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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A California Girl, by Edward Eldridge
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A California Girl
+
+Author: Edward Eldridge
+
+Release Date: April 7, 2009 [EBook #28528]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CALIFORNIA GIRL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sarah Sammis, Jen Haines, Roger Frank and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A CALIFORNIA GIRL
+
+BY EDWARD ELDRIDGE
+
+
+The Abbey Press
+PUBLISHERS
+
+114 FIFTH AVENUE
+NEW YORK
+
+London Montreal
+
+
+Copyright, 1902
+by The Abbey Press
+
+
+
+
+     CONTENTS
+
+
+     CHAPTER                                                   PAGE
+              Prologue                                            5
+
+          I.  Clara Lawton                                        7
+
+         II.  Ranch Talk                                          9
+
+        III.  The Marriage of Charles Herne                      21
+
+         IV.  Julia Hammond                                      25
+
+          V.  Ben West                                           35
+
+         VI.  Stella Wheelwright                                 39
+
+        VII.  Penloe                                             43
+
+       VIII.  Ben West's Experience in the Klondike              54
+
+         IX.  An Arrival                                         63
+
+          X.  Mrs. Marston                                       70
+
+         XI.  Saunders' Customers                                85
+
+        XII.  Penloe's Sermon                                    88
+
+       XIII.  Return of Ben West                                104
+
+        XIV.  Five Years After Marriage                         113
+
+         XV.  A Conversation on the Porch                       116
+
+        XVI.  Tiestan                                           124
+
+       XVII.  Penloe's Original Address                         143
+
+      XVIII.  Letters Received by Penloe                        163
+
+        XIX.  Mrs. West Relates Her Dream                       170
+
+         XX.  In the Mountains                                  174
+
+        XXI.  A Wedding in Orangeville                          184
+
+       XXII.  The Herne Party                                   201
+
+      XXIII.  A Visit from Barker and Brookes                   218
+
+       XXIV.  Out of Bondage                                    233
+
+              Epilogue                                          248
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE.
+
+
+This book is not written for the specialist, but for that restless,
+seething multitude known as "the masses." It is written for busy people,
+for workers, such as the shop-girl, the factory-girl, the clerk, the
+mechanic, the farmer, the merchant, and the busy housewife; but
+ministers, lawyers, and doctors may find food for thought within its
+covers.
+
+My heart goes out to God's secular army, composed of those who have
+neither time nor opportunity to go through learned treatises and
+scholarly essays, yet whose natures are hungering for something better
+than they see and hear about them. So I have tried to weave into this
+story the best and latest thought that has been given to the world,
+believing it to be what the workers most need in the performance of
+their daily duties, and what will help them out of bondage.
+
+People whose reading and observation have been limited may think that I
+have drawn on my imagination altogether for most of the material in this
+book. I can assure them that such is not the case; much of it is real.
+
+In regard to Penloe, there have been men who had greater spiritual gifts
+than he, and I call to mind one, still living, whose illuminated
+countenance and remarkable personality are superior to his. In Penloe is
+seen the interior life of the Hindu combined with the best practical
+thought of the West.
+
+Let a youth or maiden commence to live the life described by the man who
+won the heart of the "Oriental Lady," related by Penloe in his
+"Original Address," and he or she will then realize the facts which have
+made the characters of Penloe and Stella.
+
+To any sensitive, fastidious reader I would say, it becomes an author,
+in order to be true to life, to present certain characters as they
+really are, and put into their mouths the language they actually use.
+
+Whatever there is of error in the book is the result of egoism; whatever
+of truth and love is the work of Him who has brought me up out of the
+marshes and lowlands, and caused me to drink at the crystal fountains of
+the hills.
+                                                THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+A CALIFORNIA GIRL.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+CLARA LAWTON.
+
+
+"Well, dear," said Mrs. Lawton to her daughter Clara, "the home you will
+enter to-morrow as a bride is very different from the home that I
+entered as your father's bride. Our home was a log cabin in the Michigan
+woods, with only an acre of clearing, where the growing season is only
+about four months long and the winter eight. Snow lay on the ground six
+months of the year, from one to three feet deep. In our cabin, we had
+the bare necessaries and your father had to work very hard cutting
+cord-wood for a living; but we were very happy, for we had love and
+health; and need I say, dear, what a joy it was to us when you entered
+our cabin as a passenger on the journey of life.
+
+"My wish for you now is, that you may find as much happiness in the
+companionship of Charles Herne as I have had in your father's, and as
+much joy in the advent of a little one in your home as I did in you."
+
+"You have always been one of the kindest and best mothers a girl ever
+had," said Clara, warmly.
+
+"I have tried to be," said Mrs. Lawton, simply.
+
+Clara Lawton was twenty-two years of age, prepossessing in appearance,
+with a bright, happy expression. Her nature was deep and affectionate,
+her tastes domestic and social. When she was twenty, Mr. and Mrs. Lawton
+had moved to California and settled in the pretty little city of
+Roseland, which nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.
+
+At a camping party Clara had first met Charles Herne, and the outcome of
+that meeting was that to-morrow would be Clara's wedding day.
+
+Who can describe the thoughts that filled the mind of Clara the night
+previous to her marriage? Who, indeed, can describe the thoughts that
+fill the mind of any maiden as she lays her head on her pillow the night
+previous to her marriage?
+
+All her life she had been taught to consider this the most important
+event of her life, the acme of happiness, the end and aim of her
+womanhood. The thought of her own little world and the decrees of the
+great world at large alike hold her to that belief. That she is a soul
+in process of development; that marriage is only one step towards
+something higher; that the true union is the joining of hands to work
+for humanity, are doctrines which would sound strange in her ears. She
+feels that great change that is coming into her life, and her thoughts
+are in accordance with her character and circumstances. One bride may be
+filled with the sadness of unwilling acquiescence, another with the joy
+of complete absorption, a third with the excitement incident upon an
+entire change of environment. Clara Lawton's sweet nature prompted only
+tender thoughts of the parents she was leaving, strong love for the man
+who was to be her husband and the desire to be a true wife and make
+their union a happy one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+RANCH TALK.
+
+
+The road going north from the beautiful little city of Roseland to the
+mountains is known as the Walnut road. Six miles from Roseland, on the
+Walnut road, is "Treelawn," the home of Charles Herne. A modern
+two-story house is built well back from the road, and between the house
+and road are lawns decorated with flower-beds, some tall oleanders,
+several banana plants, and choice varieties of roses, vines, and
+shrubbery. On one side of the house there is a thriving orange and lemon
+orchard; on the other fig, almond, and walnut trees; while back of the
+house are other extensive orchards of the finest fruits. The house is
+very comfortably furnished, much better than most houses in the country;
+its arrangement being very convenient and modern.
+
+Charles Herne, the owner of this property was, at the time our story
+opens, a young man of twenty-eight, tall, well built, with a pleasant
+open countenance which was a true index of his character. He always
+looked closely after his business interests, but at the same time
+allowed his generous, kindly spirit full scope.
+
+When Charles was eighteen his father thought it would be well for him to
+go out to work a year or so on other ranches, that he might gain more by
+experience, get more ideas and know what it was to depend on himself and
+make his own way in the world. After an absence of two years, came the
+welcome summons home. On the evening of his return, when Charles and Mr.
+Herne were seated comfortably on the porch, the father said:
+
+"Well, Charles, relate some of your experiences while working on
+different ranches."
+
+"Though I did not speak of it in my letters, father," said Charles, "I
+have had a pretty tough time of it since I left home."
+
+"I thought so," said his father, "and I wish you had written
+particulars."
+
+"I should have done so," replied Charles, "but I wanted to see if there
+was any sand in me and what staying qualities I possessed. Well, the
+first job I struck was at the Funson ranch, driving a six-mule team
+plowing. The leaders were the most contrary animals that ever had
+harness on, the swings never would keep in their places, and the near
+wheeler was so ugly that Pete, the man who had been driving the team,
+said, 'the Devil couldn't hold a candle to him for pure meanness.' He
+told me he used to swear at them all day and then lie awake nights
+cursing himself for being such a fool as to drive them. He said, one
+morning he took the team out to work, and after he had been working them
+about an hour, the off mule began to cut up, backing, bucking, and
+refusing to pull with the near one. At last Pete lost his temper and
+began laying the whip on him, saying he would 'whale the stuffing out of
+him'; then the mule got mad, broke the harness and the whole team became
+unmanageable and got away from him. He let them go and started toward
+the house, pouring out a steady stream of oaths as he went. Just at the
+gate he met the boss and greeted him with, 'I'll see that team in Hell
+before I'll ever draw another line over their backs.' Funson asked him
+what was the trouble, and Pete said, 'that off mule has been raising
+hell, and the Devil has got into 'em all, breaking the harness and
+running away.' The boss told Pete not to make a fool of himself, but to
+go back to the field and get his team together. Pete said, 'I'll see you
+in Hell before I'll ever touch that team again. You haven't a well broke
+team on the ranch for a man to handle. You buy a lot of half-broken,
+bucking, balky teams because you can get 'em cheap. You don't care how
+much hell it gives a man to drive 'em.' Funson told him to go and hunt
+up some cattle, and sent another man to drive the mules. It's an actual
+fact, father, that if a man had told the boss in polite and correct
+language what had happened to the team, he would have stared in utter
+astonishment and surprise."
+
+"Quite true, my son, quite true," said the old gentleman.
+
+"The man that took Pete's place," continued Charles, "drove the team two
+days and that let him out. Then I came along and got the job. Didn't
+Pete laugh when he came through the field with a bunch of cattle and saw
+me trying to take the contrariness out of the leaders. He called out,
+'Give 'em hell, give 'em hell!'
+
+"When I came up to the barn at night, Pete was there putting up his
+broncho, and he greeted me with, 'Well, Charles, how do you like your
+job?'
+
+"I said I wasn't stuck on it.
+
+"'It's hell, ain't it?' said he; then added, 'the only way you can ever
+get that team to pull steady is to get right in and cuss 'em good; they
+are broke to cussing.'
+
+"After supper the boys got together in the barn and played cards for two
+hours. When they were tired of card-playing, they interested each other
+by telling yarns about experiences with women, each striving to make his
+story more thrilling than the last, and this entertainment continued
+until they were ready to spread out their blankets and sleep.
+
+"It is pretty cold sleeping in a barn December nights, even in our
+California climate; but, as you know, there are few ranches where the
+men are allowed to sleep in the house.
+
+"I had to be up before it was light in the mornings and clean off those
+mules, feed and harness them, and then have my breakfast. After
+breakfast, just as it was getting light, we started to work. The
+mornings were very cold. About dark I would bring my team in and by the
+time I had unharnessed them, fed them, and had my supper, I was ready
+for bed.
+
+"After a man has put all his energy into a long, hard, tedious day's
+work, he feels more like a worn-out old plug than a man. He has no
+surplus force left to expend in elevating mental pursuits, for it has
+been all exhausted in severe physical labor.
+
+"Such labor continually kept up, has a tendency to dull what few good
+aspirations a man may have had to bring his animal nature under control.
+Therefore, after such a day's work, if he has any desires, they are
+those of the brute, and it is no wonder that men should want something
+of a sensational, exciting nature at night to keep their minds off
+themselves and relieve the monotony of their toil.
+
+"Well, father, I did lots of thinking when night came, about such
+subjects, and came to some very decisive conclusions; but to return to
+my story.
+
+"One night when I was taking the harness off him, the near leader kicked
+me on the leg. The pain was so severe that I scarcely slept any that
+night. They say a mule will be good and gentle in the barn three hundred
+and sixty-four days in the year, for the sake of getting a chance to
+kick a man on the three hundred and sixty-fifth day, and I believe it is
+so.
+
+"After dinner one day, we had just left the house when one of the men
+said, 'Didn't the old woman give the boss hell, this noon? I tell you
+she's got a temper.' 'Yes,' said Pete, 'but she's not very old, not
+forty yet. She's always firing up about something; she keeps him in hell
+most of the time. The trouble is,' continued he, 'he's got nothing broke
+on his ranch; his mules are not broke, his broncho cows are not broke,
+his wife is not broke, and the old cuss himself is not broke.'
+
+"After enduring all the torment and petty aggravation that a man could
+stand for three months, I left and went to work at the White Oak Ranch.
+The boss there set me to grubbing out oaks, and I can assure you it was
+a relief after driving those mules.
+
+"The third night I was at this place, I was the last to join the men at
+the barn, and when I got there I found the teamsters, George and Harry,
+making the air blue with oaths. They were giving it to the boss because
+he would not get new harnesses, the old ones being mended all over with
+wire and baling rope and the lines rotten. Harry's leaders had broken
+their lines twice that day, it seemed, and he had nearly lost control of
+them in consequence. 'The old fool keeps a-promising and a-promising to
+get new harness,' said George, 'but he never gets it; and he hasn't got
+a harness on his whole darn ranch that's worth a whoop in hell.' 'My old
+plugs broke their harness five times to-day,' said Harry. 'Since I've
+been here, the teams have done more damage and lost more than would pay
+for a new harness ten times over.'
+
+"When I had been there about a month, the hot weather began to come on,
+and the feed to dry up, and I had to help clean the ditches out, ready
+for irrigating. It was a big job, so many willows to grub out, and it
+took much longer to finish it because we were so constantly called away
+to drive out cattle and hogs that had broken into the orchard and grain
+fields. You see, the feed was getting scarce, there was more stock than
+there was feed for, and the fences were very shaky. The boss kept
+talking about new fences, but he never had them built, he was satisfied
+with patching the old ones.
+
+"Well, we got the ditches cleaned out and commenced to irrigate, using
+all the water we could get. I was one to help irrigate and look after
+the ditches. The work would have been really pleasant if we could only
+have kept the band of hogs out. They would get in after the green feed
+and break the ditches, causing the water to wash the soil away. That
+band of hogs began to torment me as much as the mules had done. They
+were so hungry you could not keep them out. I didn't blame them, poor,
+lank, starved creatures, for getting in and getting something to eat. I
+would have done the same in their case.
+
+"At last the boss thought he would shut them up in the barnyard and feed
+them. Well, he had forty starved hogs shut up, and he gave them about as
+much food each day as ten hogs could eat. Of course, they became like a
+pack of wolves, and it was all a man could do to get through the yard.
+Forty hogs would come all around him, squealing and yelling as though
+they were being butchered, and you had to keep moving lively or they
+would bite your legs. Henderson, one of the men, told me they ate up
+four cats and three kittens and more chickens than had been on the table
+for a year.
+
+"One Sunday morning, after breakfast, I commenced to wash my shirt and
+overalls, when Henderson called to me, 'Cattle in the peach orchard!'
+Now, at the further end of the peach orchard there were a hundred nice
+young trees, covered with tender foliage, looking fine. It seems the
+cattle got into the orchard in the night and ate all the growth off
+them, so they looked just like sticks. It really was a shame to see such
+fine trees damaged in that way, but the boss would not take time to
+build a good fence around them. That afternoon I went to lie down in the
+barn; it was hot, the mosquitoes and flies were getting in their best
+licks at me. I was trying to sleep, and just as I was about succeeding
+Henderson called out: 'Charles, get your shovel and come quick.' 'What's
+the matter?' I asked. 'Why, the hogs have played the devil and broke the
+ditches and the water is running all over Hell.' Mad as I felt about
+being disturbed, I could not help smiling within at the thought of water
+running all over hell, and I said to him: 'If those hogs can flood hell
+with water they ought to be sent to a dime museum.' We went on in
+silence till we reached the orchard gate, when Henderson said: 'Do you
+know, I would rather take a licking than open that gate, for it's a
+back-breaker. It hasn't got a hinge, and is as heavy as an elephant; you
+have to lift it up and drag it along the ground. It takes more time to
+hang a gate that way with a band of iron to a post or a bent stick in
+the place of the iron, than it would to buy two pairs of hinges; and yet
+that is the only kind he has on the place. It seems as if everything on
+the place was devised to make work as hard, unhandy, and wrong-end-to as
+possible.'
+
+"That evening when we had gathered together as usual, Harry opened the
+conversation by saying: 'What a racket there was to-night at supper! It
+seems to me the whole family is raising hell all the time, but I don't
+blame the old woman much for giving the boss a jawing about throwing his
+old broken harness on her bedroom floor, when he came home in the light
+rig this afternoon.' 'He is always doing such things,' said George. 'The
+front room is more like an old store-room than anything else. He don't
+deserve a house; that man ought to live in a barn.'
+
+"Another of the men said: 'If ever there was any attraction between the
+boss and his wife, it has long ago disappeared; and the children! What a
+quarreling gang they are.' Then they proceeded to discuss at length each
+member of the family, and I must say, father, that although I had become
+accustomed to much of the roughness of the life of these ranches, I was
+so shocked over some of the things they said that it took me a long time
+to get over it. I was not surprised that the boys should be little
+reprobates, because I didn't see how they could be otherwise, living
+with such a crew of men around them all the time, but was shocked to
+hear what they said about the girls. There were two of them: one fifteen
+years old, the other eighteen. Rather pretty girls they were, too. I had
+talked with them several times and they seemed modest and quite shy with
+me. I hadn't seen them much with the other fellows. Well, father, when
+those men had finished talking, they hadn't left those girls a shred of
+what the world calls a reputation, and the worst of it was that their
+stories were for the most part true, as I afterward ascertained. I could
+scarcely speak to the girls for several days; for somehow one expects
+more of a girl than of a boy, though I don't know why one should," he
+added, thoughtfully. "I'm sure I'd want to be as pure as the girl I
+married.
+
+"Well, I studied over the thing a good deal, and I finally came to this
+conclusion: Those girls were not bad; they were simply curious. They led
+such narrow, cramped lives that there was nothing for their active
+brains to feed on, so they naturally turned to the most interesting
+thing at hand, themselves, their physical selves. A superabundance of
+vitality overshadowed their small mental equipment. In the absence of
+suitable entertainment the physical part of their being had fatally
+asserted itself. Ignorant of consequences, they sinned innocently. I
+felt sorry for them, and during the rest of my stay there, I tried to
+give them some glimpses of a more intellectual life.
+
+"Well," continued Charles, "I stayed in that hell over a year, then left
+and went to the Lonsdale ranch. There we did not use the barn to sleep
+in; each man had a bunk to himself in the bunk-house. The interior of
+the bunk-house was decorated with several choice works of art, one
+representing three young ladies, in abbreviated costumes, enjoying wine
+and cigarettes; another showed several men lifting from the water the
+nude form of a beautiful young woman who had committed suicide; while a
+third was an exciting picture of a jealous woman, in a much torn
+garment, holding a pistol to the head of her faithless lover. Some
+pictures of Fitzsimmons, Jeffries, and Sharkey also adorned the walls.
+Much time was spent in the evenings discussing the various merits and
+demerits of the pugilists. I was often surprised at the able and
+exhaustive manner in which they would handle the subject, and showed
+some remarkable ability in treating of the qualities of the prize
+fighting gentlemen. If the same amount of brain power had been turned in
+other directions, how useful to their country those men might have
+become. I do not wish to convey the idea that they were always handling
+such great and momentous topics as the fighting qualities of those noted
+gentlemen. Very often, by way of variation, they would talk of those
+feminine types of beauty which appeared so conspicuously in the _Police
+Gazette_ and the _Sporting Times_.
+
+"It was astonishing the amount of information they displayed concerning
+women, what retentive memories they had, and how very familiar they were
+with the subject of woman, her ways, and her sex nature. Their mental
+horizon was bounded on the north by the affairs of the ranch, on the
+east by the boss and his domestic concerns, on the south by woman as
+manifested by the various phases of her sexual nature, and on the west
+by the gentry of the prize ring. Within these boundaries was their
+mental world, their minds never reaching out and beyond these subjects.
+
+"The reading matter on the table was the sensational weekly papers.
+
+"I remember one Sunday to my surprise I saw one of the men reading a
+book. On looking at the title, it read: 'The Life of Rattlesnake Pete,'
+and another man had a book lying on his blankets, entitled 'The
+Adventures of Coyote Bill.' Gambling was their favorite pastime. It was
+one round of card playing nights and Sundays. When I first went to work
+on the Lonsdale ranch, the boss put me to cutting oak wood. After I had
+been at work awhile, he came along and told me that I did not hold the
+handle of my axe right. The next day he found fault with me for the way
+I used a cross-cut saw. A week later I was piling brush to burn, and the
+way I laid the brush did not suit him. He was everlastingly blowing
+about himself and telling how he did things. I did not seem to be able
+to do anything right. One night after supper we had all assembled in the
+bunk-house, when Parsons said: 'I tell you boys, hell went pop this
+morning. Plaisted gave the boss hell because he commenced to growl at
+him for the way he held the lines. Plaisted told him he was the greatest
+old crank that ever run a ranch, and that the devil himself couldn't
+suit him. He left the team right in the field and called for his money.
+I tell you the boss's face was as red as a beet. He had to give Simmons
+six dollars a month more to take the team.'
+
+"Hendricks said, 'I gave the boss a piece of my mind this morning when I
+tried to open the gate leading into the garden. It is a rod long, and as
+heavy as hell; the whole weight was on the ground. I told him any man
+that had such a gate as that on his ranch never ought to own a ranch. I
+said, 'Why in the devil don't you get some hinges and hang your gates?'
+Ambrose spoke up, and said, 'Sometimes the boss seems pleasant enough,
+but he does like to find fault and tell you what big things he has
+done. To hear him talk you would think that his ranch was the only ranch
+that was worth anything. He told his visitors to-day that his place
+would pay the interest on one hundred thousand dollars. You know, boys,
+it wouldn't sell for twelve thousand.'
+
+"Parsons said: 'The boss has been growling at me ever since I have been
+with him, but I pay no attention to him. He thinks if you don't do a
+thing as he does, you don't do it right, and any idea that does not
+originate in his brain is not worth anything. To hear him talking to
+that lady visiting here to-day you would think he was a perfect man
+living on a model ranch.' I will never forget how mad Hendricks was with
+the boss one Saturday evening. We had just come from supper when
+Hendricks lit his pipe and gave vent to his feelings, as follows: 'If I
+had had a four-year-old club at the supper table to-night, I felt so
+boiling mad that I would have knocked hell out of him. To hear him go on
+a nagging and fault-finding with that little woman of his. There she has
+been a-working hard all day, set three good meals, doing the churning
+and all the housework besides; and all she gets for her patient labor is
+a growl.' 'Yes,' said another man, 'she has been working like a slave
+all the week and to-morrow is Sunday, and it will be to her just the
+same as any other day.' Hendricks said: 'The boss thinks more of his old
+plugs than he does of his wife. See what care he takes of his horses.
+One lot is resting while the other lot is working; then those that have
+been working are put in the pasture, and those that have been resting
+are put to work. But he never seems to think that poor worn-out woman of
+his needs a rest and change.'
+
+"Parsons added: 'That is not the worst of it. His wife is a cook-stove
+slave, and a wash and butter-making machine. It does not matter how
+tired she is or otherwise physically unfit, he demands his marital
+privileges as a right, regardless of her wishes or protests. I know it
+is a fact, for he brags about it.' Parsons continued: 'When a boy I
+used to hear preachers talk about hell, and I could not see what was the
+use of sending millions and billions of people to eternal torments, so I
+thought there ought to be no such place as hell; but if there is a hell,
+then I think the boss deserves to go there.'
+
+"An intelligent young man from the East by the name of Travers joined in
+the conversation by saying: 'When I was a boy I remember how serious my
+good father felt because he thought a neighbor had died without his sins
+being forgiven, and had gone to hell. At that time the word _hell_ used
+to have some meaning on the minds of the people, and produced on my mind
+a feeling of fear and awe. But how different it is now. If a minister
+was to preach now about all wicked people going to hell, it would
+produce no more effect on their minds than water on a duck's back, for
+the word hell is now a spent thunderbolt, used uselessly by the mouths
+of so many. It may be well for theologians to know (if any of them
+believe in hell as preached) whether or not they have got through
+discussing hell; their views have no weight whatever on the minds of the
+masses, for they are all the time making light, fun, and sport of the
+word _hell_.' 'That's so,' joined in the men, and they all laughed.
+
+"I had been at the Lonsdale ranch about three or four months when I
+received your letter asking me to return home."
+
+"Well, Charles," said the old man Herne, "if I had not worked out for
+several years on ranches, I should think your stories slightly colored,
+but from my own experience I should say the half has not been told."
+
+"That is so, father," said Charles. "I have not stated what I have seen
+and heard half strongly enough."
+
+The father said: "When I bought this ranch, the first thing I did was to
+build solid fences, raise lots of feed and hang gates on hinges so that
+a child could open them with its finger. I always make my plans so that
+I have more feed than stock. I did not set out an orchard till the
+fences were finished, so that nothing could get in. I made it a point
+to avoid losing a lot of work through bad management. My hired men have
+always had a good house to sleep in, each man having a room to himself.
+The house is cool in the summer through having double porches all round
+it, and warm in winter because it is well furnished. Men and teams never
+go out to work in the winter till the sun is up. Every man sits down to
+supper at six, during the summer months, and they have two hours'
+nooning. What is the result? I have always had the best men to work for
+me, and they never want to leave. Each man is put upon his honor, and
+takes as much interest in doing his best for me as if the place belonged
+to him. Everything goes on the same at the ranch when I am away as when
+I am there. No man has used anything but the most respectful language to
+me. I have heard no swearing at teams. In fact, I have heard no swearing
+or low stories at all. I never would allow it. Every day the work is
+done well and without friction."
+
+"Yes," said his son, "I used to think your place was heaven while I was
+away."
+
+Two years from the time this conversation took place, the father died,
+leaving the property and some money to his son, Charles, and seven
+thousand dollars to his daughter Lena.
+
+Charles Herne was not a student of political economy nor a reader of
+sociology, but what he did was done through an innate sense of justice,
+with a spirit of generosity, and the munificent treatment of his men was
+the manifestation of his noble, free spirit. To-morrow will be the
+greatest event so far in the life of Charles Herne, for he brings to his
+home his bride.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF CHARLES HERNE.
+
+
+Two miles from the Herne ranch, toward Roseland, lived the Holbrooke
+family.
+
+On the afternoon of the day which was of such importance in the lives of
+two of our characters, Mr. Holbrooke returned from a survey of his
+orchard, to be met by his wife with a face full of mysterious
+importance.
+
+"I've got some news, James," she said. "Now guess what it is--
+
+"Sophia has heard from one of her old beaux," said her husband
+immediately.
+
+"Get a pail of water and throw it over your dad, Sophia," said Mrs.
+Holbrooke. "He's always joking you about your beaux. Well," she added,
+"I see I'll have to tell you, you'll never guess. Charles Herne has just
+gone by here with a bran-new suit of clothes, a bran-new matched team, a
+bran-new harness, a bran-new buggy, and a bran-new wife. There! What do
+you think of that?"
+
+"Why," said her husband, "I think you may see them go by here some day
+with a brand-new baby."
+
+"The idea of your talking that way before Sophia; that's the way with
+you men, your mind is always run on such things."
+
+"Well," said her husband, "I don't think such a subject is very foreign
+to your mind or Sophia's either."
+
+"Sophy, let's you and I take your dad and throw him. We can do it," said
+Mrs. Holbrooke.
+
+Since the newly-married couple that caused so much interest in the
+Holbrooke family had gone by, Sophia had laid down her novel, "The
+Banker's Daughter," and was gazing dreamily out of the window. The young
+lady being of a rather romantic turn of mind, had just been saying to
+herself, "What a perfect day to be married. Will everything be as
+beautiful on my wedding day, I wonder?"
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Holbrooke, "whoever the lady may be, she has got a
+good man and a lovely home."
+
+"Yes," said her husband, "a good job was done when Charles Herne came
+into the world."
+
+"Don't talk so rough, James. I never saw a man like you in all my life,"
+said his wife.
+
+"The old man Herne had a long head on him when he sent Charles out into
+the world to cut his own fodder," added Holbrooke, reflectively.
+
+"Yes," said his wife, "those hired men of his wouldn't be acting like
+gentlemen the way they are now if Charles had not gone out and rustled."
+
+"Two years ago," he continued, "he devoted the entire proceeds from his
+orchard for one year, after paying expenses, to fixing up the cottage
+for his men. He had it painted and papered; had good carpets laid down
+on the floors; large mirrors and pictures on the walls; put in two large
+bathrooms with hot and cold water; a billiard table, lots of small
+games, all the leading papers and magazines. Bought them a fine piano,
+also an organ, and a lot of music, sacred and sentimental. He also
+bought a fine matched team with a two-seated buggy, and said: 'Boys, I
+want you to keep this team for your own riding out evenings, Saturday
+afternoons and Sundays. Take care of it among yourselves, and I hope you
+all may have many pleasant rides. There isn't a team in the country gets
+more grooming than those colts, and not a man has been known to
+overdrive them. I never see anything like it, those hired men at Herne's
+live and act as if they were members of some gentlemen's club. They
+always wash their hands in warm water in the winter, and are particular
+about keeping their finger-nails clean. On Sundays to see those men
+dressed up, you would think they had never seen dirt. You don't see
+Herne's men on a Sunday morning spending their time in washing overalls,
+shirts, and socks. Herne keeps a Chinaman to do that in the week day.
+Why, if I was to go and offer one of those men a steady job at ten
+dollars a month more than Herne pays, he would turn his nose up at me.
+You can't get a man to leave; they stick to him closer than a brother.
+He has ten standing applicants to fill the next vacancy he may have. And
+did you ever see a place where men worked so orderly, harmoniously, and
+thoroughly as they do on the Herne ranch? You don't see any of the trees
+in his orchard barked through having careless, mad teamsters while
+harrowing and cultivating. Herne's horses, harness, and machinery look
+better and last more than twice as long, because the men take great
+interest in caring for them. It's not all go out of pocket with Herne in
+what he does for his men. Some pretty big returns come back."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Holbrooke, "Lena Herne told me that her brother and
+herself were sitting on the porch one evening, and she was talking to
+Charles about the men and what he had done for them, when he said,
+'Lena, I would not give up the love and respect which these men have for
+me, and I for them, and the quiet, peaceful understanding that exists
+between us, for all the ranches in the county.' She said that she and
+her brother very often spent their evenings with the men in games,
+singing and a general social time, and there are lots of young people in
+the neighborhood that call on them to play croquet and lawn-tennis of a
+Saturday afternoon or to spend a pleasant evening. Just think,"
+continued Mrs. Holbrooke, "those men at Herne's only work five and a
+half days in the week, and those days are short ones. I tell you,
+Holbrooke, those men have a far better time than you do, though you own
+a ranch and they don't; you are a slave compared to them."
+
+"Some of the men say that Herne don't talk Christianity to them, but he
+puts some mighty big Christian principles in practice," said her
+husband.
+
+It was as Sophia had mentally said, "A perfect day to be married on."
+
+The newly married couple, as they journeyed from Roseland to Treelawn,
+found the sun just warm enough to be pleasant, for it was in the early
+part of March. The road was in fine condition, for there was neither mud
+nor dust. A gentle breeze wafted the sweet scented odors from the
+flower-decked fields, with their carpets of green. All nature seemed
+smiling, for was it not its mating season? What was all the chattering
+going on in the trees and the songs in the bushes, but the feathery
+tribe making love to each other. It seemed as if on this day all Nature
+was singing one grand anthem with a hallelujah chorus.
+
+As the happy pair looked at the scene, they forgot for the moment their
+own happiness in the contemplation of Nature's grandeur.
+
+Before them rose the variegated hills of the Sierras, the sun bringing
+out the brilliant coloring of the rocks; higher behind these the
+glittering snow-covered peaks, and above all the matchless blue of the
+heavens.
+
+To them the world seemed indeed all joy and beauty, and a home together,
+a paradise. And so they entered upon the new life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+JULIA HAMMOND.
+
+
+The settlement in which Treelawn was located was called Orangeville, and
+covered a large area of country. It had a general store--post-office,
+church, school-house, hall, blacksmith-shop, and two saloons.
+
+For reasons best known to himself, Charles Herne had kept his wedding a
+secret from all his neighbors, and it was really more by intuition than
+by actual knowledge that Mrs. Holbrooke came into possession of the
+fact.
+
+On the morning after the wedding, Sam Gilmore, like a good husband, had
+quietly risen and dressed himself, leaving his spouse to finish her nap.
+After seeing that the fire in the kitchen stove was burning brightly and
+the tea-kettle set on, he went to the barn. After a short time he
+returned to the house, and putting his head into the bedroom, said with
+some excitement, "Sarah, I've got some news for you. Charles Herne has
+got him a wife."
+
+When Sarah Gilmore received that piece of astounding intelligence, the
+mental shock seemed to produce paralysis, for the garment she was about
+to put on remained suspended in the air as she exclaimed: "Well, I swan!
+I thought he was married to his hired pets. How did you hear the news,
+Sam?"
+
+"Nettleton told me. He was over to see if I would let him have the bays
+to-day."
+
+"Did you let them go?" asked his wife.
+
+"No, I told him I was going to use them on the ranch to-day," said Sam,
+closing the door and going back to the barn.
+
+As Sam went out of the bedroom door the paralysis went, too, for no
+woman ever moved more quickly in putting on the rest of her garments
+than did Sarah Gilmore that morning.
+
+There was a very good breakfast waiting for Sam when he came in from the
+barn, and above all Sarah had made him a plate of light, rich
+batter-cakes, which he always relished very much. They were set a little
+way into the oven with the door open, to keep warm, his good wife having
+buttered and sugared them, all ready for Sam to pour rich cream over
+them.
+
+After breakfast, as Sam was on his way to the barn, he said to himself,
+"My! Sarah is a fine cook. I would be willing to bet ten dollars she can
+knock the spots out of Charles Herne's wife in cooking; and she is so
+cheerful while getting up good meals, and don't make any fuss about it,
+either."
+
+Sam and the bays worked well that morning in doing a little light work.
+
+Sarah lost no time in putting the breakfast dishes into the dish-pan,
+but instead of washing them immediately, as was her way, she was seen
+going over a well-beaten trail toward a house where smoke was coming out
+of the chimney. When she opened the door, she found Mrs. Green just
+wiping a mush-bowl which had been used at breakfast.
+
+"Well, Carrie," said Sarah Gilmore to Mrs. Green, "what do you think has
+happened? Charles Herne has come home with a bride."
+
+"There, now, Sarah, you surprise me," said Mrs. Green.
+
+"I guess every body is surprised," said Mrs. Gilmore.
+
+After a few minutes' more conversation, she hurried back to wash her
+dishes and get dinner.
+
+When Sam came to dinner he found his wife in the best of spirits, with a
+big dinner for him to enjoy. Sam's alimentive faculty being in a state
+of great activity, he ate heartily, finishing up with two pieces of
+Sarah's extra rich peach cobbler. After dinner Sam went to the
+fire-place where he sat rocking himself, and soon was enjoying a smoke.
+He had been smoking about five minutes when his wife said: "I really
+like the smell of the tobacco you smoke, but if you were to smoke such
+stinking stuff as Horace does, I would get up and leave you. But yours
+does smell real sweet."
+
+"Horace Green is too stingy to smoke good tobacco," said Sam, after
+which remark he brought his hand to the side of his leg each time he let
+the smoke curl out of his mouth, feeling well satisfied with himself and
+all the world beside.
+
+Did you ever have the experience of passing through a large barnyard,
+and going from one end to the other with a lean, hungry hog after you,
+yelling and squealing, trying to eat you up by snapping first at one of
+your legs and then at the other? You kick at him with first one foot,
+saying, "Sooy, sooy;" then you, with the other foot, kick backwards,
+saying, "Sooy, sooy." And after going through this performance many,
+many times, you reach the gate and shut it between yourself and the hog,
+leaving him on the inside, amidst deafening noise made by his hungry
+squeals. After you have left, he does his best to tear down the fence,
+so strong are the pangs of hunger in him.
+
+A few minutes after that you take him a pail of rich buttermilk, then a
+large pail of fresh ripe figs, and two dozen ears of sweet corn. You go
+out in that barnyard an hour afterwards and you don't hear any hog
+noise. You don't see a hog even moving, for he is lying down in the
+greatest state of quiet. He will let you do just what you have a mind to
+do to him. You can scratch him and you will find him good-natured and he
+seems to enjoy your attentions. He is in such a contented, happy state,
+that you can roll him or do anything you wish to him.
+
+So it is with some men. By making love to them through their stomachs,
+you will find them in as happy a frame of mind as Sam Gilmore was as he
+finished his pipe. His wife saw that he was taking his last puffs, so
+she said, "Sam, can I have the bays to go over to the Henshaws' this
+afternoon?"
+
+"Well," replied Sam, "I was going to haul wood, but I guess I can let
+that go. What time do you want them?"
+
+"Two o'clock," said his wife.
+
+Sarah said that Sam brought the bays around to the front door and was as
+lively round her and the team as he was twenty years ago when she was a
+maiden and he came courting her at her father's.
+
+Talk about the diplomacy of Bismarck, d'Israeli, and the Russian
+Ambassador in settling the Eastern question at the close of the
+Russo-Turkish war; why there are women in Orangeville who can give them
+pointers on diplomacy.
+
+The bays thought that either a peddler or minister was driving them that
+afternoon, they made so many short calls. There was one thing
+certain--Sarah Gilmore was not to blame if the people of Orangeville did
+not know Charles Herne was married.
+
+When Green entered the house his wife said: "Horace, what do you think?
+Charles Herne has brought home a bride."
+
+"A what?" said her husband.
+
+"A bride," said his wife. "May be it's so long since you saw a bride,
+you have entirely forgotten how one looks. You had better hustle round
+and pony up that seventy-five dollars you are owing him. He will need it
+to buy silks, satins and laces for the bride."
+
+"Hell's to pay," said Green.
+
+Early the same morning Henry Storms entered the "Crow's Nest" saloon in
+Orangeville, where two men were talking over the bar to the
+saloon-keeper. Storms, walking up to where they were, saluted them by
+saying: "Hell's broke loose."
+
+"What's up now?" said one of the men.
+
+"Why," said Storms, "Charles Herne has got a running mate."
+
+"Drinks for four," called out another man.
+
+When the drinks were ready four men raised their glasses, one saying,
+"Drink hearty to Charles Herne and his partner."
+
+At the conclusion of the toast four glasses of whiskey were emptied down
+four men's throats.
+
+A man went down from his house to the road where his mailbox was nailed
+to a redwood post. The stage was just coming in.
+
+"Any news?" asked the man of the stage-driver as he took his mail.
+
+"News!" said the driver. "I should say there was. They tell me that
+Charles Herne has been, and gone, and done it."
+
+Saunders, the merchant of Orangeville, told his customers that day that
+"Charles Herne had got spliced."
+
+Tim Collins took a span of kicking mules to Pierce, the blacksmith, to
+be shod.
+
+"Well, Tim, I got some news for you," said Pierce.
+
+"What is it?" said Tim.
+
+"Charles Herne has got hitched up."
+
+Now one could not discern any perceptible change in Charles Herne, if it
+were true that he had done all the many and varied things which his
+neighbors stated he had; such as "Brought home a brand-new wife," "Got
+him a woman," "Got a bride," "Got a running mate," "Been, gone, and done
+it," "Got spliced," "Got hitched up," and so on.
+
+The waves of ether in the atmosphere of Orangeville were pregnant with
+all these sayings and produced such an effect on a number of ladies as
+to make them call at different times at the Treelawn home.
+
+When some of the ladies had made a call and had seen Mrs. Herne, and
+these ladies saw some others in Orangeville who had not seen Mrs. Herne,
+conversation did not drag. And as for speculation. Why the amount of
+speculative genius displayed by certain ladies of that locality would
+eclipse all speculative talent of Kant, Spencer and Mill. Listen to some
+of the inquiries: "Is she proud?" "Is she pretty?" "Has she much style
+about her?" "Do you think they will get along well together?" "Is she
+fond of children?" "Will they have any babies?" "Is she fond of dress?"
+"Is she a society lady?" "Do you think she will get lonesome?" "Can she
+do housework?" "Is she much account with a needle?" "Is she close and
+saving?" "Is she extravagant?" "Do you think she will put her foot down
+on Charles Herne furnishing his men with so many luxuries?" "Is she
+happy?" "Is she a scold?" "Will she wear the breeches?" and numerous
+other questions which, like problems concerning the Universe, will take
+time to solve.
+
+Clara Herne was very happy in her new home as the wife of Charles Herne.
+She found her duties light and pleasant. Everything in the house and
+about the house was order and system, no friction, all harmony. She
+remarked to her husband one evening: "It pays to have good help. Every
+one here takes an interest in what he has to do and does it the very
+best he knows how, cheerfully and willingly."
+
+She respected her husband exceedingly for the generous way in which he
+treated his men, and she helped him to still further their comforts.
+
+On retiring one night after they had both spent the evening with their
+men, which they often did, she said to her husband: "How good it is to
+have love and respect between employers and employed. Every one speaks
+in such a kind way; so considerate for the feelings and interests of
+each one."
+
+"Yes," said her husband, "it makes life worth living to treat your hired
+help not as if they were merely machines for the use of getting so much
+work out of them, but to live and act towards them as if they were men.
+Better still to realize the thought always, that they are our brothers."
+
+Charles and Clara Herne were very happy as man and wife, because they
+were a social unit. They were one in their domestic and social natures;
+they were fond of going out to parties, suppers and dances, and enjoyed
+entertaining company; they were strictly moral, though not religious,
+and occasionally attended church.
+
+One evening about a year after they had been married, they were sitting
+in front of the open fire, interesting themselves in talking about some
+of the people in Orangeville who were at the party they had attended the
+evening previous.
+
+"I think last night's party was one of the best we have attended," said
+Mrs. Herne.
+
+"Yes," said her husband, "the Hammonds are great entertainers. They
+always make it interesting and pleasant for every one who comes."
