of another as their +better. They could not understand how he, so much their superior in +bodily presence, in air and manner, could speak of the man who +employed him in any other way than as "Kirkwood," without even +demeaning himself so far as to prefix a "Mr." to it. But "my +master" Maurice remained for Paolo in spite of the fact that all men +are born free and equal. And never was a servant more devoted to a +master than was Paolo to Maurice during the days of doubt and danger. +Since his improvement Maurice insisted upon his leaving his chamber +and getting out of the house, so as to breathe the fresh air of which +he was in so much need. It worried him to see his servant returning +after too short an absence. The attendant who had helped him in the +care of the patient was within call, and Paolo was almost driven out +of the house by the urgency of his master's command that he should +take plenty of exercise in the open air. + +Notwithstanding the fact of Maurice's improved condition, although +the force of the disease had spent itself, the state of weakness to +which he had been reduced was a cause of some anxiety, and required +great precautions to be taken. He lay in bed, wasted, enfeebled to +such a degree that he had to be cared for very much as a child is +tended. Gradually his voice was coming back to him, so that he could +hold some conversation, as was before mentioned, with those about +him. The doctor waited for the right moment to make mention of the +manuscript which Maurice had submitted to him. Up to this time, +although it had been alluded to and the doctor had told him of the +intense interest with which he had read it, he had never ventured to +make it the subject of any long talk, such as would be liable to +fatigue his patient. But now he thought the time had come. + +"I have been thinking," the doctor said, "of the singular seizures to +which you are liable, and as it is my business not merely to think +about such cases, but to do what I can to help any who may be capable +of receiving aid from my art, I wish to have some additional facts +about your history. And in the first place, will you allow me to ask +what led you to this particular place? It is so much less known to +the public at large than many other resorts that we naturally ask, +What brings this or that new visitor among us? We have no ill- +tasting, natural spring of bad water to be analyzed by the state +chemist and proclaimed as a specific. We have no great gambling- +houses, no racecourse (except that fox boats on the lake); we have no +coaching-club, no great balls, few lions of any kind, so we ask, What +brings this or that stranger here? And I think I may venture to ask +you whether any, special motive brought you among us, or whether it +was accident that determined your coming to this place." + +"Certainly, doctor," Maurice answered, "I will tell you with great +pleasure. Last year I passed on the border of a great river. The +year before I lived in a lonely cottage at the side of the ocean. I +wanted this year to be by a lake. You heard the paper read at the +meeting of your society, or at least you heard of it,--for such +matters are always talked over in a village like this. You can judge +by that paper, or could, if it were before you, of the frame of mind +in which I came here. I was tired of the sullen indifference of the +ocean and the babbling egotism of the river, always hurrying along on +its own private business. I wanted the dreamy stillness of a large, +tranquil sheet of water that had nothing in particular to do, and +would leave me to myself and my thoughts. I had read somewhere about +the place, and the old Anchor Tavern, with its paternal landlord and +motherly landlady and old-fashioned household, and that, though it +was no longer open as a tavern, I could find a resting-place there +early in the season, at least for a few days, while I looked about me +for a quiet place in which I might pass my summer. I have found this +a pleasant residence. By being up early and out late I have kept +myself mainly in the solitude which has become my enforced habit of +life. The season has gone by too swiftly for me since my dream has +become a vision." + +The doctor was sitting with his hand round Maurice's wrist, three +fingers on his pulse. As he spoke these last words he noticed that +the pulse fluttered a little,--beat irregularly a few times; +intermitted; became feeble and thready; while his cheek grew whiter +than the pallid bloodlessness of his long illness had left it. + +"No more talk, now," he said. "You are too tired to be using your +voice. I will hear all the rest another time." + +The doctor had interrupted Maurice at an interesting point. What did +he mean by saying that his dream had become a vision? This is what +the doctor was naturally curious, and professionally anxious, to +know. But his hand was still on his patient's pulse, which told him +unmistakably that the heart had taken the alarm and was losing its +energy under the depressing nervous influence. Presently, however, +it recovered its natural force and rhythm, and a faint flush came +back to the pale cheek. The doctor remembered the story of Galen, +and the young maiden whose complaint had puzzled the physicians. + +The next day his patient was well enough to enter once more into +conversation. + +"You said something about a dream of yours which had become a +vision," said the doctor, with his fingers on his patient's wrist, as +before. He felt the artery leap, under his pressure, falter a +little, stop, then begin again, growing fuller in its beat. The +heart had felt the pull of the bridle, but the spur had roused it to +swift reaction. + +"You know the story of my past life, doctor," Maurice answered; "and, +I will tell you what is the vision which has taken the place of my +dreams. You remember the boat-race? I watched it from a distance, +but I held a powerful opera-glass in my hand, which brought the whole +crew of the young ladies' boat so close to me that I could see the +features, the figures, the movements, of every one of the rowers. I +saw the little coxswain fling her bouquet in the track of the other +boat,--you remember how the race was lost and won,--but I saw one +face among those young girls which drew me away from all the rest. +It was that of the young lady who pulled the bow oar, the captain of +the boat's crew. I have since learned her name, you know it well,--I +need not name her. Since that day I have had many distant glimpses +of her; and once I met her so squarely that the deadly sensation came +over me, and I felt that in another moment I should fall senseless at +her feet. But she passed on her way and I on mine, and the spasm +which had clutched my heart gradually left it, and I was as well as +before. You know that young lady, doctor?" + +"I do; and she is a very noble creature. You are not the first young +man who has been fascinated, almost at a glance, by Miss Euthymia +Tower. And she is well worth knowing more intimately." + +The doctor gave him a full account of the young lady, of her early +days, her character, her accomplishments. To all this he listened +devoutly, and when the doctor left him he said to himself, +"I will see her and speak with her, if it costs me my life." + + + + +XXII + +EUTHYMIA. + +"The Wonder" of the Corinna Institute had never willingly made a show +of her gymnastic accomplishments. Her feats, which were so much +admired, were only her natural exercise. Gradually the dumb-bells +others used became too light for her, the ropes she climbed too +short, the clubs she exercised with seemed as if they were made of +cork instead of being heavy wood, and all the tests and meters of +strength and agility had been strained beyond the standards which the +records of the school had marked as their historic maxima. It was +not her fault that she broke a dynamometer one day; she apologized +for it, but the teacher said he wished he could have a dozen broken +every year in the same way. The consciousness of her bodily strength +had made her very careful in her movements. The pressure of her hand +was never too hard for the tenderest little maiden whose palm was +against her own. So far from priding herself on her special gifts, +she was disposed to be ashamed of them. There were times and places +in which she could give full play to her muscles without fear or +reproach. She had her special costume for the boat and for the +woods. She would climb the rugged old hemlocks now and then for the +sake of a wide outlook, or to peep into the large nest where a hawk, +or it may be an eagle, was raising her little brood of air-pirates. + +There were those who spoke of her wanderings in lonely places as an +unsafe exposure. One sometimes met doubtful characters about the +neighborhood, and stories were--told of occurrences which might well +frighten a young girl, and make her cautious of trusting herself +alone in the wild solitudes which surrounded the little village.. +Those who knew Euthymia thought her quite equal to taking care of +herself. Her very look was enough to ensure the respect of any +vagabond who might cross her path, and if matters came to the worst +she would prove as dangerous as a panther. + +But it was a pity to associate this class of thoughts with a noble +specimen of true womanhood. Health, beauty, strength, were fine +qualities, and in all these she was rich. She enjoyed all her +natural gifts, and thought little about them. Unwillingly, but over- +persuaded by some of her friends, she had allowed her arm and hand to +be modelled. The artists who saw the cast wondered if it would be +possible to get the bust of the maiden from whom it was taken. +Nobody would have dared to suggest such an idea to her except Lurida. +For Lurida sex was a trifling accident, to be disregarded not only in +the interests of humanity, but for the sake of art. + +"It is a shame," she said to Euthymia, "that you will not let your +exquisitely moulded form be perpetuated in marble. You have no right +to withhold such a model from the contemplation of your fellow- +creatures. Think how rare it is to see a woman who truly represents +the divine idea! You belong to your race, and not to yourself,--at +least, your beauty is a gift not to be considered as a piece of +private property. Look at the so-called Venus of Milo. Do you +suppose the noble woman who was the original of that divinely chaste +statue felt any scruple about allowing the sculptor to reproduce her +pure, unblemished perfections?" + +Euthymia was always patient with her imaginative friend. She +listened to her eloquent discourse, but she could not help blushing, +used as she was to Lurida's audacities. "The Terror's" brain had run +away with a large share of the blood which ought to have gone to the +nourishment of her general system. She could not help admiring, +almost worshipping, a companion whose being was rich in the womanly +developments with which nature had so economically endowed herself. +An impoverished organization carries with it certain neutral +qualities which make its subject appear, in the presence of complete +manhood and womanhood, like a deaf-mute among speaking persons. The +deep blush which crimsoned Euthymia's cheek at Lurida's suggestion +was in a strange contrast to her own undisturbed expression. There +was a range of sensibilities of which Lurida knew far less than she +did of those many and difficult studies which had absorbed her vital +forces. She was startled to see what an effect her proposal had +produced, for Euthymia was not only blushing, but there was a flame +in her eyes which she had hardly ever seen before. + +"Is this only your own suggestion?" Euthymia said, "or has some one +been putting the idea into your head?" The truth was that she had +happened to meet the Interviewer at the Library, one day, and she was +offended by the long, searching stare with which that individual had +honored