+
+"Of course, their daughter Julia has a tact for receiving company and
+making delicacies for a party," added Clara. "What taste she displayed
+in the arrangement of the table. Then she herself is personally a great
+attraction to the young men. I consider her the belle of Orangeville.
+Her age I think is about twenty-one."
+
+"Yes, but she has a most unusual development for that age. She has such
+a commanding form, so erect; there is something very fascinating about
+her expression; and those black eyes of hers denote a powerful
+magnetism. No wonder she attracts men so strongly."
+
+"She seemed to pay more attention to that young Webber, I thought, than
+to any one else. Certainly, she smiled very sweetly upon him."
+
+"You don't know Julia," said Mr. Herne, decidedly. "She is like a cat,
+as meek as Moses or as full of deviltry as Judas Iscariot. She is just
+playing with Webber and he is too vain and foolish to see it. Why, Julia
+Hammond would not marry Webber if he were the last man in Orangeville.
+The man she wants is Ben West, and she scarcely spoke to him during the
+evening; in fact, did not pay him as much attention as she would have
+paid to the merest stranger. In most girls such an action would be the
+result of shyness and the desire to avoid observation; in Julia, I think
+it arises from an inborn, stubborn pride which prevents her from
+yielding even to such an uncontrollable feeling. She has an iron will
+and though she knows she must yield eventually, she holds herself
+defiantly as long as she can."
+
+"I don't blame her for wanting Ben West, for he is the finest looking
+and most popular young man in Orangeville," said Clara.
+
+"He is, indeed," replied her husband. "Almost any girl in Orangeville
+would be glad to marry him, but Julia wants him and she will get him. He
+has not lost his heart so far, but Julia has not played her cards yet.
+She knows her power and loves to use it. She would do anything to gain
+her end."
+
+"Why, dear, you seem to be well posted on Julia's disposition," said his
+wife.
+
+"You see," he replied, "I have known her ever since she has lived in
+Orangeville, which has been twelve years. And now I am going to tell you
+something that will surprise you. I got it straight from Hammond
+himself, and he and I are close friends, as I have helped him
+financially out of some hard places. Several times he has made me a
+confidant. Only one or two in Orangeville know what I am going to tell
+you.
+
+"It seems that about four years after Mr. and Mrs. Hammond were married,
+Mrs. Hammond received a letter from her cousin, Mrs. Featherstone,
+saying that Nat Harrison, a mutual friend, had been shot dead in a
+dispute over a faro game. He was under the influence of liquor at the
+time of the trouble. He left a wife and a girl baby eighteen months old,
+without any means of support, the mother being incompetent to take care
+of either herself or the child, and the letter asked would Mrs. Hammond
+like to adopt the baby. If so, Mrs. Featherstone was coming to San Diego
+in about a month's time and would bring the child (the Hammonds lived at
+San Diego then). The mother would make her home with her aunt.
+
+"Mrs. Hammond said, after reading the letter, 'Poor Annie Harrison. Only
+think. I sat beside her at the graduating exercises of Nat Harrison's
+class, and remember how pleased she was at the applause which greeted
+the oration delivered by Nat, "American Commerce." So many
+congratulated him on his talent and thought he would become a rising
+member of the bar, and his voice would be heard in the halls of
+legislation of the nation.
+
+"'Annie looked so pretty and sweet that day, you could not have bought
+her prospects in life for a million dollars. She thought she had a jewel
+of a lover, poor thing, she was so innocent of the nature of men. She
+knew nothing of the world, for her mother always treated her as a baby,
+never teaching her any self-reliance, and had kept her as a hot-house
+plant. She grew up with no higher ideal in life for herself than to be
+some rich man's toy and pet, under marriage. She was more adapted to be
+a flower in the "Garden of Eden" than to fight the battle of life in the
+present state of society.'
+
+"Nat Harrison had money and was doing well when he married Annie, but
+being a man of strong passions and appetites, Annie's freshness and
+bloom soon wilted. Then he sought other pastures for his carnal
+pleasures, and with that came drinking and gambling. When his estate was
+settled up after his death they found he was in debt.
+
+"Mr. and Mrs. Hammond talked the matter over and decided to adopt the
+child. They were both much pleased when they received the baby from Mrs.
+Featherstone and saw what a fine child she was. They have loved her and
+done everything that parents could do for a child of their own to make
+her happy. Julia brought lots of sunshine into their home, and
+everything went all right and they took a great deal of comfort with her
+till she got to be about fourteen and then she seemed to become
+stubborn, grew inattentive to her studies, seemed to care less for her
+girl companions, but was always with the boys. All she appeared to care
+for was to be in their company. She took less interest in things in the
+house, did not care about helping her mother, and would have odd spells.
+Sometimes she took a notion to do up the work, and it was then done
+quickly and well. Then for quite a time it would be like pulling teeth
+to get her to do anything. She has the ability if she would only use
+it. The last four years she has given Mr. and Mrs. Hammond many an
+anxious thought, and they have wished that Ben West or some other such
+man would marry her. They see the older she grows the more the hot blood
+of her father shows in her. Hammond told me last night at the party that
+Julia was great on dress parade, but was not there when it came to doing
+the common every day duties of life with no excitement."
+
+"Why, Charles, the narrative concerning Julia's life is very
+interesting. Some of the people around us would be just as good material
+for a novel as those we read about in fiction."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BEN WEST.
+
+
+About a week after Mr. Herne had told his wife the history of Julia
+Hammond, Mr. Hammond, on going to the store for some trifle, was saluted
+by Saunders, the merchant, with, "Heard the news, Hammond?"
+
+Hammond said: "No. What is it?"
+
+"Why, Ben West is going to the Klondike," said Saunders.
+
+"Going to the Klondike!" said Hammond. "Why, I don't see what he has to
+go there for. He is the only child, his father owns a fine ranch, and he
+is always getting big jobs on roads and ditches, making three to four
+dollars a day, because he can go ahead and knows just what to do and how
+to do it. He has great muscular strength and can lift about twice as
+much as any ordinary man."
+
+"Oh, he wants to make a stake," said Saunders. "He is ambitious."
+
+Wescott spoke up and said: "Ben is a rustler; he will get there every
+time."
+
+Hammond said: "He has lots of vim and pluck; has got sand and backbone
+to him."
+
+"Yes, he is a hummer," said Saunders.
+
+"I tell you he has got some ambition and grit," said Stearns,
+admiringly.
+
+It was not long before the news spread all over Orangeville, that Ben
+West was going to the Klondike, and the abilities which he possessed as
+a worker and money maker, and an all round good fellow were the theme of
+conversation in many a household and on many a ranch.
+
+When the news reached the ears of the young ladies of Orangeville, most
+of them felt a shade of disappointment, because Ben had been good to
+them.
+
+Not having shown any decided preference for one, he devoted his
+attentions to many, and having a good fast team he was able to give the
+young ladies many a pleasant ride to dances, parties and church, so he
+was a great favorite with them all.
+
+Just previous to Ben West's leaving Orangeville, a great farewell supper
+and dance was given him. The attendance was very large. The young ladies
+appeared in their best toilets. Julia looked superb and was very
+graceful in her deportment. This evening she "played her cards" with
+evident success, and the result was that as Ben West went home the
+feeling that had been flickering for some time had now broken out into a
+flame that fired his blood. Julia did indeed know her power and how to
+use it, and she intended that some one else should be restless and
+disturbed as well as herself. So that night there were two persons in
+Orangeville who tried to sleep but could not. Ben West realized that
+night that he had become a willing slave. Sometimes the thought seemed
+pleasant, then again it would be galling in the extreme.
+
+A few of the boys went to Roseland to see Ben off, and they had a time
+"all to themselves" as they called it in Roseland, the night previous to
+his departure. Ben West left with the best wishes and prayers for good
+luck following him from all his friends.
+
+When a rising, popular young man leaves his home and neighborhood for
+the purpose of making his fortune, he is full of great expectations, and
+this thought is shared by all his friends. He departs with the best
+wishes following him, for his companions say: "If a man can strike it
+rich he can." There does not seem the least doubt in their minds
+regarding his success, for they have unbounded confidence in him. Now
+the young man leaving is exceedingly alive to the expressions and
+sentiments of his friends, and he feels that he must succeed or die in
+the attempt. His attachment to name and fame and his personal self is so
+strong, and he is so susceptible and negative to the good opinion of
+those around him, that he feels he will never want to come back and show
+himself among his friends unless he has struck it rich, for he knows
+there is nothing that succeeds like success.
+
+Talk about the idolatry of the heathen! Is there any idolatry in the
+world that is stronger than that which is found in the so-called
+"Christian" world in the year 1900? Where do you find any greater
+idolatry than that which is bestowed on money and on woman? There are
+more devotees at these two shrines than are to be found worshipping the
+Divine. Look at a young man fortunate in the financial world. The first
+year in speculations he makes fifty thousand dollars. The second year he
+is worth two hundred thousand dollars. The third year he has made half a
+million. The fourth year he has become a millionaire. Now listen to the
+eulogies and encomiums passed upon him. He is the lion of the hour, the
+hero of the day, for he has won the victory that to win fifty thousand
+other men had tried and failed. He has attained the great end for which
+most men think they were born, money making. What a number of young
+ladies see so many excellent qualities in the rising young millionaire,
+the "Napoleon of Finance." Note how his faults are all glossed over by
+their mammas, who are ready to act as if they had received a retaining
+fee as his attorneys, so ready are they to defend him at all times to
+their daughters and friends. It seems to matter little about his
+intellectual gifts or moral character. His financial success covers a
+multitude of sins and weaknesses. Should a young lady raise one or two
+slight objections in regard to the young millionaire's character, her
+mother says: "Why, dear, all young men must sow their wild oats. You
+must not expect to find a pure young man. All young men are fast more or
+less. It would be hard to find an unmarried man that is moral. After
+they are married they get steady and settle down."
+
+Should a young lady of moderate means marry a young man who has made a
+million dollars, there is more rejoicing by the members of her family
+than if she had become a saint or a great angel of light. She thinks she
+has attained the great end of her existence in marrying a millionaire
+and making for herself name and fame and family position.
+
+Should the young millionaire be a little liberal to a few of his
+friends, he becomes more to them than the Lord himself. Other young men,
+seeing and knowing all this, are putting forth every effort and
+straining every nerve to be successful financiers. They realize that the
+power of money is so great to-day in the eyes of many, that unless they
+are successful money getters, they are no good to themselves or their
+friends. They parody the verse in Proverbs something like this: "With
+all thy getting, get money; get it honestly if you can, _but get it
+anyway_."
+
+Such is the gospel that is acted out in the commercial world to-day. All
+good intentions, all right convictions, all wise counsels of religious
+teachers, are side-tracked and become as a dead letter if they stand in
+the way to successful money making.
+
+Ben West knew what the sentiment of the people of Orangeville was
+towards himself, and it fired his ambition to think of the expressions
+conveyed to him by his friends, and his heart was fired still more when
+he thought of the possibility of possessing the fine form of Julia
+Hammond. He made up his mind that he would be willing to endure all
+hardships, that he would leave no stone unturned in order to be
+successful; for he saw before him the chance of getting a fortune and
+the praise, adoration and admiration of the people of Orangeville.
+
+The form of Julia Hammond seemed to float before the eyes of his mind
+day and night; and when he saw, in his imagination, that face with its
+sparkling black eyes, and the finely poised head, with its wavy black
+hair, her well-rounded bust, and the handsome figure, it made him feel
+like removing a mountain of dirt or penetrating the bowels of the earth,
+to get the shiny metal which was to open for him the gates of his
+earthly paradise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+STELLA WHEELWRIGHT.
+
+
+One afternoon two men were digging post-holes and setting in redwood
+posts on the side of one of the main roads in Orangeville. Everything
+had been exceedingly quiet, not a team was seen since dinner. Nothing in
+the way of excitement had happened to relieve the monotony of their
+work. They were interested and delighted when they heard a noise, and,
+looking down the road, saw a vehicle coming, but it was not near enough
+to tell whose it was. When it got a little nearer one of the men said:
+"Why, Alfred, it is the old man Wheelwright and his girl Stella."
+
+Alfred replied to James, the man who has just spoken: "Stella was to
+school at San Jose, and her father has been to Roseland to meet the
+train which arrived this morning and bring her home."
+
+"How she has grown," remarked James, "since she went away. She has
+improved in her looks very much."
+
+"Yes," said Alfred, "I think she will make a fine woman, for she has a
+bright, intelligent eye, and they say she is real smart in her studies,
+away ahead of most of the girls round here. She seems so different to
+them. She comes of good stock; her mother is the brightest and best
+woman in Orangeville, and her father is a well-posted man."
+
+"You must be kind of stuck on her and her folks," replied his companion.
+"I don't go so much myself on girls who have their heads in books all
+the time. What does a fellow want with such a girl as that? She may be
+all right to be a school marm, or woman's rights talker, but I don't
+want any of them. I say to hell with book women. Give me a girl like
+Nance Slater. She is round and plump, don't care much for books or
+papers, but is bright and laughing all the day. She is the girl to have
+lots of fun with, and when it comes to making a man a good wife, why,
+she is the best cook in Orangeville. I was over to Slater's on an errand
+the other morning about ten o'clock, and Nance was looking as pretty as
+a picture; her cheeks had the blush of the peach on them; her eyes were
+sparkling bright, her lips red, and when she laughed, her teeth looked
+like the best and whitest ivory you ever saw. She had on such a pretty,
+light, calico wrapper, and a white apron with a bib, and was busy taking
+out of the oven some mince pies and just putting in some apple pies. She
+had a kettle of doughnuts a frying, and a whole lot of cookie paste
+ready to cut out and bake. She said: 'James, you must sample my
+doughnuts. Mother, give James a cup of coffee to go with them; there is
+some hot on the stove.' Nance is a trump. She is straight goods. The
+trouble with those Wheelwrights is they live awful close, and instead of
+cooking good meals, spend their time in reading books. They starve in
+the kitchen to sit in the parlor. The devil take the books, I say. I
+wouldn't give a book girl barn room for all the good she would be to
+me."
+
+Alfred replied: "That's all right; every fellow to his own girl, I say.
+It would not do for all to be after the same one. As for me, I like
+Stella. She has some stability of character. There is something
+interesting about a girl like that, and if she don't care about doing
+all the cooking, why, I can help her, if she will only let me enjoy her
+company."
+
+The sun went down and the men went each to his own home, being content
+in their mind that each man should have his own choice.
+
+Stella was the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wheelwright, she being the
+only child they ever had had. At the time she returned from school she
+was sixteen and would have one year more in school. She was very
+precocious, a thorough student, and would allow nothing to divert her
+from her studies. She was at that age when the intellectual part of her
+nature predominated, though the spiritual was just beginning to tinge
+her mind with its coloring. She possessed a strong individuality; she
+was a born investigator; would accept no statements without examining
+them, and rebelled against a great many of the customs and usages of
+society. She did her own thinking, and nothing seemed to please her more
+than to take her investigating axe and cut away some of the roots which
+held her free spirit in bondage. Problems seemed to be crowding on her
+mind thick and fast, and she could not take the time from her studies to
+do the necessary amount of reading and thinking to resolve them, and she
+was looking forward to the time when her last year would expire. During
+this vacation she took much physical exercise, for she did not believe
+in developing one side of her nature at the expense of the other. She
+rode horseback and climbed the sides of steep mountains, mixed with the
+young people in their recreations, such as camping parties, picnics, and
+social entertainments. In company she was bright, witty, and
+entertaining. She had no fear; was full of confidence, and was better
+balanced than her companions in that she was not carried away by
+pleasures and the company of the opposite sex.
+
+When she was not away from home on camping or picnic excursions, she
+would find time to visit the cabin of an old man who lived alone, and
+had sore eyes so that he could not see to read. She would read to him
+whatever he liked, cheer him up by her bright, happy talk, and when she
+left the old man often thought to himself that her comings were like
+angels' visits, for she seemed to lift him up completely out of himself
+into a new world. When she laid her head on her pillow at night, after
+having spent the evening with old Andrews, she thought how much greater
+a satisfaction she derived from hearing that old man say, on her leaving
+him: "God bless you, Stella, you always bring sunshine to me," than she
+did from even the most enjoyable pleasure excursion.
+
+She bestowed the attractions and charm of her social and intellectual
+nature less on those outside than those inside her home. You saw her at
+her best when talking to her father and mother.
+
+Some parents let their children outgrow them intellectually, so that
+there is a great gulf fixed between parents and children, the latter
+having nothing in common with the former. Mr. and Mrs. Wheelwright tried
+as much as possible to keep themselves in advance of their daughter's
+intellectual growth, so that they might always command her respect for
+their opinions, and that she might realize that in them she found two
+interesting, intelligent companions, whom she could love and confide in.
+
+The relationship between many parents and their grown children is very
+unsatisfactory; for being on the material plane, there is nothing very
+permanent in their relationship. The grown son and his father have only
+in common business and social interests; that is their world; outside of
+that neither one has any life that he realizes.
+
+It is the same with the grown daughters and their mother. Their life is
+mainly in the social and domestic world. Outside of that they apparently
+have no existence; but the true ideal parents and children are those
+whose life is in the intellectual and spiritual world. They cease to
+exist in each other's minds as parents and children, and realize a
+stronger and more permanent tie, and intellectual and spiritual union,
+which is blessed, glorious, and eternal. They realize daily that "In Him
+they live, and breathe, and have their being"; that they are immersed in
+an ocean of Divine love, and that Divine love permeates them all through
+and through; and that it is in that ocean of Divine love that they
+realize that they are one. They feel a blessed nearness and dearness and
+oneness to each other, though separated by oceans and continents, for
+they have realized through sweet experience that the same intelligent
+spiritual thought and love pulses through them all as if they were one
+organism.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+PENLOE.
+
+
+One afternoon Mrs. Herne received a caller. It was Mrs. Cullom. She had
+met Mrs. Herne twice at parties and promised to call on her each time,
+but for various reasons she had not been able to fulfil her promise.
+
+After the usual introductory talk, Mrs. Cullom said:
+
+"Did you ever see Penloe or his mother, Mrs. Lanair?"
+
+"No," said Mrs. Herne, "who are they?"
+
+Mrs. Cullom replied: "They live up about a mile above where I do. It's
+rather lonesome where I live, but it is a very lonesome place where they
+live. It is not a good road over there. I don't suppose you were ever on
+that road were you?"
+
+"No," said Mrs. Herne, "I have never been over there. Charles said it
+was out of the way and a poor road, being muddy in winter and very dusty
+in summer."
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Cullom, "Mrs. Lenair has been on that place about two
+years. She seems pleasant, but so different from most women. The second
+time I called on her, I got there about two o'clock, and I thought I
+would have a nice afternoon chat. So I began talking to her about my
+work, and telling her how I worked my butter, and talking to her about
+my cooking, and I tried to get her to talk, but she would only say a few
+words about such things. About five minutes was as long as I could get
+her to talk about her butter and cooking. Why, some women would talk by
+the hour on such subjects. Now, she did not appear stuck up or proud,
+she seemed so pleasant, her face being very bright and pleasing; and
+there seemed to be such a feeling of restfulness about her that I liked
+to be with her; but she seems to have so little to say about matters we
+are all so much interested in. I could not get her to talk about
+herself, so I asked about Penloe, if he was at home. She said, yes, he
+had returned from San Francisco last week; that he had been away three
+months. That surprised me, Mrs. Herne, because I did not think they were
+people who had money to spend in visiting and seeing the sights of a
+great city. Why, look at their place, it is not much; she sold the fruit
+on the trees for two hundred dollars, and outside of the orchard they
+have only pasture enough for four head of stock. Their house has four
+rooms, the kitchen is the only room I have been in, but it is kept very
+neat. I said to her: 'Does Penloe have much business in San Francisco?'
+She smiled and said he had business as long as he washed dishes in a
+restaurant. That just took my breath away, for to see Penloe you would
+think he would be the last man in the world to do work like that. I
+cannot tell you how he looks, but he looks so different from the young
+men about here; nothing like them at all. He has a face that I like, but
+I don't know him enough to say much to him.
+
+"Well, after they had been on that place about eighteen months or so, I
+said to Dan one morning after breakfast, that I did not feel like going
+out to-day, but I wanted some one here to talk to, and I wished him to
+hitch up Puss and Bess and go right up and get Mrs. Lenair to come down
+and spend the day with me, and to tell her that when she wished to go
+home I would take her back. 'Now, if you don't get a move on you, Dan,'
+I said, 'you will come home and find a cold stove and no dinner and your
+cook gone.' Dan moved round like a cat on hot bricks. That kind of talk
+fetches men to time. I did not have to cook much for dinner because the
+day before was Dan's birthday. Dan had killed a veal two days previous
+and I made two kinds of rich cake, two kinds of pies, and some cream
+puffs. They were very rich. Dan is fond of high living, and he ate very
+heartily of it all. I laughed at him, and said I never saw a man that
+liked to dig his grave with his teeth so well as he did. So you see I
+could get up a good dinner for Mrs. Lenair without having to cook much.
+It was not long after Dan left before Mrs. Lenair was with me. Well,
+after she had taken off her things and we chatted awhile, I thought I
+would tell her the news, as she never goes out anywhere. So I said: 'Did
+you hear what a hard time Mrs. Dunn had in confinement? The doctor
+thought he would have to take the child with instruments;' but Mrs.
+Lenair kept looking out of the window, and all she said was, 'Is that
+so?' So I said: 'I suppose you have heard about Mrs. Warmstey's case.
+She had a doctor from Orangeville and two from Roseland.' Just as I said
+that, she rose from her chair and said so sweetly: 'Mrs. Cullom, I do
+want to go out and look at your flowers; they look beautiful from the
+window.'
+
+"Well, I was clean took off my feet, because I was just beginning to
+tell the most interesting part of Mrs. Warmstey's case. I said: 'Why,
+yes, Mrs. Lenair,' and I went out with her. She began to be so chatty I
+thought she was some one else for awhile. She appeared delighted with my
+flowers, and called them such crack-jaw names, and told me all about
+their families, and what relation they were to each other. Why, to hear
+her talk, you would think flowers had babies, she went on so about male
+and female plants. Then she told me that flowers breathed, and told me
+all about their coloring, and how they attracted the bee and dusted
+themselves on him, and much more I cannot remember. She talked to and
+petted them as if they were alive. You would have thought she had been a
+flower herself, the way she went on. She said something about the
+pencilings and colorings of the Almighty being in the tulips.
+
+"When we returned to the house my back was feeling kind of lame, and
+gave me one or two of those twister pains. I said: 'Oh, my back! It has
+got one of its spells on.' Mrs. Lenair said it would soon go away, and,
+to my surprise, it did. Only had it about half an hour, and generally
+those spells last me all day. I said: 'Mrs. Lenair, do you have any
+ailments? I never hear you complain, if you do.' She said she had not
+an ache nor pain in her body for a number of years. I threw my hands up
+in astonishment, and said: 'You don't say so?' 'That is the truth,' she
+said. And I believe her, for she looks ten years younger than she really
+is. 'Why,' I said, 'how different you are from the girls and women
+around here. Most all the girls not married are ailing more or less, and
+about every married woman has her aches and pains. I can't make you
+out.'
+
+"Mrs. Lenair laughed, and said: 'If I were like other women I should be
+ailing as they are.' Well, I got up just as good a dinner as I knew how.
+I put on the table fried ham and eggs, baked veal, potatoes, peas,
+canned tomatoes, red currant jelly, fig preserve, canned nectarines,
+cream puffs, grape pie, lemon pie, plain cake, and frosted cake; and we
+had coffee, chocolate, and milk to drink. I did want her to make out a
+good meal, because I thought she never cooked much at home. Well, what
+do you think? I could not get her to eat any meat. 'Why,' I said, 'I
+would starve if I did not have meat two or three times a day with my
+meals.' She said she had not eaten meat for seventeen years, and was
+much better without it. She just ate a little potatoes, one egg, some
+nectarines, bread and butter, and drank a little milk. I told her she
+must try my cream puffs if she would not eat any cake or pie. At last I
+did get her to eat a cream puff. That woman don't eat much more than
+would keep a mouse alive, and yet she is so hearty and well. I told her
+as she ate so little, Dan and I would have to make up for her. And we
+did, for we ate as if it were a Thanksgiving dinner. Dan and I say it is
+our religion not to die in debt to our stomachs. After dinner I felt
+more like sleep than anything else, and I said, 'Mrs. Lenair, let you
+and me take a nap.' That seemed to please her, so she laid down on the
+lounge and I went and laid on my bed. About an hour later I returned to
+the room where I had left Mrs. Lenair.
+
+"'Well,' I said, 'I have just had the boss sleep and feel so much
+better. I hope you had a good nap.'
+
+"Mrs. Lenair said, 'I have had a pleasant time lying here, though I did
+not sleep any.'
+
+"'Why,' I said, 'I could not lie that way. If I was not sleeping I would
+be nervous, and want to be sitting up or moving about.'
+
+"Then I said to her: 'I should think you must get terribly lonesome up
+at your place, your son having been away so much, and you all alone with
+no one to talk to.'
+
+"She said: 'I haven't known what it was to be lonesome since I have
+lived on the place.'
+
+"'Why,' I said, 'I would not live like you do for ten dollars a day.'
+She smiled, and said, 'You could not.'
+
+"'I don't see how you can stand it,' I said, 'for it is all I can do to
+keep from being lonesome here with Dan, and a team to take me anywhere.
+I have more callers in a week than you have in a year. I am fond of
+company and so is Dan.'
+
+"Mrs. Lenair said: 'All you have just said, Mrs. Cullom, shows your
+life, your world; we all have different worlds,' she added.
+
+"I could hardly understand just what she meant, so I changed the subject
+and thought I would talk to her about Penloe.
+
+"'Is he home now,' I asked.
+
+"She said, 'Yes,' he had got through his work and would be at home most
+of the time.
+
+"I said: 'Did he ever do any of the kind of work he has been doing at
+the different places he worked at before he came to Orangeville? For he
+don't look to me,' I said, 'as if he had worked on a ranch or done road
+work much.'
+
+"She said, 'He never had done hard work till we came to Orangeville,
+having only returned to this country from India about a month before
+coming here, and when we were in India, Penloe went to the University of
+Calcutta as soon as he was ready to enter as a student. I lived in that
+city nineteen years.'
+
+"'Why, have you lived in India,' I said.
+
+"Yes,' she answered. 'I left New York a year after I was married. My
+husband represented a New York company in India. He died six years ago,
+but we continued to reside there until Penloe finished his University
+course.'
+
+"I was clean taken back by what she said. I said, 'It's none of my
+business, Mrs. Lenair, but I don't see why a fine looking young man like
+Penloe, with the education you say he has had, don't get light, pleasant
+work, if he has to work out, instead of working at such hard places with
+the toughest crowds of men.'
+
+"All she said was: 'That is his work.'
+
+"Why, Mrs. Herne, do you know that he worked on the streets of the city
+of Chicago, and for three months with a gang of a thousand men on the
+Coast Railroad between Los Angeles and San Francisco! Then he was at the
+Oakdale cattle ranch, cowboying it, with that fast gang of boys that
+they keep there. Then he worked for awhile at the Simmons ranch, which
+is four miles from Roseland, and Simmons always keeps the hardest crew
+of men on his place. They go to Roseland every other night or so and
+dance at those low dancing-houses with bad women. They get drunk, fight,
+and swear all the time. Simmons' ranch has got the name of being the
+toughest place to work anywhere round here.
+
+"One day when Dan was in Roseland, he saw a man he knew from the Simmons
+ranch, so he thought he would hear what the fellow had to say about
+Penloe, as we both are curious to find out all we can about that
+singular young man.
+
+"Dan said: 'Is Penloe working on the Simmons ranch?'
+
+"The man said: 'Yes.'
+
+"Dan said: 'How does he get along?'
+
+"'Get along!' the man said. 'All I have to say is I wish I could get
+along as well.'
+
+"Dan said: 'What kind of a chap is he, anyway? I kind of want to know,
+as he is a neighbor of mine.'
+
+"'Well,' the man said, 'I will tell you, and then you can judge for
+yourself. I never heard him swear or knew of his telling a lie; he don't
+drink or tell smutty yarns, or have anything to do with bad women. The
+boss says he works well, and when he is not at work he never joins the
+boys in their foolish talk. He is by himself a great deal, praying, I
+reckon, but he is very sociable if any one will talk sense. Let me tell
+you what he did which will show you what kind of a man he is. One cold,
+chilly night in December, when we were all sleeping in the barn, each
+man having his own blankets, the boys had just turned in when a tramp
+came in and asked if he could sleep in the barn. One of the boys said,
+'Yes.' The fellow lay down on the hay without any blankets, and as soon
+as he was laid down his teeth began to chatter and he shook all over,
+for he had a chill. Penloe instantly got up and lit a lantern, took his
+blankets over to the tramp and said: 'Here, brother, you have got a
+chill. Take my blankets and roll yourself up in them; you will be better
+in the morning.' From where I lay I could just see the tramp's face, for
+Penloe was holding the lantern so the light went on his face. The fellow
+looked up at Penloe thunderstruck. I guess he never had a man speak to
+him that way before. He said: 'Well, stranger, you are mighty kind.' So
+Penloe helped him to roll the blankets round him, and then he went and
+lay down on the hay himself without any covering. The boys did a heap of
+thinking that night, but said nothing. The next morning Penloe asked the
+tramp how he was, and he said he slept pretty well, but he looked real
+miserable, as though he had not had a good square meal for a month and
+was weak from chills. Penloe said to the tramp: 'You stay here till I
+come back,' and he went to see the boss and told him there was a sick
+tramp in the barn, and would he let him stay there and eat at the same
+table with us till he got well and strong, and that the boss should take
+the tramp's board out of his wages. The boss asked a few questions,
+studied awhile, then said, all right, he didn't care. Penloe went back
+to the tramp and told him he had seen the boss and he could stay there
+till he got well and strong, and to eat his meals with them and it would
+not cost him a cent. Tears came in the tramp's eyes, and he tried to
+say, 'Thank you, stranger.'
+
+"During the day one of the men told the boss what Penloe had done last
+night; about giving his blankets up to a tramp and laying all night
+himself without any covering. After supper the boss called Penloe and
+told him there was a bed for him in the house, and he wanted him to
+sleep in it as long as the tramp was here, and as for the tramp, he
+would let the fellow stay here and board till he got a job in the
+neighborhood. He would not charge a cent for his board to Penloe. He
+himself had no work for the tramp.
+
+"When the boys heard what Simmons said and did in regard to the tramp
+and Penloe, one of them said he was more taken back than if he had seen
+the devil come out of hell.
+
+"'For you know, Dan,' the man said, 'Old Simmons is a hard nut and as
+close-fisted as he can be. Some of the boys think now he has got the
+Penloe fever. I think he got a straight look into Penloe's eyes and saw
+and felt something he never had seen and felt before. Penloe is a power
+when you know him.
+
+"The tramp stayed three days and got well. We thought it would be a
+month before he would be well enough to go to work, but it is that
+Penloe's doings, I know. He must have some power for healing like they
+say Christ had. Penloe is never sick. Heat or cold, dry or wet, seem
+just the same to him.
+
+"'The boss got the tramp a job at Kent's ranch. When he left he gave
+Penloe his hand, seemed to tremble a moment, tried to speak, but walked
+away without uttering a word. Penloe told the boss that the way the
+tramp bid him good-bye and thanked him was eloquently touching and
+powerful. The boss is very much changed; he is not so close and hard,
+and you now see a few smiles on his wife's face, where before you only
+saw lines of sadness; and the children, instead of being scared, as they
+used to be when they heard his footsteps coming, now run to meet him and
+hang around him.
+
+"'Simmons says Penloe was the making of him and family. Simmons has a
+high-priced fancy mare that the boys always have said he thought more of
+than he did of his family, and no one ever drove her but himself. He
+would not loan her out to any one for a day for fifty dollars, yet now
+the boys say 'he would let Penloe have the mare to go to hell and back.'
+
+"'Some of the boys also seem to have caught the fever, and it has made a
+great change in their lives. Penloe will leave the Simmons ranch soon,
+but his influence is there to stay. The man said, 'If you have any more
+men like Penloe in Orangeville, send them down this way, for these God
+forsaken ranches need men like him!'
+
+"Dan says Penloe is like his mother in regard to tramps. Why, that woman
+was all alone, and a tramp called at her house to get a job of work. He
+said work was scarce and he had no money and needed some food; that he
+was hungry. He told Dan some time afterwards that before she replied she
+gave him a close look all over. He said her eye seemed to penetrate him,
+and after scrutinizing him very closely, she said: 'Come in, friend, you
+can stay here till you can find work.' She set before him plenty of
+good, hearty food, put a napkin to his plate, and talked to him
+interestingly about matters which seemed to make him feel that he was a
+better man. What do you think Mrs. Lenair had him do, Mrs. Herne? Why,
+he was shown into the bathroom, and given one of Penloe's night-gowns,
+and after he had taken his bath she had him sleep in her spare bedroom.
+'Why,' I said to Mrs. Lenair, 'how could you do such a thing? I would no
+more have done it than I would have slept in a room with a rattlesnake.'
+
+"She said, 'Mrs. Cullom, that man is my brother, and I treated him as
+such, and that thought was so impressed on his mind that it touched his
+better nature, and he could only think of me with the best and purest of
+feelings. I know that it was impossible for that man to hurt me. I fear
+no human being in this world.' The tramp stayed at her house for five
+days, and at the end of that time he got a chance at harvesting on the
+Thornton ranch. When he came to take leave of Mrs. Lenair, she said to
+him: 'You have put in five good full days' work, and here is five
+dollars for you'--handing him a five-dollar gold piece. He said: 'You
+did not hire me to work, and for what little I have done you have paid
+me a thousand times more than it is worth, in your conduct towards me.
+You took me, a poor, miserable, worthless, homeless tramp into your
+home, as if I had been your own brother, and you acted the true sister
+towards me. Now I wish to play the brother's part by giving you my work.
+It is the only thing I can do to show you how I appreciate your sisterly
+kindness toward me. I can earn all the money I need now at the Thornton
+ranch. I shall never forget you, because you are the only woman I ever
+met that received me and treated me as a sister would her brother; and
+if you ever need any work done on your place, and you have not the money
+to pay for its being done, remember I am your brother, and will do it
+gladly; more so than if you paid me two dollars a day.' She thanked him
+and said he had better take the five dollars, and laid it down on the
+table for him to take. He said he never would take it, and left it
+there. His last words to her were, 'I am going to be a new man.'
+
+"Dan was on an errand to her place while the tramp was there. He saw him
+working in the orchard as if he was trying to do two days' work in one.
+Dan said he couldn't hire a man to work as he was working.
+
+"I was rather amused at Dan," continued Mrs. Cullom. "When I returned
+from having taken Mrs. Lenair home in the evening (on the day that I
+told you that Dan went and brought her in the morning to spend the day),
+Dan came and took the team. 'Caroline,' he said, 'if you send me after
+Mrs. Lenair many times more I shall be falling in love with her, for I
+think she is real good, as well as being smart and bright.' 'What! Dan
+Cullom,' I said. 'She wouldn't have an awful talking man like you, even
+if you had a diamond on the end of every hair on your head.'"
+
+When Mrs. Cullom was about to leave, Mrs. Herne said: "I have enjoyed
+your visit so much, Mrs. Cullom. You have got me interested in Penloe
+and his mother. I do so want to see them."
+
+That evening Mrs. Herne related part of Mrs. Cullom's conversation to
+her husband and asked him if he knew Penloe or his mother.
+
+"Penloe I have seen a few times, but his mother I have never seen,"
+replied he.
+
+"What kind of a man is he?" asked his wife.
+
+"Well," said Charles, "I hardly know him. He is certainly a remarkable
+appearing young man. He is so different in his looks and expression from
+any man I have ever met or seen; so different from the kind that I have
+always associated with, that I could be no judge of such a man any more
+than I could be a judge of millinery or silks and satins, for I have had
+just about as much to do with one as I have with the other."
+
+"Well," said his wife, "I want you to arrange in some way so we can meet
+them, for I am all worked up over them after what Mrs. Cullom has told
+me, and am very curious to see them."
+
+"Something will happen in some way, so that we will meet them," he
+replied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+BEN WEST'S EXPERIENCE IN THE KLONDIKE.
+
+
+At the time Ben West went to the Klondike, a long tedious journey on a
+trail had to be made. He realized that whatever ability he possessed for
+making his way in that country, he lacked experience as a miner. So he
+was on the lookout to see if he could find one or two men of experience.
+He met many men on his journey, some of them having had most remarkable
+experience in mining and everything else. He met a man by the name of
+Adams that he thought would fill the bill; for he said he had mined in
+Colorado, Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada. From the talk Ben West had with
+different men, he knew now that he was in a country where men had no
+known reputations to back them; where every man was looked upon by every
+other man as being "on the make," without any scruples of conscience;
+where you would be laughed at if you took in all men said about
+themselves; where a man's word was worth very little and the only thing
+that counted was "something was in sight."
+
+Adams told Ben West if he wished to secure his services, he would have
+to pay his expenses to Dawson City and give him five hundred dollars in
+cash before leaving Dawson City to go prospecting, and furnish him all
+supplies, and he, in return, would give Ben West half of whatever he
+found. Ben West, having several thousand dollars with him, was willing
+to take chances, and hired Adams. He also met another man in his travels
+who had had some experience, but was "dead broke." His name was Dickey,
+and he told Ben West if he would grub and stake him and give him one
+hundred dollars in cash when in Dawson City, he would give him half of
+what he found. Ben West agreed to Dickey's proposition, and the three
+men traveled together to Dawson City.
+
+Their journey was of a most tedious, trying character, the weather being
+disagreeable in the extreme. It rained more or less every day, making
+the travel exceedingly slow and difficult; it being so muddy and
+slippery, you seemed as if you went two steps backward to every one you
+went forward. The trail in many places was washed out and had to be
+repaired before they could proceed. In some places land-slides had
+blocked the trail, and it involved a great amount of labor to clear them
+off. Everything around Ben West was of a most discouraging nature. What
+with being cold and wet all day; leg weary in the extreme when night
+came; bill of fare very meagre, consisting of bread, beans, bacon, and
+coffee, the men he hired sometimes felt like throwing up the sponge. For
+they met many returning who said the country was hell and no good; many
+were sick lying along the side of the trail; some were dying, and they
+saw some dead; also a good many dead pack animals were seen. His
+surroundings were certainly blue.
+
+One morning he awoke very early, long before it was time to rise. It was
+raining hard, and the thought came to him, another long tedious wet
+day's journey; how much longer would this fearful traveling last? Would
+they ever reach Dawson City, or would they, like many others, die on the
+road? Then he thought, why was he here? He could not help contrasting
+the difference between his environments here and those in Orangeville.
+Here all around him was black, barren, cold, wet, and dismal; with
+nearly every one cursing the country and calling it hell; and some felt
+like calling for some small boy to kick them because they were fools
+enough to come here.
+
+Then he thought of his parents in Orangeville with every comfort inside,
+and a perfect paradise of fruits and flowers outside. He thought of
+California's lovely skies, its balmy, invigorating breezes, and its
+many, many sunny days. He said, what would the people who are
+journeying along here think if they had a climate like that in
+Orangeville, which is matchless this side of heaven? He continued
+interrogating himself. Why did I come here? Did I not always have more
+of the very best and greatest variety of food than I could eat? Yes. Did
+I not always have more fine clothes than I could wear? Yes. Did I not
+always have more money than I needed to spend? Yes. Could a man be more
+popular than I was in Orangeville? No. In short, could a man have a much
+better all round time anywhere than I had in Orangeville? No. Then why
+am I here in this strange country, away from friends and loved ones? A
+small voice whispered to Ben West, and said: "It is because of your love
+for popularity, your greed, and because you are a slave to Julia
+Hammond." It was the name of Julia Hammond that roused Ben West from his
+reverie, that caused him to be restless, to rise, to proceed on his
+journey, and bring his iron will to bear, to overcome all obstacles.
+
+After enduring over thirty days of disagreeable, rainy, muddy weather,
+it changed to cold, freezing weather, with snow falling. Many more
+hardships the party endured before reaching Dawson City.
+
+When they arrived at Dawson City they felt very rocky and completely
+played out. The first week they were in Dawson City, they just rested
+and took care of themselves and got well and recuperated. Then Adams
+said to Ben West he wanted his money. So Ben gave him his five hundred
+dollars, and he also paid Dickey one hundred.
+
+So, after Adams got his money, he said: "Come West, let's see the
+sights."
+
+Ben said: "I am here to make money, not to fool it away."
+
+Adams said: "Why, West, we have had hell enough in getting here; let's
+have some fun to-night. Come, West, and see the show and take in the
+elephant."
+
+Ben West said: "Adams, I know now where most of your money goes that
+you have made mining; but women and whiskey will not get mine."
+
+"Go slow, West, these girls are not respectable according to rules and
+regulations of society, and I don't say they are, but look out and see
+_that some one woman_ does not get away with your money. She may be
+considered respectable as the world goes, but there may not be a great
+difference between the one woman and these girls. I have seen the world,
+West, and men like you before."
+
+Adams' remark had the effect of taking the sails out of Ben West's
+self-righteous spirit, and he said nothing more.
+
+It was agreed among the three that they would remain in Dawson City
+another week and then they would go prospecting.
+
+The day before starting to go, Ben West thought he had better get his
+men, so he went round to the saloons, dives and dance-houses. After
+searching about all such places, he found Adams in a dance-house, and
+Dickey in the corner of a saloon. Both men were busted and seemed glad
+to have Ben come and take care of them. By the next day he got both men
+straightened out, and they proceeded on their prospecting tour. Ben West
+was determined to learn from Adams all he could in the way of mining.
+After they had been out about a week, Ben sent Dickey in one direction
+while he and Adams went in another. He watched Adams very closely and
+learned lots from him. When they had been together about a month, Ben
+West was getting tired of Adams for several reasons. One day he was
+prospecting about a quarter of a mile from Adams, when he found
+something rich. He brought a few samples to camp at night and showed
+them to Adams. When Adams looked at the samples, he said: "West, you
+have struck it." So the next day Adams went with Ben to see the mine,
+and by doing more work it proved to be all that Ben West had expected.
+Now that a mine had been found, Adams wanted to get a settlement with
+Ben West, as he had been away some time and wanted to get back to Dawson
+City. Ben West did not think he owed Adams anything, as Adams had not
+found the mine, but for some reason Adams thought he ought to have an
+interest in what West found; so they had some wordy trouble. After many
+hot words, Ben West agreed to give Adams two thousand dollars, which
+offer Adams accepted and then returned to Dawson City to see and enjoy
+more fun as he called it. Two weeks later an agent representing the
+North American Mining Syndicate bought Ben West's claim for fifty
+thousand dollars, giving him a draft for forty thousand and ten thousand
+in gold coin.
+
+For a few weeks afterwards Ben West felt rich, then, strange to relate,
+a feeling came over him that he was poor, and must make at least half a
+million. About a month after he had sold his claim, he met three men
+from his native State, California. He was glad to see men from his
+State, and they were glad to see him, when they heard him say that he
+had sold a claim, as they had very little money and might need some
+financial help. Ben West found their company very entertaining and liked
+to be with them. After awhile it was decided that all of them should go
+in as partners. When they had been out prospecting a few weeks as
+partners, it is singular to have to state that there was trouble over
+every little show of a claim, and many other matters caused
+unpleasantness, though before they became partners they were all great
+friends. But the partnership business seemed to make them all at outs
+with each other. After they had been out awhile prospecting, Ben West
+found out that two of his partners were tender-footed men, never having
+had any experience as miners, though they at first tried to make Ben
+think they had.
+
+"I have got through with partners," said Ben West, "and from this time
+on I will prospect alone; then what I find will belong to me, and no
+second party can claim a share and growl because he can't have it all.
+Besides, this partnership is a failure after all. There is more or less
+trouble all the time about cooking, packing, getting the fuel for fire,
+cleaning up, and putting the things away afterwards. Then how will it
+be if a good prospect is found? I shall have all the work to do and only
+get half." This resolve was made after a long hard journey of several
+days, over a rough slippery trail with now and then deep snow to wade
+through, and also over rocky points that one is almost sure to find in
+the mountains.
+
+The two tender-footed men were good fellows, but, like too many others,
+when the novelty of the enterprise began to develop into a stern
+reality, and there was manual labor to be performed, and hardships to be
+endured, and some personal sacrifices to be made, they began to lose
+heart, get homesick and weary, and to shirk their part; also to be surly
+and disagreeable. "We won't quarrel," said Ben West, "but when we get to
+Antelope Springs we will divide our stores and then each one will 'shift
+for himself,' as the saying is."
+
+In a few days they arrived at the Springs and at once divided the
+supplies. After a couple of days' stay, Ben West started out again
+prospecting, and slow tedious work he found it. He toiled day after day,
+tired and weary at night, but blessed with a night of sweet sound sleep
+so that in the morning he was fresh and ready for another day's work.
+Things went on in this way for awhile, then he came to a place that had
+been tried but abandoned. Here he worked for about two days and found
+what he was looking for. But it was not rich, though his hopes seemed to
+revive once more. Here he brought his camping outfit and went to work in
+good earnest for about ten days. He took out from fifteen to thirty
+dollars per day, and the prospect looked favorable. A party offered him
+twenty thousand dollars for his claim, but he refused it, and after some
+bargaining he sold it for thirty thousand dollars.
+
+He decided now to not only prospect himself but to stake others for a
+half interest in what they found. Amongst them was a young fellow by the
+name of Lane, of doubtful reputation, and his partner Bruce. Ben West
+gave them a six weeks' outfit to go to a part of the country that had
+not been looked over at all. After they had been gone about four weeks
+Bruce, Lane's partner, came into camp and wanted Ben West. He was out in
+the hills looking for another claim, but Bruce went after him to get him
+to go with him to where Lane was, for they had found a good prospect
+that was very rich. After getting together the few necessary things that
+they needed, off the two men went, and sure enough it was a rich mine,
+one that was paying three to six hundred dollars per day. "Now," said
+Ben West, "I am opposed to any partnership business, and will sell or
+buy. Just one half of this claim is mine. I will take twenty-five
+thousand dollars or agree to give you the same amount for your half; and
+would like an answer at once or as soon as you can decide."
+
+Lane and Bruce talked the matter over and finally concluded to sell. "It
+is a bargain," said Ben West, "and we will now go back to town and I
+will give you your money."
+
+It looked stormy before bedtime and next morning the snow was quite
+deep. Though the snow was still falling, they were anxious to get to
+town; so they started on the tedious journey of sixty miles through the
+snow, then over a foot deep. Their progress was slow and they did not
+make half the distance; being exhausted, they stopped for food and rest.
+After eating a cold lunch, they fixed a place and spread their slender
+allowance of bedding and turned in for the night. It was bitter cold,
+but they were tired; so it was not long before they were all soundly
+sleeping. When they awoke in the morning they realized that a very hard
+day's travel was before them, having about forty miles to make before
+supper.
+
+When Ben West got up he did not feel quite right, for one of his feet
+felt kind of odd. It did not take Lane long to find out the foot had
+been slightly frozen. So to work they went and thawed it out, wrapped it
+up well and started. It did not snow now, but it was cold. Their
+progress was slow. When they had traveled about ten miles, Bruce said:
+"I will push ahead and get a sled and some of the boys to come and meet
+you, so make all the distance you can."
+
+"All right," said West, "send four men with a sled and something to eat.
+I will pay the bill and the men for coming."
+
+Bruce arrived in town some time after dark, but though very tired and
+hungry he did not eat until he had started four good stout men after his
+comrades, whom they met some nine or ten miles out. Poor Ben West could
+go no further, for his foot was quite painful, and he and Lane both
+waited and watched for relief, which came at last. It was almost
+midnight when the relief party arrived. They brought a fine lunch and a
+bottle of wine, which both enjoyed very much. After the lunch was eaten
+all hands started for the town, where they arrived just as the day was
+breaking. The frozen foot proved to be worse than at first supposed to
+be. It would keep the owner an invalid for at least two weeks. Ben West
+said: "Here is a pretty mess. My fortune just at my fingers' end and a
+frozen foot tied up for half a month, when I have so much to do. Why did
+I not take better care of myself?"
+
+At this time Bruce came to see how Ben West was getting along. He found
+him nervous and a little feverish. "Just be quiet," said Bruce, "it is
+the best medicine you can have." After Ben West had paid Lane and Bruce
+for their claim, Bruce said to West: "If you like I will go with another
+man, that you may name, and work in your mine until you come to us. For
+my pay I want fourteen dollars per day and I'll furnish my own grub."
+The bargain was made. Bruce and the man started the next day, and just
+sixteen days after Ben West was at his mine.
+
+They had a large pile of pay dirt ready for a clean-up; it was
+exceedingly rich and several claim buyers had heard about the rich mine
+and were on the ground to buy it from West. After a great deal of talk
+West said: "The mine is worth a million, but I want to get out of this
+country, and the man that pays me five hundred and fifty thousand
+dollars gets the mine."
+
+An hour afterwards the agent for an English syndicate purchased the
+mine. Ben West having now made his pile determined to lose no time in
+getting back to Orangeville, but he intended to stay in San Francisco
+till he was thoroughly recuperated before going home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+AN ARRIVAL.
+
+
+George Combe has said, "Mankind love their young and take charge of them
+with common accord, yet the love of offspring is much more intense in
+the female than in the male, and this difference is manifested from
+earliest infancy. The boy wants his whip, horse, drum, top or sword, but
+observe the little girl occupied with her doll. She decks it in fine
+clothes, prepares for it night linen, puts it into the cradle, rocks it,
+takes it up, feeds it, scolds it, and tells it stories. When she grows
+older she takes charge of her younger brothers and sisters. Nothing
+possesses, in her estimation, greater charms than babies. When she has
+grown to maturity and become herself a mother, with what sweet emotion
+and gushing tenderness does she caress her little ones."
+
+While the love of offspring is more or less strong in all, yet it does
+not manifest itself if there are other tendencies predominant in the
+character. Take a woman in whom the love of dress and society is most
+active; she will not care for offspring, if her circumstances are such
+that it would debar her from enjoying style or society; or if the
+artistic inclination is the strongest in her character she would not
+want offspring; or if great intellectual tastes are very strong and love
+of children only moderate, she would not want offspring; or where
+persons have consecrated themselves fully and unreservedly to a
+spiritual life in order to become spiritual parents to many, to them
+offspring would be a hindrance in their work. But where the domestic
+faculties are the strongest, the home is lonesome without children. In
+some the maternal instinct is exceedingly strong, for it manifests
+itself to such an extent as to become the ruling passion; nothing else
+but offspring can satisfy them. And this maternal passion is expressed
+in matchless language by Mr. Stephen Phillips:[1] "Lucrezia's sudden
+outburst of grief and rage against her lonely fate is, poetically
+speaking, one of the finest passages in the play:"
+
+[Footnote 1: Literary Digest, Dec., 1899.]
+
+    GIOVANNI.
+            Lucrezia! this is that old bitterness.
+
+    LUCREZIA.
+            Bitterness--am I bitter? strange, oh strange!
+            How else? My husband dead and childless left.
+            My thwarted woman--thoughts have inward turned,
+            And that vain milk like acid in me eats.
+            Have I not in my thought trained little feet
+            To venture, and taught little lips to move
+            Until they shaped the wonder of a word?
+            I am long practiced. Oh, those children, mine,
+            Mine, doubly mine; and yet I cannot touch them.
+            I cannot see them, hear them--Does great God
+            Expect I shall clasp air and kiss the wind
+            Forever, and the budding cometh on?
+            The burgeoning, the cruel flowering;
+            At night the quickening splash of rain, at dawn
+            That muffled call of babes how like to birds;
+            And I amid these sights and sounds must starve
+            I with so much to give perish of thrift!
+            Omitted by His casual dew!
+
+    GIOVANNI.
+            Well, well,
+            You are spared much; children can wring the heart.
+
+    LUCREZIA.
+            Spared! to be spared what was I born to have,
+            I am a woman, and this very flesh
+            Demands its natural pangs, its rightful throes,
+            And I implore with vehemence these pains.
+            I know that children wound us, and surprise
+            Even to utter death, till we at last
+            Turn from a face to flowers; but this my heart
+            Was ready for these pangs, and had foreseen
+            Oh! but I grudge the mother her last look
+            Upon the coffined form--that pang is rich--
+            Envy the shivering cry when gravel falls
+            And all these maimed wants and thwarted thoughts,
+            Eternal yearning, answered by the wind,
+            Have dried in me belief and love and fear.
+            I am become a danger and a menace,
+            A wandering fire, a disappointed force,
+            A peril--do you hear, Giovanni? Oh,
+            It is such souls as mine that go to swell
+            The childless cavern cry of the barren sea,
+            Or make that human ending to night wind.
+
+In Mrs. Charles Herne, this feeling was not quite as strong as that
+expressed in the play, but after they had been married two years, she
+did some quiet thinking in that line. She would sit alone at times, and
+let her imagination be active in the thought, what delight it would give
+her if when her husband came in the room where she was, she could take
+him over to a little crib and turn back the corner of a fancy worked
+cover and show him such a sweet, wee, little face nestled on the pillow,
+and what joy it would give her, when her husband came in from his work
+to put a little one into his arms and see how delighted he would be to
+take the child, and then see him sit down and hear him use language
+which belongs to baby talk. Again she thought what pleasure it would
+give her to start a little toddling form down the pathway to meet her
+husband, and to see the little one stand still when it met its father,
+and raise its little arms to be taken up. All these thoughts and many
+more passed through the mind of Mrs. Herne, for she now knew for a
+certainty that such joys would be hers, and many a pleasant laugh and
+joke she and her husband had over the coming of a little tot.
+
+One day a little later there was started in the most sacred room in the
+house a vibration by the doctor which reached the auditory nerve of the
+nurse conveying to the brain a most joyous statement, "It is a boy." The
+nurse carried it to the kitchen, "It is a boy." The Chinaman cook
+carried it to the Jap chore boy, "It is a boy." The Jap chore boy
+carried it to the teamsters, "It is a boy." The teamsters carried it to
+the men on the ditches, "It is a boy." The ditch men carried it to the
+men in the orchard, "It is a boy." The prune trees took up the glad news
+and whispered it to the apricot trees, "It is a boy." The apricot trees
+whispered it to the peach trees, "It is a boy." The peach trees
+whispered it to all the other fruit trees, "It is a boy."
+
+When Pet, Bell, Blanche and Daisy, with their large udders full of rich
+lacteal fluid, heard the news, "It is a boy," they gave forth an extra
+flow of milk that night. When the frisky mules in the barn lot heard the
+joyful tidings, "It is a boy," they just cut up and threw their hind
+feet higher than ever. You could not see them for the dust they made.
+The roosters crowed, "It is a boy," and the hens cackled, "It is a boy."
+The orioles in the mulberry trees warbled out the song, "It is a boy."
+The dogs, Dash and Rover, in their play that evening barked at each
+other, "It is a boy." The cats Tom and Malty purred, "It is a boy." It
+seemed as if the vibrations in all the buildings and all over the ranch
+rang out the glad tidings, "It is a boy."
+
+In the evening when all Mr. Herne's men congregated in their fine
+quarters to have some music, Osborn sat down to the piano and played
+while all the men sang, that old negro song:
+
+   "Give 'em more children, Lord,
+    Give 'em more children;
+    Give 'em more children, Lord,
+    Give 'em more children."
+
+Osborn said to the boys when retiring, "What a feeling of joy the advent
+of a little boy has brought to us all on the ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Herne
+have got their wish now, for they both wanted a son."
+
+Barnes said: "What a fine time we will have with the little fellow, when
+he is old enough to toddle. We will have him over here most of the
+time."
+
+One day after dinner when the baby was about a month old, a man standing
+six feet three inches and weighing two hundred and twenty-five pounds,
+came on the porch where Mrs. Herne was sitting with the baby, and said:
+"Mrs. Herne, the boys want me to take the baby to them. They are all
+sitting under the mulberry trees."
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "All right, Frank." But the nurse seemed to be alarmed
+lest he might hurt the infant, as he was so large and awkward, not used
+to handling a baby four weeks old, so she followed Frank and the baby to
+where the boys were. Frank said: "Here boys, each one of you can hold
+him just long enough to pass your opinion upon him." The men seemed to
+take as much pride and interest in the child as if he were their own.
+After the boy had been in each of the men's arms and they had passed
+their judgment on him, the nurse wanted to take the child back, but tall
+Frank said: "No, I took the baby from Mrs. Herne and I am going to see
+the child in her arms safe again." When putting the baby in her lap he
+said: "The boys all think he is the brightest baby they ever saw."
+
+After he was gone the nurse said: "You ought to see how gentle those
+great men handled that baby."
+
+Every day the men always inquired and talked about the baby, and were
+eager to watch its growth.
+
+If you entered the house of an evening about the time the baby was put
+to bed, you would hear a very sweet, soft voice singing:
+
+   "Hush! my child, lie still and slumber,
+      Holy angels guard thy bed.
+    Heavenly blessings without number
+      Cluster round thy sacred head."
+
+There is great talk made among many persons about catching different
+kinds of disease and sickness, but how seldom you hear people talk about
+the contagious qualities of hope, joy and love. Supposing on a ranch the
+owner gets up in the morning and starts the vibrations going, "That All
+is life, All is love, All is joy, and All is God," and there is a hearty
+response by his wife who takes up the invocation, "All is life, All is
+love, All is joy, and All is God." And carrying them into the kitchen,
+she adds to them by singing this song:
+
+    "The thorns that pester and vex my life
+       Have changed to the flowers in June,
+     All sounds, disorders, pain and strife
+       Have rounded into tune."
+
+From the kitchen the chore boy takes up the sayings to the teamsters,
+"All is life, All is love, All is joy, All is God." The teamsters take
+up those life-giving words, and instead of swearing at their teams all
+day, and talking about hell, their thoughts and talk is, "All is life,
+All is love, All is joy, All is God." The men on the ditches and in the
+orchards echo the glad thought, "All is life, All is love, All is joy,
+All is God." And the birds in the trees sing with gladness, "All is
+life, All is love, All is joy, All is God," and that very interesting
+ring-neck bird, the kildee, as it runs along the ditches and moist
+places in the orchards, speaks in its peculiar way that, "All is life,
+All is love, All is joy, All is God." And the music of the waters as it
+flows along, rippling in the ditches, sings "All is life, All is love,
+All is joy, All is God." The winds talk it to the trees, "All is life,
+All is love, All is joy, All is God." The trees whisper it to each
+other, "All is life, All is love, All is joy, All is God," and the music
+of the insects say the same thing, "All is life, All is love, All is
+joy, and All is God." When the God of day, with his effulgent
+brightness, rises over the hills in the morning and scatters his
+luminous rays on the ranch, and writes in lights and shadows his
+hieroglyphics that "All is life, All is love, All is joy, All is God."
+And the one grand anthem that is being sung in the hearts and lives of
+all on the ranch is, "All is life, All is love, All is joy, All is God."
+
+With an aspiration like that on the ranch, all cursing and swearing
+would disappear; smallness, meanness, jealousy, covetousness and greed
+could not live in that atmosphere. That spiritual air in circulation
+would kill out all lustful thoughts, pride, vanity, love of strong
+liquors, and of coarse animal food. Everything would manifest the fruits
+of the Spirit, which are peace, joy and love. All sickness and disease
+would disappear, because those life-giving, purifying thoughts would
+become incorporated and assimilated in the mind, nerve force, and enter
+into the blood, flowing through its veins and arteries all over the
+whole system, making the entire organism sound and pure, a fit temple
+for the dwelling of the Eternal One.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+MRS. MARSTON.
+
+
+In the last three years the beautiful little city of Roseland with its
+avenues of palms and magnolias had a boom. Large substantial brick and
+granite blocks were erected. Very many new and handsome residences were
+built, besides putting a new appearance on some of the old buildings.
+The commercial, professional and mechanical classes were all doing well,
+and living in expectation of doing still better.
+
+Among those who had prospered by the rise in real estate was a Mrs.
+Marston, who owned one of the finest residences in Roseland. At the time
+that she enters our story her age was about forty and she had a son who
+was twenty years old, a month before he left for Paris, and he had been
+gone away four months. Why he had gone to Paris, the stories concerning
+his mission to that gay city did not quite harmonize. His father came to
+the conclusion ten years ago that his mother was too much like himself,
+in being a positive, dominant character; that she was a little too
+masculine in her makeup, and he thought he would prefer a lady for a
+wife who did not weigh quite as much, and one that was a little sweeter
+in disposition, and more playful. When he reflected that he was worth
+one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, he thought that some of the joys
+of having a sweet wife should be his, and particularly when he had seen
+Josephine Stearns, whom he thought would more than meet his most
+sanguine expectations, for to his mind, she seemed to possess all those
+very desirable qualities of disposition which he so much admired. In a
+very indirect way he made his mind known to Mrs. Marston, who pretended
+she did not like such a proposition, but if he would give her fifty
+thousand dollars and let her have the boy, she would consent to a
+divorce. Her husband thought it over in this way. He said, "I am not
+happy in living with my wife, don't like my home at all, and what good
+does it do a man to be worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, if
+he is not enjoying some of the greatest pleasures in life. Better have
+only a hundred thousand dollars with a pretty sweet young lady like
+Josephine, than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars with my present
+wife." Next morning he scratched his head, and said in a slow kind of a
+way, "I think fifty thousand dollars rather steep, but I do not wish to
+have any fuss or quibbling, and you can have the boy, and I will give
+you twenty-five thousand dollars in cash, and twenty-five thousand in
+real estate," which she accepted. To look at her you could not tell what
+her feelings were, but way down deep in her heart she was overflowing
+with gladness to think she was free.
+
+The rise in real estate made her worth in all as much as her husband was
+when he left her. She was known in Roseland as being a lady that was
+fond of young people's company, and she was great on entertaining. She
+was one of those ladies who are proud, fond of dress and style, very
+particular about moving in the upper circles of society, but she had no
+interest or sympathy with plain, poor people. She loved to dress young
+for her years, was fond of going with young ladies and gentlemen bicycle
+riding. She generally had as guests one or two very pretty young ladies,
+and another of her fads was to make pets of a few sons of rich men. As
+she had a fine large house and loved to entertain, the leading young men
+in Roseland, and some of the prettiest and most stylish young ladies,
+were very often seen in her parlors and on her well-kept lawn. The
+lunches and suppers she served to her guests were the talk of the town.
+She had a sister who lived in Orangeville, but who was so different in
+her tastes and circumstances that there was nothing in common between
+them.
+
+One day she was out driving, and her eyes caught the sight at a little
+distance of two persons walking on the sidewalk. She made the team walk
+slow when she saw them. They did not see her, but she took in at a
+glance what a clear complexion, bright eyes, and lovely form the young
+lady had. She said to herself, "How beautiful Stella has grown, but what
+plain clothes she has on." She reined the team towards the sidewalk and
+said, "Why, Stella, I did not know you had returned from school. Good
+morning, David," she said to her sister's husband. "Wont you both come
+to the house?" David said that Stella had just come in on the train and
+they had been doing a few errands and were expected back by Bertha at a
+certain time and could not stop now.
+
+Mrs. Marston said to Stella, "I want you to come and make me a long
+visit. I will be out to-morrow at your house and arrange with your
+mother for your coming to visit me." She thanked her aunt for her
+invitation and said she would tell her mother.
+
+Mrs. Marston had remarked on more than one occasion to her sister
+Bertha, that she would die if she had to stay in a place like
+Orangeville over night. As that lady did not feel she was ready to quit
+her material form with all its attachments and desires, she decided to
+leave Roseland at eight in the morning and that would give her ample
+time to have a long chat with her sister, and she could then be home by
+five in the evening in time to dress for dinner and receive whoever
+might call. She telephoned to her caterer to have ready next morning at
+eight, one quart of orange sherbet and one quart of vanilla ice cream,
+put into two nice dishes and packed in a box with ice, then put two wet
+sacks over the box and set it in another box with a cover. She
+telephoned to the livery stable to have her span of handsome chestnuts
+brought to her house next morning at eight. The next morning she was up
+bright and early and put on just a good plain dress, and was ready to
+take the lines promptly at eight from the man who had brought her team.
+She drove round to the caterer's and got her box, then she went to the
+meat market and told the man to put up six pounds of steak, she called
+at the bakery and had the man put in her buggy one frosted fruit cake,
+one plain cake, one lemon pie, and a peach cobbler, and one dozen fresh
+baked Astor House rolls. After she had got a little way out from
+Roseland she stopped at a Chinaman's garden and purchased a few early
+vegetables. When she reached her sister's home it was about ten, and
+after a few minutes' chat she said to her sister, "Bertha, I have come
+out to have a visit with you and Stella, and I did not want you to be
+giving yourselves a lot of work in the way of getting up a big dinner,
+so I bought a few things on my way out, and all they need is to set them
+on the table, except the vegetables and meat, and I will attend to the
+vegetables; the pies and rolls may need just a little warming."
+
+Mrs. Marston was one of those ladies of skill and ability who could do
+anything in the kitchen equal to any hired help when she wished, and
+this morning she seemed to be so different to what she generally was,
+that her sister Bertha thought she either had improved greatly, or she
+had not judged her rightly. She seemed this morning so kind and
+thoughtful and so sisterly in her conversation and so ready to assist in
+getting dinner. Bertha said to Mrs. Marston, "Why, Helen, you have more
+steak here than we can eat in a week." To which Mrs. Marston replied,
+that she had brought lots of ice to keep it.
+
+When David was called to dinner, it certainly did his eyes and stomach
+good to see on the table such a spread of luxuries and dainties, which
+were so seldom partaken of by the Wheelwright family, as they lived very
+simply. All enjoyed the new bill of fare very much, and the repast was
+seasoned by a very pleasant family conversation. David seemed to open
+his eyes several times at the turn things were taking, because there had
+been times when his wife and her sister did not harmonize at all.
+
+During the morning when not observed, Mrs. Marston feasted her eyes on
+Stella's beautiful form in her new cut wrapper, and mentally said to
+herself, "When I get some new stylish gowns on that handsome figure, and
+that beautiful face under a becoming hat wont those Roseland dudes just
+go wild over her?" She laughed to herself and thought what fun she would
+have with her pets.
+
+After dinner was through they sat at the table resting and talking, when
+David said he would like to have Stella come out and help him a few
+minutes.
+
+Mrs. Marston spoke up and said, "Yes, dear; you go out and help your
+father. Your mother and I will wash the dishes."
+
+Mrs. Marston thought now is the time to speak to Bertha about Stella
+making me a visit. She opened the conversation by saying: "Bertha, I
+have seen so little of Stella for several years, that I do wish you
+would let her come next week and make me a visit. Not having a daughter,
+I feel as if I would like to do something for Stella, that is to give
+her a good chance. She is a bright girl and has an exceedingly fine
+form, and about all she has ever seen of society are cow-boys and ranch
+men, and may be a few ordinary respectable fellows; but I want to
+introduce her to bankers' sons, young lawyers, and rich merchants' sons,
+and give the girl a show. You see, she is going on eighteen, and if ever
+she is going to have an opportunity now is the time. After a young lady
+gets past twenty, her chances with the young bloods are not so good."
+
+"Well," said her sister, "you are very kind, Helen, and I don't know but
+what it might be a chance that she needs. You have my consent for her to
+make you a visit, and when you give her the invitation you can tell her
+what I say."
+
+"There is one matter, Bertha, that you will pardon me for speaking to
+you about, and I hope you will let me do as I wish, and that is in the
+matter of fixing up Stella's wardrobe."
+
+Bertha said: "Helen, she is your girl while she is with you, and you can
+do whatever you think best."
+
+So when Stella came in from helping her father, Mrs. Marston said:
+"Stella, I have been talking to your mother about your coming to make me
+a visit next week, and she has given her consent and I do hope you will
+come and be my daughter for awhile. We will have a fine time, I can
+assure you. Only bring the clothes you come in. I will rig you out from
+head to foot."
+
+Stella in her own mind felt this way: that she never had any personal
+experience of the circle that her aunt was a prominent figure in, and
+all she knew about the young men and young ladies connected with the
+swim, was only what she had heard and read. She felt that by personally
+coming in contact with those of different environments, it would widen
+her experience and give her a better knowledge of the world. So she very
+kindly thanked her aunt and it was decided that she would come on
+Thursday of the following week.
+
+When she arrived Stella was warmly welcomed into the elegantly furnished
+home of Mrs. Marston. Her aunt kissed her and seemed delighted to have
+her niece with her. The bedroom that her aunt said would be hers was a
+gem of beauty, being furnished with one of those fine enameled brass
+bedsteads, a fine dresser with a long bevel plate French mirror, and on
+the dresser was an elegant toilet set. The curtains, carpets and
+draperies matched the tints of the ceiling and walls. Fine costly
+pictures hung on the walls representing mostly scenes of festivities in
+baronial halls and castles, also in modern Fifth Avenue palaces; showing
+up so well the gay brilliant throng of ladies and gentlemen in the
+height of their enjoyment. The decorations and furnishings of the room
+were well in keeping with the lovely figure that was to occupy it.
+
+Mrs. Marston had a great deal of personal pride, and she did not care
+about taking Stella out till her wardrobe had been replenished. After
+breakfast next morning the door-bell rang and a minute or two afterwards
+Mrs. Rogers, the dressmaker, was announced by the servant to Mrs.
+Marston. When Mrs. Marston went in to see her she said: "Good morning,
+Mrs. Rogers; my niece is here and I would like you to see her so you can
+help me to select what you think would be suitable in the way of dresses
+and other garments for her."
+
+Mrs. Marston called Stella in and introduced her to Mrs. Rogers and
+said: "Mrs. Rogers will go with me to do some shopping, and we want you
+to leave entirely to us the matter of selecting your dresses. I am sure
+you will be pleased when we get through."
+
+Stella laughed and said: "If you show as much good taste in selecting my
+dresses as you have in the furnishing and decorating of my very pretty
+room, I am sure I shall be more than pleased." Her aunt was delighted
+with the compliment.
+
+Mrs. Marston said to Mrs. Rogers: "Did you come over on your bicycle?"
+
+"Yes," said that lady.
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Marston, "I will get mine and we will go now and do
+the shopping."
+
+At the Marston mansion towards evening several large packages arrived.
+Mrs. Marston opened two large ones, looked them over, then said: "Here,
+Stella, these are for you."
+
+After Stella had looked at them she said: "Why, aunt, dear, they are
+beautiful, but I am not going to be married now; they are pretty enough
+for the most charming bride in Roseland."
+
+While handling the fancy worked underskirts and nightdresses, the fine
+silk underwear and costly fancy silk hosiery, she remarked: "It is very
+kind of you, aunt, to get all these fine things." Then a box was opened
+and there was a great assortment of the best shoes, so that Stella might
+select several pair from it. She was quite pleased with the different
+materials her aunt had selected for her dresses, and Mrs. Rogers would
+be up next morning to take her measurement. She was going to put on a
+force of assistants for completing them as soon as possible.
+
+Stella was about the same as a prisoner in her aunt's house for a week.
+But she had a most enjoyable time in reading some very costly
+illustrated books of travel which her aunt had purchased more for style
+and appearance than for anything else.
+
+Her aunt said one day, she did not get any time to look at books, but
+she was glad Stella could amuse herself in that way so that she might
+not find the time long.
+
+"No, indeed, aunt," said Stella, "I have enjoyed every minute of the
+time I have been with you."
+
+The week that Stella was a prisoner her aunt had so arranged matters
+that there were few callers and Stella did not see them. And she herself
+was out most of the time. Stella was not the least sensitive in regard
+to the matter of not going out with her aunt till her new dresses were
+made, because she saw that she would be a very conspicuous figure among
+the well-dressed young ladies of her aunt's circle. She would look like
+a speckled bird among a flock of white pigeons.
+
+After the dress-making was completed Mrs. Rogers went with Mrs. Marston
+to the milliner's and purchased a pretty hat, Mrs. Marston saying she
+would bring Stella and let her select what more she might need in the
+line of millinery.
+
+The week following was one of excitement for Stella, for every day she
+was out riding once or twice with her aunt, and meeting so many young
+ladies, and the well-dressed young men were very particular when bowing
+to Mrs. Marston to recognize the pretty young face at her side. Towards
+the end of the week Mrs. Marston gave a swell reception in honor of her
+niece. The very elite of Roseland were there, also a few from other
+places who were on a visit to friends in Roseland, and all made a very
+gay and brilliant party. But if any young lady that evening looked
+attractive, bewitching, fascinating, and possessed the power of making
+the blood in some of the dudes present tingle from the roots of their
+hair to the end of their toes, it was that fresh young girl from the
+country, with her sparkling eye, her ready wit; with resources that
+seemed inexhaustible for sustaining interesting conversation together
+with a manner so simple, so unconscious in all she said and did and so
+unassuming, which added much to the charm of her personality. All these
+characteristics were manifested in fine well rounded form. Is it any
+wonder that some young gentlemen saw a certain form floating before
+them after they had put their heads to their pillows that night, and
+their brains were active in planning for further acquaintance with that
+young lady?
+
+Some of Mrs. Marston's pets lost no time in availing themselves of the
+standing invitation to call any time. Other parties were soon given by
+young ladies in Roseland, at which Stella had very pressing invitations
+to be present. The young ladies liked her very much; she was so natural,
+so sweet, so unaffected; they observed she was not what is called
+"fellow-struck;" while she seemed to enjoy and be perfectly at home in
+the society of young gentlemen, the young ladies saw no signs of her
+flirting with any of them. There is that peculiarity in the character of
+a certain class of young ladies, that while they may think it is their
+privilege to flirt and carry on with the young men they know, yet when a
+strange young lady is introduced into their circle of gentlemen friends,
+they have more respect for her if she shows some originality and does
+not behave just exactly as they do.
+
+Mrs. Marston was delighted at the impression Stella made on her circle
+of acquaintances, and now the dudes of Roseland paid Mrs. Marston extra
+attention and politeness since they had the pleasure of meeting her
+niece.
+
+Young Ryland, the banker's son, said to Barker, the rising young
+attorney at the Arlington Hotel, "Say, Barker, what do you think of that
+new flower which Mrs. Marston has put into our garden?"
+
+"I think," said Barker, "she is the prettiest and most fragrant bud I
+have seen; a very rare specimen."
+
+Ryland said: "She is quite a study; the more you see of her, the more
+interesting she grows."
+
+After Stella had been at her aunt's about a month she was seen less in
+her aunt's company riding out, but more in the company of the most
+stylish men in the city. Her aunt encouraged her in going out with these
+young gentlemen. She talked very much to her about how rich young
+Ryland's father, the banker, was; and she expected Barker to become one
+of the most brilliant lights at the bar. To-day he was worth twenty-five
+thousand dollars in his own name. Then there was young Westbrooke, son
+of the leading merchant in Roseland, the only son. He was home from
+college, with bright prospects. There was young Brookes, who owned fifty
+thousand dollars in real estate, and had traveled in Europe and seen
+lots of the world. He was a very great catch, her aunt said. These four
+young men, who always dressed with great taste, were Mrs. Marston's
+favorite pets. For a while Stella favored each one of these young men
+with her company, in buggy riding, but towards the end of the second
+month Westbrooke was the only one with whom she was seen riding.
+
+She never took her aunt into her confidence by relating her experience
+in going out with these various young gentlemen. She thought it policy
+not to; but to be pleasant to each one of them, even if she had decided
+not to keep company with some of them. She remembered she was her aunt's
+guest, and should make herself agreeable to her aunt and her aunt's
+friends. What she did not relate to her aunt she did to her mother, when
+she returned home from her visit the week after the second month of her
+stay in Roseland. In conversation with her mother, Stella said, "I am
+really glad I went to Aunt Helen's, for I have lived in two months a
+year of my life. I have seen so much of a world concerning which I
+previously knew nothing only by hearsay. I feel it has done me good in
+many ways. Aunt was kind to me, and made everything very pleasant, and
+so did her friends. I do say I am glad that I have lived in her world
+and tasted of its pleasures, because I don't go now on what I hear about
+that world. I know from my own personal experience. It has given me much
+to think about, and furnished a great deal of mental food for the study
+of character, and I have learned more about my own self. I know better
+now than I ever did before my strong points and weak ones." She told her
+mother what fine piano players the Miller girls were, what sweet
+singers Dr. Lacy's daughters were, and the male quartette was very fine.
+Ryland and Westbrooke are members of it, and after relating a number of
+other things which she heard and saw, she told her mother she could not
+tell her all now, but would some other time.
+
+So one afternoon, when they were alone, Stella said: "Well, mother, I
+will relate to you now some of my funny experiences with some of the
+swell young gentlemen of Roseland. They were all aunt's special pets. I
+had been out riding with young Ryland, the banker's son, several times,
+besides sometimes meeting him at parties. He is very dudish, and dresses
+very extravagantly. He is labeled as catch number one, because his
+father has said his son should take his place in the bank some day, and
+on his wedding day he gets a gift from his father of twenty-five
+thousand dollars, with the promise of the bulk of his father's fortune
+when he dies. On the first few occasions when I met young Ryland he
+seemed reserved and quiet, but the more I went out riding with him I
+found he was getting rather soft. He did not seem to show any other
+traits of character, and his company was dull, but he made it more
+sickening each time with soft, slobbering talk. I only went out with him
+to please aunt. The last time I rode out with him he plead so hard for
+me to allow him to kiss my hand that I consented grudgingly just to
+quiet him, but after he kissed it instead of his being quiet, as I
+supposed he would be, it seemed to fire him all the more, so that he
+wanted to kiss my cheek. You ought to have heard the way he talked; you
+would think he was about to die, and the only remedy there was for him
+was to kiss my cheek. If he could only kiss me on the cheek, life would
+come back to him and he would feel a new man. In my own mind, I said to
+myself, 'This is the last time I ride out with you.' The more I tried to
+show how foolish he was to want to kiss a young lady that did not want
+any such manifestation of affection, the more he persisted, and said, 'I
+must kiss you.' I said, 'If I loved you, it would be a real pleasure to
+receive a kiss from you, but instead of loving you I lose all the
+respect I ever had for you because you try to force me to accept a kiss
+from you when I don't want it.' But he persisted, and said, 'I must kiss
+you, it will do me lots of good, and won't hurt you.' I said, 'Have you
+no respect for me or yourself to act so senselessly?' He replied, 'It
+may appear senseless to you, but I can assure you it would be bliss to
+me.' I tried to turn the subject of kissing me to something else, and
+did the best I could to entertain him in conversation on other subjects,
+but no; he was more stubborn than ever to think of nothing and talk of
+nothing but kissing me on the cheek. Not wishing to have any
+unpleasantness with him on aunt's account, I said to myself, 'You are
+nothing but a simple, little, contrary, foolish child, in a man's form,
+and I shall have to humor you as I would a little boy, for you have only
+the mind of one.' I told him if he, as a young gentleman of honor, would
+never say one word more to me about kissing, he could kiss my cheek just
+once, which he did and was quiet afterwards. He was very pleasant during
+the remainder of our ride, and when I got out of the buggy I was glad he
+did not ask if he could call again on me. When I think of him I cannot
+keep from laughing, the foolish simpleton. I would not have him for all
+the gold in California. I must tell you about another of aunt's pets I
+went out riding with several times. There was more to him than there was
+to Ryland; his name is Barker, and he is worth twenty-five thousand
+dollars, and aunt says he will become one of the leading lights of the
+legal profession. Well, he was full of humor and jokes disposed to be a
+little gay in his talk, and from what he related concerning himself one
+might infer he had been at times a little swift. One afternoon we were
+out in the country riding and he became very animated in his
+conversation about taste and style of young ladies' dresses, and from
+that went on to say what a fad it was among young men to notice and
+admire the bright hosiery which young ladies wore when bicycle riding,
+and continued in that style of talk, saying what good taste I displayed
+in my dress; he was sure that the pretty, bright hosiery, which he
+supposed I wore, would do his eyes good to behold. Just as he was
+apparently making a motion as if to inspect my hosiery, his nigh colt
+shied at an old post that was leaning over at the side of the road. He
+had all he could do to manage the horse. I laughed, and told him 'He had
+better keep his mind on the team, and not think about such things as the
+kind of hosiery I was wearing, that he must not look upon me as a
+dry-goods window.' He acted kind of mad with the colt, and said no more
+about ladies' hosiery. That was the last ride we had together.
+
+"Well, one evening young Brookes, who was said to be worth fifty
+thousand dollars in real estate, and had seen much of Europe in his
+travels, called to take me to the theater. I had been out riding with
+him several times, and met him at every party. After the play was over,
+it being rather a warm night, he asked me if I would not like an
+ice-cream, and I agreed; so we went into a cafe, and the waiter showed
+us into one of the private boxes. After bringing ice-cream, cake and
+soda-water, he drew the curtains. We had a very pleasant chat while
+partaking of the refreshments.
+
+"Brookes asked me if I had any objection to his enjoying a cigarette.
+
+"I said 'No.'
+
+"Then he asked me if I would have one with him.
+
+"I laughed, and said I had not become fashionable enough for that yet. I
+would have to live longer in the city.
+
+"He said, 'Why, the Paris young ladies smoke.'
+
+"'Yes,' I said, 'but I am not a Paris young lady.'
+
+"In looking around the little compartment I observed some pictures on
+the walls, but I perceived that the artist was not a Rubens or a
+Raphael, and they belonged to that class of pictures that one would not
+see on the walls of a Sunday-school room.
+
+"I saw Mr. Brookes was looking at them, and then he started a
+conversation about his travels in Europe, which was very interesting,
+saying he was a great lover of art and speaking of works of art he saw
+there. He said it was astonishing the genius that had been displayed in
+marble and on canvas to represent the beautiful form of woman.
+Continuing in that strain, and being free in his expressions, he
+finished by saying how lovely must be the beautiful work of nature which
+was covered up here, putting his hand on my shoulder. I smiled, and
+said, 'This work of Nature is not on exhibition this evening; when it
+is, I will send you a complimentary ticket.' He took the remark in good
+part, and laughed. We got up and went out, and he saw me to aunt's door
+in a very pleasant, gentlemanly way.
+
+"Westbrooke, the merchant's son, was the most sensible young man I met.
+He appeared greatly interested in his college studies, and we had lots
+of good talks on school studies and other subjects.
+
+"He asked me if he could come out to see me.
+
+"I told him 'yes' for I should be pleased to see him.
+
+"I want to tell you, mother, that when I was out and passing through
+those funny experiences with the three different gentlemen, I never felt
+in the least timid or scared. I felt just as calm and collected as I do
+now. I felt this way about the matter: While I have long ago lost all
+prudishness, yet I did not wish to stimulate their over-excited
+imaginations of sensuous things."
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said: "Well, Stella, if you had not been well balanced,
+I should have some doubt about it being best for you to go to your
+aunt's. But I knew, dear, your tastes and inclinations were not on the
+sense plane, and I thought the opportunity of living in another world
+for a while would do you good, for it would be the means of giving you a
+better knowledge of yourself than you could get in any other way."