her. It occurred to her that he, or some such visitor to the +place, might have spoken of her to Lurida, or to some other person +who had repeated what was said to Lurida, as a good subject for the +art of the sculptor, and she felt all her maiden sensibilities +offended by the proposition. Lurida could not understand her +excitement, but she was startled by it. Natures which are +complementary of each other are liable to these accidental collisions +of feeling. They get along very well together, none the worse for +their differences, until all at once the tender spot of one or the +other is carelessly handled in utter unconsciousness on the part of +the aggressor, and the exclamation, the outcry, or the explosion +explains the situation altogether too emphatically. Such scenes did +not frequently occur between the two friends, and this little flurry +was soon over; but it served to warn Lurida that Miss Euthymia Tower +was not of that class of self-conscious beauties who would be ready +to dispute the empire of the Venus of Milo on her own ground, in +defences as scanty and insufficient as those of the marble divinity. + +Euthymia had had admirers enough, at a distance, while at school, and +in the long vacations, near enough to find out that she was anything +but easy to make love to. She fairly frightened more than one rash +youth who was disposed to be too sentimental in her company. They +overdid flattery, which she was used to and tolerated, but which +cheapened the admirer in her estimation, and now and then betrayed +her into an expression which made him aware of the fact, and was a +discouragement to aggressive amiability. The real difficulty was +that not one of her adorers had ever greatly interested her. It +could not be that nature had made her insensible. It must have been +because the man who was made for her had never yet shown himself. +She was not easy to please, that was certain; and she was one of +those young women who will not accept as a lover one who but half +pleases them. She could not pick up the first stick that fell in her +way and take it to shape her ideal out of. Many of the good people +of the village doubted whether Euthymia would ever be married. + +"There 's nothing good enough for her in this village," said the old +landlord of what had been the Anchor Tavern. + +"She must wait till a prince comes along," the old landlady said in +reply. "She'd make as pretty a queen as any of them that's born to +it. Wouldn't she be splendid with a gold crown on her head, and +di'monds a glitterin' all over her! D' you remember how handsome she +looked in the tableau, when the fair was held for the Dorcas Society? +She had on an old dress of her grandma's,--they don't make anything. +half so handsome nowadays,--and she was just as pretty as a pictur'. +But what's the use of good looks if they scare away folks? The young +fellows think that such a handsome girl as that would cost ten times +as much to keep as a plain one. She must be dressed up like an +empress,--so they seem to think. It ain't so with Euthymy: she'd +look like a great lady dressed anyhow, and she has n't got any more +notions than the homeliest girl that ever stood before a glass to +look at herself." + +In the humbler walks of Arrowhead Village society, similar opinions +were entertained of Miss Euthymia. The fresh-water fisherman +represented pretty well the average estimate of the class to which he +belonged. "I tell ye," said he to another gentleman of leisure, +whose chief occupation was to watch the coming and going of the +visitors to Arrowhead Village,--"I tell ye that girl ain't a gon to +put up with any o' them slab-sided fellahs that you see hangin' +raound to look at her every Sunday when she comes aout o' meetin'. +It's one o' them big gents from Boston or New York that'll step up +an' kerry her off." + +In the mean time nothing could be further from the thoughts of +Euthymia than the prospect of an ambitious worldly alliance. The +ideals of young women cost them many and great disappointments, but +they save them very often from those lifelong companionships which +accident is constantly trying to force upon them, in spite of their +obvious unfitness. The higher the ideal, the less likely is the +commonplace neighbor who has the great advantage of easy access, or +the boarding-house acquaintance who can profit by those vacant hours +when the least interesting of visitors is better than absolute +loneliness,--the less likely are these undesirable personages to be +endured, pitied, and, if not embraced, accepted, for want of +something better. Euthymia found so much pleasure in the +intellectual companionship of Lurida, and felt her own prudence and +reserve so necessary to that independent young lady, that she had +been contented, so far, with friendship, and thought of love only in +an abstract sort of way. Beneath her abstractions there was a +capacity of loving which might have been inferred from the expression +of her features, the light that shone in her eyes, the tones of her +voice, all of which were full of the language which belongs to +susceptible natures. How many women never say to themselves that +they were born to love, until all at once the discovery opens upon +them, as the sense that he was born a painter is said to have dawned +suddenly upon Correggio! + +Like all the rest of the village and its visitors, she could not help +thinking a good deal about the young man lying ill amongst strangers. +She was not one of those who had sent him the three-cornered notes or +even a bunch of flowers. She knew that he was receiving abounding +tokens of kindness and sympathy from different quarters, and a +certain inward feeling restrained her from joining in these +demonstrations. If he had been suffering from some deadly and +contagious malady she would have risked her life to help him, without +a thought that there was any wonderful heroism in such self-devotion. +Her friend Lurida might have been capable of the same sacrifice, but +it would be after reasoning with herself as to the obligations which +her sense of human rights and duties laid upon her, and fortifying +her courage with the memory of noble deeds recorded of women in +ancient and modern history. With Euthymia the primary human +instincts took precedence of all reasoning or reflection about them. +All her sympathies were excited by the thought of this forlorn +stranger in his solitude, but she felt the impossibility of giving +any complete expression to them. She thought of Mungo Park in the +African desert, and she envied the poor negress who not only pitied +him, but had the blessed opportunity of helping and consoling him. +How near were these two human creatures, each needing the other! How +near in bodily presence, how far apart in their lives, with a barrier +seemingly impassable between them! + + + + +XXIII + +THE MEETING OF MAURICE AND EUTHYMIA. + +These autumnal fevers, which carry off a large number of our young +people every year, are treacherous and deceptive diseases. Not only +are they liable, as has been mentioned, to various accidental +complications which may prove suddenly fatal, but too often, after +convalescence seems to be established, relapses occur which are more +serious than the disease had appeared to be in its previous course. +One morning Dr. Butts found Maurice worse instead of better, as he +had hoped and expected to find him. Weak as he was, there was every +reason to fear the issue of this return of his threatening symptoms. +There was not much to do besides keeping up the little strength which +still remained. It was all needed. + +Does the reader of these pages ever think of the work a sick man as +much as a well one has to perform while he is lying on his back and +taking what we call his "rest"? More than a thousand times an hour, +between a hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand times a week, he +has to lift the bars of the cage in which his breathing organs are +confined, to save himself from asphyxia. Rest! There is no rest +until the last long sigh tells those who look upon the dying that the +ceaseless daily task, to rest from which is death, is at last +finished. We are all galley-slaves, pulling at the levers of +respiration,--which, rising and falling like so many oars, drive us +across an unfathomable ocean from one unknown shore to another. No! +Never was a galley-slave so chained as we are to these four and +twenty oars, at which we must tug day and night all our life long + +The doctor could not find any accidental cause to account for this +relapse. It presently occurred to him that there might be some local +source of infection which had brought on the complaint, and was still +keeping up the symptoms which were the ground of alarm. He +determined to remove Maurice to his own house, where he could be sure +of pure air, and where he himself could give more constant attention +to his patient during this critical period of his disease. It was a +risk to take, but he could be carried on a litter by careful men, and +remain wholly passive during the removal. Maurice signified his +assent, as he could hardly help doing,--for the doctor's suggestion +took pretty nearly the form of a command. He thought it a matter of +life and death, and was gently urgent for his patient's immediate +change of residence. The doctor insisted on having Maurice's books +and other movable articles carried to his own house, so that he +should be surrounded by familiar sights, and not worry himself about +what might happen to objects which he valued, if they were left +behind him. + +All these dispositions were quickly and quietly made, and everything +was ready for the transfer of the patient to the house of the +hospitable physician. Paolo was at the doctor's, superintending the +arrangement of Maurice's effects and making all ready for his master. +The nurse in attendance, a trustworthy man enough in the main, +finding his patient in a tranquil sleep, left his bedside for a +little fresh air. While he was at the door he heard a shouting which +excited his curiosity, and he followed the sound until he found +himself at the border of the lake. It was nothing very wonderful +which had caused the shouting. A Newfoundland dog had been showing +off his accomplishments, and some of the idlers were betting as to +the time it would take him to bring back to his master the various +floating objects which had been thrown as far from the shore as +possible. He watched the dog a few minutes, when his attention was +drawn to a light wherry, pulled by one young lady and steered by +another. It was making for the shore, which it would soon reach. +The attendant remembered all at once, that he had left his charge, +and just before the boat came to land he turned and hurried back to +the patient. Exactly how long he had been absent he could not have +said,--perhaps a quarter of an hour, perhaps longer; the time +appeared short to him, wearied with long sitting and watching. + +It had seemed, when he stole away from Maurice's bedside, that he was +not in the least needed. The patient was lying perfectly quiet, and +to all appearance wanted nothing more than letting alone. It was +such a comfort to look at something besides the worn features of a +sick man, to hear something besides his labored breathing and faint, +half-whispered words, that the temptation to indulge in these +luxuries for a few minutes had proved irresistible. + +Unfortunately, Maurice's slumbers did not remain tranquil during the +absence of the nurse. He very soon fell into a dream, which began +quietly enough, but in the course of the sudden transitions which +dreams are in the habit of undergoing became successively anxious, +distressing, terrifying. His earlier and later experiences came up +before him, fragmentary, incoherent, chaotic even, but vivid as +reality. He was at the bottom of a coal-mine in one of those long, +narrow