+
+Stella said: "Mother, the cow-boys and hired ranch hands have a hard
+name. Now, I know this class of men well, and my experience with and
+observation of them has taught me that any girl who behaves herself when
+in their company will always be treated with respect. There is some
+manhood about them in that way. But those fine city dudes have such a
+polished, underhanded, deep, sly, foxy way of attaining their ends. Dr.
+Lacy's girls told me that those fine, city young gentlemen loved nothing
+better than to get acquainted with some pretty, young, green, innocent
+girl and enjoy the fun of breaking her in. They are skilled in that
+art."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SAUNDERS' CUSTOMERS.
+
+
+One day, when business was very quiet in the store in Orangeville, the
+following conversation took place: "Who is that young man of striking
+appearance, talking to that old man in the road there?" said Hammond to
+Saunders, the merchant.
+
+"That young man," said Saunders, "why, his name is Penloe."
+
+Hammond said: "Penloe, why that must be the fellow I have heard my wife
+talk about. Has he any other name?"
+
+"That is all," said Saunders. "He does not wish to be called anything
+else but Penloe. All his mail comes addressed just 'Penloe, Orangeville,
+California.' No. Mr., nor Esquire, nor Rev. nor Dr. nor Prof., nor
+anything else. He and his mother are my best customers, in one way. Not
+that they buy much, but they never ask my price for the purpose of
+beating me down. Nor do they grumble about the quality of my goods. Why,
+those two have bought more from this store to give away to those in poor
+circumstances, than they have for themselves. And they keep very still
+about what they do in giving. There is the Jones family, who have more
+children than dollars; they live in that cabin under the hill, on the
+Squirrel Creek road. All Jones has is what he knocks out by hard day's
+work, and he don't always have work, either.
+
+"Well, last winter, when his wife was in confinement and had a long sick
+spell of two months, and Jones had typhoid fever about the same time,
+they were about down to their last dollar and were in debt. When Penloe
+and his mother heard about them, they both went down to Jones' house.
+Penloe cut some stove-wood and helped round, and his mother took care of
+Mrs. Jones. Also, Penloe paid me $37.50 for merchandise, which I had
+furnished them. The doctor had been to Jones' about twice before they
+came to take care of him and his wife. They paid the doctor, and told
+him (to his surprise, as both his patients were very sick) that he need
+not come any more. And they cured them without any medicine. When Jones
+got well, they told him he could work on their place till he got work
+elsewhere. And they gave him his board and one dollar a day in cash for
+a month, and then he went to work on the Kelly ranch.
+
+"Jones and his wife have turned over a new leaf since Penloe and his
+mother were with them. They look differently, act differently, and talk
+differently. Penloe's mother gave them a little sound talk on family
+matters. I feel a better man myself when they are round me.
+
+"Penloe's mother is away now, and Penloe is not seen much about here; he
+is home most of the time, since he quit going out to work."
+
+"That is a very different story from what you can tell about most of the
+young men in Orangeville," said Hammond. After which remark Hammond
+walked out of the store, apparently in a deep study.
+
+Yes, he had much to think about, for he had seen a young man about
+twenty-two years of age giving himself, his labor, his money, and his
+best thought to help a poor family; to heal them of their sicknesses, to
+help them to become self-supporting and independent, by furnishing them
+work, and, above, all, to lift them to a higher plane of life, thus
+helping them to find within, the "kingdom of Heaven." Yes, he thought of
+Penloe's age, it was twenty-two; the very age when most young men think
+only of gratifying themselves in every little whim and fancy, of
+catering to their pride and vanity, and spending all their time, all
+their thought, and all their money on themselves; being lovers of
+themselves more than lovers of God or any one else. Or they have become
+absorbed in some girl, not because she touches their better nature and
+does what she can to lift them to a higher plane, but because she
+stimulates the activity of their sensual natures, causing them to live
+in bondage to their lower selves. Deluding themselves with the idea that
+they are enjoying life, they become so engrossed in the pursuit of
+'sense-plane' pleasures that they realize no other life than the
+animal-plane of their existence, seeming apparently to be dead to all
+high motives, grand ideals and nobleness of purpose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+PENLOE'S SERMON.
+
+
+The Rev. B.F. Holingsworth was the Congregational minister in Roseland,
+but he used to come out every Sunday afternoon to Orangeville and hold
+preaching service in the only church there. One Thursday he received
+word that his sister, in Oakland, was very sick, and wanted him to come
+and see her, and he would have to be away over the Sabbath; so he wished
+to get a supply for the two churches, but could not find any one to fill
+his place. In talking to the deacons of his Roseland church about the
+matter, they told him they would conduct the services at their church if
+he could find some one to fill his place at Orangeville.
+
+It was customary for the Rev. B.F. Holingsworth to spend one day in the
+week in visiting the good people of Orangeville. Among the pastoral
+calls, he visited the home of Penloe and his mother. He was very much
+impressed with the spiritual thought and talk of both, and while neither
+were members of his congregation he well understood their position. He
+saw that for a man like Penloe to come and listen to the sermons he gave
+to the people of Orangeville would be like expecting a student in
+Harvard College to attend a kindergarten school, with the expectation of
+receiving instruction. The minister was broad-minded enough to perceive
+that the spiritual food he gave to his flock was kindergarten talk to
+Penloe; it was only milk, it was not meat; not the strong spiritual meat
+that Penloe lived on. It was all right for babies, but it was not fit
+for men who had attained divine realization in the universal Christ. The
+Rev. B.F. Holingsworth was too liberal and charitable to think less of
+Penloe for not attending his church. He was glad he had the courage of
+his convictions instead of masquerading, as some do, with the appearance
+of assent to all that is said and taught; but, being at the same time,
+within, at variance and holding views entirely different; but for
+policy, business interest, family peace, social position and standing,
+love of name and fame or salary, acting the hypocrite because they are
+arrant cowards.
+
+When thinking of some suitable person to fill the Orangeville pulpit on
+the Sunday afternoon of his absence, he could find no one so well
+adapted by natural talents, education, experience, and deep spiritual
+insight, combined with an irreproachable life, as Penloe. So he went out
+to Orangeville to see him. Finding Penloe at home, he made known the
+object of his visit. Penloe did not answer him at once, but was silent
+for a few minutes; he was thinking that this was a call to a work which
+was not of his own seeking, and, as the call to the work had come to
+him, he decided to accept it and told the Rev. B.F. Holingsworth so.
+
+The minister then went to Deacon Allen, of Orangeville, and explained
+matters to him, telling him that Penloe would select one of the hymns to
+sing before the sermon, but Penloe wished Deacon Allen to conduct all
+the other parts of the service, including the reading of the hymns. The
+minister desired the Deacon not to tell any one who was going to preach
+next Sunday, but to explain to the congregation why he was absent, and
+then to introduce Penloe. Deacon Allen had only seen Penloe once or
+twice, and while he liked the appearance of the man yet he knew very
+little about him. But, under the circumstances, he thought the minister
+had done the best he could.
+
+It so happened it was the time of year when there was a number of
+visitors in Orangeville, which brought out an unusually large audience,
+for it included not only the regular attendants and the visitors, but
+those who seldom went to church but did so to-day because they had
+company. Mr. and Mrs. Herne, who seldom went, attended to-day, and took
+the baby with them, this being the first Sunday of the child being in
+short clothes. Of course, some of Herne's hired men had to go, to see
+how the baby behaved.
+
+Stella was another irregular attendant at church, but young Mrs. Sexton,
+whose husband was away, came round in her buggy and wanted Stella to go
+for company's sake.
+
+Stella, through being away at school so much and having gone to Roseland
+for a while, had only heard about there being such a young man as Penloe
+in Orangeville, but had never seen him; neither had her parents.
+
+Penloe was about the first person at church that Sunday afternoon, and
+took a seat in the front pew, next to the pulpit with his back to the
+congregation, so, as the people assembled, they saw the back of some one
+but did not know who it was. When it was time for the service to
+commence the church was about full, but the people all seemed surprised
+not to see the minister present. Deacon Allen came forward, and opened
+service by giving out a hymn, which was followed by prayer. Then the
+choir sang, sweetly, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy
+laden, and I will give you rest." Then reading from the Scriptures,
+which was followed by the singing of a hymn that Penloe had selected,
+and Deacon Allen gave out. The hymn was as follows:
+
+   "See Israel's gentle shepherd stands
+    With all engaging charms,
+    Hark, how he calls his tender lambs,
+    And folds them in his arms.
+
+  "'Permit them to approach,' he cries,
+    Nor scorn their humble name,
+    For 'twas to bless such souls as these
+    The Lord of angels came."
+
+After singing the hymn, Deacon Allen explained to the congregation the
+cause of the minister's absence, and introduced Penloe, to the great
+surprise of those present. Penloe, in a simple, unassuming manner,
+stepped up to the desk and faced the audience. Casting his eyes over the
+mass of upturned faces, he said, in a very pleasant, musical voice:
+
+"Dear friends, I will speak to you from the following words, 'Suffer
+little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the
+Kingdom of Heaven.'"
+
+The sermon was a most remarkable and original discourse. It held the
+close attention of every one present, and at its end the congregation
+sang:
+
+   "I think, when I read that sweet story of old,
+    When Jesus was here among men,
+    How he called little children as lambs to his fold,
+    I should like to have been with him then.
+
+   "I wish that his hands had been placed on my head,
+    That his arms had been thrown around me,
+    And that I might have seen his kind look when He said,
+    'Suffer the little ones to come unto me.'"
+
+Penloe's sermon we will give, as told to her mother by Stella, and also
+the version published in the Roseland _Weekly Gazette_.
+
+When Stella arrived home from church her mother noticed that her
+countenance was all animation, and her bright eyes seemed to glisten and
+sparkle brighter than ever; but she said nothing, knowing Stella would
+relate all she had seen and heard of any interest.
+
+"Well, mother," said Stella, "I have had the greatest surprise and the
+greatest pleasure I ever had in my life."
+
+"Why, Stella," said her mother, "I am very pleased to see and hear that
+something has delighted you so much."
+
+"Who do you think I saw, and heard preach this afternoon?" said Stella.
+
+"Why, I suppose the minister," said her mother, which was the same as
+saying, "I don't know, but want you to tell me."
+
+"Well, mother," said Stella, "it was Penloe. I do wish you had been
+there to have seen and heard him. His face, when speaking, at times
+looked angelic. His eyes are so clear and bright, his voice sweet and
+musical, and he is so graceful in his movement, at the same time so
+simple and unassuming in his manner. He is symmetrical in his build, and
+as handsome as a picture."
+
+"Is he really all that?" said her mother, with a smile.
+
+"Yes," said Stella, "and there is something about him that is a thousand
+times more than all that; for there is an earnestness and sincerity of
+purpose and a power, such as I have never seen or felt before, in all he
+says and does. I don't know how to describe it, for he is so different
+to any man I ever met or saw; and, as for his subject, why, it was just
+grand. But I cannot help laughing when I think of the feelings of
+horror, and so much mocked modesty which I saw and heard expressed by
+many who were there this afternoon."
+
+"Well, whatever could his subject have been about, to cause those
+feelings?" said her mother.
+
+"It was this mother; he took for his text, 'Suffer little children to
+come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of
+Heaven.'
+
+"He said it was not his purpose this afternoon to describe in detail the
+circumstances which led Jesus to utter those words, nor to enter in full
+into the history of those people at that time, nor to describe the way
+in which they were raised by their parents in those days, nor how
+children were treated in general at the time Jesus walked on the earth,
+but to dwell on the thought more particularly about how to bring the
+children to Jesus now, and how to help them find the Kingdom of Heaven
+within. He said the subject was such a large one that he could only
+dwell for a short time on one method for bringing the children to
+Jesus, and that was how to bring them up pure and make pure men and pure
+women of them. For purity of life and thought was one of the first steps
+in coming to Jesus, and finding the Kingdom of Heaven within.
+
+"Penloe said such an innovation introduced into our society would be a
+God-send to us all, for it would bring about a change in so many ways
+for the advancement of the race, as to make the mind almost bewildered
+in the contemplation of the giant strides that humanity would make. I
+cannot begin to tell you all he said, mother, and I don't think the
+congregation took in the full sweep of his great thought.
+
+"I will tell you one thing Penloe has done for me. He has cut what few
+strings there were which kept me in bondage to my sexual nature. I am
+free." And here the beautiful and intellectually bright girl laughed,
+and shouted again, "I am free! Free from that awful superstition of
+sexual bondage. Bless Penloe for helping me to my freedom," said Stella.
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said: "Stella, there have been millions of women who
+have _died deaths of untold agony_ through being in bondage to their
+sexual natures."
+
+"Mother," said Stella, laughing again, "I give you notice that on and
+after this I shall speak and act just the same when members of the other
+sex are present as I would with my own sex, I don't care what they may
+think. I will not be negative to their ideas, for I am free;" and here
+she clapped her hands, and said, "I intend to have the courage of my
+convictions under all circumstances.
+
+"I must tell you, mother, there were a number there who were perfectly
+disgusted that Penloe should have introduced such a subject. You just
+ought to have seen the faces on some of the congregation.
+
+"The dressmaker, Mrs. Hopkins, and her daughter, said they would not
+have come to church if they had known the indecent talk that a strange
+man was going to make. The two May girls, with their beaux, were there,
+and after the service they acted as if they were afraid to speak to each
+other. They went out of the church with their heads down and seemed
+afraid to look anywhere; till they saw Deacon Tompkins' wife get in the
+buggy, and then the Deacon got in and took the reins and started the
+horse. But he had omitted untying the animal from the post, and they all
+had a laugh, and that broke the strain they were under, and they were
+seen talking to their beaux after that.
+
+"After service I went up to the desk and gave Penloe my hand and thanked
+him for the help he had given me in breaking my bondage. I told him he
+had cut the last string of sex superstition for me. He smiled and
+pressed my hand and said he was glad to hear it.
+
+"Mother, I did not know that Orangeville had such a young man as that.
+Why, just think of it! A fine Sanskrit scholar; he can read Bengali just
+as well as I can English, and by his reference to the Old and New
+Testament he shows he understood Hebrew and Greek. And think of it; he
+is only twenty-two years of age! He is a fine orator, very eloquent, and
+has such a command over himself and his audience.
+
+"But, mother, great as his scholarship may be, he has a power that is
+greater; it is seen in his eyes and in every feature of his handsome
+countenance, and felt in the touch of his hand. Its source is not purely
+intellectual. I perceive it intuitively, but cannot explain it.
+
+"Why, mother, I never thought Penloe was the kind of man he is. From
+what I had heard about him, I thought he was one of those quiet,
+goody-goody men, but instead of that he is a scholar of the most
+advanced school of thought."
+
+Her mother said: "Stella, do you know why Penloe took the subject he did
+to-day and spoke from it? I think I know; it was this: not that he liked
+such subjects more than any others, and perhaps not so much; but he knew
+that if such ideas were presented to the public, it had to be done by
+those who were not in bondage to name and fame and salary. It had to be
+done by those bold, fearless thinkers who will speak the truth
+regardless of frowns and smiles. And Penloe did it because he knew there
+was no one else that would do it. It was pioneer work."
+
+Stella said: "I think so, mother, and he certainly seems well qualified
+to do such noble pioneer work."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Herne, on their way home from church, talked the matter
+over. Mr. Herne said: "Penloe is the most remarkable man I have seen; so
+young and yet so gifted in every way. The secret of his power I do not
+know anything about, but he possesses a power such as no other man I
+have ever seen. I could not keep away from church if he was going to
+speak every Sunday."
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "He has the clearest and brightest eyes I ever saw. I
+never get tired of looking into them. At times his face brightened so
+much during his speaking it looked angelic."
+
+They were both very much impressed with the sincerity and earnestness of
+the man, but were not prepared to pass an opinion on the subject of his
+discourse. They thought well of his ideas, but did not know how they
+would work. It set them both to thinking, and it was their intention to
+try if possible to cultivate the acquaintance of Penloe.
+
+The Roseland _Gazette_, which was published every Saturday, had the
+following:
+
+"Last Monday and Tuesday strange stories began to be circulated through
+this city by persons coming in from Orangeville, concerning what was
+said in the Congregational Church there last Sunday. It seems that the
+Rev. B.F. Holingsworth, of this city, was called away to see a sick
+sister, and he got a man who goes by the name of Penloe to fill his
+place. The stories that were put in circulation are of a wild and varied
+character. Some started the rumor that Penloe preached that we all ought
+to go naked. Another story was, that he said we all ought to bathe
+together, regardless of sex, in a nude state. Then some said, he told
+the people that all families ought to sleep in one large room, to appear
+as much in a nude condition as possible, so as to satisfy all curiosity.
+These and other like stories aroused so much interest among the people
+of this city, that it has been the upper-most topic of conversation
+among them, and led to the inquiry whether it was so, and was the man a
+crazy crank or a fool, and how came such a man to be asked to preach.
+
+"Our reporter went out to Orangeville to learn what he could concerning
+the matter. He first of all went to see Penloe to get a certified
+statement, but that gentleman could not be found anywhere. He had an
+interview with Mr. Saunders, the merchant of Orangeville, who said he
+was at church last Sunday and heard the sermon.
+
+"When asked if the stories which were circulated in Roseland concerning
+Penloe's sermon were correct, he replied that in part they were, and in
+part they were not.
+
+"When asked to state as near as he could remember just what was said:
+
+"'Well,' said the merchant, 'I am not used to that kind of business,
+but, as near as I can remember it now, it was something like this:
+
+"'In order for children to come to Jesus, they must be pure; that purity
+was the basis of all religious growth, and he thought the present mode
+of maintaining purity had the very opposite effect to what it was
+intended for.'
+
+"Here Mr. Saunders stopped and told the reporter he had better go and
+see Deacon Allen, who would give him a better account than he could.
+
+"'But I tell you,' continued Mr. Saunders, 'there has been more talk
+over this sermon this week in this store, by every one that has come in,
+than all other talk put together. This is the first time in the twelve
+years that I have kept store, that I ever heard any one talk about any
+sermon they heard.'
+
+"'Well, Mr. Saunders,' said the reporter, 'what seems to be the judgment
+of the people about Penloe and the sermon? You have had an opportunity
+of hearing all kinds of opinions.'
+
+"'Well,' said Mr. Saunders, 'I heard the old lady Eastman say, that the
+next time she sees her minister, she is going to lecture him for getting
+that low-down, vulgar man in the pulpit. Why, his talk was awful. Mrs.
+Reamy and Mrs. Roberts said they would have both got up in church and
+walked out, only it would cause so much disturbance. Two girls came in
+to get a spool of thread. While I was waiting on them one said to the
+other, "My mother said this morning that she would never again go to
+church, if that nasty talking man was going to preach." The other girl
+said, "My father says he is the smartest man that ever spoke in
+Orangeville or any other part of California. He wished he would preach
+every Sunday. Then, I saw Miss Stella Wheelwright go up to Penloe at the
+close of the service and give him her hand, and I was told she thanked
+him for helping her to cut the last cords of bondage to sex
+superstition. She seemed really delighted with his talk."
+
+"'I cannot help laughing when I hear a number of persons who were not at
+church last Sunday, say, "I wish I had been to meeting last Sunday and
+heard the talk."
+
+"The reporter next called on Deacon Allen and found that gentleman ready
+to relate a portion of the sermon.
+
+"In reply to a question put by the reporter, Deacon Allen said: 'Well,
+there is one thing I liked about Penloe's sermon, instead of talking
+about the sins of the wicked people in Chicago, New York, London or
+Paris, he talked straight and square to the people he was facing, about
+their own sins, which were keeping them out of the Kingdom of Heaven,
+for it acted like a curtain over the windows of the soul so that one
+could not see the Divine, and feel the sacred presence of his power
+within. They had polluted the Temple of the Living God, and their eyes
+became blinded so that they could not see that they were heirs to a
+rich spiritual inheritance.'
+
+"The reporter asked the Deacon what Penloe said in regard to the best
+way of bringing about the new method of raising all children up, as if
+they were one sex.
+
+"The Deacon replied, saying: 'He said: "Character and environments are
+so different that each must work from the plane he or she is on. Nothing
+but the best judgment and experience will be able to grapple
+successfully with the problem, but it can be done; it has been done. And
+it will be comparatively easy for the next generation to put into
+practice, if it is done by the present. Avoid all kinds of food and
+drinks that stimulate the passions. And, above all, keep the mind
+interested in pure, elevating thoughts and engage in hearty wholesome
+recreations, so that the love for the pure and good in time will
+predominate, and the angel rule the animal."
+
+"'I shall never forget,' continued the Deacon, 'how Penloe's clear,
+musical voice rang out through the church, how his brilliant eyes seemed
+to penetrate through every one present as he looked them in the face and
+put this serious question to them, "What victories have you gained over
+yourselves?"
+
+"The Deacon said: 'It makes me feel disgusted to hear some persons who
+were at church on Sunday last talk about Penloe being low and vulgar,
+when a purer or more spiritual man never walked in this country; while
+their own characters are tarnished by being connected with numerous
+scandals. While Penloe is not a member of the same church as I am, yet I
+know a good man when I meet him and hear him talk.'
+
+"Our reporter left Orangeville greatly regretting he did not have the
+honor to meet so distinguished a man as Penloe."
+
+Mrs. Trask, wife of Dr. Trask, of Roseland, called on Stella's aunt,
+Mrs. Marston, and after a little general conversation, Mrs. Trask said:
+"Mrs. Marston, have you heard or read anything about the horrid talk
+that some crank preacher made in Orangeville last Sunday?"
+
+"Why, no," said Mrs. Marston, "I have not looked at the _Gazette_ and I
+have been out but little the past few days, for I have not felt very
+well lately, having had a bilious attack."
+
+Mrs. Trask said: "I know, Mrs. Marston, you will be perfectly shocked
+when I tell you. Why, it's all the talk of the town; just think of it; a
+man getting up in the pulpit and telling the people that boys and girls
+should appear before each other naked, and that they all should be
+brought up as if they were one sex."
+
+Mrs. Marston said: "It's perfectly awful to think about such a thing.
+Why, it would be dreadful. The preacher must have come from Paris with
+French ideas. According to what my son writes me, I should say that is
+just about what they do over there."
+
+Mrs. Trask said that her husband said, speaking as a medical man, he
+would consider it the greatest step towards the downfall of the human
+race. Every one would become so corrupt and depraved sexually that the
+race would become weak and puny, with no moral stamina.
+
+After Mrs. Trask had gone, Mrs. Marston got the Roseland _Gazette_ to
+see what it said about the matter. When she came to the part where it
+stated that her niece had gone up to the desk and given her hand to the
+preacher and thanked him for helping her out of sexual bondage, she was
+completely overcome and just felt like having a fit. She would rather
+have paid a thousand dollars than to have that appear in the paper.
+"What a disgrace this is to me, after all I have done for her,
+ungrateful hussy! She doesn't think about the shame she brings upon me
+by her bold actions, with that vulgar crank." While she was smarting
+from the effects of wounded pride, her door-bell rang and soon the
+servant came in and told Mrs. Marston that Mr. Barker was in the parlor.
+Mrs. Marston kept him waiting a few minutes, till she had composed
+herself. Soon she came in, bright, smiling and cordially greeted the
+rising young attorney who had manifested so much interest in Stella's
+hosiery.
+
+Mr. Barker was a perfect Chesterfield in dress and manners, and knew
+exactly what part of Mrs. Marston's nature to touch to make her feel
+good, and to raise himself one hundred per cent. in her estimation.
+
+Mr. Barker felt as if he had a little grudge against Stella, ever since
+the day his wish was not gratified, and now he thought this was his
+opportunity to pay her back.
+
+In course of conversation Mr. Barker said: "Mrs. Marston, have you been
+to Orangeville lately?"
+
+"No," said Mrs. Marston, "I have not been there since Stella returned
+home."
+
+"How is your niece, Mrs. Marston?" said Mr. Barker.
+
+"The last I heard from her she was very well," said Mrs. Marston.
+
+Mr. Barker said: "By the way, Mrs. Marston, is there another Miss Stella
+Wheelwright in Orangeville besides your niece?"
+
+"I have not heard of any other young lady by that name," replied Mrs.
+Marston.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Barker, "I was hoping there was, for I did not want to
+think it was your niece that the _Gazette_ said went up and gave that
+vulgar preacher her hand."
+
+"I think it must be," replied Mrs. Marston. Continuing, she said: "Of
+course, I am greatly shocked over the matter and feel that my niece has
+hurt me by her foolish conduct. I blame her mother more than I do her,
+for she has encouraged Stella in radical ideas."
+
+Mr. Barker said: "I don't understand what the man can be thinking about
+to talk such vulgar nonsense. He ought to be sent to Stockton Insane
+Asylum."
+
+Mrs. Marston said: "As for the subject he had under discussion, I could
+not think of talking about it to a gentleman. I intend to go to
+Orangeville to-morrow and see my sister about the matter. I do wish
+Stella would come and live with me; where she would be in the company of
+well-bred, well-behaved society people, who have common-sense ideas."
+
+It was always customary for Mrs. Marston when she went to Orangeville to
+take a great variety of table dainties, and never mention the real
+purpose of her visit till after dinner. Mrs. Marston had been so well
+disciplined in the art of concealment through living so much in
+fashionable society, that she could put on a very pleasant exterior,
+when really she was very much disturbed within.
+
+So to-day when she visited her sister Bertha, everything was exceedingly
+pleasant, and the topics under discussion were such that there was
+perfect harmony in all that was said. Mrs. Marston presented the bright
+side of everything in regard to Roseland when talking to Stella, telling
+her how certain young gentlemen were continually inquiring after her,
+and how her young lady friends were wishing she would return to Roseland
+soon, for they did want her to come and visit them so much.
+
+Stella was interested to hear about her friends in Roseland, and enjoyed
+her Aunt Helen's talk.
+
+After dinner was over and settled a little, Mrs. Marston took the
+opportunity to say to her sister Bertha (while Stella and her father
+were out for awhile): "Is it really true, Bertha, what the Roseland
+_Gazette_ says in regard to Stella's going up to that crank preacher at
+the close of the service and giving him her hand and saying a lot of
+queer stuff about sexual bondage?"
+
+"I was not there myself, Helen," said her sister, "but this I do know,
+that when Stella returned home she told me herself she did such a
+thing."
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Marston, "I always knew Stella was a strange kind of
+girl, but I never thought she would disgrace herself and her relatives
+in that manner. Why," continued Mrs. Marston, "it's all the talk in
+Roseland and among Stella's friends, about the disgrace she has brought
+on me and herself in talking to such a vulgar man."
+
+Stella's mother could not help smiling within herself at her sister
+calling Penloe a vulgar man, when she thought of what her daughter
+related to her in regard to her experience with some of the "upper ten"
+gentlemen.
+
+Continuing, Mrs. Marston said: "It will never do for Stella to associate
+with such an indecent man, who preaches French ideas from the pulpit.
+Why, Bertha, it will never do. You had better let Stella come and stay
+with me till she is married. She is a great favorite with the young
+people in Roseland and there are some splendid catches for her there."
+
+"Well," said Bertha, "I have no control over her; she can go to Roseland
+if she wishes."
+
+"But," said Mrs. Marston, "it becomes your duty as her mother to show
+her the danger of speaking to a man like Penloe. You should keep her
+away from his influence and do what you can to encourage her to marry
+well."
+
+Bertha looked her sister Helen in the face and said: "Helen, I have
+decided to let Stella choose her own path in life and select her own
+mate. If she asks my advice I will give it. She has her own life to
+lead, and it does not become me to mark it out for her. She must hew the
+way. And, supposing I wanted to, do you think it would do any good?
+Helen, you know better than that. Could you keep your son from getting
+that waiter girl in trouble? And now the poor girl is homeless and
+penniless, with a baby, in a hospital, without a friend to keep her,
+while your son is walking the streets of Paris as a well dressed
+gentleman." Here Mrs. Marston interrupted her and said: "Oh, my poor
+boy! It makes my blood boil when I think how that nasty, dirty hussy got
+my poor Henry into disgrace. Don't mention her, Bertha. It would have
+served her right to have died before the child was born."
+
+Bertha said: "Helen, you can invite Stella to Roseland, and if she
+wishes to go it is just the same to me as if she stayed here, for I will
+not be in Stella's way of exercising her freedom."
+
+So when Stella came into the house her aunt said: "Stella, I do wish you
+would come to Roseland and stay with me."
+
+"Thank you, Aunt, you are very kind, but I have certain subjects I wish
+to study and I want to be where I can be quiet; but, Aunt, dear, I will
+return with you and stay a week, if you will bring me back home at the
+end of that time."
+
+"All right, Stella, get yourself ready and we will leave right away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+RETURN OF BEN WEST.
+
+
+About two months before Ben West returned to Orangeville, Mr. Hammond
+took a letter out of the Orangeville post-office, which read as follows:
+
+             "_Kohn & Kohn, Bankers and Brokers, Stillman Block._
+                                   "SAN FRANCISCO, April 7, 1899.
+
+    "_Harrison Hammond, Esq.,
+             "Orangeville, Calif._
+
+     "DEAR SIR: We have been instructed by Benj. West, Esq.,
+      one of the leading capitalists of the Klondike, to send
+      you a draft for five hundred dollars, with a letter
+      from that gentleman to you, both of which we have
+      enclosed.
+
+                     "Yours resp't'y,
+                                         "KOHN & KOHN."
+
+The letter from Ben West to Mr. Hammond was as follows:
+
+                         "DAWSON CITY, KLONDIKE, Feb. 12, 1899.
+    "_H. Hammond, Esq.,
+            "Orangeville, Cal._
+
+     "FRIEND HAMMOND: After sending Julia the jewelry, I
+      realized that I had got my foot in it, in this way: She
+      thinks she must have a costly bridal outfit to match
+      the jewelry. Now, I have written her that as we will be
+      married in Orangeville, she need not get anything very
+      extra fine; that what she thinks she may need in the
+      way of costly dresses, she can get in San Francisco
+      after we are married, but I realize she might like a
+      few good clothes, so I send you five hundred dollars to
+      buy her what she may need in that line, which I hope
+      you will accept, as I know the income from a ranch
+      cannot stand any such extravagance. You will receive
+      the money from my brokers, Kohn & Kohn. Please keep
+      this confidential and not let Julia know a word about
+      it.
+
+                     "Your friend,
+                                       "BEN WEST."
+
+After reading the letters Mr. Hammond had a good opportunity of talking
+the matter over with his wife, as Julia had gone out for the day.
+
+They both took a sensible view of the matter and thought that under the
+circumstances it would be proper to accept the five hundred dollars, as
+Julia would wear the clothes as Ben West's wife, and said it was very
+thoughtful in him to send the money.
+
+Mrs. Hammond said, as Julia was going to San Francisco as soon as she
+was married, she thought it would be best to go to Fresno and select her
+bridal trousseau there. Continuing, she said: "Julia knows you have
+money in the bank, but how much she has no idea; therefore, she will not
+suspect but you are paying for her bridal outfit yourself."
+
+So Mrs. Hammond and Julia went to Fresno. On their return Julia seemed
+more than pleased with her purchases. It is not to be expected that each
+kind of garment that was bought will be mentioned here, neither will we
+go into a minute description of the amount of lace, embroidery,
+insertion and scallop work on the various garments.
+
+In the four weeks previous to Julia's wedding day she had numerous
+callers to see her jewelry and her bridal trousseau.
+
+The amount of close inspection, quick observation, speculative thought
+and general talk that was given to all articles pertaining to the
+bride's wardrobe and jewelry, if devoted to some of the serious social
+problems of the nation, would have settled them thoroughly for all time.
+
+"Is it not strange," remarked Mr. Hammond one evening after some
+callers had gone and Julia had retired, "the amount of interest and
+thought people take in things that are really of so little consequence
+to them; but things which are of the greatest importance to their own
+welfare it is hard to get them to give two minutes' consideration to
+them? They want excitement, and love it a great deal more than an
+intelligent understanding of such issues as are to them of vital
+importance. For instance, government ownership of railroads, telegraphs
+and telephones to be operated at cost for the benefit of the people; the
+issuing and loaning of money by the government to the people, instead of
+by the banks to the people; also the adoption by the nation of the
+Initiative and Referendum."
+
+Some of the elderly ladies in Orangeville who had lived in the east many
+years before coming to California, brought to Orangeville some of their
+old sayings, and one of these sayings began to float through the
+atmosphere of Orangeville and was whispered from one to another; namely,
+that Julia Hammond had fallen into a tub of butter. Now, on first
+hearing such a statement one would think a sad calamity had happened to
+the young lady, especially when taking into consideration that in a few
+weeks' time she expected to change her name. But upon making an
+examination of her wearing apparel, one saw no sign of such an accident,
+and when she appeared at the table in her elegant morning wrapper you
+could not see any grease spots on her well-fitting garment, and when you
+began to wonder what they could mean by saying that Julia Hammond had
+fallen into a tub of butter, you resolve you will make a further and
+closer scrutiny of that young lady's person. At last it begins to dawn
+upon your mind, for you notice that when she puts her elbow on the table
+and her hand up to the side of her face, your eyes are almost dazzled by
+seeing something on her finger which are brilliant stones set in gold.
+When Julia Hammond appeared at the ball the other night, the main talk
+of the evening was about her diamond ring, her gold watch set with
+diamonds, and her elegant diamond necklace, making that swan-like neck
+simply superb.
+
+As she drove her span of matched bays one morning she passed two young
+men in a buggy. Then the following conversation took place between the
+men:
+
+Fred said to Henry, who was a stranger in Orangeville and was making him
+a visit:
+
+"Henry, just look at that in her back hair."
+
+"That is just elegant," said Henry, as his eyes rested on a very rich
+gold hairpin set with diamonds which were sparkling in their beauty, as
+the rays of the sun brought out their brilliancy.
+
+Fred said: "That's Julia Hammond, the bethrothed of Ben West, who went
+to the Klondike and struck it rich, having made a little over half a
+million dollars."
+
+The last day Ben West was in Orangeville before leaving for the
+Klondike, he had a private talk with Mr. Hammond concerning Julia. Mr.
+Hammond gave his consent and wished him prosperity. So it was arranged
+that, owing to the long and uncertain carrying of the mails out of the
+Klondike country, he would write a letter to Julia as if he had made a
+stake, and in the letter make her an offer of marriage, and give it to
+Mr. Hammond to hand to Julia when Mr. Hammond received word from Ben by
+telegram, saying, "Stake made, give the letter to Julia," and Mr.
+Hammond was to wire Ben Julia's answer so he would not be kept long in a
+state of suspense. This was all carried out to the letter, and Ben West
+received a telegram which read: "Yes. Have written in full. Julia
+Hammond."
+
+Continuing, Fred said: "When Ben West was in San Francisco on his way to
+the Klondike, he went into the store of Stein & Co., jewelers, and
+selected the jewelry he might want, should he make a stake. So when he
+received Julia's answer of acceptance he ordered by wire a diamond ring,
+a gold watch set in diamonds, a diamond necklace, and a gold hairpin
+set with diamonds. Stein & Co. sent them to Julia with Ben West's love.
+He wired Kohn & Kohn, the bankers, to pay Stein & Co.
+
+"Ben's mother said: 'Those jewels for that girl cost Ben twenty thousand
+dollars.'"
+
+Henry said: "Just think of that fellow's luck. Some men are born rich,
+some acquire riches and some have riches thrust upon them."
+
+Fred said: "Some men are lucky sure. There's Ben West, who is coming to
+Orangeville in a week. All the people will just go wild over him and
+lionize him. And won't Julia be sweet to him after giving her all that
+jewelry. They say, 'If you want honey you must have money.' Ben has got
+the money and now he is going to have the honey; and just think, in
+three weeks' time he is going to be married, going to have that pretty,
+handsome, fresh young girl all to himself. Isn't she a beauty! My! Ben
+will be in clover; he will have a picnic sure."
+
+Henry said: "If I could be in Ben West's shoes for just two months, I
+would be willing to spend the balance of my life in hell. I would have
+one comfort in thinking what a fine time I had had."
+
+Fred said: "Ben West will be here to-morrow and he will take good care
+to see that not you nor any other man will be in his shoes for two
+months from the time he is married."
+
+When Ben set his foot in Orangeville on his return from the Klondike,
+the news flew all over the locality, as if the wind had made it its
+mission to carry the intelligence all over the country into every home.
+Those who knew him least were just as anxious to see him as those who
+had always known him. They did want to see, to talk to and shake hands
+with the lion of the day, the hero of the hour, the man whose name was
+in every one's mouth. If a man had arrived in Orangeville who had saved
+twenty persons from drowning, there would not have been half the desire
+to see him or hear him talk on how the persons were saved. Why, Ben West
+received nothing but one continued round of hearty hand-shaking and
+warm greetings, and his ears heard nothing but eulogies and encomiums
+and general admiration for the man who had made himself the owner of the
+two great idols that are worshipped by the Western world.
+
+Ben West had got what most men are seeking but few finding. If you were
+in Orangeville you would be told that it was a Christian community; but
+if you squared them by the command given by Jesus, "Seek ye first the
+Kingdom of Heaven and its righteousness, and all these shall be added
+unto you," you would find them sadly wanting, for the Kingdom of Heaven
+is the last thing they want. It is, "These things which shall be added
+unto you" is what they want. For they want their heaven to be in the
+possession of things outside of themselves.
+
+A great dance was given in honor of Orangeville's coming man.
+Predictions were heard that it would not be long before he would be
+Governor of California, with a good show for a seat in the United States
+Senate.
+
+Most of the people of Orangeville were great on dances. If they had a
+sociable it had to close with a dance; if a political meeting was held,
+they had a dance afterwards; a spelling bee wound up with a dance. If
+you would let them, they would dance after Sabbath School and preaching.
+If you want a big crowd at a meeting, just give out there will be a
+dance at the close, and teams will come for miles from all over the
+country. Dance; why they want to dance all the time. They simply become
+intoxicated with dancing. There is no moderation about it. They leave
+the dance hall about four or five o'clock in the morning. Does that kind
+of recreation help them physically? How do they feel during the next
+day? Does it help them intellectually? Does it help them spiritually?
+Then why pursue a course of recreation _so immoderately_ as to be
+detrimental to their highest interests?
+
+When Mr. Hammond heard about the great dance that was coming off in
+honor of Ben West, he said it did seem to him as if a dance was the only
+thing the people of Orangeville could get up. He had never known them
+as a community to get up anything else but a dance, and yet, he said,
+there are some very fine people who attend these country dances. Persons
+of noble character, who live lives of self-denial in their homes and
+meet trials and misfortunes bravely and heroically, I am glad to say.
+
+Julia did not attend the dance because it was too near her wedding day;
+but Ben West had a very enjoyable time, for the leading young ladies in
+Orangeville were delighted at having the opportunity of dancing once
+more with their old friend. But now a new interest had centered in him,
+in the fact of his being the rising man and soon to be married.
+
+There was a very large crowd at the dance. A number came from Roseland;
+in fact, there were more than the hall could accommodate. There were a
+number of men wanting to see Ben West a few minutes on the side, to talk
+with him about what show there would be for them at the Klondike, as
+each of them wished to be successful like Ben West.
+
+For three weeks previous to his being married, Ben did not know whether
+he was afoot or on horseback. What with the joy his father and mother
+manifested at having him back again in their home, and the real, sweet,
+loving and delightful hours he spent with Julia, who was free in her
+demonstrations of affection, he being so worthy of it.
+
+At last that day which always seems so long in coming, but which always
+comes, came to Ben West and Julia Hammond. They had a quiet wedding in
+the morning; then came the wedding dinner, after which they went to
+Roseland, taking in the theater in the evening and stopping at the
+Arlington Hotel that night. The next day they took the Flyer for San
+Francisco. On arriving in that city they went to the Clifton Hotel. In
+the evening they attended the opera.
+
+As Julia had never been to San Francisco, they decided to spend a week
+in sight-seeing. The second week they spent in looking at elegant
+houses. After looking round for six days they bought a mansion on Van
+Ness avenue for eighty thousand dollars. It originally cost one hundred
+and thirty thousand. Then, the third week they spent in selecting
+furniture, which cost them twenty thousand dollars. The fourth week they
+bought a fine matched team and a carriage, for which they paid fifteen
+hundred dollars, and kept them at a livery stable. They also purchased
+two bicycles and an automobile, and got three servants, a maid for
+Julia, a woman to do the housework, and a Chinese cook. All laundry work
+was done out of the house. The second month was spent in going to many
+interesting places outside of San Francisco as well as taking in more of
+the city. Everything so far had run very smoothly.
+
+Then a conversation arose regarding what business Mr. West had better
+turn his attention to to occupy himself. After a little talk, Julia
+said: "You have now about four hundred thousand dollars. I do wish you
+could make it a million. How proud I should be of you, Ben, to have a
+millionaire for a husband. Just think what the people of Orangeville
+will say when they hear you have become a millionaire. Why, dear, I
+should just worship you to think that I had got a husband that was such
+a successful man as to make a million dollars in so short a time. When
+you become a millionaire, Ben, we will go to Europe in style, and what a
+gay time we will have in Paris, dear."
+
+What a power some women's soft words and smiles have on a man; he is
+owned by them, and it was so in the case of Ben West.
+
+Ben said: "Well, dear Julia, I suppose I will have to go to the Klondike
+again to make my pile a million."
+
+Julia pouted and looked her prettiest and said: "I do hate to have you
+go to that cold and disagreeable country, Ben, and it will be so
+lonesome for me without you, dear; but, Ben, make your pile quick and
+come home."
+
+Ben West did not express all he felt in having to go back to the
+Klondike, but he had such a pretty, handsome woman for a wife, who
+pleased him so much and he was so proud of her, and he loved her
+admiration and approval of himself as much as he did his life. So he
+decided to return to the Klondike in a month's time. That would give
+him, in all, three months of honeymoon. Then he would leave for the cold
+regions of the Klondike.
+
+The last week Ben West was with his wife she seemed at times so sad
+about his leaving, and would pet him and make so much of him, that she
+became doubly dear to him. He said, "This is bliss, indeed."
+
+At last the sad day for his parting came. They did the best they could
+by cheering each other up, with the expectation of Ben's quick return
+and coming back as a millionaire.
+
+Now, when a handsome young bride is left with an eighty-thousand-dollar
+house and twenty thousand dollars worth of furniture, three servants, a
+carriage and a handsome span of horses, two bicycles and an automobile,
+with a good fat bank account to draw on, she is not going to spend many
+sad days in the house alone, longing for the return of her husband. Nor
+will she be contented to remain at home and become fascinated in reading
+Milton's "Paradise Lost" or Moody's sermons. No. She is going to have
+company, and gay companions, and they will not be all of her own sex
+either. About a month after Ben West had returned to the Klondike, Julia
+had made new acquaintances of persons who had time, money, and elegant
+leisure. Returning home from a swell party one evening, Julia said to
+herself, "What freedom there is in being married. Your market is made,
+and you can have lots of fun dancing, flirting, and so on; while a girl
+that is unmarried has to be more careful of herself and her conduct,
+because it might hinder her making a desirable match. It is fine to be
+married to a good-natured man."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+FIVE YEARS AFTER MARRIAGE.
+
+
+It was one of those lovely days in March when nature is decorated in her
+best; for each day she adds to her wreath of glory new beauties in the
+form of buds and flowers. The trees in the orchard were a sight to
+behold in their beautiful and variegated colors. The soft, balmy air
+coming up the canyon was full of the perfume of flowers. The birds were
+warbling their sweetest notes in the mulberry and walnut trees, and the
+hum of the bees were heard around the flowers. All Nature sang through
+these various forms, that All is life, All is love, All is joy, and All
+is God.
+
+On this day two ladies were sitting out on the porch of the Herne
+residence, one was a lady with gray hair, the other was her daughter.
+Both were sitting in silence. The younger was thinking how very much
+like this beautiful day was, to the one five years ago when she entered
+her new home as the wife of Charles Herne. Many thoughts were crowding
+upon her mind; she was thinking how perfectly, supremely happy she was
+on that occasion. Every thing about her seemed to respond to the happy
+thought within, and her cup of joy was overflowing. Then the thought
+came to her why was it not so to-day? Nature seemed just as beautiful,
+her home was more beautiful, and the returns from the sale of their
+fruit each year had exceeded their expectations. Her health was good,
+she was in harmony with her neighbors, and enjoyed her life among the
+people in Orangeville. And above all she had experienced the joys of
+motherhood, having a son two years old, and her husband was just as kind
+and attentive to her as ever, and yet--and yet--and yet, must she
+confess, yes, she very reluctantly told her thoughts to her mother to
+see if she could explain and give her light on those feelings which had
+come to the surface many a time, only to be suppressed. But they would
+rise again, and the more they were put down, the more they would rise,
+till at last she would relieve her mind by telling her mother, who she
+knew had had more experience.
+
+"Mother," said Clara, "why is it, when everything about me is as good
+and some things much better than when I was married, and Charles is just
+as kind, thoughtful, and loving as a husband and father can be, and yet
+after five years of happy, harmonious life, there is less attraction
+between us, than when we were first married? Of course, I have never let
+Charles think that I felt this way, but I noticed that after we had been
+married two months, Charles' kisses, touches, and pettings did not
+produce that pleasurable thrill they once did, and it has been growing
+more and more that way ever since. Why, even when he kisses my hand, it
+does not produce any more pleasure than if I had kissed my own hand. I
+remember the time when Charles' kisses used to send an electric thrill
+of joy through me; the sound of his coming footsteps was a delight which
+gave me more pleasure than a kiss does now."
+
+"Well, Clara," said her mother, "you don't expect to have the
+high-strung, pleasurable excitement of a bride all the time, do you? I
+know my experience was like yours, Clara, and I think from all those I
+have heard talk about such matters that theirs is also the same. So I
+take it for granted that is how it should be, and cannot be made
+different. I would not let my mind dwell on it if I were you, Clara; for
+you have got one of the best men for a husband, a fine boy, and a very
+comfortable home."
+
+After hearing what her mother had to say, Clara thought it best not to
+say any more, for her mother had given her no satisfactory answer, and
+seemed to know no more about such matters than she herself did. But she
+kept thinking, "Did it have to be so?"
+
+During the time that Clara was busy with these thoughts and talks with
+her mother, there was a man walking through his orchard, apparently
+looking at the fruit buds, but his mind was pre-occupied with another
+subject. He was thinking that it was five years ago since he and Clara
+were married, and he was thinking how happy he was when he brought her
+to his home. He was thinking also of the thrills of joy and pleasure her
+presence gave him before marriage, and for a month or two afterwards,
+when she took his hand in hers and then kissed it; how soothing and
+delightful it was; and what an attractive power she had. But now, how
+different.
+
+"It is just the same as if I kissed myself. She is just as good, just as
+loving a wife, so kind and thoughtful, and we never have had any words,
+but there is something. I cannot find words to express what I mean. Is
+it tameness? Are other married persons like that?" And he began to think
+about the married life of some of his friends. "There was Winchester and
+his wife, I remember them when they were courting, they seemed
+inseparable, and for a while after they were married they could not see
+any one else but each other. If they were out anywhere they would sit
+together holding each other's hands, and not wishing to say much to any
+one else. After they had been married six months I notice they have quit
+holding each other's hands, and now you seldom see them together much.
+With how few married couples who have been married six years do you see
+that suppleness and alertness, that zeal to please each other, and be
+with one another that you see in couples about to be married."
+
+Charles Herne thought, "Why is this so?" Why could not the same
+attractive power which exists between some couples when they are married
+be continued? Charles Herne did not know, his wife Clara Herne was no
+wiser than he on that subject, though neither of them had made their
+feelings known to the other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A CONVERSATION ON THE PORCH.
+
+
+Penloe had heard several times in regard to Charles Herne being an
+exceptionally fine man, liberal in thoughts, as far as he went, very
+just and generous to his men, so that the day that Penloe received a
+very kind invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Herne to be their guest for a few
+days, he accepted it knowing intuitively that he had a work to do there.
+As a guest Penloe was not always talkative, but what he did say was very
+interesting. He made himself one with men and they all took a great
+liking to him; Mr. and Mrs. Herne were very much impressed with the
+personality of their distinguished guest, and they enjoyed his visit
+with them. He had been several times there since his first visit, and
+they had become great friends.
+
+Charles Herne remarked to his wife one day: "What a genial, sociable,
+humorous companion Penloe is; while of course, he is thoroughly in
+earnest and has but one purpose in all he does, which is to manifest
+what he calls the Divine, yet he is not serious, sober, and grave all
+the time; he is so joyous, hopeful, and full of good-natured fun, but he
+never lets it overcome him. I like him because he never says and does
+anything for effect or to be considered smart; he is so simple, humble,
+and unassuming in his manners, keeping himself in the background. His
+influence on me is so different to that of any other man, and impresses
+me very deeply. I always feel a better man after a talk with him. In
+short, I feel his fine influence in the room even when he is silent. He
+gave the men a powerful talk in their parlors the other evening. He has
+a faculty for adapting himself to each one; just knows what to say, when
+to say it, and how to say it. Several of the men have made the remark
+to me that he is a very dear brother to them."
+
+He had visited the men several times since, and they had become great
+friends. Any one in a very short acquaintance with Penloe could not help
+being impressed with his sincerity of character, his genuineness and
+honesty of purpose, as well as his deep spirituality. Therefore, it
+naturally follows that he would attract the confidence of his friends.
+It was so natural for them to give him their confidence, they could not
+withhold it from him, for it seemed to belong to him. Then again, there
+are some persons who possess that power of discernment, that spiritual
+insight for seeing through and through any one; nay, more, they appear
+to have the power of entering into your most secret thoughts, they enter
+as if by right, the rooms of your soul and see all its furniture; they
+open even the secret chambers, and enter as if they had been there
+before many a time, and when you think you are about to take them into
+your confidence, you find that they know what you are about to tell
+them.
+
+Penloe possessed that gift, and Mrs. Herne realized that he had read her
+book of secrets, that he knew all, and, therefore, when she took him
+into her confidence, she did so with the half thought that he was there
+some time before. She knew that Penloe was competent to give information
+on any subject, and he was her true friend, and, therefore, she could
+trust him fully.
+
+One day when Penloe and Mrs. Herne were sitting on the porch admiring
+the beauties of Nature all around them, Mrs. Herne said: "Penloe, don't
+you think this is a beautiful place?"
+
+When she made that remark, he knew what she was going to speak to him
+about.
+
+Penloe replied: "There is not a ranch in Orangeville that has so much in
+the way of the expression of fine taste and natural beauty as your
+home."
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "I shall never forget how delighted I was when I came
+here as a bride, and thought could I wish for more, for my cup seemed
+full to overflowing. With this comfortable house and beautiful grounds,
+and such a feeling of brotherhood existing between my husband and the
+men, and everything running so harmoniously, nothing appeared to be
+wanting."
+
+"Yes," said Penloe. "You certainly have an exceptionally fine man in
+some respects for a husband; I admire him very much."
+
+"And I know he does you," replied Mrs. Herne; continuing, she said:
+"Since you have favored us with your company and he has been with you
+more, I can just begin to see some kind of change come over him; I
+hardly know how to describe it; for it is only just commencing; I notice
+it a little at times."
+
+Penloe seemed to be absorbed in thought and made no reply.
+
+Mrs. Herne waited a minute or two, and then said: "I often think how
+thankful I ought to be that I have such a fine man for a husband, and
+yet, in one way, I have not realized my ideal, even with all these fine
+surroundings, and such a good husband."
+
+"Do you think that is strange?" asked Penloe.
+
+"Well," said Mrs. Herne, "that is what I don't know; it is a query with
+me, whether any one realizes her ideal in marriage; what do you think
+about the matter, Penloe?"
+
+"Well, I think there are quite a number who realize their ideal in
+marriage," replied Penloe.
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "Please, Penloe, describe those kind of marriages to
+me, for I am interested; it being a matter I have thought a great deal
+about."
+
+"Certainly," said Penloe, "but which is it you wish me to describe: What
+is an ideal marriage? or what are the ideals of those who get married,
+and who realize them?"
+
+"It is the first I am most interested in now, Penloe," said Mrs. Herne,
+"because I know that is your ideal, and therefore, would be the correct
+one to aim for, but Penloe, while I hope you will tell me that, yet, I
+ask you as a trusted friend, can you tell me why I have not realized my
+ideal?" said Mrs. Herne.
+
+"I can when you tell me what your ideal is like," said Penloe.
+
+"I am afraid you will laugh when I tell you for I know it is so
+different from yours," replied Mrs. Herne.
+
+"One need never fear a true friend," said Penloe. "To a true friend, if
+it is necessary, one can speak of his ignorance or weaknesses, and it
+may be a great help to him, because a true friend has only one motive in
+friendship, and that is to lift the other up to a higher plane of
+thought; I mean that is the highest kind of friendship, and is a good
+test with which to gauge friendship."
+
+Mrs. Herne was very much impressed with Penloe's idea of friendship; so
+high and pure.
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "Penloe, you are so near and dear to me as a friend,
+that I don't fear to tell you anything, and to show my confidence in
+your friendship, I am going to reveal to you something, that I have
+never thought it best to tell my husband."
+
+"Your confidence shall never be betrayed by me," said Penloe.
+
+"Thank you, Penloe," said Mrs. Herne. "Now, let me tell you what it is.
+Previous to my marriage to Charles Herne there was something in addition
+to his true worth and genuine character that attracted me to him;
+something about his personality, for I always felt a thrill of joy when
+with him; even if I only heard the sound of his coming footsteps, or he
+happened to touch my dress, there was a sensation of pleasure; and when
+he took my hand, and pressed it and kissed me, it was bliss. Well, I
+married him and we came to this beautiful home, and that thrill of
+delight continued between me and Charles for about two months, and
+during that time I was living in my ideal world. But after two months I
+noticed a little less of that feeling, and it kept growing less and
+less, till now there is none at all. I love him with my whole heart, and
+am devoted to him, my environments are the same, or better in many ways,
+seeing that I am a happy mother, and the place has now more comforts and
+conveniences than when I came here as a bride; yet that attraction has
+gone so that when Charles kisses me or touches me it seems as if it was
+my own self kissed me and touched me--to make the union a perfect one,
+the delight of attraction should always be present; in that way I have
+not realized my ideal."
+
+Penloe said: "Do you know, Mrs. Herne, there are more than a million
+couples whose experience is exactly like your own; and if your
+environments had not been so pleasant, and both of your dispositions
+well blended, and well balanced, you would have separated long ago, as
+many have done, not knowing the real cause, and thinking it was
+something else. You see," continued Penloe, "before you were married,
+you and your husband had both led pure, virtuous lives; and each of you
+was like a strong electric battery, charged with the life forces of the
+body, which produced this pleasant feeling of attraction, and when you
+were married both of you thought and acted like most other married
+people."
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "Thank you, Penloe; the ideas you have advanced should
+become common property of the many."
+
+Penloe replied: "Yes; but there are some who have these ideas, but don't
+wish to put them in practice."
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "Penloe, suppose that two married persons having been
+living as most married persons do, and one of the two wished to live the
+better way which you have just described, while the other wished to live
+as they have been doing, what would be best to do in a case like that?"
+
+Penloe replied: "That is a matter that requires the best judgment
+possible, so as not to give offence. Great diplomacy must be used where
+hard feelings are liable to be produced; but there is one thing that
+must always be kept in view and that is that the one who wishes to live
+the better way must be true to himself or herself. The matter should be
+presented in a very kindly way, showing that it is as much for the
+interest of the one not wishing to live the new way as it is for the one
+desiring it. Patience must be used, and, above all, kindness and love.
+
+"I am going to ask you now, Penloe," said Mrs. Herne, "to tell me from
+your standpoint, what kind of unions would you consider the best ones?"
+
+To Mrs. Herne's astonishment, Penloe replied: "All marriages are the
+best ones; even where they are so unhappy as to separate the next day.
+The two can only work out their unfoldment from the plane they are now
+on, and not from any other plane or place."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Herne, "but supposing I am living the old way, and
+after hearing you explain the new way, I wish to live that way."
+
+Penloe said: "That would show that you were tired of living on your old
+plane, and you were now ready to leave a lower plane for the higher one.
+But, supposing I had seen you a week before you were married to Charles
+Herne, and explained to you the new way, do you think you would have
+been ready to commence your married life by living the new way?"
+
+Mrs. Herne laughed, and said: "I see it all now; I had to go through
+this experience in marriage in order to be ready for the better way. But
+are there not some who are ready to live the better way without having
+any experience?"
+
+"Yes," said Penloe, "because they were already on a higher plane.
+Supposing I take a watch and explain its works to you and your husband;
+after I get through, you understand all about its movements because you
+were on the mechanical plane to receive the instruction, but your
+husband does not, because he has not reached the mechanical plane to
+receive it. So it is in regard to receiving ideas on any social, moral,
+or spiritual plane."
+
+"I understand it now," said Mrs. Herne, "for you have the faculty of
+making any subject very clear; but I am going to push my question and
+get you to describe the grades of the higher planes in marriage."
+
+Penloe replied: "There are very, very few persons who are living the
+pure life in marriage who have not reached that plane through
+experience. Now, it is possible that of two who are about to be
+married, one previous to that union may have reached the plane of purity
+through experience; while the other, not having had any such experience,
+and intending in the main to live purely under marriage, but for several
+reasons desires to have some experience before living the pure life.
+
+"Again, where the purpose of the union is to live the pure life, then
+the union belongs to the higher plane. But the highest plane of all is
+where the two, at the time of marriage, consecrate themselves to each
+other and to the service of the Lord in His humanity, keeping their
+bodies, as the temples of God, pure and sacred; where both live above
+all lustful desires for each other, keeping the life forces for making
+the mind and body strong, and fitting themselves to be instruments of
+the Divine. Such a union brings the highest bliss to each of them, and
+the greater good to the world at large. They do not require children to
+make them happy, for their life is in the Divine One. They fully realize
+that in Him they live, move, breathe, and have their being, and they
+forego for themselves the pleasures of parentage in order to become a
+spiritual father and a spiritual mother to the many."
+
+Mrs. Herne gave Penloe her hand, and said: "I sincerely thank you for
+the light you have this day given me."
+
+That evening Clara Herne told her husband Penloe's ideas on the marriage
+relationship. After listening very closely to all she said, Mr. Herne
+sat thinking for a while, then said: "Clara, for a long time I have been
+reflecting on that subject, and it perplexed me much, but now that
+Penloe has made it so very clear, it seems like so many other things
+which are hard to find out and understand, but when explained by a
+master mind like Penloe, appear simple.
+
+"Clara, can you estimate what a great gift Penloe gave you in imparting
+those very important truths? and the knowledge he gave you, he knew you
+would tell me; therefore, I feel he has given us both a precious gift,
+more than if we had received a present of five thousand dollars. We
+cannot prize such a dear friend too highly."
+
+They had an hour's very agreeable talk on the matter, and they were both
+of one mind, and decided that there and then they would live the new
+way; and they both sealed their sacred vow with a pure love kiss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+TIESTAN.
+
+
+A few days after Stella had returned home from her visit to her aunt in
+Roseland, she and her mother went to call on Penloe; for Mrs.
+Wheelwright was as anxious to see such an original man, as Stella was to
+set her eyes on a face that had such a beautiful expression.
+
+As we have said, Penloe was living all alone, his mother's work being
+for the present in Chicago.
+
+When Penloe came to the door he received Stella in such an agreeable way
+as to make her feel perfectly at ease.
+
+Taking his hand, she said: "Penloe, this is my mother, Mrs. Wheelwright;
+my name is Stella."
+
+With the same grace and ease did he welcome Mrs. Wheelwright, and the
+two ladies had not sat in his library more than five minutes before they
+felt as if they had known Penloe all their lives, and they seemed to
+have a consciousness as if Penloe had known them always. And as wave
+after wave of thought came to their minds, Penloe met it and gave them
+just what information and truth each one needed in chaste and polished
+language; and yet there was no effort at studied phrases on his part,
+for it was his natural mode of expression. When talking on certain
+subjects and to an interested listener, his discourse seemed like a
+string of sapphires, diamonds, pearls, and rubies.
+
+Stella and her mother had sat there looking into those deep, luminous,
+spiritual orbs, while the conversationalist was interesting them, so
+that two hours had flown before they thought an hour had passed.
+
+As they were about to leave Penloe saw Stella's longing, wistful eyes
+glancing over the rows of books. He anticipated the wish by saying:
+"Stella, any book or books you see here you are at liberty to take
+home."
+
+If Penloe had made her a present of a thousand dollars in actual gold
+coin, she could not have felt as grateful as she did when he gave her
+the use of his whole library. It was like pouring water on thirsty land.
+Stella was thirsting for information on so many subjects, and now her
+wish was gratified. She had the opportunity of getting the reading
+matter she longed for so much, but did not have the means to purchase.
+And, above all, when Penloe told her he would be pleased to help her in
+any line of thought she might wish to investigate, it seemed to her as
+if her happiness was complete. Her eyes and her hand expressed it all on
+taking leave of Penloe.
+
+The ladies said little in going home. It seemed mutually understood that
+they would not give expression to their thoughts till they were home and
+sitting together in the evening.
+
+When Stella entered the house she had in her possession three of
+Penloe's books. One was "Macomber's Oriental Customs," another "Woman's
+Freedom in Tiestan" by Burnette, and the third was "Woman's Bondages" by
+Stuart.
+
+After supper was over and the dishes washed and put away, Stella and her
+mother sat down and Stella said somewhat abruptly: "Mother, sometimes I
+wish I had never seen Penloe." Her mother was not very much surprised to
+hear her express herself in that way, for she had observed that Stella's
+mind was somewhat agitated.
+
+Her mother said: "Why, dear, what do you mean?"
+
+Stella said: "Mother, I mean this: that I can never be contented and
+happy in the society of any young man other than Penloe. How can I?"
+
+It was a very hard question for her mother to answer, who knew full well
+that Penloe had unintentionally made an impression on her daughter's
+heart that time could never efface, and she had refrained from saying
+much in praise of Penloe, for she knew that it would only be adding fuel
+to a very great flame, which it would be impossible for Stella to
+quench. She knew that Stella had seen in Penloe a young man greatly
+beyond her expectations; even beyond her ideal. Penloe lived in a world
+that Stella had only just a faint conception of. It was his intellect,
+his exceptionally fine personality, manifested in such a fine, manly
+form she admired. But, above all, Stella could see that he had emptied
+himself of all save love. And that was so broad, so deep, so far
+reaching, so universal in its sympathies, that it stirred her whole
+nature.
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said: "I think my daughter has lost something."
+
+"Yes," said Stella, "I lost it when Penloe delivered his sermon on that
+Sunday at church, for I saw in him more than I ever dreamed of seeing in
+any man, and when I went up and thanked him for his address, and those
+discerning spiritual eyes of his looked so deeply and searchingly into
+mine, that he read my secret."
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright went to Stella and pressed her to herself, and kissed
+her many times. After awhile Stella said:
+
+"Mother, what I want to find in a man is true companionship. Now, look
+at the young men in Orangeville. There are a very few that are kind,
+steady young men, but then not one of them would be any companion to me.
+I don't want to listen to horse talk, or cattle talk, or hog talk, or
+some old back East yarns all the time. They all live in the social and
+domestic world; there is nothing intellectual about them; they are not
+moved by any broad, grand, sweeping, noble impulses. Their ranch, their
+home, and the excitement of their barterings and dickerings, and the
+doings of a few of their neighbors constitute the world they live in.
+And most of them think all that a woman is good for, is to cook, wash,
+and raise babies. And mother, I told you what kind of young men I met in
+Roseland; now, they are a sample of the top notch of society. All that
+many of them want is just the use of a young lady as a toy. And when
+they use up the flower, like the bee, they go to another. As for real
+manly worth, interesting, intelligent companionship, it is badly wanting
+in many of them. Some very few are much better than the rest.
+
+"You know, dear mother, it is not that I want to know a man as a man,
+but it is natural that I should want and love an interesting male
+companion. When I think what Penloe is, and then think how little and
+insignificant I am, a mere child beside him, and only about four years
+difference in our ages, it makes me feel discouraged."
+
+"Penloe's talk this afternoon," said her mother, "shows that he does not
+look at it in that way. Don't you remember his saying, 'I have traveled
+much, been among people of royalty, title and nobility, have lived among
+the rich, and great society leaders, also among great politicians,
+learned men, spiritual giants, business people, also among the poor,
+also the illiterate, the abandoned, the offscouring, and the outcasts of
+society; and I have yet to see the person that is not as good as I.' So
+you see he thinks that you are just as good as he. Now, dear, don't be
+discouraged in the least. I know just how my daughter feels; she wants
+Penloe as her life companion and wishes she could be to Penloe what he
+is to her. Stella, dear, calm your mind and remember that if Penloe is
+for you, you need not have the least anxiety about the matter; for there
+is no power in the universe that can hinder your being made one. But if
+he is not for you, then it does not matter how good or great, how grand
+or noble he may be, how intellectually brilliant he may shine, he should
+be the last man in the world you should think of as a life companion.
+For if there is anything that is true it is those lines of Emerson:
+
+  "'Whate'er in Nature is thine own,
+    Floating in air or pent in stone,
+    Will rive the hills and swim the sea,
+    And like thy shadow follow thee.'
+
+"Also remember the saying, 'My own will come to me.'"
+
+Nothing more was said. Stella commenced reading "Woman's Freedom in
+Tiestan," by Burnette. It occupied most of her spare time the next day,
+and she finished it before supper, so that evening after supper Stella
+said: "O, mother, I have finished reading 'Woman's Freedom in Tiestan.'
+It is most interesting. Tiestan is a place little known to the Western
+world, very few travelers having ever visited the country. I want to
+read a little of it to you."
+
+Her mother replied: "I shall be delighted to have you," for she always
+interested herself in anything her daughter was pleased with, so that
+she might be her companion and confidant when needed.
+
+Stella opened at page 79, and read, as follows:
+
+"When the traveler arrives in the city of Semhee, which is the most
+important in the country of Tiestan, his guide asks him whether he would
+like to go to the Menegam, which means Foreigners' Home, or to the
+Eshandam, which means Natives' Home. I told my guide I would go to the
+Menegam, which would be conducted after the manners and customs of the
+other parts of the Orient, which I had visited. Then, when I had become
+accustomed to the ways and manners of the people of Tiestan, I would go
+to the Eshandam. Now, while it is very true that very few travelers from
+the Western world have ever visited Tiestan, yet the travel from the
+other parts of the Orient is great and the people of Tiestan are
+familiar with the ideas of the Western world, through the Oriental
+travelers. They also have many of the modern improvements from thence,
+which they have purchased from Bombay and Calcutta. After making the
+necessary arrangements for a week's stay at the Menegam, I took a walk
+through some of the most important streets of the city of Semhee. The
+first impression which a traveler received in making a tour through the
+city is from the fine physique of the girls and women. One is struck
+with their independence, graceful carriage, and, as they only wear two
+or three garments, it is self evident that they are not dependent on
+corsets or waist stiffening for their erect bearing. I noticed there
+were very few doctors, and what few there were of the medical profession
+were equally divided between the sexes, there being three women and
+three men doctors. The city educates them and pays them to keep the
+people well. More than two-thirds of the people they heal without
+medicine. The profession of dentistry is represented by four women and
+four men. They receive their education at the public expense, and their
+business is to keep the teeth of the people sound, and put in new ones
+where required. Even the judges, lawyers, and city officials are equally
+divided between the sexes. I noticed the same rule prevailed in
+merchandise, hairdressing, and all kinds of business. There was not a
+single employment that was distinctively male or female, for no
+distinction was made between them. The same custom prevailed in all
+kinds of ball games and sports.
+
+"Another impression one quickly notices is that the extremes of riches
+and poverty are not seen among the people, for there are no very rich or
+very poor; everyone having all the necessary comforts of life and many
+of its luxuries.
+
+"After staying a week at the Menegam, I felt I was prepared to adopt the
+customs of the people of Tiestan; so I engaged a room and board at the
+Eshandam, or Natives' Home. Most of those who stop at the Eshandam are
+natives who live in the province of Tiestan, they having come to Semhee
+either on business or pleasure. Only two meals a day are served:
+Breakfast from 7.30 to 9 a.m., and dinner from the hours of 1 to 3 p.m.
+
+"I arrived in time for dinner. Persons staying at the Eshandam are all
+looked upon while there as members of one family, and it becomes the
+duty of the manager to see that all persons sitting at the same table
+have been introduced. It would be considered a breach of etiquette to
+eat the meal quickly and in silence. I never was in a hotel dining room
+where there seemed to be so much freedom and enjoyment among the guests
+while taking their meals. Everyone has plenty of time to eat his meal
+leisurely. Most of the guests coming from the different parts of the
+province of Tiestan, and being well informed, and all able to converse
+in two languages, and all having their minds free from uncertain
+business enterprises, made their conversation very interesting and
+elevating, and their company a pleasure to enjoy. Meat is never seen on
+the table. They would feel indignant and be as much disgusted if meat
+were set before them, as we would be to have a cooked baby brought to
+the table. Eggs are used in some of their cooking; they are also served
+in various ways. Their bread and pastry cannot be excelled anywhere. The
+dessert consists of a large variety of nuts, confectionery, and fruits.
+From two to five o'clock guests are entertained with music in the
+beautiful hotel gardens, where fountains are playing, sending water out
+in the form of leaves, umbrellas, hats, rings, and other interesting
+forms. After the music is over some indulge in games, others read or
+write, others chat. In the evening for those who wish to attend are
+classes for literature, science, and spiritual philosophy. It is the
+business of the hotel to supply all the wants of its patrons; to see
+that the intellectual and spiritual natures are fed as well as to see to
+the wants of the body. The reason that the people in the city of Semhee
+have so much time, is that all labor and business is performed in six
+hours. Six hours make a day's work. No one is idle, every well person is
+busy at some productive employment. At the hotel they have no such room
+as 'Ladies' Parlor,' the parlor being equally for the use of both sexes,
+for the ladies are willing that the men hear any subject they are
+talking to each other about. No one smokes in that country. The bedrooms
+have two doors. One door leads from the hallway into the bedroom, the
+other leads from the bedroom into the bath department, which was twelve
+feet wide and was as long as the row of bedrooms. Opposite each room was
+a bath-tub and a large movable basin, so that a guest could take a
+sponge bath or immerse himself.
+
+"The first thing every well person does on rising in the morning is to
+go into the bath department and take a cold bath. On my right was a
+newly married couple whom I had the pleasure of conversing with at the
+dinner yesterday, and on my left was a young lady and her mother with
+whom I had the pleasure of enjoying a conversation in the hotel gardens
+the day before. I exchanged greetings with all of them in the bath
+department, and the feeling was exactly the same as if we all had been
+dressed and met at the breakfast. As my room was about the center of the
+row I could look each way, and perhaps there were over twenty persons of
+both sexes and all ages taking their bath. On the door leading from the
+bedroom to the bath department was a writing in hieroglyphics
+illuminated and framed, which when deciphered read: 'Sex is an illusion,
+illusion is a bondage, break the bondage and be free. The truth shall
+make you free.'
+
+"After we had taken our baths those who wished were shown into the room
+for devotion. When I had entered the room and had sat for a few minutes
+I began to realize what a sacred, peaceful influence was in the place.
+It seemed to come up from the floor, down from the ceiling, and out from
+the walls, and from everything in the room. No talking is allowed in the
+room. It is used only for devotion. I performed my devotions and gave
+the room my hearty benedictions. I noticed that the forms of devotion
+were not all the same, some using one kind of form and some another, but
+they all led to the same goal. The devotions were all carried on in
+silence. They consisted first of all of breathing exercises; then
+bringing the mind to a state of calmness, by repeating mentally, looking
+to the East, 'May all beings be happy. May all beings be peaceful. May
+all beings be blissful.' Then looking to the South, repeat the same;
+then looking to the West, repeat the same, and looking to the North,
+repeat the same. After which some of them say mentally: 'Help me to
+meditate upon the glory of Him who projected this universe. May He
+enlighten my mind.' Then they pray in silence for light and knowledge;
+also they repeat in silence: 'May I this day live without discontent,
+without self-seeking, and without anxiety.' Then follow concentration
+and meditation.
+
+"After the devotional exercises we had breakfast. I cannot help
+remarking that the mind is in a better condition spiritually for
+performing and enjoying sacred devotions before breakfast than it is
+after it. To have family prayers after breakfast, as many do in the
+Western world, hinders the freedom and adaptation that the Orientals
+have in their devotion. In the Western world many are present out of
+respect or rule, having no sympathy with the devotions, sending out
+antagonistic aura which neutralizes the effect of worship, and makes it
+cold, formal, flat, dead, and dull, for there is not the right
+concentrated spiritual thought in the room, which is very essential for
+profitable spiritual exercises.
+
+"On leaving the devotional room for breakfast, I could not help thinking
+what a fine preparation for the day! With such a commencement as that,
+no wonder the day's work is done well, without friction and in perfect
+harmony.
+
+"The people in Semhee being of a social nature and free from all
+conventionalities of modern society, it was not long before I made the
+acquaintance of many very interesting families.
+
+"I received an invitation to make my home with one of them during my
+stay in the city of Semhee, which I was glad to accept. I found the life
+in the home to be very much like that in the hotel, so far as bathing,
+devotions, and meals were concerned. One evening a young lady called at
+the house to see a young man who is a son of my host. The young lady
+stayed about two hours, making herself very agreeable to the young man,
+and upon taking her leave she invited him to accompany her the next
+evening to a concert. He accepted. The next evening she came and called
+for him, took him to the concert and saw him home. It seemed she had
+been very friendly with him for about two months. The following Sunday
+afternoon the young lady called for the young man and took him to the
+park, and as I was informed afterwards when the two were in a very
+secluded place, surrounded by shrubbery, she, in a very pretty way, told
+him that the more she was with him and the more she saw of him, the more
+she felt impressed that she loved him, and had found in him a true
+companion, and wished to know how he felt towards her. As he was in
+exactly the same state of mind towards her as she was towards him, they
+were engaged to be married. I became interested in this couple, and
+observed that sometimes the young lady would call and see him and take
+him out, and sometimes the young man would call and see the young lady
+and take her out. I do not wish to give the reader the impression that
+the young ladies of Tiestan always commence the courtship, for it is as
+customary for a young man to commence a courtship as for a young lady.
+The privilege and pleasure of commencing a courtship belongs as much to
+one sex as the other.
+
+"One afternoon I was walking along the banks of the beautiful river
+which flows through the suburbs of the city of Semhee, and saw a number
+of boys and girls, also men and women, all enjoying themselves swimming.
+They would swim awhile and then come out, stand or sit on the bank of
+the river for another while. Sometimes there would be seen several
+hundred persons of all ages on the banks of the river. They no more
+thought about their respective natures than they did about the number of
+hairs on their head. Among those I saw on the banks of the river was
+this very young man and young lady who were engaged to be married. They
+were standing up side by side ready to take a plunge in the river, and
+in they went and swam about very gracefully. While they were in the
+water they both saw me standing on the bank opposite to where they had
+stood on the other. They swam to where I was, and came out of the water
+to me, and we had a little chat.
+
+"If the young lady was invited to stay over night at the young man's
+house, she would take her bath with the other members of the family in
+the morning, and if the young man received an invitation to stay all
+night at the home of the young lady, he, in the morning, would take his
+bath with the members of her family.
+
+"About a month after the engagement the two were married. The city
+Semhee employs four persons who can perform the marriage ceremony, two
+men and two women. They were married at the home of the young man. A
+lady came to perform the ceremony. She told the couple to stand up and
+take hands, and then she asked the young man--calling him by name--if he
+would have this woman--calling her by name--to be his wife, and he
+answered, 'Yes.' Then she asked the young lady--calling her by her
+name--would she have this man--calling him by his name--as her husband,
+and she answered, 'Yes.' Then she said: 'In the presence of these
+witnesses I declare you to be man and wife.' The two then signed a
+document stating they were man and wife, which was put on record, and
+that ended the ceremony. They were very happy, for each one found in the
+other a true, loving companion, and they were one intellectually and
+spiritually.
+
+"As women are engaged in the professions, in business, and perform all
+kinds of service as men do, receiving the same compensation, they are
+just as financially independent as men are, and, therefore, have no
+other motive for marrying than that of true, pure love, finding in each
+other a true intellectual and spiritual companion. Of children they have
+few, for they believe in quality, and not quantity.
+
+"The intellectual and spiritual life predominates over the animal in all
+its inhabitants. Do not think from what I have written about the ladies
+of Tiestan that they are masculine women. Far from it. They are just as
+sweet, pretty, entertaining, attractive, and graceful as any women to be
+found in the world. Yes, far more so, for their hours of duty are short.
+They have no care, anxiety or sickness to speak of, and their
+environments are such as to bring to the surface all that is pure, good,
+noble, and sweet; and, above all, the traveler finds the ladies of
+Semhee to be _real_, genuine, and sincere in character."
+
+When Stella had finished reading her selection from Burnette's book, her
+mother had a big laugh, and asked her if she wanted to go to Semhee.
+
+"No, mother, it is not Semhee I wish to visit just now, though some day
+I certainly would like to see the city of Semhee and meet the
+accomplished, enlightened, and free women of Tiestan. What I do want to
+see is the women of this country, where there is so much boast of
+liberty and freedom, free themselves from the awful bondage of sex
+superstition, and all other bondages that have been heaped upon them by
+people of the Dark Ages because they are women. Even those who talk so
+much about woman's rights, are in bondage up to their necks. Look at
+Laura Stevenson in Orangeville; a fine bright young girl, who makes a
+hobby of woman's rights, and yet see the bondage she is in. A fine young
+man whom she was supposed to respect very much, lay sick in his cabin
+all alone, and with all her talk about her independence and freedom, she
+never went to see him because he was alone and there was no woman there.
+She being a young woman, thought it would not be proper for her to do
+it. Laura Stevenson's independence and liberty consist in having her own
+way in a few things. She does not know what freedom is. Her freedom is
+all sham, and with no reality in it. Then there is Nora Parks, who is
+supposed to be advanced, and talks much on woman's freedom; but watch
+her how very particular she is in her conduct with young men who are
+good, lest she should excite the jealousy of her husband. Therefore, she
+is not free, but in bondage to his foolish, uncalled for jealous
+feelings. Talk about women being free, they don't know anything about
+freedom, for they are all in bondage of some kind or other."
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said: "Stella, among the many fine thoughts which
+Burnette brings out in the description of the women of Semhee, that is a
+great one _which shows woman to be financially independent of man,
+previous to marriage and after marriage, too_. Therefore, she can have
+no other motive for marrying a man than that of mating herself to a true
+companion. When that is done the two act as one light, whose rays reach
+out and shine on all around them. Blessed is such a life."
+
+"Mother," said Stella, "I do not fully understand the meaning of the
+writing on the bedroom door, which Burnette describes. You remember that
+part which reads: 'Sex is an illusion.' I understand too well the
+meaning of being in bondage to sex, but that sex is an illusion I do not
+see the meaning of, because we know that sex is real and has its use and
+purpose."
+
+"I cannot enlighten you, my dear," said her mother. "You will have to
+ask Penloe when you return the books."
+
+"Well, mother," said Stella, "I am going to put some of my theories into
+practice. I say my theories, but I do not exactly mean that; but I am
+going to put some advanced ideas into practice in regard to woman's
+freedom. I will now tell you one of them, and another later on.
+
+"Mother," continued Stella, "when a man lives alone and a woman wishes
+to go to his house to see him, she has to take another woman with her
+because it is not thought proper for a woman to be seen going alone
+calling at a house, particularly where a young man lives by himself. But
+if a woman lives alone and a man wants to see her he does not get some
+other man to go with him. No, he goes alone, and it is thought all
+right. Now, mother, I will be free, and, therefore, when I return the
+books to Penloe I will go alone."
+
+"All right, my dear," said her mother. "I am glad, Stella, you have the
+courage to practise your convictions. This talk of woman's rights and
+freedom we hear so much about and woman's liberty that we read of in the
+newspapers, is just so much evasion. A woman who may have known a good
+man for several years dare not call on him if he lives alone. One ounce
+of practice, Stella, is worth a thousand tons of big talk. Go ahead, my
+daughter, I am proud of you," said Mrs. Wheelwright.
+
+The week after Stella went to the house of Penloe to return the books.
+Penloe was in his library writing. When he heard a knock he arose and
+went to the door in a mechanical kind of way, his mind being more on the
+subject of his writing than upon who might be at the door. When he
+opened the door Stella said:
+
+"Good morning, Penloe; I have come to return your books."
+
+Stella's voice seemed to recall Penloe to where he was, and to notice
+who had come to see him.
+
+In a soft, musical voice, he said: "Glad to see you, Stella; walk in,"
+giving her his hand, and Stella was shown in to the library.
+
+When she was seated Penloe said: "Excuse me for a minute or two," and
+Stella was pleased to do so, for she wanted to be in the room alone and
+take notes. But no sooner had Penloe left the room when a different
+state of mind came over her, and she did not feel like giving her
+attention to anything in the room. For such a wave of peace came over
+her mind as she had never experienced before, so that the room seemed to
+be full of peace. It was not a dead, sleepy peace, nor a dreamy peace,
+but a peace that was refreshing, strengthening, and was exactly what her
+mind needed. She sat in perfect bliss drinking in all she could, when
+Penloe came into the room. He seemed to her to be all peace. This
+delightful condition put her mind in a state of equipoise, such as she
+had never felt before; for it was a peace that was tinged with a Divine
+quality; and it was about to awaken her more than ever to the
+possibilities of the real world, the Divine world, the spiritual world,
+the world whose realization so far she had not a knowledge of. For her
+supreme life was in her intellectual tastes and in her deep, loving,
+true nature, which loved to see what was fitting, right, and just,
+actually lived; possessing at the same time the boldness and courage to
+be a pioneer of advanced thought, and, above all, she loved to live her
+ideas.
+
+On returning to the room Penloe opened the conversation by saying:
+"Well, Stella, could you find anything interesting in the books?"
+
+"Interesting, Penloe," said Stella. "Why, I have had a very rich treat
+in the perusal of them. I felt as if I could not put them down till I
+had finished them, for they contain just the light I have been seeking,
+and now they have become a part of my own mentality. But I wish you
+would explain the meaning of the expression, 'Sex is an illusion.'"
+
+"Why, certainly, Stella, I will be glad to do so, for if there is
+anything that appears real it is what is known as sex, the qualities of
+male and female, we see in all nature. It is said to exist in some
+precious stones, and we know it exists in the vegetable world, and in
+all animal life. And if there is anything that is real to a boy or girl,
+it is that he or she is a boy or girl, and if there is anything that is
+real to a man or a woman, it is that he or she is a man or woman. So
+strongly has this thought become the life thought of the human race,
+that the members of each sex look upon themselves as being just what
+their material forms stand for. That is, a woman believes that she will
+be a purified woman through all eternity, that the woman is permanent,
+real, immortal, and that she will continue on, as a woman, with her
+womanly traits of character greatly expanded. While man thinks that as a
+man he is real, permanent, and immortal; that he will continue his
+existence as a man through all eternity, and that he will always be
+known as a man, and always look upon woman as woman. Any thought
+contrary to the reality of sex, the masses in the Western world will not
+accept, for they live in a sex world, and at present do not wish to rise
+above it, for they are in bondage to the reality of sex. In the
+prehistoric period of humanity there lived a race of gods, that is, a
+race whose members were intellectual and spiritual giants, many of them
+spending their whole life in thought, living on a very meagre diet,
+needing very little in the way of clothing and shelter, having no
+material desires or ambitions to gratify. They, therefore, had an
+abundance of time for searching for and investigating spiritual truths.