galleries, or rather worm-holes, in which human beings pass a +large part of their lives, like so many larvae boring their way into +the beams and rafters of some old building. How close the air was in +the stifling passage through which he was crawling! The scene +changed, and he was climbing a slippery sheet of ice with desperate +effort, his foot on the floor of a shallow niche, his hold an icicle +ready to snap in an instant, an abyss below him waiting for his foot +to slip or the icicle to break. How thin the air seemed, how +desperately hard to breathe! He was thinking of Mont Blanc, it may +be, and the fearfully rarefied atmosphere which he remembered well as +one of the great trials in his mountain ascents. No, it was not Mont +Blanc,--it was not any one of the frozen Alpine summits; it was Hecla +that he was climbing + +The smoke of the burning mountain was wrapping itself around him; he +was choking with its dense fumes; he heard the flames roaring around +him, he felt the hot lava beneath his feet, he uttered a faint cry, +and awoke. + +The room was full of smoke. He was gasping for breath, strangling in +the smothering oven which his chamber had become. + +The house was on fire! + +He tried to call for help, but his voice failed him, and died away in +a whisper. He made a desperate effort, and rose so as to sit up in +the bed for an instant, but the effort was too much for him, and he +sank back upon his pillow, helpless. He felt that his hour had come, +for he could not live in this dreadful atmosphere, and he was left +alone. He could hear the crackle of fire as the flame crept along +from one partition to another. It was a cruel fate to be left to +perish in that way,--the fate that many a martyr had had to face,--to +be first strangled and then burned. Death had not the terror for him +that it has for most young persons. He was accustomed to thinking of +it calmly, sometimes wistfully, even to such a degree that the +thought of self-destruction had come upon him as a temptation. But +here was death in an unexpected and appalling shape. He did not know +before how much he cared to live. All his old recollections came +before him as it were in one long, vivid flash. The closed vista of +memory opened to its far horizon-line, and past and present were +pictured in a single instant of clear vision. The dread moment which +had blighted his life returned in all its terror. He felt the +convulsive spring in the form of a faint, impotent spasm,--the rush +of air,--the thorns of the stinging and lacerating cradle into which +he was precipitated. One after another those paralyzing seizures +which had been like deadening blows on the naked heart seemed to +repeat themselves, as real as at the moment of their occurrence. The +pictures passed in succession with such rapidity that they appeared +almost as if simultaneous. The vision of the "inward eye" was so +intensified in this moment of peril that an instant was like an hour +of common existence. Those who have been very near drowning know +well what this description means. The development of a photograph +may not explain it, but it illustrates the curious and familiar fact +of the revived recollections of the drowning man's experience. The +sensitive plate has taken one look at a scene, and remembers it all, + + +Every little circumstance is there,--the hoof in air, the wing in +flight, the leaf as it falls, the wave as it breaks. All there, but +invisible; potentially present, but impalpable, inappreciable, as if +not existing at all. A wash is poured over it, and the whole scene +comes out in all its perfection of detail. In those supreme moments +when death stares a man suddenly in the face the rush of unwonted +emotion floods the undeveloped pictures of vanished years, stored +away in the memory, the vast panorama of a lifetime, and in one swift +instant the past comes out as vividly as if it were again the +present. So it was at this moment with the sick man, as he lay +helpless and felt that he was left to die. For he saw no hope of +relief: the smoke was drifting in clouds into the room; the flames +were very near; if he was not reached and rescued immediately it was +all over with him. + +His past life had flashed before him. Then all at once rose the +thought of his future,--of all its possibilities, of the vague hopes +which he had cherished of late that his mysterious doom would be +lifted from him. There was something, then, to be lived for, +something! There was a new life, it might be, in store for him, and +such a new life! He thought of all he was losing. Oh, could he but +have lived to know the meaning of love! And the passionate desire of +life came over him,--not the dread of death, but the longing for what +the future might yet have of happiness for him. + +All this took place in the course of a very few moments. Dreams and +visions have little to do with measured time, and ten minutes, +possibly fifteen or twenty, were all that had passed since the +beginning of those nightmare terrors which were evidently suggested +by the suffocating air he was breathing. + +What had happened? In the confusion of moving books and other +articles to the doctor's house, doors and windows had been forgotten. +Among the rest a window opening into the cellar, where some old +furniture had been left by a former occupant, had been left unclosed. +One of the lazy natives, who had lounged by the house smoking a bad +cigar, had thrown the burning stump in at this open window. He had +no particular intention of doing mischief, but he had that +indifference to consequences which is the next step above the +inclination to crime. The burning stump happened to fall among the +straw of an old mattress which had been ripped open. The smoker went +his way without looking behind him, and it so chanced that no other +person passed the house for some time. Presently the straw was in a +blaze, and from this the fire extended to the furniture, to the +stairway leading up from the cellar, and was working its way along +the entry under the stairs leading up to the apartment where Maurice +was lying. + +The blaze was fierce and swift, as it could not help being with such +a mass of combustibles,--loose straw from the mattress, dry old +furniture, and old warped floors which had been parching and +shrinking for a score or two of years. The whole house was, in the +common language of the newspaper reports, "a perfect tinder-box," and +would probably be a heap of ashes in half an hour. And there was +this unfortunate deserted sick man lying between life and death, +beyond all help unless some unexpected assistance should come to his +rescue. + +As the attendant drew near the house where Maurice was lying, he was +horror-struck to see dense volumes of smoke pouring out of the lower +windows. It was beginning to make its way through the upper windows, +also, and presently a tongue of fire shot out and streamed upward +along the side of the house. The man shrieked Fire! Fire! with all +his might, and rushed to the door of the building to make his way to +Maurice's room and save him. He penetrated but a short distance +when, blinded and choking with the smoke, he rushed headlong down the +stairs with a cry of despair that roused every man, woman, and child +within reach of a human voice. Out they came from their houses in +every quarter of the village. The shout of Fire! Fire! was the +chief aid lent by many of the young and old. Some caught up pails +and buckets: the more thoughtful ones filling them; the hastier +snatching them up empty, trusting to find water nearer the burning +building. + +Is the sick man moved? + +This was the awful question first asked,--for in the little village +all knew that Maurice was about being transferred to the doctor's +house. The attendant, white as death, pointed to the chamber where +he had left him, and gasped out, + +"He is there!" + +A ladder! A ladder! was the general cry, and men and boys rushed +off in search of one. But a single minute was an age now, and there +was no ladder to be had without a delay of many minutes. The sick +man was going to be swallowed up in the flames before it could +possibly arrive. Some were going for a blanket or a coverlet, in the +hope that the young man might have strength enough to leap from the +window and be safely caught in it. The attendant shook his head, and +said faintly, + +"He cannot move from his bed." + +One of the visitors at the village,--a millionaire, it was said,--a +kind-hearted man, spoke in hoarse, broken tones: + +"A thousand dollars to the man that will bring him from his chamber!" + +The fresh-water fisherman muttered, "I should like to save the man +and to see the money, but it ain't a thaousan' dollars, nor ten +thaousan' dollars, that'll pay a fellah for burnin' to death,--or +even chokin' to death, anyhaow." + +The carpenter, who knew the framework of every house in the village, +recent or old, shook his head. + +"The stairs have been shored up," he said, "and when the fists that +holds 'em up goes, down they'll come. It ain't safe for no man to go +over them stairs. Hurry along your ladder,--that's your only +chance." + +All was wild confusion around the burning house. The ladder they had +gone for was missing from its case,--a neighbor had carried it off +for the workmen who were shingling his roof. It would never get +there in time. There was a fire-engine, but it was nearly half a +mile from the lakeside settlement. Some were throwing on water in an +aimless, useless way; one was sending a thin stream through a garden +syringe: it seemed like doing something, at least. But all hope of +saving Maurice was fast giving way, so rapid was the progress of the +flames, so thick the cloud of smoke that filled the house and poured +from the windows. Nothing was heard but confused cries, shrieks of +women, all sorts of orders to do this and that, no one knowing what +was to be done. The ladder! The ladder! Five minutes more and it +will be too late! + +In the mean time the alarm of fire had reached Paolo, and he had +stopped his work of arranging Maurice's books in the same way as that +in which they had stood in his apartment, and followed in the +direction of the sound, little thinking that his master was lying +helpless in the burning house. "Some chimney afire," he said to +himself; but he would go and take a look, at any rate. + +Before Paolo had reached the scene of destruction and impending +death, two young women, in boating dresses of decidedly Bloomerish +aspect, had suddenly joined the throng. "The Wonder" and "The +Terror" of their school-days--Miss Euthymia rower and Miss Lurida +Vincent had just come from the shore, where they had left their +wherry. A few hurried words told them the fearful story. Maurice +Kirkwood was lying in the chamber to which every eye was turned, +unable to move, doomed to a dreadful death. All that could be hoped +was that he would perish by suffocation rather than by the flames, +which would soon be upon him. The man who had attended him had just +tried to reach his chamber, but had reeled back out of the door, +almost strangled by the smoke. A thousand dollars had been offered +to any one who would rescue the sick man, but no one had dared to +make the attempt; for the stairs might fall at any moment, if the +smoke did not blind and smother the man who passed them before they +fell. + +The two young women looked each other in the face for one swift +moment. + +"How can he be reached?" asked Lurida. "Is there nobody that will +venture his life to save a brother like that?" + +"I will venture mine," said Euthymia. + +"No! no!" shrieked Lurida,--"not you! not you! It is a man's work, +not yours! You shall not go!" Poor Lurida had forgotten all her +theories in this supreme moment. But Euthymia was not to be held +back. Taking a handkerchief from her neck, she dipped it in a pail +of water and bound it about her head. Then she took several deep +breaths