+They were fitted by nature and by their environments for that life, and
+they were gifted with revelations of the unseen.
+
+"They were called seers or sages, because they could see spiritual
+truths which others could not, and it was at this period and through one
+of these seers that a voice spoke, 'That which exists is one, men call
+it by various names.' That was the conclusion that many other eminent
+seers and sages had come to. For they saw that there was one great
+Infinite Life Force manifesting itself in all and through all. That
+there is a correlation of spiritual forces, and that all the various
+phenomena are the one manifestation of this Infinite Life, which is
+called by some God, by others Lord, by others Brahma, by others Jehovah,
+by others Allah, the meaning of them all being exactly the same as that
+expressed in the Bible by the name of God, in whom we live, move, and
+breathe and have our being; that we are the manifestation of Him. In
+short, our real entity, our real life, our real self (the Atman), our
+soul (the Purusa) is Spirit eternal and immortal. Now the life of the
+Spirit has no sex in it, but the spirit manifests itself in these
+various forms of male and female. The sexual form is only the
+instrument, not the Being. For the Being is not sex, and, therefore,
+there is nothing connected with sex, that is spiritual and eternal. It
+belongs to the external world and the material plane, and is, therefore,
+a temporary manifestation suitable to the earth plane. It becomes
+necessary, in order to get a true conception of what we really are (that
+we are spiritual beings, being neither male nor female) that we get away
+from the illusion of sex, and not be in bondage to it. But the man must
+look upon the woman as a spiritual being and not think of her only for
+what her material form stands for. If he does he is under an illusion,
+being in bondage to her body, which becomes a barrier to realizing the
+Divine within, and if the woman looks upon the material form of the man
+as being the man and that for which he stands, then she is under an
+illusion and is in bondage to his material form, looking upon his male
+body as the all of man. And such a thought becomes a hindrance to her
+realizing her Divine nature.
+
+"Remember, Stella, that sex is only apparent, not real. It belongs to
+the phenomenal world."
+
+Stella said: "To accept the idea you have just advanced I shall have to
+begin and lay a new foundation to build upon, for you have swept away
+many things I considered truths."
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, you are merely casting off old garments that you
+have outgrown, and you are now ready for a new robe that fits you. But
+remember never to quarrel with the old clothes you once wore. They have
+served their purpose and should always be respected."
+
+Stella said: "Penloe, the truth you have advanced regarding sex will
+take me some time to fully digest."
+
+"Certainly," said Penloe, "but it will not be long before you will
+comprehend it fully in all its relativity and make it a part of your own
+mentality."
+
+Stella said: "Have you any reading matter to lend me which touches on
+this subject, Penloe?"
+
+"Yes," said Penloe, "here are some lectures by the Swami Vivekanada; one
+is 'The Real and the Apparent Man,' another is 'Reincarnation,' and two
+lectures on the 'Cosmos.' And here are also two books for you to read."
+
+Stella was delighted to receive the lectures and books. After thanking
+Penloe she gave him her hand, and said: "I must go, now."
+
+Penloe held her hand, and said: "Stella, I see you are very fond of
+books, and they are a very great help, and I prize my library very, very
+much; but remember, Stella, the whole library of the universe is within
+you. Stella, accept a suggestion from one who is your true friend. Be
+much in prayer; let your prayer be for light and knowledge; meditate
+much on Divine things; and you will be surprised how a flood of light
+will sweep over you at times. Pray that the Divine, which was manifested
+in such a degree in Jesus, may be manifested in you." Pressing her hand,
+he said: "God bless you, Stella, and may you ever feel the presence of
+your own Divine nature."
+
+Stella will never forget that warm hand grasp and those spiritual words.
+For it seemed to her at that very moment that that spiritual fire, which
+was always burning with such a glow in Penloe and shining so brightly
+through his angelic face, had caused the spark which had been growing
+brighter and stronger within her, to burst into a flame, and what sweet
+season of soul experience did she realize on her way home.
+
+Stella had much to think about that evening. She said little to her
+parents; her mind was so pre-occupied she could not give attention to
+much else. She realized she must make the matter thoroughly clear to
+herself so as to have all her thoughts and ideas harmonize, before
+communicating them even to her parents. She did not even look into the
+literature which Penloe had lent her that evening. She felt like
+retiring and thinking. When she laid her head on the pillow that night
+it seemed as if it was not to sleep; it was to think. The leaven was
+working in Stella's mind. The truths which she had just received were
+powerful; it seemed as if she could not get away from them, even if she
+wished, for truths possess us, we do not possess them. Nothing in the
+universe is more powerful than truth.
+
+After the first wave of the novelty, the beauty, the grandeur and the
+thrilling depth of the truth had subsided only temporarily (to be
+superseded by a far more powerful wave of the same character), there
+came over Stella's mind during this lull, a strong feeling of attachment
+to some of the old ideas she had held. It was very easy for her to let
+some of her garments drop from her mental form, and be clothed with new
+ones, but there were some that seemed rather hard to loosen; and which
+were they? One was this: While it cannot be said that Stella was vain or
+self-conceited, there was that strong attachment to the personal I,
+which is generally seen in positive dominant characters in the Western
+world. And as a woman she had everything to make her feel proud of her
+form and beauty, with a graceful carriage, combined with a bright mind
+and noble purpose. She had realized her power over the opposite sex. Her
+dominant thought had been, that as a woman she was going to lead her
+sisters out of bondage; that because she was a woman she had a right to
+vote; because she was a woman she should not be in bondage to forms,
+ceremonies, and customs; because she was a woman she should not be a
+slave to sex superstition. But now all this had been swept away, and it
+was hard for her to let go all the grand thoughts she had entertained
+about woman as woman. But, blessed, noble, courageous girl, she said: "I
+will follow truth whithersoever it may lead," and she inscribed truth on
+her banner, saying, "That will I follow."
+
+So she let the last of her old garments drop from her, saying: "I will
+clothe myself with the garment of truth." The battle had now been fought
+and the victory won; and now a wave came sweeping over her mind, more
+powerful, with more beauty, with greater grandeur, penetrating far
+deeper, stirring the very depths of her nature, and she felt such
+freedom as she had never realized in her life before. With this rock,
+the corner-stone of truth, she commenced to lay a foundation which is
+eternal and immortal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+PENLOE'S ORIGINAL ADDRESS.
+
+
+The Roseland _Gazette_ was very pleased to get something of a
+sensational character in its columns, like the different stories which
+had been brought to that city concerning Penloe's sermon delivered in
+Orangeville. The State Legislature not being in session (to see how much
+money they could get out of the pockets of the people for the benefit of
+its members and their friends), there were no sensational charges of
+bribery or boodle to report; and as Congress had closed there was no
+news concerning laws passed in the interests of bankers, railroad
+corporations, sugar trusts, whiskey and other trusts which are able to
+furnish members of Congress with funds to carry their schemes through.
+It happened to be at a time when news was scarce and dull, and therefore
+the press made the most of the matter by writing an editorial on the
+subject of sex relationship, which appeared in the paper the following
+week, and was as follows:
+
+"In our last issue we gave as correct a report of the remarkable sermon
+preached by Penloe in the church at Orangeville, as our reporter could
+get. Since then most all other subjects of conversation have subsided in
+this county and the main topic of conversation has been Penloe and the
+sex question. As to Penloe, it is not our purpose in this article to
+discuss the man, but some of his ideas. The sex question is a very
+peculiar one to the minds of many. Penloe's ideas are so radical that it
+gives us a shock all over even to think of attempting to bring the
+people to that mode of living. The thought we have concerning our sex is
+instilled into us by custom, precept and example, so that from earliest
+infancy to introduce such an innovation as Penloe proposes would
+apparently, to our minds, seem like undermining our social structure and
+its very foundations. While we admit the state of society is morally
+low, yet what can be done to improve it? Can we ever reconcile ourselves
+to persons of both sexes and all ages undressing in the presence of each
+other and all bathing together naked? We question whether society is
+ready for such a change? Penloe's theories are like many other theories,
+very fine on paper but when you put them in practice they won't work.
+What say you, readers? We would like to hear also from our brothers of
+the press."
+
+And they did hear from their brethren of the press. For other county
+papers took the matter up, being very glad to get something sensational
+for their columns; and from county papers the subject got into the big
+city dailies throughout California, and they printed very sensational
+articles concerning Penloe and his sermon, discussing the sex question
+at great length. It was not very long before the Eastern papers had long
+articles about Penloe and his sermon, and they wrote much on the
+subject. Then the matter reached the magnitude of what is known as a
+wave; which swept through the press all over the continent, causing as
+much comment and talk as Markham's poem, "The Man with the Hoe."
+
+Penloe's mail increased in size rapidly, and he was now receiving twenty
+times more letters than all the other mail in Orangeville combined. It
+was amusing to see how the letters were addressed. They read, "Dr.
+Penloe, Rev. Dr. Penloe, Rev. Penloe, Penloe, Esq., Prof. Penloe, D.D.,
+and LL.D." Letters came to him from every state in the Union. Here is
+one:
+
+     "MR. PENLOE:
+
+     "DEAR SIR:--I am shocked and disgusted with you. You
+      never ought to be allowed to talk from the pulpit in
+      such a way. The people of Orangeville ought to tar and
+      feather you and ride you on a rail out of the county."
+
+Another letter was as follows:
+
+     "CRANK PENLOE:
+
+     "Of all the cranks I ever did read about or hear tell
+      on, you are the darndest. The women folks in my house
+      are as hot as hell, ever since they read in the paper
+      what you talked in church. My wife said, 'What a crank
+      you must be,' and my mother-in-law said hell is too
+      good for such as you. What a rumpus you have made all
+      over the country; it seems as if hell is to pay for all
+      this."
+
+Penloe also received some powerful scorching letters from orthodox
+ministers, while on the other hand the liberal and radical elements of
+society poured forth eulogies and commendations for his bold original
+utterances, for his fearlessness in treating the subject in the
+courageous way he did; calling him a brave pioneer and they themselves
+would start Penloe Clubs for putting his ideas in practice. He received
+many letters from churches in some of the large cities, like the
+following:
+
+     "REV. DR. PENLOE:
+
+     "DEAR SIR:--Our church in this city is an elegant
+      structure and will seat twelve hundred persons. For
+      some months we have been looking for a popular young
+      man to fill our pulpit. It has been very difficult to
+      find an up-to-date man, one that will draw a
+      congregation to fill our church, for the audience keeps
+      growing less every Sunday, because we have not got a
+      real, live smart man to preach to us. We think if we
+      could secure your services you would draw the largest
+      congregation in this city, for your popularity has
+      swept the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
+      we feel sure you are the right man. Our people are very
+      sociable and well to do, many of our members being
+      rich. We are willing to pay you a salary of seven
+      thousand dollars a year, and the use of a handsome
+      house elegantly furnished, and will allow you two
+      months' vacation, besides paying your expenses to come
+      here. We will say that, should you accept our offer,
+      our people will be glad to receive you into their
+      hearts and homes."
+
+Penloe always answered all such communications, but as for accepting one
+of them it was out of the question; for he knew it was not his field of
+labor, and if the salary had been a hundred thousand dollars a year, it
+would have been no temptation or an inducement to him to accept the
+offer. For money, name and fame touched him not; and nothing could
+induce him to leave his path of labor for the sake of going into some
+new field of work which only held out large material rewards. He also
+received many offers from the owners of papers and magazines, asking him
+to write his views. The New York _Monthly Magazine_ offered him one
+thousand dollars for an eight-page article on the sex question; provided
+he would not write on the subject for any other magazine or paper.
+Penloe accepted the offer because he considered that was the best
+channel to communicate to the world his views on the sex question. Its
+readers were of a class that could comprehend the subject in the spirit
+in which it was offered. And as for the thousand dollars Penloe had a
+sacred purpose he wished to use that money for. A man wrote to Penloe
+offering him forty thousand dollars if he would consent to lecture for
+one year in all the large cities in the United States. The man told a
+friend of his, he was sure after paying Penloe his forty thousand
+dollars and all other expenses, he would clear about sixty thousand
+dollars himself.
+
+How true it is that a prophet is not without honor, save in his own
+country. For Orangeville was the last place to feel the Penloe wave
+which swept over all the country. At last the people of Orangeville
+reading so much about him in their papers and magazines, began to think
+he was something more than a crank, that they must have a great man
+amongst them, or else he would never have received such big offers of
+money for his services as the papers stated he had, and there would not
+have been so much written about him if he was of no account.
+
+Quite a change had come over the people in Roseland concerning Penloe,
+and they began to feel differently towards him since his wave of
+popularity had swept over the country. Even Stella's aunt had
+experienced a change of heart towards him, for she was heard to say,
+"People's ideas are changing now in regard to the sex question. They
+look at the subject so differently now from what they did when I was a
+girl. I did not think Penloe was such a smart man as the papers say he
+is. He must be, or else he never would have received an offer of forty
+thousand dollars to lecture for one year."
+
+A man may possess all the characteristics of a saint and a martyr
+combined, and yet the average person is not attracted to him; but as
+soon as money and popularity flow towards him, then in his eyes he
+becomes next to a God; for people love to be touched on the material
+side of their nature rather than on the spiritual. They consider the
+spiritual well enough to talk about, and when a friend of theirs dies
+they may love to sing "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and "Safe in the Arms of
+Jesus," but what they really desire for themselves and families, above
+everything else, is a rich blessing of material things; that which makes
+well for the body and which puts them in a position to have full play of
+the emotional and sensational part of their natures.
+
+So great was the desire among the people of Orangeville and Roseland,
+and in fact the whole county, to hear Penloe speak, and to see the man
+that so much had been said and written about, that a committee was sent
+to him with a request signed by the leading citizens, asking him to
+deliver an address to them in Roseland. Penloe accepted the invitation
+to speak. The committee secured the use of a large packing house for the
+meeting, and fixed it up so that it seated a very large audience, for
+they knew that the Penloe wave was at its height, and about every team
+from every ranch in the county would be out on that occasion. As the
+committee had well advertised more than a week ahead, that Penloe would
+deliver a public address, the news reached to many parts outside the
+county, so that when the day came for the meeting to be held a number
+of strangers from different parts of the state were seen in Roseland.
+
+We will copy from a San Francisco paper a report of the meeting, as that
+paper had a special reporter there who gave a full report of the
+address.
+
+-----------
+
+AN IMMENSE CROWD
+
+LISTENS
+
+TO PENLOE'S ORIGINAL ADDRESS.
+
+Meeting Opened by the Mayor of Roseland.
+
+-----------
+
+If a stranger had been in Roseland to-day he certainly would have
+thought from seeing the livery stables crowded with teams from the
+country, and every vacant lot and square also filled with teams, and the
+crowds of people on the streets all going in one direction, that some
+great attraction was going on, and he would be under the impression that
+if he went out into the country he would not expect to see a person or a
+team, for there never was any occasion before that brought such a large
+gathering of people to Roseland. Long before the time of commencement,
+the seating capacity of the building was taxed to its utmost. Promptly
+at 2 P.M. the Mayor of Roseland and Penloe appeared on the platform. The
+Mayor opened the meeting by introducing Penloe in the following words:
+"Ladies and gentlemen:--It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you
+this afternoon a gentleman whom you all have heard and read so much
+about. Whatever your views may be about his teaching, I can positively
+assert the lecturer is a scholar and a gentleman, every inch of him.
+Very often a speaker's remarks fail to have the full weight they are
+entitled to because persons say he has an axe to grind, or, he is paid
+to talk that way. Now I have not the least idea of the subject the
+speaker is going to talk to you upon, but this I can say, he is here
+this afternoon only because he was invited to come and speak. He refused
+all offers of money for his services, saying, he wished his labors to be
+a free will offering to you. Therefore I hope you will give him your
+closest attention, remembering he gives you the best product of his mind
+acquired through years of study, thought and observation; and that is
+the richest gift one can give another.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the honor of introducing to you the
+speaker, known as Penloe."
+
+Penloe rose and came forward to the front of the platform; first bowing
+to the Mayor and then to the audience; and as he did so he faced a sea
+of upturned faces, who gazed upon one of the most remarkable men this
+country has produced. Not very many of the audience had seen Penloe
+before, and they were agreeably surprised to see on the platform before
+them, so distinguished a personality. It seemed a delight to look upon
+him. But few present could begin to size up such a man as he was. Some
+of the remarks which one could hear whispered were like the following:
+
+A young lady said: "What beautiful clear eyes he has. It seems as if you
+could see his soul in them."
+
+A gentleman was heard to say: "He has the most striking personality of
+any one I have ever seen."
+
+A lady remarked: "Is he not handsome?"
+
+A man said: "What a fine head and noble countenance he has. It seems as
+if the Almighty had stamped himself on him."
+
+"Yes," said his wife who was sitting at his side. "And did you ever see
+a more perfect specimen of physical manhood than he is, so symmetrical
+in his build?"
+
+Such was the man who faced the large audience and opened his address by
+saying:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"DEAR FRIENDS:
+
+"The Mayor was correct in calling what I am about to say to you 'a
+talk,' for if any one has come here expecting a grand oration, with
+flowery language, rounded periods, and finished diction, he will be
+disappointed.
+
+"Now, dear friends, I love you all, and that is why I call you dear
+friends, and that is why I am here this afternoon to talk to you,
+because I love you all. Yes, every one of you. I don't care what you
+apparently are. Some of you may be greedy and grasping, and some may be
+tyrannical and overbearing, or weak and negative; with no backbone or
+grit or will; or you may be vain, selfish, ambitious, self-conceited,
+carrying your head too high; or you may be one who lives to dance; loves
+the whirl and excitement of pleasure; or you may be one who loves to
+enjoy eating and drinking and sensual delights. I say, and I repeat it
+again, I don't care what you apparently are, I love you all just the
+same. I look at you from an entirely different standpoint from which you
+look at yourselves. Now you all look at yourselves and at others
+according to sex and your environments. Before me I see men who say of
+themselves, I am a lawyer; I am a preacher; I am a banker; I am a
+doctor; I am a merchant; I am a mechanic; I am an artist; I am a
+musician; I am a farmer; I am a common laborer. Before me I see women
+who say, I am a dressmaker; I am a milliner; I am a teacher; I am a
+clerk; I am a bookkeeper; I am a typewriter; or I am a lawyer's wife, or
+banker's wife, or doctor's wife, or merchant's wife, or preacher's wife,
+or mechanic's wife, or farmer's wife. You think of yourselves according
+to that position you occupy to make your living, or according to the
+relationship you hold as wife, mother, daughter, or according to the
+family you are a member of. Then again you all esteem yourselves
+according to the degree of comfort, luxuries, health, money or property
+which each of you may or may not possess. Also whether you are young,
+middle aged or old.
+
+"Dear brothers and sisters, I do not rate you nor judge you nor look at
+you in any way according to your conditions, age, sex or environments. I
+look at you to-day not as you look at yourselves, but I look at you all
+as spiritual beings, pure and perfect; nay, I look upon you all as
+being still more than that, for I look upon you all as being the
+manifestation of the One great Infinite Spirit.
+
+"Let me make it clearer to you by an illustration: In a certain province
+of an Oriental country it was customary at one time for any young lady
+who was distinguished in any way for her beauty or her riches or her
+titles or her accomplishments, to set a day for receiving her suitors,
+and grant each an opportunity to tell what he had to offer her as an
+inducement to her to become his bride. In this province there was a
+young lady whose beauty of countenance and lovely form, language is
+inadequate to describe. In addition to that, her sweet souled character
+exceeded her beautiful form and her many accomplishments. So superior
+had that character become in its spiritual manifestation, that many
+stories were told of her healing the sick, of her spiritual words and
+presence reforming the lives of many; and of her having knowledge of
+things, persons and subjects that she had neither heard nor read about.
+Her youth, her beauty, her spiritual gifts and her many accomplishments
+became known throughout the length and breadth of the province, and she
+had many suitors for her heart and hand. So a day was set for her to
+receive them all, to hear what each one had to offer, and select the one
+of her choice. A suitable room was prepared for receiving them. At the
+farther end the floor was raised two feet and on this raised part she
+took a seat in the centre and near the front, with all her suitors on
+her right seated on the lower floor and facing her.
+
+"The first suitor that had a hearing was a rich merchant. He said to
+her, 'Dearest lady, I have heard much of thee and it now does my eyes
+good to behold thee in all thy beauty. I am glad you have consented to
+give me the opportunity of telling you what I have to offer you to
+become my bride. I am a rich merchant and have a palatial home on the
+borders of a beautiful lake. Inside my home is a collection of the
+riches and products of skill from all lands that I have traded in. I
+have gold and ivory, laces, shawls, silks, fancy wares, rugs, mattings,
+spices and perfumes; and I have brought with me some as an offering to
+you' (and here he ordered his servants to bring the presents in and
+display them before her). 'Be my bride, most gracious lady, and the
+wealth from all lands shall be thine.'
+
+"The lady smiled on him and told him to take a seat on her left and have
+his servants remove the presents.
+
+"The next that appeared before the lady was a great warrior.
+
+"He said, 'Lovely lady, I am a great warrior. I have led to battle large
+armies, and have always been victorious. I have met hand to hand
+captains and generals, and have slain them with one blow from my sword'
+(and here he drew it out of its sheath and showed it to her. It was a
+fine piece of skilled workmanship). 'Should you become my bride no harm
+shall ever befall you, no enemy shall come nigh you, and no serpent or
+wild beast shall hurt you; for I have killed all kinds of animals and
+reptiles. Most lovely one, if thou wilt become my bride, all my soldiers
+shall obey thy word, and I will be thy true protector.'
+
+"With a smile she motioned him to a place on her left.
+
+"The next that appeared as her suitor, said, 'Dear lady, I have a
+beautiful home and all it needs is thee, and shouldst thou see fit to
+become my bride, you will be a happy and a joyous mother, and in the
+love of each other, and in our home, and in our children, will our
+happiness be found. Dearest lady, become my bride and thou shalt be the
+head of the happiest home in the land.'
+
+"She smiled and motioned him to a seat on her left.
+
+"The next suitor that came forward was attired in rich cloth trimmed
+with lace and gold.
+
+"He said, 'Most charming lady, I am a Prince, and if thou wilt become my
+bride, I will make thee a Princess. Thou shall have a lovely court, many
+servants, costly robes to wear, and millions of people to worship thee,
+and do thee homage.'
+
+"She smiled and motioned him to a seat on her left.
+
+"Other suitors made offers to her. The last suitor that appeared before
+the sweet lady was different from all the rest. He was dressed plainly;
+he needed nothing to improve his natural appearance, for his majestic
+form, his noble countenance and lustrous eyes, surpassed in
+attractiveness all the other suitors. When you once saw him you felt as
+if you wished to take another look at him, for it seemed to do one's
+eyes good to feast them on so grand a man.
+
+"He said, 'Thou pure, sweet one. When a youth I was wandering through a
+forest and saw a man sitting under a tree. He had a sweeter countenance
+than I had ever seen before. He said, "My youthful friend, if thou wilt
+learn from me thou shalt become good, wise and very happy."
+
+"'I thought of my companions and myself in regard to what he said, and
+the more I thought about us all, I could not think of one that was
+becoming good and wise, or was truly happy. For we were all restless,
+going here, and going there, trying this and doing the other to find
+happiness. So I thanked him and said, I will be thy pupil, for I wish to
+become good, wise and truly happy. He said, "Commence to-morrow morning,
+and as soon as you awake rise immediately; never lay after you are
+awake, for it is not good for one of your age. Then when you rise bathe
+in cold water. After you have dressed," he said, "read out of this book
+which I give you; read every morning for fifteen minutes or half an
+hour; then spend a little time in prayer and meditation." And he gave me
+instructions in such and said, "Live on plain food, eat no meat, avoid
+bad companions as you would a Bengal tiger, and before going to rest at
+night spend half an hour in prayer and meditation. Continue faithfully
+in the performance of these practices for three months, and then come
+here to me." I did so, carrying them out to the letter, and at the end
+of three months I returned to him. He looked at me and said, "I see by
+your countenance you have changed." I replied, "Yes, I feel changed
+altogether." "Tell me," he said, "in what way do you feel different?"
+
+"'I said, "When you saw me three months ago my mind was confused more or
+less, my imagination ran too much after vain and sensuous objects. I
+had too much personal sensitiveness, being attached to myself so much. I
+was easily irritated, and always restless, wanting something I did not
+have. But now my mind is calm and peaceful, my imagination dwells on the
+pure, the good and the beautiful. I no longer feel envious or jealous or
+greedy; for love seems to be taking the place of those feelings."
+
+"'Continuing, my teacher said, "Let your prayer be for light and
+knowledge, and ask the Blessed Infinite One to help you to love all; let
+love rule; never mind what others may say about you, or how meanly they
+may treat you. Be in earnest to love all. Rise every morning with this
+thought: 'How beautiful my brother is; how precious is my sister.' You
+may not love a person's ways, but you should always love the person.
+Separate the two in your mind and it will help you much. Start the day
+with this thought, 'I will live this day without discontent, without
+self-seeking, and without anxiety.' Say, 'Lord, deliver me from all
+selfish ambitions, and from pride and vanity, and may I become teachable
+as a little child.'"
+
+"'I did so, for I was very desirous of advancing in the Divine life.
+
+"'In six months' time I returned to him. He said, "Why, brother, how
+happy you look; how clear and bright your eyes are; how sweet your
+expression has become."
+
+"'"Yes," I said, "I am becoming like you." He said, "God bless your
+efforts in living the Divine life. Let your prayer be: Do thou manifest
+thyself in me, thou Blessed Infinite One. See that I want Thee and
+nothing else."
+
+"'I did so, for the more I followed his instructions the more of the
+Divine life did I realize, and I knew that the angel was ruling the
+animal within me. After being his disciple for several years, he said,
+"Thou art ready now to become a teacher like myself."
+
+"'I replied, "Dear Guru, my prayer is that in becoming a teacher like
+thee, I may be able to lead others in the Divine life as thou hast led
+me." I kissed the holy man and he gave me his blessing which has
+followed me ever since, and it is with pleasure that I can say in the
+spirit of thankfulness and humility, there have been those whose lives
+are all the sweeter and brighter through my life and instructions. Sweet
+lady, you know what I mean when I say, having obtained freedom through
+renunciation I realized illumination, and through the light which I have
+received I am in the possession of knowledge which the many know little
+about, and through the light and knowledge which I have received I came
+to know you long before seeing you to-day. I have seen you many, many
+times though you were hundreds of miles away from me, and I seem to have
+been in communication with you, though I never have spoken or written a
+word to you. Not only so, sweet lady, but it has been my happiness to
+receive from you many uplifting thoughts and I felt as if I was led by
+the Divine Spirit which is in us all to come here to-day and say to you:
+Thou sweet spirit, I have no houses nor lands, no money nor wealth, no
+name nor fame, but I have attained realization, and through that
+attainment I see the Divine in you; and its manifestation to such an
+eminent degree in you has attracted me towards you, and I say to you
+now, sweet one, that in your becoming my bride our lives will be
+expanded, and we will attain unfoldment that we could obtain in no other
+way. Thou bright one, what sweet communings of soul with soul, we will
+have; for having consecrated our bodies to the Eternal One, we will each
+day manifest a brighter light, and both of us shine as one in our love
+for each other, and for all. And, dear one, in that beautiful light and
+life will our cup of bliss be filled, and many besides ourselves will
+drink therefrom.'
+
+"The lady smiled very sweetly on him and bade him take a seat on her
+right. Then rising and facing her other suitors she said, 'Friends, I
+thank you for the interest and kindness you have shown towards me, but
+you all made one mistake, and that is in thinking I am merely just what
+this material form stands for, in thinking I am a woman and only a
+woman, and nothing but a woman. And in thinking so you come, one with
+gifts of silks, laces, gold, ivory, spices and many other things, as if
+that was all I needed. Another offers bravery and protection for me,
+thinking I was a weak woman and could not take care of myself; another
+wants to make me a Princess, so as to excite my pride and vanity, by
+causing so many to bow down to me, as if my joy consisted in having my
+pride and vanity fed, and in looking upon my fellow beings as my slaves,
+whose whole life is to contribute to my enjoyment. Then another offers
+me a home and to make me the mother of many children; as if that was the
+highest attainment for a spiritual being; while still another offers me
+money, good things to eat and drink and wear, only what this body of
+mine seems in his eyes. No, I will have to decline all your offers,
+because you are under the illusion that I am only a woman.'
+
+"Turning to the one on her right she said, 'By a life of self-denial and
+discipline through prayer and meditation, and in cultivating the spirit
+of love for all, and in making your life a free will offering to
+humanity, you attained illumination. The angel now rules the animal and
+you have arrived now to the state of realization of the Divine within
+you. Not being in bondage to either the man or the woman, for you see
+that each is a spiritual being like the other, therefore you look upon
+me as a spiritual being manifested in the form of a woman. You have seen
+that my wants and desires are spiritual, not material. All that I need
+in the material world is very little and comes to me; for as Jesus has
+said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all these things
+(material) shall be added unto you."
+
+"'Dear friend, you have appealed to my self, my spiritual nature. I now
+respond, and, dear one, what I possess in the way of love shall be
+yours, for I love you so dearly it will be a joy for me to give you my
+love and live in your love, and we will both consecrate ourselves to
+each other and to the Lord, in His humanity.'"
+
+Penloe, looking earnestly at his audience, said: "That is the way, dear
+friends, I look on you all this day; not for what your material forms
+stand for, not for the environments each of you is placed in, but I look
+upon you all as spiritual beings. I look upon you as Divine, and it is
+this great, grand and glorious thought that each one of you is Divine. I
+want you to take it home with you; I want you to repeat it over and over
+again, '_I am Divine_'; I want you to think about it till it becomes
+part of your own mentality, till it becomes part of the cells of your
+brain, till it becomes a part of the life blood of your body, flowing
+through your arteries and veins; and all your actions shall have their
+source in the grand thought that you are Divine. When you reach to that
+plane, your whole course in life will change, and each one of you before
+me here will become so changed that you or your neighbors will hardly
+know yourselves. For you have been going about with this thought, 'I am
+a poor, weak human being.' That man over there says, 'All there is to me
+is this body with its appetites and desires. I drink, I swear, I live a
+life of lust and that is what I am.' I say no! a thousand times no! All
+the qualities of the Divine are within you; but you have not realized
+them. Don't look upon yourself any longer as being that drinking,
+swearing, lustful man. But look upon yourself as being Divine; that all
+the qualities of the universe are within you, and in you are all the
+powers of the universe. That poor woman over there whose life is one of
+hard, monotonous toil in the house; you are the mother of too many
+children. Your life is one round of work, care and anxiety, and when you
+look in the glass you see that work, worry and passion have taken the
+bloom off your cheeks, the brightness out of your eyes; you are faded;
+and it seems as if the light and life of the world had left you, and you
+see no bright future. Hardly anything in it for you worth the having.
+
+"It is to you I bring this grand message, my discouraged sister, wake up
+and get out of the illusion that you are what that poor worn-out body of
+yours stands for. No, dear sister, a thousand times no; for you are
+'Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, and Bliss Absolute.'
+
+"The reason that you and your sex are where you are to-day, is because
+you are in bondage to your material forms, looking upon yourselves and
+wishing men to look upon you also for what you are in body, instead of
+women looking upon themselves as spiritual beings and having men do the
+same. The reason that men are where they are to-day is because they are
+in bondage to their material forms, looking upon themselves as being
+men, and also expecting women to look upon them as such, instead of men
+looking upon themselves as pure spiritual beings possessing the
+qualities of the Divine, and looking upon women as being exactly the
+same spiritually as themselves.
+
+"You have all drawn veils over your Divine nature through this illusion,
+and from this illusion springs all the acts which keep you from
+realizing your Divine nature. Your greed, your vanity, your
+self-conceit, your love of praise, your love of self, your attachment to
+yourself, and all that is yours, your appetites all act as shades over
+the windows of the soul. When will you break these various bonds and be
+free?
+
+[2]"There is a story that the king of gods, 'Indra,' once became a pig,
+wallowing in mire. He had a she pig and a lot of baby pigs and was very
+happy. Then some other angels saw his plight, came to him and told him,
+'You are the king of the gods, you have all the gods to command. Why are
+you here?' But Indra said, 'Let me be. I am all right here, I don't care
+for the heavens while I have the sow and little pigs.' The poor gods
+were at their wits' end what to do. After a time they decided to come
+now and again and slay one of the little pigs and then another, until
+they had slain all the pigs and the sow, too. When all were dead Indra
+began to weep and mourn. Then the gods ripped his pig body open and he
+come out of it, and began to laugh. What a hideous dream he had had. He,
+the king of gods, to have become a pig and to think that pig life was
+the only life. Not only so but to have wanted the whole universe to come
+into the pig life.
+
+[Footnote 2: Vivekananda in Raja Voga.]
+
+"The soul when it identifies itself with nature forgets that it is pure
+and Infinite. The soul does not live, it is life itself. It does not
+exist, it is existence itself. The soul does not know, it is knowledge
+itself. It is an entire mistake to say the soul lives, or knows, or
+loves. Love and existence are not the qualities of the soul, but its
+essence. When they get reflected on that something you may call them the
+qualities of that something. Remember what you read in Hindu philosophy,
+that the finer body, and what is called in Christian theology the
+spiritual body, is not the soul. The soul is beyond them all. It is this
+soul which is Divine.
+
+"Now let us follow out this thought that all of you are Divine and that
+each one of you looks upon himself as being Divine, and that you look
+upon all others as being Divine also. What is the result? Let's see. The
+Divine nature is one of love, one of purity, one of justice, one of
+harmony, one of peace. As a Divine being you are looking within for all
+your happiness and are not dependent on things outside of yourself to
+make you happy. As a Divine being you are not grasping and wanting
+things that don't belong to you, and making yourself and others
+miserable by wishing you were where you cannot go, or you want things
+you cannot have. As a Divine being your conduct towards others under all
+circumstances is one of love. Therefore you are not stirring up
+contentions and strifes and you are trying, as far as possible, to make
+those around you happy, and are yourself striving to be the same under
+all circumstances. All things which disturb you keep you from realizing
+the Divine. Therefore you have control over your temper and are
+manifesting peace and harmony. As you are Divine, you should do your
+work in the world without attachment to things of the world. You should
+not be owned by the external world, for all forms and things perish, but
+the life of the spirit is eternal.
+
+"As a Divine being you will be honest and truthful to yourself and
+others; you will practise no deception; you will not want what belongs
+to others; and try in trade or barter to cheat another, for you look
+upon all as Divine like yourself. As a Divine being you will want to
+earn your living by the sweat of your own brow, instead of by the sweat
+of others as many do to-day.
+
+"Let that thought enter the life of the family and instead of the
+husband and father being cross and cranky at times, he will always be
+the same; trying each day in some new way to make his wife and children
+better and happier, and they in return will be a joy to themselves and a
+comfort to him. What a happy home where that thought reigns.
+
+"Let that thought be carried into the affairs of the County, State and
+Nation, and see what a revolution of peace and happiness it would bring.
+The first change would be that all women would have the same right to
+vote as men have; not because they are women, but because they are
+Divine, like man. In short because they are spiritual beings like men.
+
+"The aphorism, 'Equal rights to all and special privileges to none,'
+will be lived out, because no one who is living the thought that all are
+Divine, will wish to have opportunities that they deny to others.
+
+"'An injury to one is the concern of all,' is a maxim that would be put
+into practise. 'All for one and one for all' would be acted out in all
+the business of life, for all are Divine. All persons in office would
+see how best they can serve the public, instead of seeing, as is done
+now, how best they can feather their own nests, at the expense of the
+public.
+
+"State legislators would meet, not to see how much there is in it for
+themselves, in passing laws, but would pass laws in the interest of the
+masses. All forms of corruption would cease, and bribery would
+disappear, because all are looked upon as one, and that one is Divine;
+and _Greed_ cannot live where that thought predominates. Congress,
+instead of passing laws in the interest of bankers, railroad
+corporations, manufacturers, and trust companies, would be there for
+one purpose, that of making laws in the interest of the whole nation,
+and what is known as class legislation would disappear.
+
+"All persons engaged in adulterating merchandise would cease their
+disgraceful and dishonest business. For, realizing their Divine nature,
+they would only make pure articles, and everything would be what it is
+marked. All business would be done with honesty of purpose and love of
+justice; in fact the character of the Divine would be seen in all
+dealings. No longer would the great dailies be owned by the money power,
+and intellectual prostitutes write the editorials of their columns,
+blinding and deceiving the minds of the people that the classes may
+fleece them. In short the ethics of Christ would enter into the
+industrial and social systems. Usury would be abolished. Instead of
+having Christ so much in prayer and song, in poetry and prose, in marble
+and on canvas, we would have him in the halls of legislation, in
+railroad operations, in manufactories, in stores, on farms and in the
+home. In short he would enter into all the walks of life, and men's
+actions would be governed by his teachings, viz.: 'Whatsoever ye would
+that men should do unto you do ye also unto them; and as we all wish to
+have love and justice shown us, realizing our Divine nature, we would
+show it unto others.
+
+"Now, I beseech each one of you, I beseech you because I love you, start
+to-day with the soul elevating thought, with this grand truth, that 'You
+are the Divine,' and live according to your Divine nature and not be
+ruled by your animal instincts. If ever you are in doubt about what you
+should do and what you should not do, I would say, do whatever would
+make you strong physically, whatever would make you strong
+intellectually, whatever would make you strong spiritually, and do not
+do what would make you weak physically, intellectually, or spiritually.
+In living the pure Christ life you always will be well. Remember the
+body is the instrument through which the Divine manifests itself;
+therefore take care of the body and don't abuse it by too much work or
+too much social excitement, or too much of anything. Be moderate and
+temperate in all your actions, bathe every morning and have times for
+meditation and prayer, and it will not be long before you will make the
+whole State of California what it ought to be, a heaven on earth. For
+having heaven within, you will make all about you heaven; and let me
+tell you that when you leave your material bodies, the only heaven you
+will find is that which you will take with you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+LETTERS RECEIVED BY PENLOE.
+
+
+While Penloe was delivering his address there was a man in the audience
+who sat near the platform, following the remarks of the speaker very
+closely. Looking in his face you could see the marks of dissipation; the
+color and lines which drink and carnality leave on the countenance. To
+judge his age by his face you might take him to be a man of fifty, but
+he was only about thirty years old; for he had lived twenty years in
+five. His form was large and well proportioned; naturally he was a
+strong man. His clothing consisted of a shirt, a pair of overalls, both
+dirty, a pair of suspenders and a pair of shoes.
+
+When Penloe finished his address, and the audience was about to leave,
+this man made a rush for the platform, and going up to Penloe under
+great emotion, he said in broken utterances with tears in his eyes: "God
+bless you for showing me that my real nature is Divine. I have been
+living the life of a beast, but now I will live the Divine life." That
+man afterwards said: "The look that Penloe gave me and the way he
+pressed my hand will be with me as long as I live."
+
+Penloe saw that if he stayed on the platform or did not leave the
+building, he would have a crowd round him. Not wishing to give a
+reception and thinking it best to keep the people's minds on what he
+said, instead of having them diverted from the subject to him
+personally, he hastily left the building. But he received a number of
+letters from persons who heard his address. We will copy three as
+samples.
+
+The first letter we have copied was from the wife of the leading lawyer
+in Roseland and read as follows:
+
+                                                   "ROSELAND.
+     "DEAR MR. PENLOE:
+
+     "I would very much have liked to have had an
+      opportunity of meeting you, that I might tell you what
+      I am about to write and very much more. Since I heard
+      your address I so wanted to have a talk with you, as I
+      have so many questions to ask you, and above all to
+      tell you what your message has done for me.
+
+     "I am the wife of a lawyer, and at the age of
+      twenty-two I graduated from college. A year afterwards
+      I married Mr. Horton and have been married seven years.
+      My tastes have always been intellectual with a strong
+      desire to lead and to be above those around me. I had
+      little sympathy for the poor and ignorant, and those I
+      had little in common with I kept aloof from. My friends
+      looked to me as an authority on most subjects, as I
+      travelled in Europe two years after I was married. It
+      will do me good now to confess to you and tell you, I
+      was cold, vain, self-conceited and my purpose in
+      reading and travelling was not to help those around me,
+      but to add glory and fame to myself, and to be thought
+      a very superior minded person. I carried my head very
+      high and associated with but few. After seeing you and
+      listening to your address, I can hardly describe the
+      state of mind it left me in. But it was something like
+      a lady might feel when she is dressed in her best and
+      is very proud of her attire. While she is in that frame
+      of mind she meets some one who has garments much
+      superior to hers, and she sees that the clothes she is
+      wearing are unbecoming and do not fit her, and that she
+      has been under an illusion in thinking they were so
+      rich and fine. For when the other garments are shown
+      her, she feels she had been the most mistaken person in
+      the world and longs to cast off the garments she is
+      wearing, that she may put on these superior ones.
+
+     "Now that was my case exactly. I was the woman attached
+      to what I thought were my fine clothes. You were the
+      one with the elegant new gowns, and when you showed me
+      so clearly that my own costume was nothing but filthy
+      rags, I was ready to take the superior garments with
+      which you presented me.
+
+     "When I think what a foolish, proud, vain woman I have
+      been, I feel like covering my face with shame; like
+      hiding my head somewhere. I intend that these feelings
+      of remorse shall stimulate me towards manifesting the
+      Divine, in love, in patience, in humility, and in
+      meekness.
+
+     "I will go among the poor and ignorant and become one
+      with them, in order to raise them to the realization of
+      their Divine nature.
+
+     "May they see in me that love for them which I saw in
+      you for all, and it will give me pleasure to tell those
+      of my own circle how sweet the Divine life has become
+      to me, and may I be a spiritual help to them.
+
+     "My husband was touched by your words, I am glad to
+      say, and we are both trying to live the Divine life.
+
+     "When you come to Roseland, be sure and come to our
+      home. We shall be very pleased to see you and have you
+      stay with us as long as you can.
+
+                                         "Your friend,
+                                             "CARRIE HORTON."
+
+Another letter we will copy was from the leading banker of Roseland:
+
+                           "First National Bank.
+           "G. Holmes, President.             R. Wells, Cashier.
+                                                 "ROSELAND, Cal.
+     "DEAR BROTHER PENLOE:
+
+     "It gives me great pleasure to address you as such,
+      though I am a perfect stranger to you; but after
+      hearing your address I feel at liberty to call you
+      brother. I felt your great heart of love throbbing
+      through all you said in your lecture. Now I must tell
+      you that a man entered the building to hear you speak
+      just out of curiosity. He would have laughed if any
+      one had told him that he might hear something that he
+      had not heard before or might be impressed by the
+      lecture, for he felt settled, sure and certain in his
+      own mind concerning all subjects of interest to him.
+      But when he heard your clear and forcible remarks, it
+      knocked him off his feet, taking the last prop away he
+      leaned on, and there was nothing left for him to do but
+      to get on the same foundation that you are on. Bless
+      God, I have done so, and now I am beginning to live as
+      a new man, the Divine man.
+
+     "I used to walk the streets thinking I was a great man,
+      the leading financier in Roseland, and the grand
+      thought I had of myself was that I was a banker, being
+      looked up to by those around me because of my financial
+      standing. But those thoughts are now to me hay and
+      stubble, and I have burned them.
+
+     "From this time forth my money and myself will be
+      consecrated to the service of manifesting the Divine,
+      and in helping others to do the same. As a proof of my
+      sincerity I enclose a check for five thousand dollars
+      for you to use as you think best in spreading the grand
+      truth which you presented so clearly in your address.
+      May you, my dear brother, always realize in the highest
+      degree the presence of your Divine nature.
+
+                                         "Your brother,
+                                               "GEORGE HOLMES."
+
+The following letter is one that is prized very much by Penloe. It came
+from the wife of a poor ranchman and bore the marks of its proximity to
+the wash-tub, the churn, a child's dirty finger marks, and the hot tears
+of a woman overcome with joy:
+
+                               "TANGLEWOOD RANCH, ORANGEVILLE ...
+     "MR. PENLOE:
+
+     "DEAR SIR:--O, I have so much to say and don't know
+      where to begin. I don't get any time to write, have
+      been waiting for a spell, but don't get any, for one
+      thing after another keeps crowding me. I have just
+      wiped the suds from my hands, having left the wash-tub
+      for a few minutes, saying I would not put off writing
+      to you any longer.
+
+     "Well, we went to your meeting and never heard any one
+      talk like you did before.
+
+     "My husband and I have not much learning, but you made
+      it so simple and plain that we could not help
+      understanding what you meant. I want to say how glad we
+      both are that we went, because our lot in life has been
+      dark and hard. I married my husband when a girl of
+      seventeen. I knew so little, was so green, but was full
+      of hope and expectations. What a hard experience I have
+      had, for I have been married ten years and have six
+      small children; so much sickness, so much hard work. O,
+      dear! my life has been so hard. I cannot write any more
+      now, as I must finish getting my washing out.
+
+     "Well, my clothes are on the line and I am going to
+      take a few minutes' rest and write a little more. Yes,
+      life has been hard. How little a poor ignorant girl
+      thinks or knows what is before her when she gets
+      married. My husband has felt all discouraged, so many
+      babies, so much hard work, such hard times to get a
+      dollar, always in debt to doctors; it made us both grow
+      cross and cranky and just as soon die as live. Our love
+      for each other grew cold, and the attraction we had for
+      each other died out. I told my husband he must take me
+      out somewhere or else I would go crazy. Every day the
+      same thing over again from morning to night, tending
+      babies, standing over a cook-stove, then over a
+      wash-tub, then churning, no end of dish-washing and
+      washing babies' clothes. I am going to churn now, when
+      I take a rest again I will write more.
+
+     "Well, the butter has come, I will rest and write you
+      more.
+
+     "I was telling you how dark our married life has been.
+      We heard there was going to be a big meeting in
+      Roseland, and my husband said he would go and see what
+      it was like. So we went and heard you talk. What you
+      said made us look at the world and ourselves different
+      to what we ever did before. We both liked your talk
+      very much; we talked lots about what you said. When we
+      got home that day after supper my husband said: 'If I
+      am Divine, I don't need to chew tobacco, and I quit
+      right now and will put what tobacco I have got in the
+      stove.' I said, 'O, Charles, how glad I am.' 'Yes,
+      Maud,' said Charles, 'I am going to live the Divine
+      life. Will you help me?' I said, 'Yes, dear Charles,
+      you know I will.' 'Well, Maud,' said he, 'we thought
+      our life hard and bitter, but I see now it was through
+      our not living the Divine life. Maud, I will try and
+      make your life a little better than I have done,' and
+      he kissed me. The children looked at us both with great
+      surprise, for they had never seen my husband kiss me
+      before. It seemed as if the same feelings had come back
+      that we had in our courting days. He said, 'You have
+      the hardest time of it, let me put the children to bed
+      and you rest; for if I am Divine I must live a life of
+      love and show my love in helping you all I can.' I
+      cannot help it, sir, but hot tears are falling fast on
+      this letter, for the light and love have entered our
+      home, where before it was darkness and despair. How
+      sweet it is trying to live the Divine life. I am doing
+      my best to live that life. We are not going to worry
+      any more. My husband now is so bright and hopeful, does
+      all he can to cheer me up, and I am the same for it is
+      catching like a fever.
+
+     "Well, my object in writing this to you is to tell you
+      what your talk has done for us. My husband said, 'If
+      ever a man had a heart full of love for all, he knows
+      it is you, and your great heart has touched our hearts.
+      How can I thank you for what you have done for us? May
+      God bless you. I shall always pray that you may help
+      others as you have us. My husband said, 'Tell him I am
+      a changed man;' and I know he is, and I am a changed
+      woman.
+
+     "Excuse this letter for having dirt marks on it. While
+      I was tending the baby one of the children put its
+      dirty fingers on the letter, but I am going to send it
+      just as it is.
+
+                                         "Your friend,
+                                               "MAUD NEVE."
+
+Mrs. Marston for several reasons went to hear Penloe deliver his
+address. One reason was curiosity to hear and see the man that had
+caused so much talk everywhere, and another one that the newspapers from
+the Atlantic to the Pacific had printed so much about him. Still another
+reason was she knew that about all her friends would be there, and they
+would be talking about him, and she wished to be posted on a subject
+that her friends would be conversing about and to be able to take her
+part in the conversation. If there was anything that Mrs. Marston
+admired and loved, it was a handsome man. She took great pride in the
+fine appearance of her four Roseland young gentlemen guests. A look of
+astonishment came over that lady's face when Penloe appeared at the
+front of the platform, and she turned her eyes for the first time on
+that fine physique, with its symmetrical form and noble countenance. She
+was heard to say, "That is the handsomest man I have ever seen in my
+life." She thought her favorites could not compare with Penloe. She
+remarked to a friend of hers: "I was surprised when I saw Penloe, for I
+thought of him as being a man past middle age, with long hair, unkempt
+beard and slovenly dress; but when I saw the best looking young man I
+have ever looked upon in my life, and finely dressed, too, I could not
+help thinking what a fine society man he would make. I am not surprised
+that Stella is taken with him. Why, if that man would only put his time
+into making money, he could have his pick of any of our best society
+young ladies. What a fine lawyer he would make."
+
+Mrs. Marston thought Penloe a very fine, interesting speaker, but that
+lady was not prepared, at present, to give up her sense-plane
+enjoyments, in order to live the Divine life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+MRS. WEST RELATES HER DREAM.
+
+
+Mrs. West, the mother of Ben West, had breakfast ready just as her
+husband came in from doing the chores about the barn. After Mrs. West
+had poured out two cups of Mocha and Java for her husband and herself,
+Mr. West, like a good husband, had his wife help herself first and then
+himself, after which he began to enjoy the good things she had prepared
+for their morning meal.
+
+He noticed that Mrs. West only sipped her coffee occasionally and did
+not touch the food on her plate. Seeing in her face that something was
+not quite right, he said: "What is the matter, dear, you look as if
+something troubled you? Have you lost your appetite?"
+
+His wife replied: "No, William, but I had a dream that disturbed me."
+
+"Why, what could it be to affect you in that way?" said her husband.
+
+"Well, I will tell you," said his wife. "I dreamt I saw our colt Prince;
+he seemed as if he did not eat the grain hay you gave him. Then seeing
+he did not eat the grain hay, you gave him some alfalfa hay. He did not
+eat much of that either, so you thought you would give some crushed
+barley. When you saw that he did not eat that, you turned him out of the
+barn into your fine alfalfa pasture. He ate a little of the green feed,
+but was still very restless and discontented. So you turned him out
+where he could get wild feed and have plenty of chance to run. After you
+turned him out he just browsed a little, and ran up the road and down
+the road snorting and arching his neck very prettily; his smooth, sleek,
+glossy, black coat shining in the sun made him look fine and handsome.
+You could not make out what was the matter with him, for he seemed well
+but was so restless; not contented in any place or liking any kind of
+feed. So you thought he might be lonesome and you turned out some horses
+to run with him. But he seemed to pay no attention to them, ate little
+and was getting more restless and discontented all the time, not even
+enjoying his freedom nor knowing what to do with it. He would every now
+and then run up and down the road as if not knowing what to do with
+himself.
+
+"Once in his restless mood he went down the road, and there was a
+beautiful young lady sitting near the gate leading to her house. She saw
+him coming and noticed how handsome he was, and she thought how fine it
+would be to have that noble looking horse to ride and keep it for her
+use. So she opened the gate and came to the road and stood waiting for
+the colt. When he came to where she was, he looked at her and arched his
+neck, and she thought he was handsome; and smiling she went up to him
+and just placed her hand on his neck and patted him: then she talked
+sweetly to him and passed her hand over his face several times, and he
+seemed so quiet and gentle that you would have thought that it was her
+he had been wanting, and she seemed to know by intuition that she had
+got him in her power; so she opened the gate and he followed her in.
+Then she knew she had got him sure, and he was just what she had wanted.
+She petted him a little more, then put a bridle on him and then a
+saddle. Then she mounted him and off they went and you could not tell
+which was the most delighted the colt or the young lady. At first she
+was very good to him, and only rode him short distances and fed him
+high. He was perfectly docile and she had full control over him.
+Afterwards she exacted more service from him, would ride him longer
+distances, and later along she not only rode him long distances but rode
+him hard and fast and fed and petted him less. Sometimes the horse was
+exhausted and about to give out, but in order to revive him all she had
+to do was to make a little of him, talk coaxingly and pet him; and
+instantly his eye would brighten, animation would come back to him, and
+he would do his best to travel. But this kind of usage was telling on
+the horse and he was growing poorer all the time. Still she was exacting
+and demanded as much from him as ever. After awhile, he could not begin
+to travel as he once did, for he was getting weaker and weaker, and even
+her pettings were losing power to put life into him, for it seemed at
+times as if it had all gone out of him.
+
+"One hot day when she was riding him and he seemed very much fatigued,
+they were going along the road where there was a fine rich pasture well
+fenced, with some fine young horses feeding in it. When they saw Prince
+and his mistress they ran round the field, then along the fence where
+the road was, and every now and then would look at the poor worn-out
+colt carrying his mistress. Then they would run a piece, throw up their
+hind legs, toss their heads, showing how much freedom they enjoyed.
+Again they would run along the fence and look at him. One of the horses
+in the field said to the other, "Why, there is our old companion Prince.
+I would not have known him, he looks so old and poor. How thin he has
+become. Why don't he throw that woman off and be free like ourselves?
+Don't you see how she is wearing him out by inches?" "Ah!" said another
+horse, "He was free like ourselves at one time. There is not a horse in
+this pasture that looks as handsome and fat as he did, but he could not
+enjoy his freedom. He was restless, till he became a willing slave to
+that woman's smiles, caresses and pettings. He won't live long; she is
+too hard and makes too many demands on him. But notice even now his eye
+will brighten if she pats him on his neck a little and says a few kind
+sweet words to him, how he tries to go faster, but it is only for a very
+few yards; then he is back again to his old gait, more tired than
+before. Do you notice how fresh and fine she looks, but how poor and
+worn out he is? She knew her power and has used it for her self
+gratification regardless of what might become of him. Poor fool, he
+could not see that her kind talk and pettings were only a means
+employed to gain her end. She cared nothing for him, only as he
+contributed to her pleasure; _and there are so many many more very green
+colts just like him_. One day the young lady had been out with Prince on
+a long hard ride, and they were coming home. Prince could hardly put one
+foot before the other, so weak and tired was he. At last when she got
+him to the stable he fell down and seemed to be in much pain. She called
+in assistance and men came with medicine and used much of it on him, but
+it was no good; he gave one look at her and died. She cried over him and
+put her head on his body and said, "He was the best horse that ever was
+and I will never have any other horse. I can never love another as I did
+him." About a month afterwards she was seen riding on a fine young bay
+colt, and both seemed just as happy as Prince and she did the first time
+she rode him."
+
+Here Mrs. West stopped.
+
+Her husband said: "That was a very strange dream, but I don't see why
+that should affect you, for I was out to the barn this morning and
+Prince was all right, with a big appetite for his breakfast."
+
+No, Mr. West could not see why that dream could make her feel sad, but
+Mrs. West knew, for there was a portion of the dream she did not relate,
+and that was, when Prince gave the lady a look just as he was about to
+expire, that look on his face Mrs. West saw to be the look and face of
+her son Ben West, and the young lady that rode him was Julia Hammond
+West, his wife. A short time afterwards Mr. West saw more in his wife's
+dream, for he received word stating that his son had died from exposure
+in the Klondike. Mr. West saw the notice in a paper about a month later,
+of the marriage of their son's wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+IN THE MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+One afternoon Penloe was expected to take supper with the Wheelwrights.
+He had had a standing invitation for some time, but for certain reasons
+had not accepted it till now. The last time he saw Stella, he said: "If
+it will be agreeable to you all, I will take supper at your house next
+Tuesday evening." They were all in high spirits at the thought of his
+coming, for a more agreeable, interesting, and intelligent visitor could
+not be found.
+
+What little time there was between the time of his arrival and supper,
+he kept them laughing by relating some very interesting experiences.
+
+At the supper table he was given the seat of honor, Mrs. Wheelwright
+being on his right and Stella on his left. Stella had on a fine, white
+dress, with white satin ribbon at the neck and sleeves, and, as her
+complexion was dark and her hair jet black, it became her exceedingly
+well. There are some young ladies who need to have very fine dresses to
+make them at all presentable; they are so dependent on the style of the
+dress for giving them a good form and fine appearance, but it was not so
+with Stella. Her fine form and graceful movements would make any dress
+look well; she set off the dress. The table was laid with a snowy-white
+damask tablecloth, moss-rose pattern, with napkins to match. Also a
+moss-rose tea set. The table did not groan with a lot of heavy, greasy
+food; no, there was very fine bread, good sweet butter, nectarine sauce
+and blackberry jelly, cake, pineapple sherbet, vanilla ice-cream, milk,
+weak tea, and some sweetmeats, and nuts.
+
+The meal was eaten very leisurely, for the conversation was very
+interesting, all taking part in it. Penloe had that rare gift of a good
+conversationalist, being able to make others talk their best instead of
+doing all the talking himself. Stella and Penloe were both good at
+repartee. The ladies talked more than Penloe, and there seemed to be a
+real genuine feeling, as if one spirit pervaded them all.
+
+After supper, Mr. Wheelwright had an opportunity of talking to Penloe,
+on the porch, about subjects that he was most interested in, while the
+ladies washed the dishes. Later on, the ladies joined them, and a most
+agreeable evening was spent. Mr. and Mrs. Wheelwright excused themselves
+when their regular time for retiring came, and as it was such a lovely
+moonlight evening, Stella invited Penloe to keep her company on the
+porch, saying, "The evening is so beautiful." Yes, it was beautiful. It
+was one of those matchless evenings in California that must be seen and
+enjoyed to be fully appreciated, and by a soul in touch with the
+sublime. To realize the grandeur of the sky, with its clear atmosphere,
+on those fine evenings, is to experience one of the richest joys of
+existence. Language is inadequate to describe such beauty.
+
+The two souls on the porch were in touch with the Divine, which
+manifested Itself in all these glories, and they were drinking it in to
+their fullest capacity. They had sat in silence for a while, when Penloe
+said: "Stella, I have not had anything that has given me more
+satisfaction, or that has pleased me more, and given me encouragement in
+my work, so much as the courageous spirit manifested by you on the day
+that you in a public way freed yourself from bondage. You taught the
+people a lesson they will never forget. That was a grand act, Stella,
+and you built into your character on that day qualities which will stand
+all trials and temptations; you made a good karma for yourself. Think
+how your act has helped others out of bondage."
+
+Stella said: "Penloe, it gives me pleasure to hear your approval of what
+I have done. But is it not only the fruits of your own work, after all?
+Did you not take Stella, a green, ignorant girl as she was, and lead her
+to her freedom?"
+
+Penloe said: "Yes, Stella, I did one kind of work, and you did another;
+my work was easy compared to yours. I instructed you, but it was you who
+put the instruction in practice, and that counts."
+
+"Penloe," said Stella, taking his hand in hers, "I realize that fully,
+for no one but you could have taught me as you did. No one but you could
+have given me the light and knowledge I so much needed, no one but you
+could help me open the door which led me into the spiritual world, and
+when I entered that world, you were there as my spiritual companion.
+
+"Penloe, you have been my very dear social companion, you have been my
+very dear intellectual companion, and you have been my very dear
+spiritual companion. Your companionship has been that of the truest
+friendship, for your every act and thought has been to raise me up to a
+higher plane, and I would not be true to my highest and best nature if I
+did not tell you that I love you as I can love no other man. You
+possessed my heart long before to-night. Do you love Stella, Penloe, and
+do you want her to be your life companion, to help you in your noble
+work, to love you, and to live the Divine life with you?"
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, dear, what I have done for you I would do for any
+one; but darling, I love you intensely. Yes, dear one, your love to me
+is bliss, and there is no one whose companionship I love and enjoy more
+than yours, dear Stella, for I see so much of the Divine manifested in
+you." And here Penloe took the dear girl to him, and they were both lost
+in bliss.
+
+I looked at the moon just then in its silvery brightness, and as it
+looked down on that hallowed scene it sent forth such a glow of light as
+illuminated the whole heavens and earth. I looked at the planets
+witnessing that blissful scene. They were more brilliant than ever, and
+vied with each other in sending forth their bright lights. I looked at
+the whole canopy of the heavens and, just as the two embraced, an
+unusual number of stars of the first magnitude appeared and the whole
+sky was decked with millions of fiery worlds. And why should the
+heavens not be brilliant on an occasion when the love in two divine ones
+is plighted?
+
+Their little whisperings at intervals during the silence, which they are
+enjoying, are too sacred to record here; and while they are in that
+exceedingly blissful state of mind the thought came to me to note the
+nature of kisses. There is the cold kiss, which upon receiving one
+wishes he had not been kissed. Then there is the average common kiss.
+Then there is the kiss of friendship. Then there is the ordinary love
+kiss. Then there is the warm, passionate kiss. But superior to them all
+is the pure, spiritual kiss, so intensely sweet, but so very, very rare.
+To give such a kiss, and even to enjoy receiving it, one must have a
+very high quality of organism. The cells of the brain, the blood which
+flows through the arteries and veins, the tissues of the whole body must
+have been formed and built up by that all powerful agent, thought. And
+that thought must be of the highest order; it must have emptied itself
+of all but love, that love which takes in all, and from that thought and
+life comes the manifestation of harmony, purity, sweetness, truth and
+love. Blessed, thrice blessed indeed, is such a person.
+
+When two persons of that type of character come together in love, giving
+each other through kisses, the expression of their affection, that
+kissing is bliss indeed.
+
+After the silence and whisperings of deep love thoughts were over,
+Stella with her face looking so beautiful, being flushed from the
+realization of her love, said: "Penloe, dear, I knew that you were
+different from most men in not being dependent on the love of a woman
+for your happiness; for you had within you a deep well of living water
+from whence came all your joy, and you drank deep draughts from it
+daily. Yes, dear, I knew your thoughts, your hopes, your happiness was
+centered in that Blessed Infinite One and He was the source of your
+peace, your joy and your love. Though I loved you so much, the question
+arose in my mind whether you needed my love and companionship."
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, darling, it is all true, what you say about my
+living in the Eternal One, and that from Him springs all my strength, my
+hope and my love; but if that Blessed Infinite One brings another joy to
+me in the form of dear Stella's love, why should I not accept it gladly?
+Yes, dear, your interesting self, your love is all a gift to me from the
+Infinite Spirit. It is an additional joy and pleasure which He has
+bestowed upon me, and my prayer is that I may always and fully meet your
+expectations, and my self and my love may give you as much joy as yours
+gives me."
+
+Stella said: "Penloe, dear, my cup is full to overflowing; how good God
+is to me."
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, darling, I wish to express a thought concerning
+love, and it is this. Many times you see two persons in love, and
+instead of that experience broadening and intensifying their love and
+sympathies, it has a tendency to narrow them down and contract them and
+bring them to a very small selfish life, causing them to take no thought
+or interest in any one but themselves. They seem to form a mutual
+admiration society, and live to gain the praise of each other. After
+all, when you analyze them, it is not so much love of each other as it
+appears to be, but love of each one for himself. Then there is that kind
+of love union which exists between two where, instead of narrowing and
+contracting the lovers, it has a tendency to broaden them out in their
+love, and make their sympathies universal in their scope; their love
+being of that high order which seems to quicken all that is grand and
+noble in their natures; and their lives seem to be those of intense love
+for each other, and intense love for the Lord in His humanity."
+
+Then they sat in blissful silence for a little while, when Penloe said:
+"Stella, darling, have you thought over what you may have to give up
+through becoming a life companion to me? Of course, dear, you know I
+have consecrated my life and my endeavors as a free will offering to the
+world, and it is not my work nor mission to raise a family. Now, the
+instinct to become a mother is very strong in some women's natures."
+
+Stella said: "Why, Penloe, dear, I do not have to give up anything in
+becoming a life companion to you, for instead of being a material mother
+I will become a spiritual mother to many, which is a far higher joy, and
+the world has too few spiritual mothers, but too many material ones of a
+low grade."
+
+Penloe said: "Have you thought over the practical side of our union? You
+see, I am not a man that is rustling for dollars from morning till
+night, and in my life and work we may, at times perhaps, only have a log
+cabin to live in, with bare walls and floors; and our food may be of the
+plainest kind, and not much of that either. Your wardrobe may consist of
+only one cotton wrapper and flour-sack underwear."
+
+Penloe could not say any more, for Stella put her hand over his mouth
+and said, laughingly: "You cannot scare me so easily, for it will take
+more than only having in my possession one cotton wrapper and wearing
+flour-sack underwear, and living in a log cabin with bare walls and
+floors, to discourage me. Those things are not of my world; all I hope
+is that if I shall have to put on such garments as flour-sack underwear,
+it will not offend your artistic eye."
+
+They both had a good laugh, for they feared nothing in this Universe;
+least of all that great bugaboo, poverty.
+
+Penloe said: "Well, Stella, to be serious, I have made arrangements for
+leaving Orangeville for six months. In about a week's time I will go up
+into the mountains and live in a log cabin in the pines. I will be six
+miles from any human being, and twenty-five miles from Orangeville. It
+is necessary that I should be away for awhile from all psychological
+influences and cross-currents, and live in the silence. I realize that I
+need it to fit me for my work. It is necessary for my spiritual
+unfoldment. Christ went up into the mountains and out on the plains to
+be alone, so he might gain spiritual strength. All great spiritual
+teachers have times for being alone. As I said, I need to make this
+change to fit me for my work, for I want to get my mind freed from all
+individuality and relativity, so as to see more clearly the Oneness
+throughout the Universe. For, as the Swami Vivekananda has said in his
+lecture on 'Maya and the Evolution of the Conception of God': 'He who
+sees in this world of manifoldness that One running through it all; in
+this world of death, he who finds that one infinite life; and in this
+world of insentience and ignorance, he who finds that one light and
+knowledge, unto him belongs eternal peace.' It is more of that light and
+knowledge that I need, Stella. In short, it is to commune more with the
+Father; it is to realize in a greater degree the presence of the Divine
+within, and to have my mind freed from the illusion of the phenomenal
+world; for by so doing I become qualified to become a healer of disease,
+and also fitted to help many a poor sin-sick life. Now, Stella, having
+clearly made known my purpose to you; I want to tell you that it is
+better for you that I leave this time. It will enlighten you more
+spiritually in this way. Most persons would think that it should be the
+greatest pleasure to us both to be together now as much as we can, so as
+to see and enjoy the society of each other. That thought is all right
+for the many, but not for you and me. It is better for us both that we
+do not hear from one another for three months, and at the end of that
+time I want you to come up and live three months with me in that cabin.
+At the end of that time we will come back to the world and be made man
+and wife in the eyes of the law.
+
+"All this to some may seem strange and hard, but not to you, Stella, for
+I think you have already attained to that plane where you can see the
+great good to you which will come from following such a course. If you
+follow certain instructions which I will give you, after we have been
+separated two weeks, you will have a feeling of my presence with you,
+and you will not feel the need of correspondence, for we will be
+independent of all letter writing, because we can be in communion with
+each other at any time we may wish it."
+
+Stella said: "Through you, dear, I have attained to that plane where I
+can see it all true what you have said and all for the best; and,
+Penloe, dear, Stella will be with you in your cabin at the end of the
+first three months," and here she kissed him and he returned the same.
+After a little more talk they bid each other farewell.
+
+The next morning after the most eventful evening in Stella's life, when
+that young lady kissed her mother good-morning, Mrs. Wheelwright did not
+need to be told what had happened on the previous night, for the way
+Stella kissed her mother, and the way she moved about to get breakfast
+made Mrs. Wheelwright smile inwardly. Just as the three were about
+finishing their morning meal, Stella told her parents all that had
+happened. They were both delighted in the extreme and Stella received
+their blessings and kisses.
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said to Stella: "I am so glad you found a man worthy of
+your love, and he certainly is. I could not have made one to order to
+suit you as well. All I feared was that he would live without a wife,
+because I knew how much you loved him, and no one else would ever fill
+his place in your affections. I rejoice daily that we have such a dear
+daughter; one that Penloe has seen fit to love and cherish as a life
+companion."
+
+"Mother," said Stella, "there is no such thing as disappointment in love
+to those who are living on the plane that Penloe and I are on, for we
+are led by the promptings of the Blessed Infinite One, to each other."
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said: "Oh, if more would only live on the spiritual
+plane, how much happier they would be in all that pertains to this
+life."
+
+Stella said: "I am going to write to aunt to-day and tell her of my
+engagement to Penloe." So later in the day she sat down and wrote the
+following letter:
+
+   "MY DEAR AUNT: As you have always taken so much
+    interest in my future happiness, I think it no more
+    than right that I should inform you of my engagement to
+    Penloe. Yes, dear Aunt, I proposed to him last evening
+    and he accepted me and has given me his love in return.
+
+   "Let me thank you, dear Aunt, for your kindness to me,
+    and I hope that our being engaged may meet with your
+    approval. Penloe is going to live in the pines for the
+    next six months. After he has been there three months I
+    am going up there to live with him, and will be his
+    log-cabin companion for three months. After that we
+    will be united in marriage.
+
+   "Mother and father join me in love to you. As ever,
+
+                   "Your Affect. Niece,
+                                       "STELLA WHEELWRIGHT."
+
+From that time till Stella went to the mountains to live with Penloe,
+she was busy in two ways. Her time was occupied in one direction in
+writing a little book on the sex question. Barker and Brookes told her
+if she would write the book they would pay for having it printed and
+would circulate thousands of copies free. Those two young men were now
+Stella's co-workers in the grand field of removing bondage. The other
+way in which Stella was very busy was in following a certain course of
+mental and spiritual exercise as marked out for her by Penloe.
+
+When the three months had expired, Mr. Wheelwright took Stella up to the
+pines within one mile of Penloe's cabin. They arrived there at four in
+the afternoon. Stella told her father to satisfy him that she would go
+up to Penloe's cabin, and then come right back and stay with him over
+night, and in the morning after he was gone Penloe would come down and
+take her and her valise up with him.
+
+Her father not being sure about the mental telegraphy carried on
+between Stella and Penloe, wanted to make sure Penloe was there and all
+right before he left his daughter.
+
+It was Penloe's wish for no person to come near his cabin except Stella.
+
+When Stella returned to her father, after having gone up to Penloe's
+cabin to see if he was all right, she told her father Penloe was well,
+and he could see by his daughter's face that everything was all right.
+
+On the next morning Mr. Wheelwright wished his daughter good-bye,
+leaving her where they had camped over night.
+
+A few minutes afterwards Penloe appeared, and taking Stella's valise
+they both walked up to the cabin. Stella was perfectly charmed with the
+beautiful spot where the cabin was located. Some large pines were in
+front of the cabin and some very handsome redwoods a few rods in the
+rear. A sparkling, rippling brook flowed near the cabin, singing merrily
+as it went along.
+
+They lived on two meals a day and found that was all the nourishment
+they needed, as they were doing no manual labor, and there was no great
+strain on their nervous system.
+
+They spent their time in the following manner: Part of the day was
+devoted to prayer, meditation and concentration, and part of the time in
+the practise of mental telegraphy; and the balance of the time in doing
+what little work there was to do and in walks and talks.
+
+Stella did enjoy the life so very much, and she was rapidly advancing
+physically, intellectually and spiritually. As for lonesomeness, she and
+Penloe did not know what that was, their minds being too active to be
+lonesome. They seemed to be new to each other every morning and fresh
+every evening, their life being a perfect joy and delight in its highest
+sense; for they realized each day more and more of their Divine natures.
+Each day they came in touch with the Infinite, and when they came down
+from the mountain their faces shone as Moses' did of old; for they had
+walked and talked with God.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A WEDDING IN ORANGEVILLE.
+
+
+After Mrs. Marston had been in San Francisco about a month, she received
+a cablegram from Paris stating that her son had been shot by a jealous
+Frenchman and died two hours afterwards. When she had recovered from her
+first grief she thought it best to stay in San Francisco two weeks
+longer and then return to Roseland. She had not been home long when she
+realized how great the change had been on the sex question, and how
+Stella's popularity had risen, and of course Mrs. Marston's mind had to
+conform to the new thought, which her circle of friends and most of the
+community had accepted. It was that lady's creed to have her ideas in
+style as much as her dress. It seemed to please her greatly to hear her
+niece praised and looked up to as a leader of the new thought on the sex
+question; for deep down in her heart she loved Stella, even if she did
+not understand some of her strange ways, and now that her son was dead
+her affections went out more towards her niece.
+
+When she received the letter from Stella stating she was engaged to
+Penloe, she had a good laugh about her proposing to him, and said the
+next thing she would hear would be that Stella had bought a wedding-ring
+to put on Penloe's finger. Since Mrs. Marston had seen Penloe there was
+no man she admired more than him; not on account of his spiritual
+thought, but for his distinguished personality, his graceful manners,
+and his polished expressions. So when she read about her niece being
+engaged to him, she was delighted, for she felt proud of them both and
+remarked, "They would make the finest appearing couple to be seen
+anywhere."
+
+And she now looked forward to the time when they would be married, that
+she might have the pleasure of seeing them again. She was forming plans
+as to what she would do for Stella. She felt that she was able to do
+much for her, as her property was rising in value all the time, and her
+income far exceeded her expenditures. Her idea was that a couple, to be
+in style when they are married, should visit Europe or some other
+country; and, furthermore, it would be also nice for her to be able to
+say her niece had gone abroad on her wedding tour. She also remembered
+how delighted Stella was to read books of travel when she was at her
+house, and she heard her say, "I do hope some day I will be able to see
+my own and other countries, for the extent of my travel has only been
+from Orangeville to San Jose and return."
+
+About a week before the day set for Stella's wedding, Mrs. Wheelwright
+went to Roseland and called on her sister, Mrs. Marston. In course of
+conversation, Mrs. Wheelwright said: "Well, Helen, it is Penloe's and
+Stella's wish to have no one invited to the wedding but yourself; for,
+if they invited friends, they could not draw the line and they could not
+invite all, and not only so but they think it far better to have a quiet
+wedding. Their marriage is so different to that of any other couple,
+there being none of that peculiar excitement connected with their
+marriage."
+
+Mrs. Marston said: "I thought that would be about the kind of wedding
+they would have. What I would have liked would be to give Stella a big
+wedding at my own house, with all her friends present, but I knew she
+would wish to be married at her home in a very quiet way."
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said: "Well, Helen, we shall look for you on Wednesday
+of next week. They will be married at eleven in the morning, by the Rev.
+B.F. Holingsworth."
+
+On the morning of the wedding, Stella's aunt arrived at ten, Penloe and
+the minister came half an hour later. At eleven Penloe and Stella stood
+up to be made one in the eyes of the law. The Blessed Infinite Spirit
+had made them one some time ago. It is not necessary to remark how
+lovely the bride looked, for she always looked lovely, and she did not
+wear at her wedding a white silk or satin gown; for she wore a rich
+white dress, and it was one that she could wear any time; it became her
+exceedingly well. After the usual marriage ceremony was over, the
+minister offered a short fervent prayer, after which Penloe and Stella
+stood in silent prayer for about two minutes, then Penloe kissed Stella.
+The joyful couple then received the congratulations of their relatives.
+When Mrs. Marston kissed Stella, she gave her a little package. A few
+minutes later Stella excused herself and went to her room, to open the
+package her aunt had given her. On opening the package, she found it
+contained a small, light-brown covered book, with a note which read as
+follows:
+
+                                        "SUNNYDOWN, Roseland, Calif.
+
+   "MY DEAR NIECE:--Knowing you had always a strong desire
+    to travel and see something of the world, I know of no
+    better time for you to travel than now, on your wedding
+    tour.
+
+   "In the bank book you will see a sum deposited in your
+    name, sufficient to take you and Penloe around the
+    world in first-class style.
+
+   "Wishing you much joy, dear, with love to you both,
+
+                                       "YOUR AUNT HELEN."
+
+Stella opened the bank book to see the amount deposited to her credit,
+and to her joy and surprise there were five figures in the amount. Such
+a handsome gift touched Stella very much. She realized then the
+genuineness of her aunt's interest in her material welfare and the love
+she bore her.
+
+When Stella returned to the room where the company was she went to her
+aunt, and put her arms round her and kissed her affectionately, and
+said: "How good you have been to me." Her aunt looked at the beautiful
+girl with pride, and seemed delighted to see her so happy. She said:
+"Stella, dear, I have only you to love, and you deserve all I can do for
+you."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Wheelwright were very much gratified by the handsome gift
+Stella received from her aunt, and Penloe, whose face was always the
+picture of repose, had now an unusual bright smile as he saw Stella's
+delight. He went and sat beside Mrs. Marston, and entertained her with
+his brilliant conversation, much to that lady's pleasure, for she
+enjoyed receiving attention from Penloe.
+
+In course of conversation with Mrs. Marston (while Stella was absent
+from the room), in a very becoming and graceful way, he paid a glowing
+tribute to Stella's nobility of character and her intrinsic worth, which
+pleased Mrs. Marston greatly. Stella's aunt could not think of sitting
+down to a very plain meal on such an occasion as her niece's marriage,
+neither did she wish to see her sister or Stella with flushed faces
+through being over a hot cook-stove. So she had her caterer come from
+Roseland, with everything necessary, and take charge of the wedding
+dinner. They all had a very sociable time at the table, the topics of
+conversation being general, such as Mrs. Marston would be interested in.
+
+After dinner, Stella had a few words in private with her aunt before
+leaving for Roseland. The gist of the talk was that she, when speaking
+of them, was not to say, "'Mr. Penloe Lenair' or 'Mrs. Penloe Lenair,'
+or have inserted in the newspapers 'Penloe Lenair, Esq., and wife, are
+visiting you, but always speak of us as 'Penloe and Stella,' because we
+wish to live in the realization that we are all members of one family,
+and to say Mr. or Mrs. is cold, formal and distant; but in being called
+by our given names we come near to those who are talking to us, and they
+come near to and in touch with us."
+
+After the minister and Mrs. Marston had left, Stella said to Penloe: "I
+may just as well begin to initiate you into the new order of things now
+as any other time, for you are my husband. So I am going to tell you
+that we are living in a new age, and instead of the wife obeying her
+husband the husband has to obey the wife."
+
+Penloe smiled, and said: "I am perfectly willing to obey such a wife as
+you are. What are your orders, my dear?"
+
+Stella laughed, and said: "Well, Penloe, I have been thinking that I
+would like to take you over to see an old friend of mine, who has sore
+eyes. You have never seen him, and he would be so pleased to have us
+come; for he must have many lonely times, because very few persons ever
+call on him, and, Penloe, dear, we have such a lot of good things left
+from aunt's big wedding dinner that she gave us, and I thought we would
+take some of the nice things along with us for the old man to enjoy. He
+seldom has anything very good to eat."
+
+Penloe said: "So you are going to make a ministering angel of me, are
+you, my dear?"
+
+Stella said, smiling: "I am not going to make you too angelic, Penloe,
+because you might take wings and fly away from me, and I want you to be
+an angel on the ground and not a soaring one. So get yourself ready to
+carry a basket."
+
+Penloe said: "I am at your service, my dear."
+
+Stella went into the kitchen, and selected some choice eatables, such as
+she knew the old man would most enjoy, and the two were soon on their
+way to the cabin. As they were walking along Stella related to Penloe
+all she knew of the history of the old man, as he was called, though he
+was not more than fifty-eight years old.
+
+When they arrived at the cabin, the old man was busy getting stove-wood.
+
+As soon as Stella spoke to him he knew instantly who it was. His sight
+being in that condition that he could see Penloe's form, but could not
+see clearly his features, he could distinguish a man's form from that of
+a woman's, but that was all. Stella introduced Penloe to him, and told
+the old man that they were married this morning, whereupon the old man
+instantly congratulated them and showered his blessings on both of
+them, saying: "Mr. Penloe, what an angel you have got for a wife!" And
+went on telling Penloe how good she had been to him.
+
+Stella did not check him, because she knew it would do him good to have
+some one to express his feelings to. After the old man had finished his
+eulogies on Stella, she told him what she had brought him and said she
+would put them where they belonged, for she had cleaned up his cabin
+many a time. He was touched to the heart by such thoughtful kindness,
+that on their wedding day she should think of him, and he did not know
+just what to say he was so overcome; he seemed choked. They very soon
+put him at his ease, and in about ten minutes afterwards conversation
+had quieted down.
+
+Just then Stella received a mental telegram from Penloe, and it was not
+long before the old man was sitting in his rocking chair, fast asleep.
+While he was in that condition, Penloe and Stella went into the silence,
+remaining in that state for about an hour, when Penloe asked Stella to
+get a basin, with some water, a clean cloth, and a towel. When she had
+got everything ready, the old man seemed to be waking up. When he was
+fully awake, he said: "How much better I feel." Stella said: "I have a
+basin here, with some water. Let me bathe your eyes." While she was
+bathing them, she said: "Andrew, you are going to see so that you can
+read just as well as you could before your eyes became sore." (As Andrew
+had always associated Stella in his mind as being a member of the
+angelic band, he was ready to believe anything she said.)
+
+He said: "Am I? Praise God! (he was a good man). How fine your touch
+does feel to my face."
+
+When she had finished bathing his eyes, she gave him a towel to wipe his
+eyes with. After he had wiped them, he opened and closed them several
+times, when, with his eyes open, he said: "Yes, I can see! O, I can see
+so much better. I keep seeing clearer all the time." And in a few
+minutes he could see Penloe and Stella just as well as they could see
+themselves.
+
+The old man was overcome with joy. Looking at Stella, he said: "Bless
+God! I can see your dear face." And when he cast his eyes on the
+features of Penloe he became silent, then he looked at Stella, then at
+Penloe, and he seemed in a dream, for he did not know which was the
+greater surprise to him, having his sight restored or seeing the angelic
+countenances of the two before him.
+
+Penloe took a newspaper and gave it to him, saying: "See if you can read
+that?"
+
+Andrew took the paper, and to his great delight he could read it just as
+well as when he was a young man. The old man put the paper down, then in
+a little while he took it up again and read more, saying: "Yes, it is
+true. I can see to read to myself. Bless the Lord! I can see to read."
+He looked at them both again, and a feeling came over him as if there
+was a great distance between him and them. For he said, in speaking to
+Stella:
+
+"Mrs. Penloe."
+
+Whereupon Stella laughed, and told him: "I am not Mrs. Penloe, for I am
+just the same now as I was before I was married. I am your sister
+Stella, and my husband is your brother Penloe. Both of us look upon all
+boys and men as our brothers, and all girls and women as our sisters,
+for we are all members of one family."
+
+The old man sat in silence after Stella spoke; he seemed to be amazed.
+
+Stella said: "We must go now."
+
+As she wished him good-bye, he said to them: "What must I do in return
+for the great blessing of sight which has been given me to-day?"
+
+Penloe said: "Live much in prayer, live in the realization of Divine
+love. Remember your body is the temple of God. Keep it as such, and help
+others to live the Divine life."