of air, and filled her lungs as full as they would hold. She +knew she must not take a single breath in the choking atmosphere if +she could possibly help it, and Euthymia was noted for her power of +staying under water so long that more than once those who saw her +dive thought she would never come up again. So rapid were her +movements that they paralyzed the bystanders, who would forcibly have +prevented her from carrying out her purpose. Her imperious +determination was not to be resisted. And so Euthymia, a willing +martyr, if martyr she was to be, and not saviour, passed within the +veil that hid the sufferer. + +Lurida turned deadly pale, and sank fainting to the ground. She was +the first, but not the only one, of her sex that fainted as Euthymia +disappeared in the smoke of the burning building. Even the rector +grew very white in the face,--so white that one of his vestry-men +begged him to sit down at once, and sprinkled a few drops of water on +his forehead, to his great disgust and manifest advantage. The old +landlady was crying and moaning, and her husband was wiping his eyes +and shaking his head sadly. + +"She will nevar come out alive," he said solemnly. + +"Nor dead, neither," added the carpenter. "Ther' won't be nothing +left of neither of 'em but ashes." And the carpenter hid his face in +his hands. + +The fresh-water fisherman had pulled out a rag which he called a +"hangkercher,"--it had served to carry bait that morning,--and was +making use of its best corner to dry the tears which were running +down his cheeks. The whole village was proud of Euthymia, and with +these more quiet signs of grief were mingled loud lamentations, +coming alike from old and young. + +All this was not so much like a succession of events as it was like a +tableau. The lookers-on were stunned with its suddenness, and before +they had time to recover their bewildered senses all was lost, or +seemed lost. They felt that they should never look again on either +of those young faces. + +The rector, not unfeeling by nature, but inveterately professional by +habit, had already recovered enough to be thinking of a text for the +funeral sermon. The first that occurred to him was this,--vaguely, +of course, in the background of consciousness: + +"Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth of the midst of the +fire." + +The village undertaker was of naturally sober aspect and reflective +disposition. He had always been opposed to cremation, and here was a +funeral pile blazing before his eyes. He, too, had his human +sympathies, but in the distance his imagination pictured the final +ceremony, and how he himself should figure in a spectacle where the +usual centre piece of attraction would be wanting,--perhaps his own +services uncalled for. + +Blame him not, you whose garden-patch is not watered with the tears +of mourners. The string of self-interest answers with its chord to +every sound; it vibrates with the funeral-bell, it finds itself +trembling to the wail of the De Profundis. Not always,--not always; +let us not be cynical in our judgments, but common human nature, we +may safely say, is subject to those secondary vibrations under the +most solemn and soul-subduing influences. + +It seems as if we were doing great wrong to the scene we are +contemplating in delaying it by the description of little +circumstances and individual thoughts and feelings. But linger as we +may, we cannot compress into a chapter--we could not crowd into a +volume--all that passed through the minds and stirred the emotions of +the awe-struck company which was gathered about the scene of danger +and of terror. We are dealing with an impossibility: consciousness +is a surface; narrative is a line. + +Maurice had given himself up for lost. His breathing was becoming +every moment more difficult, and he felt that his strength could hold +out but a few minutes longer. + +"Robert!" he called in faint accents. But the attendant was not +there to answer. + +"Paolo! Paolo!" But the faithful servant, who would have given his +life for his master, had not yet reached the place where the crowd +was gathered. + +"Oh, for a breath of air! Oh, for an arm to lift me from this bed! +Too late! Too late!" he gasped, with what might have seemed his +dying expiration. + +"Not too late!" The soft voice reached his obscured consciousness as +if it had come down to him from heaven. + +In a single instant he found himself rolled in a blanket and in the +arms of--a woman! + +Out of the stifling chamber,--over the burning stairs,--close by the +tongues of fire that were lapping up all they could reach,--out into +the open air, he was borne swiftly and safely,--carried as easily as +if he had been a babe, in the strong arms of "The Wonder" of the +gymnasium, the captain of the Atalanta, who had little dreamed of the +use she was to make of her natural gifts and her school-girl +accomplishments. + +Such a cry as arose from the crowd of on-lookers! It was a sound +that none of them had ever heard before or could expect ever to hear +again, unless he should be one of the last boat-load rescued from a +sinking vessel. Then, those who had resisted the overflow of their +emotion, who had stood in white despair as they thought of these two +young lives soon to be wrapped in their burning shroud,--those stern +men--the old sea-captain, the hard-faced, moneymaking, cast-iron +tradesmen of the city counting-room--sobbed like hysteric women; it +was like a convulsion that overcame natures unused to those deeper +emotions which many who are capable of experiencing die without ever +knowing. + +This was the scene upon which the doctor and Paolo suddenly appeared +at the same moment. + +As the fresh breeze passed over the face of the rescued patient, his +eyes opened wide, and his consciousness returned in almost +supernatural lucidity. Euthymia had sat down upon a bank, and was +still supporting him. His head was resting on her bosom. Through +his awakening senses stole the murmurs of the living cradle which +rocked him with the wavelike movements of respiration, the soft +susurrus of the air that entered with every breath, the double beat +of the heart which throbbed close to his ear. And every sense, and +every instinct, and every reviving pulse told him in language like a +revelation from another world that a woman's arms were around +him, and that it was life, and not death, which her embrace had +brought him. + +She would have disengaged him from her protecting hold, but the +doctor made her a peremptory sign, which he followed by a sharp +command:-- + +"Do not move him a hair's breadth," he said. "Wait until the litter +comes. Any sudden movement might be dangerous. Has anybody a brandy +flask about him?" + +One or two members of the local temperance society looked rather +awkward, but did not come forward. + +The fresh-water fisherman was the first who spoke. + +"I han't got no brandy," he said, "but there's a drop or two of old +Medford rum in this here that you're welcome to, if it'll be of any +help. I alliz kerry a little on 't in case o' gettin' wet 'n' +chilled." + +So saying he held forth a flat bottle with the word Sarsaparilla +stamped on the green glass, but which contained half a pint or more +of the specific on which he relied in those very frequent exposures +which happen to persons of his calling. + +The doctor motioned back Paolo, who would have rushed at once to the +aid of Maurice, and who was not wanted at that moment. So poor +Paolo, in an agony of fear for his master, was kept as quiet as +possible, and had to content himself with asking all sorts of +questions and repeating all the prayers he could think of to Our Lady +and to his holy namesake the Apostle. + +The doctor wiped the mouth of the fisherman's bottle very carefully. +"Take a few drops of this cordial," he said, as he held it to his +patient's lips. "Hold him just so, Euthymia, without stirring. I +will watch him, and say when he is ready to be moved. The litter is +near by, waiting." Dr. Butts watched Maurice's pulse and color. The +"Old Medford" knew its business. It had knocked over its tens of +thousands; it had its redeeming virtue, and helped to set up a poor +fellow now and then. It did this for Maurice very effectively. When +he seemed somewhat restored, the doctor had the litter brought to his +side, and Euthymia softly resigned her helpless burden, which Paolo +and the attendant Robert lifted with the aid of the doctor, who +walked by the patient as he was borne to the home where Mrs. Butts +had made all ready for his reception. + +As for poor Lurida, who had thought herself equal to the sanguinary +duties of the surgeon, she was left lying on the grass with an old +woman over her, working hard with fan and smelling-salts to bring her +back from her long fainting fit. + + + + +XXIV + +THE INEVITABLE. + +Why should not human nature be the same in Arrowhead Village as +elsewhere? It could not seem strange to the good people of that +place and their visitors that these two young persons, brought +together under circumstances that stirred up the deepest emotions of +which the human soul is capable, should become attached to each +other. But the bond between them was stronger than any knew, except +the good doctor, who had learned the great secret of Maurice's life. +For the first time since his infancy he had fully felt the charm +which the immediate presence of youthful womanhood carries with it. +He could hardly believe the fact when he found himself no longer the +subject of the terrifying seizures of which he had had many and +threatening experiences. + +It was the doctor's business to save his patient's life, if he could +possibly do it. Maurice had been reduced to the most perilous state +of debility by the relapse which had interrupted his convalescence. +Only by what seemed almost a miracle had he survived the exposure to +suffocation and the mental anguish through which he had passed. It +was perfectly clear to Dr. Butts that if Maurice could see the young +woman to whom he owed his life, and, as the doctor felt assured, the +revolution in his nervous system which would be the beginning of a +new existence, it would be of far more value as a restorative agency +than any or all of the drugs in the pharmacopoeia. He told this to +Euthymia, and explained the matter to her parents and friends. She +must go with him on some of his visits. Her mother should go with +her, or her sister; but this was a case of life and death, and no +maidenly scruples must keep her from doing her duty. + +The first of her visits to the sick, perhaps dying, man presented a +scene not unlike the picture before spoken of on the title-page of +the old edition of Galen. The doctor was perhaps the most agitated +of the little group. He went before the others, took his seat by the +bedside, and held the patient's wrist with his finger on the pulse. +As Euthymia entered it gave a single bound, fluttered for an instant +as if with a faint memory of its old habit, then throbbed full and +strong, comparatively, as if under the spur of some powerful +stimulus. Euthymia's task was a delicate one, but she knew how to +disguise its difficulty. + +"Here is a flower I have brought you, Mr. Kirkwood," she said, and +handed him a white chrysanthemum. He took it from her hand, and +before she knew it he took her hand into his own, and held it with a +gentle constraint. What could she do? Here was the young man whose +life she had saved, at least for the moment, and who was yet in +danger from the disease which had almost worn out his powers of +resistance. + +"Sit down by Mr. Kirkwood's side," said the doctor. "He wants to +thank you, if he has strength to do it, for saving him from the death +which seemed inevitable." + +Not many words could Maurice command. He was weak enough for womanly +tears, but their fountains no longer flowed; it was with him as with +the dying, whose eyes may light up, but rarely shed a tear. + +The river which has found a new channel widens and deepens--it; it +lets the old water-course fill up, and never returns to its forsaken +bed. The tyrannous habit was broken. The prophecy of the gitana had +verified itself, and the ill a fair woman had wrought a fairer woman +bad conquered and abolished. + +The history of Maurice Kirkwood loses its exceptional character from +the time of his restoration to his natural conditions. His +convalescence was very slow and gradual, but no further accident +interrupted its even progress. The season was over, the summer +visitors had left Arrowhead Village; the chrysanthemums were going +out of flower, the frosts had come, and Maurice was still beneath the +roof of the kind physician. The relation between him and his +preserver was so entirely apart from all common acquaintances and +friendships that no ordinary rules could apply to it. Euthymia +visited him often during the period of his extreme prostration. + +"You must come every day," the doctor said. "He gains with every +visit you make him; he pines if you miss him for a single day." So +she came and sat by him, the doctor or good Mrs. Butts keeping her +company in his presence. He grew stronger,--began to sit up in bed; +and at last Euthymia found him dressed as in health, and beginning to +walk about the room. She was startled. She had thought of herself +as a kind of nurse, but the young gentleman could hardly be said to +need a nurse any longer. She had scruples about making any further +visits. She asked Lurida what she thought about it. + +"Think about it?" said Lurida. "Why should n't you go to see a +brother as well as a sister, I should like to know? If you are +afraid to go to see Maurice Kirkwood, I am not afraid, at any rate. +If you would rather have me go than go yourself, I will do it, and +let people talk just as much as they want to. Shall I go instead of +you?" + +Euthymia was not quite sure that this would be the best thing for the +patient. The doctor had told her he thought there were special +reasons for her own course in coming daily to see him. "I am +afraid," she said, "you are too bright to be safe for him in his +weak state. Your mind is such a stimulating one, you know. A dull +sort of person like myself is better for him just now. I will +continue visiting him as long as the doctor says it is important that +I should; but you must defend me, Lurida,--I know you can explain it +all so that people will not blame me." + +Euthymia knew full well what the effect of Lurida's penetrating head- +voice would be in a convalescent's chamber. She knew how that active +mind of hers would set the young man's thoughts at work, when what he +wanted was rest of every faculty. Were not these good and sufficient +reasons for her decision? What others could there be? + +So Euthymia kept on with her visits, until she blushed to see that +she was continuing her charitable office for one who was beginning to +look too well to be called an invalid. It was a dangerous condition +of affairs, and the busy tongues of the village gossips were free in +their comments. Free, but kindly, for the story of the rescue had +melted every heart; and what could be more natural than that these +two young people whom God had brought together in the dread moment of +peril should find it hard to tear themselves asunder after the hour +of danger was past? When gratitude is a bankrupt, love only can pay +his debts; and if Maurice gave his heart to Euthymia, would not she +receive it as payment in full? + +The change which had taken place in the vital currents of Maurice +Kirkwood's system was as simple and solid a fact as the change in a +magnetic needle when the boreal becomes the austral pole, and the +austral the boreal. It was well, perhaps, that this change took +place while he was enfeebled by the wasting effects of long illness. +For all the long-defeated, disturbed, perverted instincts had found +their natural channel from the centre of consciousness to the organ +which throbs in response to every profound emotion. As his health +gradually returned, Euthymia could not help perceiving a flush in his +cheek, a glitter in his eyes, a something in the tone of his voice, +which altogether were a warning to the young maiden that the highway +of friendly intercourse was fast narrowing to a lane, at the head of +which her woman's eye could read plainly enough, "Dangerous passing." + +"You look so much better to-day, Mr. Kirkwood," she said, "that I +think I had better not play Sister of Charity any longer. The next +time we meet I hope you will be strong enough to call on me." + +She was frightened to see how pale he turned,--he was weaker than she +thought. There was a silence so profound and so long that Mrs. Butts +looked up from the stocking she was knitting. They had forgotten the +good woman's presence. + +Presently Maurice spoke,--very faintly, but Mrs. Butts dropped a +stitch at the first word, and her knitting fell into her lap as she +listened to what followed. + +"No! you must not leave me. You must never leave me. You saved my +life. But you have done more than that,--more than you know or can +ever know. To you I owe it that I am living; with you I live +henceforth, if I am to live at all. All I am, all I hope,--will you +take this poor offering from one who owes you everything, whose lips +never touched those of woman or breathed a word of love before you?" + +What could Euthymia reply to this question, uttered with all the +depth of a passion which had never before found expression. + +Not one syllable of answer did listening Mrs. Butts overhear. But +she told her husband afterwards that there was nothing in the +tableaux they had had in September to compare with what she then saw. +It was indeed a pleasing picture which those two young heads +presented as Euthymia gave her inarticulate but infinitely expressive +answer to the question of Maurice Kirkwood. The good-hearted woman +thought it time to leave the young people. Down went the stocking +with the needles in it; out of her lap tumbled the ball of worsted, +rolling along the floor with its yarn trailing after it, like some +village matron who goes about circulating from hearth to hearth, +leaving all along her track the story of the new engagement or of the +arrival of the last "little stranger." + +Not many suns had set before it was told all through Arrowhead +Village that Maurice Kirkwood was the accepted lover of Euthymia +Tower. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT: AFTER-GLIMPSES. + + +MISS LURIDA VINCENT TO MRS. EUTHYMIA KIRKWOOD. +ARROWHEAD VILLAGE, May 18. + +MY DEAREST EUTHYMIA,--Who would have thought, when you broke your oar +as the Atalanta flashed by the Algonquin, last June, that before the +roses came again you would find yourself the wife of a fine scholar +and grand gentleman, and the head of a household such as that of +which you are the mistress? You must not forget your old Arrowhead +Village friends. What am I saying?---you forget them! No, dearest, +I know your heart too well for that! You are not one of those who +lay aside their old friendships as they do last years bonnet when +they get a new one. You have told me all about yourself and your +happiness, and now you want me to tell you about myself and what is +going on in our little place. + +And first about myself. I have given up the idea of becoming a +doctor. I have studied mathematics so much that I have grown fond of +certainties, of demonstrations, and medicine deals chiefly in +probabilities. The practice of the art is so mixed up with the +deepest human interests that it is hard to pursue it with that even +poise of the intellect which is demanded by science. I want +knowledge pure and simple,--I do not fancy having it mixed. Neither +do I like the thought of passing my life in going from one scene of +suffering to another; I am not saintly enough for such a daily +martyrdom, nor callous enough to make it an easy occupation. I +fainted at the first operation I saw, and I have never wanted to see +another. I don't say that I wouldn't marry a physician, if the right +one asked me, but the young doctor is not forthcoming at present. +Yes, I think I might make a pretty good doctor's wife. I could teach +him a good deal about headaches and backaches and all sorts of +nervous revolutions, as the doctor says the French women call their +tantrums. I don't know but I should be willing to let him try his +new medicines on me. If he were a homeopath, I know I should; for if +a billionth of a grain of sugar won't begin to sweeten my tea or +coffee, I don't feel afraid that a billionth of a grain of anything +would poison me,--no, not if it were snake-venom; and if it were not +disgusting, I would swallow a handful of his lachesis globules, to +please my husband. But if I ever become a doctor's wife, my husband +will not be one of that kind of practitioners, you may be sure of +that, nor an "eclectic," nor a "faith-cure man." On the whole, I +don't think I want to be married at all. I don't like the male +animal very well (except such noble specimens as your husband). They +are all tyrants,--almost all,--so far as our sex is concerned, and I +often think we could get on better without them. + +However, the creatures are useful in the Society. They send us +papers, some of them well worth reading. You have told me so often +that you would like to know how the Society is getting on, and to +read some of the papers sent to it if they happened to be +interesting, that I have laid aside one or two manuscripts expressly +for your perusal. You will get them by and by. + +I am delighted to know that you keep Paolo with you. Arrowhead +Village misses him dreadfully, I can tell you. That is the reason +people become so attached to these servants with Southern sunlight in +their natures? I suppose life is not long enough to cool their blood +down to our Northern standard. Then they are so child-like, whereas +the native of these latitudes is never young after he is ten or +twelve years old. Mother says,--you know mother's old-fashioned +notions, and how shrewd and sensible she is in spite of them,--mother +says that when she was a girl families used to import young men and +young women from the country towns, who called themselves "helps," +not servants,--no, that was Scriptural; "but they did n't know +everything down in Judee," and it is not good American language. She +says that these people would live in the same household until they +were married, and the women often remain in the same service until +they died or were old and worn out, and then, what with the money +they had saved and the care and assistance they got from their former +employers, would pass a decent and comfortable old age, and be buried +in the family lot. Mother has made up her mind to the change, but +grandmother is bitter about it. She says there never was a country +yet where the population was made up of "ladies" and "gentlemen," and +she does n't believe there can be; nor that putting a spread eagle on +a copper makes a gold dollar of it. She is a pessimist after her own +fashion. She thinks all sentiment is dying out of our people. No +loyalty for the sovereign, the king-post of the political edifice, +she says; no deep attachment between employer and employed; no +reverence of the humbler members of a household for its heads; and to +make sure of continued corruption and misery, what she calls +"universal suffrage" emptying all the sewers into the great aqueduct +we all must drink from. "Universal suffrage!" I suppose we women +don't belong to the universe! Wait until we get a chance at the +ballot-box, I tell grandma, and see if we don't wash out the sewers +before they reach the aqueduct! But my pen has run away with men I +was thinking of Paolo, and what a pleasant thing it is to have one of +those child-like, warm-hearted, attachable, cheerful, contented, +humble, faithful, companionable, but never presuming grownup children +of the South waiting on one, as if everything he could do for one was +a pleasure, and carrying a look of content in his face which makes +every one who meets him happier for a glimpse of his features. + +It does seem a shame that the charming relation of master and +servant, intelligent authority and cheerful obedience, mutual +interest in each other's welfare, thankful recognition of all the +advantages which belong to domestic service in the better class of +families, should be almost wholly confined to aliens and their +immediate descendants. Why should Hannah think herself so much +better than Bridget? When they meet at the polls together, as they +will before long, they will begin to feel more of an equality than is +recognized at present. The native female turns her nose up at the +idea of "living out;" does she think herself so much superior to the +women of other nationalities? Our women will have to come to it,--so +grandmother says,--in another generation or two, and in a hundred +years, according to her prophecy, there will be a new set of old +"Miss Pollys" and "Miss Betseys" who have lived half a century in +the same families, respectful and respected, cherished, cared for in +time of need (citizens as well as servants, holding a ballot as well +as a broom, I tell her), and bringing back to us the lowly, underfoot +virtues of contentment and humility, which we do so need to carpet +the barren and hungry thoroughfare of our unstratified existence. + +There, I have got a-going, and am forgetting all the news I have to +tell you. There is an engagement you will want to know all about. +It came to pass through our famous boat-race, which you and I +remember, and shall never forget as long as we live. It seems that +the young fellow who pulled the bow oar of that men's college boat +which we had the pleasure of beating got some glimpses of Georgina, +our handsome stroke oar. I believe he took it into his head that it +was she who threw the bouquet that won the race for us. He was, as +you know, greatly mistaken, and ought to have made love to me, only +he did n't. Well, it seems he came posting down to the Institute +just before the vacation was over, and there got a sight of Georgina. +I wonder whether she told him she didn't fling the bouquet! Anyhow, +the acquaintance began in that way, and now it seems that this young +fellow, good-looking and a bright scholar, but with a good many +months more to pass in college, is her captive. It was too bad. +Just think of my bouquet's going to another girl's credit! No +matter, the old Atalanta story was paid off, at any rate. + +You want to know all about dear Dr. Butts. They say he has just been +offered a Professorship in one of the great medical colleges. I +asked him about it, and he did not say that he had or had not. +"But," said be, "suppose that I had been offered such a place; do you +think I ought to accept it and leave Arrowhead Village? Let us talk +it over," said he, "just as if I had had such an offer." I told him +he ought to stay. There are plenty of men that can get into a +Professor's chair, I said, and talk like Solomons to a class of +wondering pupils: but once get a really good doctor in a place, a man +who knows all about everybody, whether they have this or that +tendency, whether when they are sick they have a way of dying or a +way of getting well, what medicines agree with them and what drugs +they cannot take, whether they are of the sort that think nothing is +the matter with them until they are dead as smoked herring, or of the +sort that send for the minister if they get a stomach-ache from +eating too many cucumbers,--who knows all about all the people within +half a dozen miles (all the sensible ones, that is, who employ a +regular practitioner),--such a man as that, I say, is not to be +replaced like a missing piece out of a Springfield musket or a +Waltham watch. Don't go! said I. Stay here and save our precious +lives, if you can, or at least put us through in the proper way, so +that we needn't be ashamed of ourselves for dying, if we must die. +Well, Dr. Butts is not going to leave us. I hope you will have no +unwelcome occasion for his services,--you are never ill, you know,-- +but, anyhow, he is going to be here, and no matter what happens he +will be on hand. + +The village news is not of a very exciting character. Item 1. A new +house is put up over the ashes of the one in which your husband lived +while he was here. It was planned by one of the autochthonous +inhabitants with the most ingenious combination of inconveniences +that the natural man could educe from his original perversity of +intellect. To get at any one room you must pass through every other. +It is blind, or nearly so, on the only side which has a good +prospect, and commands a fine view of the barn and pigsty through +numerous windows. Item 2. We have a small fire-engine near the new +house which can be worked by a man or two, and would be equal to the +emergency of putting out a bunch of fire-crackers. Item 3. We have +a new ladder, in a bog, close to the new fire-engine, so if the new +house catches fire, like its predecessor, and there should happen to, +be a sick man on an upper floor, he can be got out without running +the risk of going up and down a burning staircase. What a blessed +thing it was that there was no fire-engine near by and no ladder at +hand on the day of the great rescue! If there had been, what a +change in your programme of life! You remember that "cup of tea +spilt on Mrs. Masham's apron," which we used to read of in one of +Everett's Orations, and all its wide-reaching consequences in the +affairs of Europe. I hunted up that cup of tea as diligently as ever +a Boston matron sought for the last leaves in her old caddy after the +tea-chests had been flung overboard at Griffin's wharf,--but no +matter about that, now. That is the way things come about in this +world. I must write a lecture on lucky mishaps, or, more elegantly, +fortunate calamities. It will be just the converse of that odd essay +of Swift's we read together, the awkward and stupid things done with +the best intentions. Perhaps I shall deliver the lecture in your +city: you will come and hear it, and bring him, won't +you, dearest? +Always, your loving + +LURIDA. + + + + +MISS LURIDA VINCENT TO MRS. EUTHYMIA KIRKWOOD. + +It seems forever since you left us, dearest Euthymia! And are you, +and is your husband, and Paolo,--good Paolo,--are you all as well and +happy as you have been and as you ought to be? I suppose our small +village seems a very quiet sort of place to pass the winter in, now +that you have become accustomed to the noise and gayety of a great +city. For all that, it is a pretty busy place this winter, I can +tell you. We have sleighing parties,--I never go to them, myself, +because I can't keep warm, and my mind freezes up when my blood cools +down below 95 or 96 deg. Fahrenheit. I had a great deal rather sit +by a good fire and read about Arctic discoveries. But I like very +well to hear the bells' jingling and to see the young people trying +to have a good time as hard as they do at a picnic. It may be that +they do, but to me a picnic is purgatory and a sleigh-ride that other +place, where, as my favorite Milton says, "frost performs the effect +of fire." I believe I have quoted him correctly; I ought to, for I +could repeat half his poems from memory once, if I cannot now. + +You must have plenty of excitement in your city life. I suppose you +recognized yourself in one of the society columns of the "Household +Inquisitor:" "Mrs. E. K., very beautiful, in an elegant," etc., etc, +"with pearls," etc., etc.,--as if you were not the ornament of all +that you wear, no matter what it is! + +I am so glad that you have married a scholar! Why should not +Maurice--you both tell me to call him so--take the diplomatic office +which has been offered him? It seems to me that he would find +himself in exactly the right place. He can talk in two or three +languages, has good manners, and a wife who--well, what shall I say +of Mrs. Kirkwood but that "she would be good company for a queen," as +our old friend the quondam landlady of the Anchor Tavern used to say? +I should so like to see you presented at Court! It seems to me that +I should be willing to hold your train for the sake of seeing you in +your court feathers and things. + +As for myself, I have been thinking of late that I would become +either a professional lecturer or head mistress of a great school or +college for girls. I have tried the first business a little. Last +month I delivered a lecture on Quaternions. I got three for my +audience; two came over from the Institute, and one from that men's +college which they try to make out to be a university, and where no +female is admitted unless she belongs among the quadrupeds. I +enjoyed lecturing, but the subject is a difficult one, and I don't +think any one of them had any very clear notion of what I was talking +about, except Rhodora,--and I know she did n't. To tell the truth, I +was lecturing to instruct myself. I mean to try something easier +next time. I have thought of the Basque language and literature. +What do you say to that? + +The Society goes on famously. We have had a paper presented and read +lately which has greatly amused some of us and provoked a few of the +weaker sort. The writer is that crabbed old Professor of Belles- +Lettres at that men's college over there. He is dreadfully hard on +the poor "poets," as they call themselves. It seems that a great +many young persons, and more especially a great many young girls, of +whom the Institute has furnished a considerable proportion, have +taken to sending him their rhymed productions to be criticised,-- +expecting to be praised, no doubt, every one of them. I must give +you one of the sauciest extracts from his paper in his own words: + +"It takes half my time to read the 'poems' sent me by young people of +both sexes. They would be more shy of doing it if they knew that I +recognize a tendency to rhyming as a common form of mental weakness, +and the publication of a thin volume of verse as prima facie evidence +of ambitious mediocrity, if not inferiority. Of course there are +exceptions to this rule of judgment, but I maintain that the +presumption is always against the rhymester as compared with the less +pretentious persons about him or her, busy with some useful calling, +--too busy to be tagging rhymed commonplaces together. Just now +there seems to be an epidemic of rhyming as bad as the dancing mania, +or the sweating sickness. After reading a certain amount of +manuscript verse one is disposed to anathematize the inventor of +homophonous syllabification. [This phrase made a great laugh when it +was read.] This, that is rhyming, must have been found out very +early, + + "'Where are you, Adam?' + + "'Here am I, Madam;' + +"but it can never have been habitually practised until after the Fall. +The intrusion of tintinnabulating terminations into the +conversational intercourse of men and angels would have spoiled +Paradise itself. Milton would not have them even in Paradise Lost, +you remember. For my own part, I wish certain rhymes could be +declared contraband of written or printed language. Nothing should +be allowed to be hurled at the world or whirled with it, or furled +upon it or curled over it; all eyes should be kept away from the +skies, in spite of os homini sublime dedit; youth should be coupled +with all the virtues except truth; earth should never be reminded of +her birth; death should never be allowed to stop a mortal's breath, +nor the bell to sound his knell, nor flowers from blossoming bowers +to wave over his grave or show their bloom upon his tomb. We have +rhyming dictionaries,--let us have one from which all rhymes are +rigorously excluded. The sight of a poor creature grubbing for +rhymes to fill up his sonnet, or to cram one of those voracious, +rhyme-swallowing rigmaroles which some of our drudging poetical +operatives have been exhausting themselves of late to satiate with +jingles, makes my head ache and my stomach rebel. Work, work of some +kind, is the business of men and women, not the making of jingles! +No,--no,--no! I want to see the young people in our schools and +academies and colleges, and the graduates of these institutions, +lifted up out of the little Dismal Swamp of self-contemplating and +self-indulging and self-commiserating emotionalism which is +surfeiting the land with those literary sandwiches,--thin slices of +tinkling sentimentality between two covers looking like hard-baked +gilt gingerbread. But what faces these young folks make up at my +good advice! They get tipsy on their rhymes. Nothing intoxicates +one like his--or her--own verses, and they hold on to their metre- +ballad-mongering as the fellows that inhale nitrous oxide hold on to +the gas-bag." + +We laughed over this essay of the old Professor; though it hit us +pretty hard. The best part of the joke is that the old man himself +published a thin volume of poems when he was young, which there is +good reason to think he is not very proud of, as they say he buys up +all the copies he can find in the shops. No matter what they say, I +can't help agreeing with him about this great flood of "poetry," as +it calls itself, and looking at the rhyming mania much as he does. + +How I do love real poetry! That is the reason hate rhymes which have +not a particle of it in them. The foolish scribblers that deal in +them are like bad workmen in a carpenter's shop. They not only turn +out bad jobs of work, but they spoil the tools for better workmen. +There is hardly a pair of rhymes in the English language that is not +so dulled and hacked and gapped by these 'prentice hands that a +master of the craft hates to touch them, and yet he cannot very well +do without them. I have not been besieged as the old Professor has +been with such multitudes of would-be-poetical aspirants that he +could not even read their manuscripts, but I have had a good many +letters containing verses, and I have warned the writers of the +delusion under which they were laboring. + +You may like to know that I have just been translating some extracts +from the Greek Anthology. I send you a few specimens of my work, +with a Dedication to the Shade of Sappho. I hope you will find +something of the Greek rhythm in my versions, and that I have caught +a spark of inspiration from the impassioned Lesbian. I have found +great delight in this work, at any rate, and am never so happy as +when I read from my manuscript or repeat from memory the lines into +which I have transferred the thought of the men and women of two +thousand years ago, or given rhythmical expression to my own +rapturous feelings with regard to them. I must read you my +Dedication to the Shade of Sappho. I cannot help thinking that you +will like it better than either of my last two, The Song of the +Roses, or The Wail of the Weeds. + +How I do miss you, dearest! I want you: I want you to listen to what +I have written; I want you to hear all about my plans for the future; +I want to look at you, and think how grand it must be to feel one's +self to be such a noble and beautiful-creature; I want to wander in +the woods with you, to float on the lake, to share your life and talk +over every day's doings with you. Alas! I feel that we have parted +as two friends part at a port of embarkation: they embrace, they kiss +each other's cheeks, they cover their faces and weep, they try to +speak good-by to each other, they watch from the pier and from the +deck; the two forms grow less and less, fainter and fainter in the +distance, two white handkerchiefs flutter once and again, and yet +once more, and the last visible link of the chain which binds them +has parted. Dear, dear, dearest Euthymia, my eyes are running over +with tears when I think that we may never, never meet again. + +Don't you want some more items of village news? We are threatened +with an influx of stylish people: "Buttons" to answer the door-bell, +in place of the chamber-maid; "butler," in place of the "hired man;" +footman in top-boots and breeches, cockade on hat, arms folded a la +Napoleon; tandems, "drags," dogcarts, and go-carts of all sorts. It +is rather amusing to look at their ambitious displays, but it takes +away the good old country flavor of the place. + +I don't believe you mean to try to astonish us when you come back to +spend your summers here. I suppose you must have a large house, and +I am sure you will have a beautiful one. I suppose you will have +some fine horses, and who would n't be glad to? But I do not believe +you will try to make your old Arrowhead Village friends stare their +eyes out of their heads with a display meant to outshine everybody +else that comes here. You can have a yacht on the lake, if you like, +but I hope you will pull a pair of oars in our old boat once in a +while, with me to steer you. I know you will be just the same dear- +Euthymia you always were and always must be. How happy you must make +such a man as Maurice Kirkwood! And how happy you ought to be with +him!--a man who knows what is in books, and who has seen for himself, +what is in men. If he has not seen so much of women, where could he +study all that is best in womanhood as he can in his own wife? Only +one thing that dear Euthymia lacks. She is not quite pronounced +enough in her views as to the rights and the wrongs of the sex. When +I visit you, as you say I shall, I mean to indoctrinate Maurice with +sound views on that subject. I have written an essay for the +Society, which I hope will go a good way towards answering all the +objections to female suffrage. I mean to read it to your husband, if +you will let me, as I know you will, and perhaps you would like to +hear it,--only you know my thoughts on the subject pretty well +already. + +With all sorts of kind messages to your dear husband, and love to +your precious self, +I am ever your + +LURIDA. + + + + +DR. BUTTS TO MRS. EUTHYMIA KIRKWOOD. + +MY DEAR EUTHYMIA,--My pen refuses to call you by any other name. +Sweet-souled you are, and your Latinized Greek name is--the one which +truly designates you. I cannot tell you how we have followed you, +with what interest and delight through your travels, as you have told +their story in your letters to your mother. She has let us have the +privilege of reading them, and we have been with you in steamer, +yacht, felucca, gondola, Nile-boat; in all sorts of places, from +crowded capitals to "deserts where no men abide,"--everywhere keeping +company with you in your natural and pleasant descriptions of your +experiences. And now that you have returned to your home in the +great city I must write you a few lines of welcome, if nothing more. + +You will find Arrowhead Village a good deal changed since you left +it. We are discovered by some of those over-rich people who make the +little place upon which they swarm a kind of rural city. When this +happens the consequences are striking,--some of them desirable and +some far otherwise. The effect of well-built, well-furnished, well- +kept houses and of handsome grounds always maintained in good order +about them shows itself in a large circuit around the fashionable +centre. Houses get on a new coat of paint, fences are kept in better +order, little plots of flowers show themselves where only ragged +weeds had rioted, the inhabitants present themselves in more comely +attire and drive in handsomer vehicles with more carefully groomed +horses. On the other hand, there is a natural jealousy on the part +of the natives of the region suddenly become fashionable. They have +seen the land they sold at farm prices by the acre coming to be +valued by the foot, like the corner lots in a city. Their simple and +humble modes of life look almost poverty-stricken in the glare of +wealth and luxury which so outshines their plain way of living. It +is true that many of them have found them selves richer than in +former days, when the neighborhood lived on its own resources. They +know how to avail themselves of their altered position, and soon +learn to charge city prices for country products; but nothing can +make people feel rich who see themselves surrounded by men whose +yearly income is many times their own whole capital. I think it +would be better if our rich men scattered themselves more than they +do,--buying large country estates, building houses and stables which +will make it easy to entertain their friends, and depending for +society on chosen guests rather than on the mob of millionaires who +come together for social rivalry. But I do not fret myself about it. +Society will stratify itself according to the laws of social +gravitation. It will take a generation or two more, perhaps, to +arrange the strata by precipitation and settlement, but we can always +depend on one principle to govern the arrangement of the layers. +People interested in the same things will naturally come together. +The youthful heirs of fortunes who keep splendid yachts have little +to talk about with the oarsman who pulls about on the lake or the +river. What does young Dives, who drives his four-in-hand and keeps +a stable full of horses, care about Lazarus, who feels rich in the +possession of a horse-railroad ticket? You know how we live at our +house, plainly, but with a certain degree of cultivated propriety. +We make no pretensions to what is called "style." We are still in +that social stratum where the article called "a napkin-ring" is +recognized as admissible at the dinner-table. That fact sufficiently +defines our modest pretensions. The napkin-ring is the boundary mark +between certain classes. But one evening Mrs. Butts and I went out +to a party given by the lady of a worthy family, where the napkin +itself was a newly introduced luxury. The conversation of the +hostess and her guests turned upon details of the kitchen and the +laundry; upon the best mode of raising bread, whether with "emptins" +(emptyings, yeast) or baking powder; about "bluing" and starching and +crimping, and similar matters. Poor Mrs. Butts! She knew nothing +more about such things than her hostess did about Shakespeare and the +musical glasses. What was the use of trying to enforce social +intercourse under such conditions? Incompatibility of temper has +been considered ground for a divorce; incompatibility of interests is +a sufficient warrant for social separation. The multimillionaires +have so much that is common among themselves, and so little that they +share with us of moderate means, that they will naturally form a +specialized class, and in virtue of their palaces, their picture- +galleries, their equipages, their yachts, their large hospitality, +constitute a kind of exclusive aristocracy. Religion, which ought to +be the great leveller, cannot reduce these elements to the same +grade. You may read in the parable, "Friend, how camest thou in +hither not having a wedding garment?" The modern version would be, +"How came you at Mrs. Billion's ball not having a dress on your back +which came from Paris?" + +The little church has got a new stained window, a saint who reminds +me of Hamlet's uncle,--a thing "of shreds and patches," but rather +pretty to look at, with an inscription under it which is supposed to +be the name of the person in whose honor the window was placed in the +church. Smith was a worthy man and a faithful churchwarden, and I +hope posterity will be able to spell out his name on his monumental +window; but that old English lettering would puzzle Mephistopheles +himself, if he found himself before this memorial tribute, on the +inside,--you know he goes to church sometimes, if you remember your +Faust. + +The rector has come out, in a quiet way, as an evolutionist. He has +always been rather "broad" in his views, but cautious in their +expression. You can tell the three branches of the mother-island +church by the way they carry their heads. The low-church clergy look +down, as if they felt themselves to be worms of the dust; the high- +church priest drops his head on one side, after the pattern of the +mediaeval saints; the broad-church preacher looks forward and round +about him, as if he felt himself the heir of creation. Our rector +carries his head in the broad-church aspect, which I suppose is the +least open to the charge of affectation,--in fact, is the natural and +manly way of carrying it. + +The Society has justified its name of Pansophian of late as never +before. Lurida has stirred up our little community and its +neighbors, so that we get essays on all sorts of subjects, poems and +stories in large numbers. I know all about it, for she often +consults me as to the merits of a particular contribution. + +What is to be the fate of Lurida? I often think, with no little +interest and some degree of anxiety, about her future. Her body is +so frail and her mind so excessively and constantly active that I am +afraid one or the other will give way. I do not suppose she thinks +seriously of ever being married. She grows more and more zealous in +behalf of her own sex, and sterner in her judgment of the other. She +declares that she never would marry any man who was not an advocate +of female suffrage, and as these gentlemen are not very common +hereabouts the chance is against her capturing any one of the hostile +sex. + +What do you think? I happened, just as I was writing the last +sentence, to look out of my window, and whom should I see but Lurida, +with a young man in tow, listening very eagerly to her conversation, +according to all appearance! I think he must be a friend of the +rector, as I have seen a young man like this one in his company. Who +knows? + +Affectionately yours, etc. + + + + +DR. BUTTS TO MRS. BUTTS. + +MY BELOVED WIFE,--This letter will tell you more news than you would +have thought could have been got together in this little village +during the short time you have been staying away from it. + +Lurida Vincent is engaged! He is a clergyman with a mathematical +turn. The story is that he put a difficult problem into one of the +mathematical journals, and that Lurida presented such a neat solution +that the young man fell in love with her on the strength of it. I +don't think the story is literally true, nor do I believe that other +report that he offered himself to her in the form of an equation +chalked on the blackboard; but that it was an intellectual rather +than a sentimental courtship I do not doubt. Lurida has given up the +idea of becoming a professional lecturer,--so she tells me,--thinking +that her future husband's parish will find her work enough to do. A +certain amount of daily domestic drudgery and unexciting intercourse +with simple-minded people will be the best thing in the world for +that brain of hers, always simmering with some new project in its +least fervid condition. + +All our summer visitors have arrived. Euthymia Mrs. Maurice +Kirkwood and her husband and little Maurice are here in their +beautiful house looking out on the lake. They gave a grand party the +other evening. You ought to have been there, but I suppose you could +not very well have left your sister in the middle of your visit: All +the grand folks were there, of course. Lurida and her young man-- +Gabriel is what she calls him--were naturally the objects of special +attention. Paolo acted as major-domo, and looked as if he ought to +be a major-general. Nothing could be pleasanter than the way in +which Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood received their plain country neighbors; +that is, just as they did the others of more pretensions, as if they +were really glad to see them, as I am sure they were. The old +landlord and his wife had two arm-chairs to themselves, and I saw +Miranda with the servants of the household looking in at the dancers +and out at the little groups in the garden, and evidently enjoying it +as much as her old employers. It was a most charming and successful +party. We had two sensations in the course of the evening. One was +pleasant and somewhat exciting, the other was thrilling and of +strange and startling interest. + +You remember how emaciated poor Maurice Kirkwood was left after his +fever, in that first season when he was among us. He was out in a +boat one day, when a ring slipped off his thin finger and sunk in a +place where the water was rather shallow. "Jake"--you know Jake,-- +everybody knows Jake--was rowing him. He promised to come to the +spot and fish up the ring if he could possibly find it. He was seen +poking about with fish-hooks at the end of a pole, but nothing was +ever heard from him about the ring. It was an antique intaglio stone +in an Etruscan setting,--a wild goose flying over the Campagna. Mr. +Kirkwood valued it highly, and regretted its loss very much. + +While we were in the garden, who should appear at the gate but Jake, +with a great basket, inquiring for Mr. Kirkwood. "Come," said +Maurice to me, "let us see what our old friend the fisherman has +brought us. What have you got there, Jake?" + +"What I 've got? Wall, I 'll tell y' what I've got: I 've got the +biggest pickerel that's been ketched in this pond for these ten year. +An' I 've got somethin' else besides the pickerel. When I come to +cut him open, what do you think I faound in his insides but this here +ring o' yourn,"--and he showed the one Maurice had lost so long +before. There it was, as good as new, after having tried Jonah's +style of housekeeping for all that time. There are those who +discredit Jake's story about finding the ring in the fish; anyhow, +there was the ring and there was the pickerel. I need not say that +Jake went off well paid for his pickerel and the precious contents of +its stomach. Now comes the chief event of the evening. I went early +by special invitation. Maurice took me into his library, and we sat +down together. + +"I have something of great importance," he said, "to say to you. I +learned within a few days that my cousin Laura is staying with a +friend in the next town to this. You know, doctor, that we have +never met since the last, almost fatal, experience of my early years. +I have determined to defy the strength of that deadly chain of +associations connected with her presence, and I have begged her to +come this evening with the friends with whom she is staying. Several +letters passed between us, for it was hard to persuade her that there +was no longer any risk in my meeting her. Her imagination was almost +as deeply impressed as mine had been at those alarming interviews, +and I had to explain to her fully that I had become quite indifferent +to the disturbing impressions of former years. So, as the result of +our correspondence, Laura is coming this evening, and I wish you to +be present at our meeting. There is another reason why I wish you to +be here. My little boy is not far from the--age at which I received +my terrifying, almost disorganizing shock. I mean to have little +Maurice brought into the presence of Laura, who is said to be still a +very handsome woman, and see if he betrays any hint of that peculiar +sensitiveness which showed itself in my threatening seizure. It +seemed to me not impossible that he might inherit some tendency of +that nature, and I wanted you to be at hand if any sign of danger +should declare itself. For myself I have no fear. Some radical +change has taken place in my nervous system. I have been born again, +as it were, in my susceptibilities, and am in certain respects a new +man. But I must know how it is with my little Maurice." + +Imagine with what interest I looked forward to this experiment; for +experiment it was, and not without its sources of anxiety, as it +seemed to me. The evening wore along; friends and neighbors came in, +but no Laura as yet. At last I heard the sound of wheels, and a +carriage stopped at the door. Two ladies and a gentleman got out, +and soon entered the drawing room. + +"My cousin Laura!" whispered Maurice to me, and went forward to meet +her. A very handsome woman, who might well have been in the +thirties,--one of those women so thoroughly constituted that they +cannot help being handsome at every period of life. I watched them +both as they approached each other. Both looked pale at first, but +Maurice soon recovered his usual color, and Laura's natural, rich +bloom came back by degrees. Their emotion at meeting was not to be +wondered at, but there was no trace in it of the paralyzing influence +on the great centres of life which had once acted upon its fated +victim like the fabled head which turned the looker-on into a stone. + +"Is the boy still awake?" said Maurice to Paolo, who, as they used to +say of Pushee at the old Anchor Tavern, was everywhere at once on +that gay and busy evening. + +"What! Mahser Maurice asleep an' all this racket going on? I hear +him crowing like young cockerel when he fus' smell daylight." + +"Tell the nurse to bring him down quietly to the little room that +leads out of the library." + +The child was brought down in his night-clothes, wide awake, +wondering apparently at the noise he heard, which he seemed to think +was for his special amusement. + +"See if he will go to that lady," said his father. Both of us held +our breath as Laura stretched her arms towards little Maurice. + +The child looked for an instant searchingly, but fearlessly, at her +glowing cheeks, her bright eyes, her welcoming smile, and met her +embrace as she clasped him to her bosom as if he had known her all +his days. + +The mortal antipathy had died out of the soul and the blood of +Maurice Kirkwood at that supreme moment when he found himself +snatched from the grasp of death and cradled in the arms of Euthymia. + + + -------------------------- + + +In closing the New Portfolio I remember that it began with a prefix +which the reader may by this time have forgotten, namely, the First +Opening. It was perhaps presumptuous to thus imply the probability +of a second opening. + +I am reminded from time to time by the correspondents who ask a +certain small favor of me that, as I can only expect to be with my +surviving contemporaries a very little while longer, they would be +much obliged if I would hurry up my answer before it is too late. +They are right, these delicious unknown friends of mine, in reminding +me of a fact which I cannot gainsay and might suffer to pass from my +recollection. I thank them for recalling my attention to a truth +which I shall be wiser, if not more hilarious, for remembering. + +No, I had no right to say the First Opening. How do I know that I +shall have a chance to open it again? How do I know that anybody +will want it to be opened a second time? How do I know that I shall +feel like opening it? It is safest neither to promise to open the +New Portfolio once more, nor yet to pledge myself to keep it closed +hereafter. There are many papers potentially existent in it, some of +which might interest a reader here and there. The Records of the +Pansophian Society contain a considerable number of essays, poems, +stories, and hints capable of being expanded into presentable +dimensions. In the mean time I will say with Prospero, addressing my +old readers, and my new ones, if such I have, + + "If you be pleased, retire into my cell + And there repose: a turn or two I'll walk, + To still my beating mind." + +When it has got quiet I may take up the New Portfolio again, and +consider whether it is worth while to open it. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext A Mortal Antipathy, by Oliver W. Holmes + diff --git a/old/antip11.zip b/old/antip11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ee8e06 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/antip11.zip |