+
+Was there ever a bride so happy as Stella was on the after noon of her
+wedding day, when she was returning home to tell her mother the joyful
+news that Andrew had recovered his sight. The world has never seen a
+happier bride than she was on that afternoon.
+
+Stella had not been in the house but a few minutes before she told her
+parents all about Andrew receiving his sight through Penloe's healing
+power.
+
+Penloe said: "Why, Stella, were you not the instrument through which
+Andrew received his sight? Did he not think that you were the embodiment
+of all goodness, all power, and all truth? And when you said to him,
+'Andrew, you are going to see so you can read yourself,' he believed
+you, and was he not healed according to his faith?"
+
+Stella said: "He would not have had his sight restored if you had not
+been present. The first time you called on him his sight was restored,
+while I have been to his cabin many times before, but never helped him
+to see."
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, dear, you were not on the spiritual plane that you
+are now on when you visited Andrew before. You had not spent much time
+in prayer, in meditation, in concentration, in being up in the
+mountains, walking and talking with God daily, and living in the
+realization of the Kingdom of Heaven within. All this has helped to make
+you a healer."
+
+Stella said: "Penloe, all you say is true, but I cannot help thinking
+that you were the healer."
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, dear, you spoke the healing word."
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright, smiling inwardly, said: "Children, you have only been
+married a few hours, and have got a bone of contention already. I am
+surprised at you both."
+
+Stella, putting on a serious face, said: "Well, mother, I know it was
+Penloe;" and Penloe said: "Well, mother, I know it was Stella."
+
+Mrs. Wheelwright said: "Children, I cannot stay with you while you
+quarrel this way," and out she went into the kitchen, happy and
+laughing to herself; at the same time rejoicing greatly that the poor
+man had received his sight.
+
+There were two others who laughed after Mrs. Wheelwright left the room,
+for they knew it was neither Penloe or Stella that healed the man, but
+the power of the Blessed Infinite Spirit in both of them, they being
+only the instruments through which the healing power was manifested.
+
+The evening of Stella's wedding day the two were sitting on the porch.
+It was just as lovely a night as it was on the night when they were
+plighted. They had been engaged in conversation for a while, when Penloe
+said: "Stella, I have not given you any wedding ring. It is not because
+I have not got one for you, but I wish to give you the history of the
+ring before presenting you with it."
+
+Stella said: "You will have a very ready listener, Penloe, I can assure
+you."
+
+Penloe said: "While attending the University in Calcutta I made the
+acquaintance of a young Hindu, who was a student there also. He was in
+some respects the brightest of the students, for he had the faculty for
+mastering his studies quickly and perfectly, was also very original in
+character and full of resources. Though he was a born student, yet he
+was well-balanced and did not always have his head in books or in the
+clouds; neither did he indulge in social dissipation. While being social
+in his nature, he always took sufficient physical recreation to keep
+himself well and strong, but nothing more; he never let it get away with
+him, as many do in the Western World. He lived up to the highest light,
+regulating his conduct so as to make himself strong intellectually and
+spiritually. I found him a very interesting companion, and our
+friendship was of a very profitable character, in this way, that when we
+saw the faults in each other we did in love what we could to help one
+another. To overcome our weak points, we co-operated together for the
+highest object, and it was our sacred purpose to always touch the
+highest and noblest in each other's nature; and to-night it is with
+pleasure that I call to mind the sweetness of his disposition, the
+sincerity of his purpose, and the brilliancy of his mind.
+
+"His family had outgrown caste, and when I first visited them at their
+home I was introduced to his father and mother, also to a sister about
+eighteen years of age, who made up the family. I noticed what a peculiar
+expression passed over his sister's face when she looked into mine for
+the first time. She had a dreamy, far-away look about her, and then
+again I noticed later that she had the very opposite expression on her
+physiognomy, being all 'right here'; intensely so, taking in everything
+around her. I was very much attracted towards her in this way, not as a
+youth would be towards a maiden--there was none of that feeling
+whatever. I felt she was a mystic, a powerful one, and she interested me
+greatly. When sitting in the room with all the members of the family, I
+noticed at times she would eye me very closely; and if I returned the
+gaze I saw such an expression in her face as if she did not belong here
+at all, but was living on some other planet. She talked very little, and
+such a thing as my coming near to her in conversation, or her saying
+anything to bring herself near to me, was not to be expected, with her
+peculiar makeup, and yet when she would give me her hand in receiving
+me, she had such a peculiar sweet way of welcoming me, that one might
+think we were very near to each other. And when I took leave of her with
+the other members of the family, her partings seemed very pleasant as
+she gave me her hand and wished me good-night.
+
+"Those eyes of hers seemed as if you could see worlds in them, and when
+you looked into them your mind seemed taken away from everything about
+you, and you would have to check yourself or else you would feel as if
+you had left the body and were passing through the ethereal regions.
+
+"She had a remarkable organism, being so very fine in quality. The first
+impression one would have on seeing her would be that of distinction,
+she was so superior in her makeup to all her kind. Her features were
+finely moulded, and her whole contour was perfect. She had a wonderful
+presence; so much silent power went with it. I could not help being
+conscious of it when in the room with her. I felt as if something of an
+elevating nature was coming from her to me all the time. I always felt a
+better man after having been in her company. And before I attained to
+the plane I am now on, when at times I would be depressed or discouraged
+and went into her presence with those feelings, it would not be long
+before they left me and I felt as if I was the strongest and most
+hopeful man living. She being the most powerful of the two brought me
+into her condition and made me feel strong, like a giant refreshed with
+new wine.
+
+"After visiting at her house many times, I conceived the impression that
+for some cause she took a great interest in me, not because I was a
+young man, but for some other reason.
+
+"Sometimes I would visit the family and she would not be at home, and
+late in the evening she would return all alone. She would go anywhere at
+any time. I have seen her late at night walking through the slums of
+Calcutta all alone. She was free in the truest sense of the word, not
+being in bondage to her material form, or in recognizing family or
+social standing; she had no superstitions; she was above and beyond them
+all. I noticed she was loved very much by her parents and brother, and
+seemed to possess a deep affectionate nature herself. Her peculiar
+qualities were fully recognized by the family, she having no household
+duties to perform, only as the notion might take her.
+
+"I was always a welcomed guest at the house, and I felt as much at home
+as if I were a member of their family.
+
+"After I had known the family about a year, I called at the house one
+evening just about the time it was getting dark. Wavernee was sitting in
+the door-way. She seemed very pleased to see me and invited me in,
+saying: 'The other members of the family are all away.'
+
+"The room we went into we entered at its center, and she turned to the
+left and walked to the end of the room. She gave me a seat so that I sat
+at the extreme end of the room. She closed the door and took a low seat
+on my left. To my great surprise, she commenced a conversation about
+common things, and talked as interestingly as any intelligent young lady
+would talk. We chatted about fifteen minutes, and by that time the room
+was dark so I could not see one object from another.
+
+"She became silent and I received an impression that she did not wish me
+to speak, so we both sat in the silence for about ten minutes, when the
+room became illuminated and she herself seemed to be the brightest
+object in it. I never saw a room so bright as that in my life. After a
+few minutes everything in the room appeared dark except the wall at the
+further end; and where it was light there seemed to be a white covering
+such as is used for magic lantern pictures. I was looking at it when
+there appeared a picture which covered the whole cloth. It represented
+men and women of all tribes and nations bending beneath heavy loads of
+bondage. I observed their bondages were not all the same. There was a
+difference in the kind of bondages the men were bound with to those that
+held women in slavery. Then I saw that the men had some bondages the
+same as the women had. I observed the bondages of the women were not all
+the same. For instance, the American's woman's bondage in some respects
+was different from that of the Japanese woman, and the bondages of the
+Hindu woman were not the same as that of the Chinese woman. It was a sad
+sight. As they were all presented, they appeared to be living, moving
+figures.
+
+"There were a few Hindu men and women who were free, going among them
+trying to lift them out of bondage, but it was very hard, for they
+seemed to love being in bondage. Only those who were tired of their
+bondages were helped by the workers. Wavernee kept her eyes intently on
+the picture all the time, and when she turned her face towards me the
+scene disappeared and the whole room became dark. In about ten minutes
+the whole room was again illuminated and I never saw Wavernee look so
+much like the embodiment of perfect love as she did then. She seemed as
+if she had been touched with a live coal from off the altar, the sacred
+fire was so bright in her eyes. The atmosphere was one of sacred
+blissful love. Whatever there was of lukewarmness or indifference in me
+in regard to humanity was licked up, as it were, by a fiery flame of
+love. I felt as if my whole nature had become white-heat with love. The
+most miserable creature seemed dear and sweet to me.
+
+"While I was in that frame of mind the room became dark, except the
+further end, and I saw another living scene on the canvas. It was
+Wavernee walking along a hot dusty road a few miles from Calcutta. She
+seemed indifferent to the heat and dust, and was looking exactly the
+same as I have just described her. As she was walking along, I noticed a
+little way in front of her was a young woman sitting down on the side of
+the road with only a few dirty rags on her poor body. Her face and form
+showed marks of sin and disease. When she saw Wavernee coming near her,
+she put her hands to her face and held her head down. O, the apparent
+contrast between the two! Wavernee sat down beside the young woman and
+took one of her hands and held it awhile, meanwhile talking to her. Then
+she opened a basket she had and took out a bottle and poured the
+contents into a glass and gave it to her to drink. There was a label on
+the bottle and glass which read 'love,' and the young woman drank the
+glass empty. After awhile Wavernee stood up and the young woman stood
+up, too, and as she did so her rags fell from her and she was clothed
+like Wavernee, and when I looked into her face I saw no difference
+between them.
+
+"The scene disappeared, but it was quickly replaced by another which
+represented Wavernee and some other native workers clearing large tracts
+of land. Then they ploughed and harrowed it. As fast as they prepared
+one tract of land for the seed they commenced clearing another piece.
+On the land that had been cleared I saw myself and some one else with me
+that had a veil over head and face, so I could not see who the person
+was; but we were both engaged in the same occupation of sowing seed,
+each one of us having a large measure containing the seed. On the
+outside of the measure was the word truth. We would sow one piece of
+land and then go to another piece that had been cleared and sow that. On
+the ground that I had sowed, a crop came up in the form of many men and
+some women who were all out of bondage. They were free. Where the person
+with me had sowed, there was a crop of many women and some few men who
+were out of bondage. They were all free. I wish I could convey to your
+mind how happy and joyful they all were.
+
+"As this last scene disappeared the whole room became illuminated.
+Wavernee looked at me with eyes of celestial love and said: 'Penloe,
+thou hast seen all. What appeared before thy vision will convey to thy
+mind more than any words of mine. Before you is a future that angels
+might desire. Be true to thy highest light, then wilt thou realize what
+thy eyes have seen. Your co-worker is one that I love. She knows me not,
+but I know her, and when she becomes one with you in your life and work
+of love, give her this ring (taking it from her finger and giving it to
+me) with my love and tell her to accept it as a symbol of your union in
+love and work.
+
+"'This ring has a history. It was worn by a beautiful young Indian
+princess who, after having been a wife to a prince for two years, became
+disgusted with her life, and, weary of all the luxuries of the court,
+she left one night in disguise, saying to herself: "I can live here no
+longer, for I am a greater slave than the poorest of the Pariah women.
+My nature cries out for freedom. I would rather be free in poverty than
+be a slave in luxury. Give me freedom or give me death!" She lived for
+many years in the realization of her own highest nature. She looked on
+all about her as being God and showed that love and reverence for all
+as she did for the Divine Being. Her whole life was devoted to being a
+blessing to many others; particularly to the elevation of those of her
+own sex. Just before she died she gave it to my Guru's (Spiritual
+Teacher) mother, who was then a young woman, saying: "Wear this as a vow
+that thy life will be consecrated to lifting thy sisters out of
+bondage." My Guru gave it to me with its history, saying: "My mother
+lived and died for woman's freedom. May you live for the same noble
+purpose."' Then Wavernee rose and took from a shelf this beautiful
+little box, saying: 'Keep the ring in this box.'
+
+"After I thanked her she said: 'This is the last time you will see me,
+for I am going away and when I return you will have left this country.'
+I received a mental suggestion not to ask any questions, and there
+seemed to be nothing left for me to say, but to part with such a sweet
+exalted character in the way and manner that two spiritual friends
+should take leave of each other.
+
+"Stella, she was the greatest mystic I ever met in that land of
+mystics."
+
+When Penloe finished his narrative he looked at Stella and saw she was
+deeply moved. Neither spoke for a few minutes, then Stella leaned her
+head towards Penloe and said in a soft touching voice:
+
+"Penloe, dear, I have just seen Wavernee. Oh, what a beautiful loving
+soul she is; her countenance is something wonderful! For a few moments I
+seemed to be with her in a sacred room in her home in India. As I
+entered she came forward and greeted me in a most affectionate manner.
+Leading me to a small altar at one end of the room, we both kneeled for
+devotion, after which I looked up and saw on the wall the inscription:
+'Our lives are consecrated to the Lord in His humanity."
+
+"After I read that everything disappeared, and I realized I was here on
+this porch with you, my mind being full of your exceedingly interesting
+story."
+
+After a pause Penloe remarked: "I am not surprised, Stella, at the
+experience you have just had of seeing Wavernee, for I have seen her
+twice since I have been in Orangeville. It is a gift which comes to some
+in their higher unfoldment. I am very glad you saw Wavernee, for it is
+an inspiration to see such a person."
+
+Stella replied: "Yes, Penloe, she is all you have described her to me,
+and much more. Her presence has a remarkable power of elevating. She is
+my ideal, for she is highly gifted and still only full of pure love.
+What you have related and what I have seen has been a great revelation
+to me, and fills me with joy in the thought of being your co-worker in
+living the life as Wavernee saw us as dispensers of truth, and helpers
+of humanity through love."
+
+Penloe said: "Yes, dear Stella, it is a great blessing and privilege to
+be of service to others. It is the test of greatness of character; for
+Jesus said: 'He that is greatest of all must be servant of all.'"
+
+After a little silence in which both were thinking about the great work
+before them, Stella's attention was called to the box containing the
+ring, by Penloe handing it to her. On taking it she said: "Is not the
+box beautiful?" Then opening it she took out the ring. It was a cinnamon
+garnet ring, made from Ceylon stone, with hieroglyphics outside and
+inside beautifully cut. It was a fine piece of skilled workmanship.
+
+Stella said: "Penloe, do tell me the meaning of the hieroglyphics on the
+ring. I am very desirous to know."
+
+Penloe said: "Outside it reads, 'All are one in God.' Inside it reads,
+'The fire of spirituality burns by continual devotion.'"
+
+Stella remarked: "How true is the beautiful thought contained in the
+outside inscription, 'All are one in God,' for it makes our own union
+feel sacred and precious as well as bringing us close to all others. The
+inside inscription is an exceedingly fine one, 'The fire of spirituality
+burns by continual devotion.' Because without devotion the spiritual
+life droops and withers as a flower without water." Continuing, she
+said: "There are two kinds of devotion, one consisting of heartfelt
+prayer and singing from the soul, sacred hymns; and the other kind
+consists in rendering service to others. They are both essential for
+spiritual growth."
+
+Stella was very much interested in the history of the ring, and putting
+it on her finger she said: "What a true symbol of the nature of our
+union is the ring. I am so glad it is not made of gold and set with
+diamonds. If it were I never could wear it, for it would neutralize all
+the good I could do. Supposing it had been one of those very handsome
+gold rings set with diamonds such as Indian princesses wear. Every
+lady's eye, young and old, would be on the ring, while their minds would
+be speculating on its great value, and their thoughts so taken up with
+its beauty that what I might say to instruct them would have very little
+effect, and even the influence of my own life would be small. No,
+Penloe, I never would wear a costly ring, not even if you gave it to me;
+for it would have a tendency to keep myself and all who saw it in
+bondage. This ring is not costly or very attractive, but its history is
+rich and the truths cut into it are precious." Here she kissed Penloe
+for the ring and spoke again in loving terms concerning Wavernee.
+
+That evening the moon looked down on no happier couple than Penloe and
+Stella, for they were both free and attracted towards them all that was
+joyous and beautiful in the Universe.
+
+On that porch so sacred in blissful associations, before retiring, they
+spent a few minutes in silent prayer, after which I heard them sing so
+softly and sweetly, their voices blending in harmony and melody. I never
+heard such singing before. I looked up in the starry firmament, and did
+my eyes see some of the angelic host looking down on them as they sang?
+
+   "If such the sweetness of the streams
+    What must the fountain be!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE HERNE PARTY.
+
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Herne had become greatly interested in Stella, and they
+made their house feel like a home to her whenever she favored them with
+a visit, which she did many times previous to her living with Penloe in
+the mountains. They were very much attracted towards her and loved her,
+for she always brought sunshine with her, and her charming presence, her
+agreeable manners, together with her fresh, bright, original character,
+so sweet and beautiful, could not but help making her a very desirable
+member of the Herne family, for they had come to look upon her as such
+since her engagement to Penloe, for Penloe to them was a dear brother,
+and now they looked upon Stella as a dear sister.
+
+On the evening that Penloe was relating the story of the ring to Stella,
+Charles and Clara Herne were sitting on the porch enjoying the beautiful
+evening and entertaining themselves in a conversation about the newly
+married couple who were expected to come to-morrow and be their guests
+for several days.
+
+While they were talking about the leading part Stella had taken on the
+sex question, Clara said to her husband: "If Penloe had a wife made to
+order he could not have had a more suitable mate than Stella. That match
+was made in heaven."
+
+Her husband, who had picked up some of Penloe's ideas, said: "Why,
+Clara, she was made to order for him."
+
+Clara laughed and said: "Well, Charles, do you think I was made to order
+for you?"
+
+"Certainly, and I was made to order for you, my dear," replied he.
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "It is very easy to believe that persons so suited to
+each other as you and I, and Penloe and Stella, were made to order for
+each other, but how about Fred Thaxter and his wife, who were married a
+year ago? Mrs. Simmons called on me yesterday and told me she had heard
+that Fred was about to apply for a divorce."
+
+Clara said: "I feel sorry for them both. Charles, so far, you and I have
+not taken any active part in the sex reform movement which has been just
+started. While we are of the same mind as Penloe and Stella in thought,
+yet we have so far been silent, except in the circle of our own home,
+and I think the time has come for us to show our colors."
+
+Charles said: "My dear, I am ready to hoist the flag whenever you say
+the word."
+
+Clara made answer: "I say the word now, Charles."
+
+Charles said: "We will have a talk with Penloe and Stella and see what
+way we can help the movement forward."
+
+Clara said: "I think, Charles, we had better retire early to-night, for
+to-morrow Penloe and Stella will be with us for several days, and we
+never retire early when they are our guests, and the day after to-morrow
+we give a party in their honor."
+
+Early next day, according to an understanding, Mr. Herne sent a man with
+his two-seated surrey to Mr. Wheelwright's for his guests, and about
+eleven the handsome span of blacks were reined up in front of the Herne
+residence, and there were two warm hearts on the porch to greet the
+newly married couple. Charles Herne came forward and received Stella as
+if she had been his own sister, and she kissed him as if he were her own
+brother, and Clara Herne received Penloe in the same way, for they lived
+what they taught, and Penloe and Stella called them Charles and Clara.
+
+Just after dinner Clara was talking about the invited guests to the
+party to-morrow, saying that she had received a note from Mrs. Hardy, a
+lady who had been married about five years, which read that she could
+not come to-morrow as she was sick with her old complaint, but she
+wants you both to call on her before starting on your wedding tour.
+
+Continuing, Clara said: "How much that poor lady has suffered. I have
+heard her talk very strongly of her mother for being so close-mouthed
+with her concerning matters that she ought to have enlightened her
+about. I remember calling on her at one time and found her lying on the
+lounge. At times she was in great pain. I was telling her about the
+interest which had just begun to be aroused in the sex reform movement.
+She said: 'Oh, if I could only be put back ten years with the knowledge
+I have, what an active part I would take in the movement, for I don't
+want other girls and women to suffer what I have, through ignorance and
+fear.'"
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, we had better call on Phebe this afternoon, for
+neither of us have seen her since we lived our mountain life, and we
+will have more time to-day than later."
+
+Stella answered: "I am ready any time."
+
+Charles Herne asked Penloe: "What time would you like to leave here?"
+
+Penloe said: "About two."
+
+"Well," said Charles, "I will have the boy bring the team round for you
+at that time."
+
+It was two o'clock but the team had not yet been brought to the front of
+the house. Charles Herne had gone out to the orchard and Clara was
+elsewhere in the house. Penloe and Stella were in the parlor.
+
+Penloe said: "Stella, I will go up to the barn and see if the team is
+ready." So out he went.
+
+While Penloe had gone to the barn for the team, Clara Herne entered the
+parlor, with a paper in her hand, and called Stella's attention to a
+criticism on the sex reform movement.
+
+When Clara entered the parlor, Stella was standing looking at an oil
+painting on the wall. Stella took the paper, and sat down on the nearest
+chair. Mrs. Herne went out in the kitchen, and there was Mrs. Wentworth
+and her child, who was about three years of age. Mrs. Wentworth's
+husband was poor, and they lived on a small, rented place, near the
+Herne ranch. Mrs. Wentworth belonged to that type of woman who has very
+little inclination for solving the problems of the Universe or settling
+the affairs of the nation, but who seem always to have a great amount of
+leisure to devote to the doings of her neighbors. It was seldom that
+Mrs. Herne had company but that Mrs. Wentworth found some kind of errand
+to her house.
+
+One day at dinner Mrs. Herne, in a humorous way, said: "I think Mrs.
+Wentworth is owing me for about twenty-seven lots of yeast, forty-two
+little lots of butter, sufficient matches to light all the fires in
+Orangeville for six months, enough loaves of bread to feed a multitude,
+for she often is out of bread or had bad luck with her baking. I have
+let her have more milk than would be required to drown herself in, and,
+as for coal-oil, why the quantity that she has borrowed would illuminate
+many dark places of the earth; and my tea and coffee seem just suited to
+her taste." Then, after a pause, she said: "Well, the poor woman is
+welcome to all she has had."
+
+"Yes," said her husband, "they have a hard time."
+
+To-day she came to get Mrs. Herne to read a letter she had received,
+saying: "There are some parts that neither my husband or myself can make
+out."
+
+While Mrs. Herne was engaged in reading the letter, Mrs. Wentworth's
+child, seeing the door leading from one room to another open, took the
+opportunity of doing a little exploring. It was not long before he was
+in the parlor. When he entered Stella just looked up from the paper she
+was reading, to see who it was, and went on with her reading, which she
+was absorbed in. She had seen the child about the house on other
+occasions. Now, where Stella was sitting, there was another chair at the
+back of Stella's chair, and this vacant one was against the wall. On the
+wall just over the chair was a pretty shelf, with a fancy
+bright-colored ball fringe all around it, which attracted the child's
+attention. So he climbed up in the chair, and when he stood up on the
+seat he saw on the shelf a small, fancy, cut-glass bottle, with a very
+shining silver-like top to it; so he put his hand out and took it from
+the shelf, after which he turned round and faced the back of Stella's
+chair. In passing the bottle from one hand to the other, in order to
+help himself down with his possessions, his faculty of weight not being
+as yet well trained, he let go of the bottle before he had got a firm
+hold of it with the other hand, and the result was that it fell on
+Stella's shoulder. Fortunately the stopper did not come off till it
+reached her lap, when she received the whole contents of a bottle of ink
+on her wedding dress.
+
+Just about that time Mrs. Wentworth said to Mrs. Herne: "I must go and
+see what that child is doing;" and she arrived in the room just as the
+bottle of ink fell into Stella's lap. Mrs. Wentworth took the situation
+in at a glance and the hot blood instantly flew to her face, and hotter
+words came from her mouth; and, among other things she said, was:
+
+"My God! that brat of mine has spoiled your fine, white dress;" and she
+took the boy, and was spanking him amidst hot words and the cries of the
+child.
+
+Stella said: "Please don't hurt the child; it's nothing, it's nothing,
+Mrs. Wentworth." But the mother paid no attention to Stella's protests,
+but left the room with the child just as Mrs. Herne entered.
+
+Clara said: "Why, Stella, dear, what is the matter?" Stella laughed, and
+said: "I have got some new figures on my wedding dress. Don't you think
+they are pretty?"
+
+On seeing Stella's skirt and underskirt all saturated with ink in
+places, Clara was not quite prepared to enter into the same laughable
+mood as her guest, but said:
+
+"Stella, dear, how well you take it! I wish I could be that way."
+
+To which Stella replied: "I would not have a disturbed mind for a dozen
+of the best dresses ever made. Clara, nothing is so dear and sacred to
+me as 'the peace of mind which passeth all understanding.'"
+
+Clara said: "I see you kept the ink from going on my new carpet, by
+rolling your skirts up. It's just like your thoughtfulness, dear."
+
+Mrs. Wentworth came running into the room, saying: "Penloe is waiting
+outside with the team. What will you do?" Stella smiling, went to the
+door, and holding out the front of her dress said, laughing, "Penloe,
+how do you like these hieroglyphics on my dress?"
+
+Penloe laughed, and said: "They are different to any I have ever seen
+deciphered."
+
+In about fifteen minutes Stella took her seat beside Penloe, with some
+new garments on, which she had brought with her, and they went on their
+way to Mrs. Harding's.
+
+After they were gone, Mrs. Wentworth said to Mrs. Herne: "I never seen
+anything like those two in all my life. If that had happened to me I
+would have been so mad that I would have cursed and swore, and felt like
+warming the child's hide. And as for my husband, do you think he would
+have laughed and sat in the buggy, like a hen on her nest? No, he would
+have been in and out of the buggy many times; every minute he would be
+looking up at the house to see if I was coming, and now and then calling
+out to ask me if it took me all day to change my dress. Then he would
+think he had something to do about the horse's head, then back to his
+seat, then out again, doing something to the back of the buggy, then he
+would look up at the house again, with a frown on his face, and call
+out, 'Are you never coming?' He would be as restless as a fox in a
+cage."
+
+Mrs. Herne smiled at the description of Mr. Wentworth's disposition, as
+given by his wife, and said, in a quiet tone: "We all need more patience
+and self-control."
+
+On the following day all were very busy in the Herne household, making
+preparations for the party. Penloe and Stella attended to the
+rearranging of the furniture and decorating the rooms, while Clara
+superintended the supplies for the table. The guests arrived a few
+minutes after five. To Clara Herne's great surprise, the last guest to
+arrive came in the form of Mrs. Harding. Clara Herne, in receiving her,
+said: "What, Phebe, I am so glad you are able to come."
+
+When they were all alone in the room where the ladies left their wraps
+and hats, Clara said: "Do tell me, Phebe, what has made you so much
+better, for after reading your note I had no idea of seeing you to-day."
+
+"No more had I when I wrote the note," said Phebe. "But, Clara, have you
+not heard? Did not Penloe or Stella tell you?"
+
+"No," said Clara; "when I asked them how you were, Stella told me what
+you said about your condition when she asked you how you were."
+
+"Well, Clara, I will tell you," said Mrs. Harding. "Penloe and Stella
+were with me about an hour. After they had been in the room with me
+about ten minutes, they talked very little. About half an hour
+afterwards such a sweet feeling of peace and rest came over me; all pain
+had left me, and when they said 'good-bye,' I felt healed and I keep
+feeling better all the time. Clara, my heart is full of joy and
+gratitude to that man of God and his angel wife. What beautiful
+countenances they have."
+
+At half past five the company sat down at a long table which was
+tastefully spread with viands and dainties to tempt the appetite of the
+most fastidious epicure. Penloe sat on Clara's right, and Stella sat on
+the left of Charles Herne. Four of Mr. Herne's men waited on the table;
+so well did they perform this service that a stranger could not have
+told them from professional waiters.
+
+The meal was thoroughly enjoyed amidst mirth and laughter, wit and
+humor, jokes and short stories, for the whole company were in the best
+of spirits.
+
+After supper some of the guests sat on the porch, others walked about
+the grounds, and some played croquet. Among the invited guests were
+Prof. French and wife, a couple who had been married about a year; they
+were both professional musicians, living in San Francisco, and were
+visiting their relatives, the King family, and they received an
+invitation with the King family to the party.
+
+Among those who were sitting on the porch were Mr. and Mrs. Bates. They
+had always been very friendly with the Hernes and lived only about two
+miles distant from them.
+
+A little later in the evening the croquet players and those who had been
+strolling about the grounds were coming towards the house, just as Mr.
+Bates was relating to Mr. and Mrs. Herne what to him had been a very
+trying experience. Mr. Bates always called Mr. Herne Charles. He said:
+
+"Charles, I don't know that I would have been here to-night if it had
+not been for my wife."
+
+"Why, how is that?" said Mr. Herne.
+
+Mr. Bates replied: "Well, I will tell you. This morning, Weeks' boy was
+playing with my boy in the barn. There were a number of sacks of barley
+and wheat on the floor. The boys got to scuffling, one boy trying to
+throw the other down. At last my boy got Weeks' boy down and gave him a
+blow and ran out of the barn with Weeks' boy after him. They both ran
+out into the orchard and then over the fence to Page's barn. Now, when
+Weeks' boy ran after my lad he left the barn door open. There was no one
+about the barn at the time the boys left. My man and I were at the
+further end of the ranch fixing the line fence. When we came up at noon
+we found the barn door open and that fine four-year-old colt of mine and
+a lot of hogs were all in the barn eating grain. They had torn every
+sack open and had eaten more than half of it. The colt had eaten so much
+as to make him bloat. When I saw it all I felt so mad I had to use some
+hot words. When I went to the house I told my wife about it. At first
+she seemed put out, but when she saw how wrathy I was she tried to cool
+me down. I asked where the boy was, and she said, 'Weeks' boy was here
+and asked for our boy to go to his place to play and have dinner. They
+said they were going to get Page's boy to play with them.' I felt so
+worried about the colt and so mad at the boys I could not eat my dinner.
+I told my wife I did not feel like coming here to-night, and when I said
+that I saw I had made matters worse, so I went out to the barn and
+worked over the colt some more. When the boy came home I had him tell me
+all about it. I told him if he or any boy with him ever left the barn
+door open again he would not want to sit down for a week."
+
+Just here Mrs. Bates said to Mrs. Herne: "Henry does take such things so
+hard. It seems as if he can never get over it."
+
+Mr. Bates spoke up a little louder and said: "Such thoughtless, careless
+doings as that are enough to make any one lose his temper. Why, I came
+very near losing the colt, besides the damage the hogs did to the
+grain."
+
+Mrs. Herne said: "Mr. Bates, I must tell you what an experience Stella
+had yesterday, and see if you don't think she had something to disturb
+her."
+
+Mr. Bates said: "Would like to hear it; misery always loves company."
+
+So Mrs. Herne commenced telling about the bottle of ink falling into
+Stella's lap. Just as she commenced to relate the incident Penloe came
+on the porch with Mrs. French, and they took a seat near Mrs. Herne.
+About two minutes later Prof. French and Stella joined the group, and
+before Mrs. Herne had got to that part of the story where she asks
+Stella, "What is the matter?" and Stella laughed and said: "I got some
+new figures on my wedding dress, don't you think they are pretty?" about
+all the guests were now grouped about Mrs. Herne. They were either
+sitting on the wide porch or standing near by. When Mrs. Herne had
+finished, Mr. Bates said in a comical kind of way: "If that had been my
+wedding dress, I would have felt so mad that I would feel like throwing
+the youngster out of the window and swearing a blue streak."
+
+Turning to Stella, he said: "I have got no such control over myself as
+you have. I wish I had."
+
+Mrs. French said: "Stella, how could you take it so cheerfully? Why, if
+that had been my wedding dress, I would have felt too mad to speak; in
+fact, I don't know just what I would do."
+
+Pretty Miss Grace Nettleton, a young lady full of fun and always the
+life of any party, laughingly said: "As I intend to be an old maid, no
+bottle of ink will ever fall on my wedding dress, but if such a thing
+should happen I would feel like going to bed and having a good cry."
+
+Several other ladies remarked: "I don't see how Stella could have been
+so peaceful and pleasant. I know I never could."
+
+Miss Baker, the school teacher, who had many trying pupils, remarked to
+Mrs. French: "I wish I could control myself like Stella; how easy I
+could govern the scholars."
+
+Penloe said: "Did any of you ever hear the story of Shuka?"
+
+Several answered: "No."
+
+Mrs. French said: "Do tell it, Penloe."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Herne, "we all would like to hear it." The company
+became very attentive while Penloe related the following story with
+telling effect:
+
+"There was a great sage called Vyasa.[3] This Vyasa was the writer of
+the Vedanta philosophy, a holy man. His father had tried to become a
+very perfect man and failed; his grandfather tried and failed; his
+great-grandfather tried and failed; he himself did not succeed
+perfectly, but his son Shuka was born perfect. He taught this son, and
+after teaching him himself, he sent him to the court of King Janaka. He
+was a great king and was called Videha. Videha means 'outside the
+body.' Although a king, he had entirely forgotten that he had a body; he
+was a spirit all the time. The boy was sent to be taught by him. The
+king knew that Vyasa's son was coming to him to learn, so he made
+certain arrangements beforehand, and when the boy presented himself at
+the gates of the palace, the guards took no notice of him whatsoever.
+They only gave him a place to sit, and he sat there for three days and
+nights, nobody speaking to him, nobody asking who he was or whence he
+was. He was the son of this great sage, his father was honored by the
+whole country, and he himself was a most respectable person; yet the low
+vulgar guards of the palace would take no notice of him.
+
+[Footnote 3: Karma Yoga, Vivekananda.]
+
+"After that, suddenly, the ministers of the king and all the high
+officials came there and received him with the greatest honors. They
+took him in and showed him into splendid rooms, gave him the most
+fragrant baths and wonderful dresses, and for eight days they kept him
+there in all kinds of luxury. That face did not change; he was the same
+in the midst of this luxury as at the door. Then he was brought before
+the king. The king was on his throne, music was playing, and dancing and
+other amusements going on. The king gave him a cup of milk, full to the
+brim, and asked him to go round the hall seven times without spilling a
+drop. The boy took the cup and proceeded in the midst of this music and
+the beautiful faces. Seven times he went round, and not a drop was
+spilled. The boy's mind could not be attracted by anything in the world
+unless he allowed it. And when he brought the cup to the king, the king
+said to him: 'What your father has taught you and what you have learned
+yourself, I only repeat; you have known the truth. Go home.'"
+
+When Penloe had finished Mrs. Herne said: "Thank you, Penloe, that is
+very good, for it brings out the idea so well."
+
+Mrs. French said: "Is not that very fine, Penloe? I never heard that
+thought expressed before. It is new to me."
+
+Dr. Finch, who was a well educated young dentist, said: "That thought,
+though old to the people of the Orient, is just beginning to come to the
+front in the literature of the West. I was very much gratified in
+listening to Penloe."
+
+Saunders, the merchant, laughed and said: "If it had been me sitting at
+the gate, instead of Shuka, I would have got mad in ten minutes and gone
+home, if the guards had treated me in that manner."
+
+It began to get a little cool on the porch and the company were invited
+into the large double parlors to play some games. After enjoying a
+variety of games for an hour, it was proposed to have some music. The
+Hernes had a fine-toned piano, and it was always kept in tune. Several
+young gentlemen asked Miss Grace Nettleton for a song, and all the other
+members of the company joined in the request. Miss Nettleton said she
+would like some one to play the accompaniment, and Prof. French said: "I
+will play for you."
+
+As Miss Grace Nettleton was a young lady of romantic turn of mind and
+very fond of reading love stories and singing love songs, she selected
+one to sing according to her taste, from which we give the following
+verse:
+
+   "Sitting on the garden gate,
+      Where the little butterfly reposes,
+    Now I hate to tell, but then I must,
+      'Twas love among the roses."
+
+Some of the young people being delighted with that sentimental song,
+called for another, for they could not think of her taking her seat
+after singing only one; so she very kindly sang another. In a very soft,
+sweet voice, she sang a song containing the following verse:
+
+   "I love to think of thee, when evening closes,
+      Over landscapes bright and fair,
+    I love to think of thee when earth reposes,
+      To calm a grief which none can share.
+    When every eyelid hovers
+      When every heart but mine is free,
+      'Tis then, O then, I love to think of thee."
+
+If the true feeling of one or two young gentlemen present could be told,
+they certainly would like to have had Miss Grace Nettleton think of them
+in that way. After receiving many compliments from the company, the
+young lady took her seat. Mrs. French, who was a professional musician
+like her husband, was called for and sang with fine effect, "I am
+dreaming, yes I am dreaming, the happy hours away," etc, etc. Her fine
+cultivated voice was much appreciated by the company and they were eager
+to have Mrs. French sing again, but she wished to save her voice, and
+got her husband to sing "Beautiful Isle of the Sea." His fine baritone
+voice was a great treat to the guests, for it was seldom such talent as
+that of himself and wife was heard in the parlors of Orangeville.
+
+Stella was called for and Professor French played the accompaniment,
+while she in a very sweet and feeling voice sang, "Hark! I Hear an Angel
+Sing." As her graceful form stood beside the instrument with her face
+and eyes turned a little upwards, she seemed to be lost to everything
+mundane, and when she sang those soul-melting words that she heard the
+angel sing, the effect was complete, for it seemed to those present as
+if it was the voice of an angel singing those words and not that of a
+human being.
+
+The attention was so great that when she finished you could have heard a
+pin drop. The effect was very fine. There were some there who will never
+forget that song. Professor French and his wife were very much taken
+with Stella's singing; both of them pressed her hand and thanked her for
+her sweet song. They afterwards said, in all their musical career they
+never heard anything to equal it of its kind. The song was entirely new
+to every one present.
+
+Mrs. French, who was half in doubt in her own mind as to whether Penloe
+had any musical talent or not, said: "Perhaps Penloe will favor us with
+some music."
+
+Prof. French said: "Yes, Penloe, I would like to hear you very much."
+Mrs. Herne laughed and said: "It seems strange to think that, though
+Penloe has made many visits to our house, I never thought to ask him if
+he could play, for we always have so much interesting conversation that
+I never think about music."
+
+Stella laughed and said: "Why, Clara, I don't know myself whether Penloe
+can play the piano, for he is so modest about his attainments. We have
+sung together many times, but I am like you, I never thought to ask him
+if he could play." Turning to Penloe, she said: "Now, Penloe, I do want
+to hear you play so much"; and when he rose to take his seat at the
+instrument curiosity reached its height in the minds of Mr. and Mrs.
+Herne as well as Stella, so eager were they to see his personality
+manifested in music.
+
+The eyes of each member of the company were now riveted on that
+remarkable figure who had just begun to finger a few keys with one hand.
+He did not do as some would-be performers sometimes do, strike eight to
+ten keys as soon as they touch the piano, but, strange to say, he
+commenced playing with one hand.
+
+We will here give the words concerning Penloe's performance as told to a
+friend in San Francisco by Mrs. French in her own unique way, as
+follows:
+
+"My husband and I being at a party one evening given by Mr. and Mrs.
+Herne in Orangeville, I met a gentleman there by the name of Penloe, who
+certainly is the most gifted man I ever have met in all my travels.
+There is a power in his personality that is irresistible; you cannot
+help being drawn towards him. But his power is of that kind that is
+uplifting and elevating, and there is something very sweet in his
+nature. After supper I took a little walk with him about the grounds,
+and his conversation was exceedingly interesting. I will never forget
+the talk I had with him. He seemed to be able to bring out of me ideas
+which I had never expressed before; in fact, making me talk, as it were,
+above myself. In thinking it over, I must say my own conversation was a
+surprise to me; and as for him, while he does not take you all of a
+sudden into great depths of thought, or attach wings to you and have you
+flying through the heavens, yet he has the genius of taking the most
+commonplace subjects and causing you to see such an interest and beauty
+in them as you never saw before. After we all assembled in the large
+double parlors and had some games, there were several who favored the
+company with instrumental and vocal music, when I thought it would be no
+more than proper to ask Penloe to play. After he had been seated at the
+piano a few minutes, I was a little in doubt whether I had not made a
+mistake in asking him, for he commenced playing with one hand and only
+touching one key at a time, more like a child playing. He still went on
+playing with one hand, but touching two and three keys at a time. I
+noticed some ladies and gentlemen began looking at each other and then
+at Penloe, hardly knowing what to make of such playing. As he proceeded
+further in his performance with one hand, though the playing was simple,
+yet there was a peculiarity about it that can hardly be expressed as he
+went along with his apparently amateur performance. Then he used his
+other hand and fingered a few more keys occasionally, and I felt an
+interest growing in me, and also those around me seemed to share the
+same feeling. A little later and the fingers of both hands were going a
+little more rapidly over the key-board, and the childish and amateur
+performer had ceased and the playing began to impress me as being that
+of a young professional. I began to feel myself more drawn into the
+playing, and when the playing of a young professional had given place to
+the experienced professional, I was all attention; but it was not long
+before the professional had disappeared and I knew that the music I was
+listening to now was that of a genius. I was conscious a great master
+was at the instrument, and after that I seemed not to be conscious of
+the performer or those about me, and how long I was in that condition I
+do not know. When I came to myself again, the music had ceased, there
+was no performer there, for Penloe had left the room.
+
+"In talking with some others of the party about Penloe's playing, it
+seemed to have produced exactly the same effect on them as it did on me.
+I will, in a very inadequate way, tell you as near as I can the
+impression it made upon me. I felt, when he first commenced to play in
+his child-like way, as if all our minds were very much scattered; that
+is, I mean as if a great separateness and distinction existed, and as he
+proceeded with his playing it seemed to have the effect of collecting
+our minds and bringing them together till we all seemed to be just one
+mind. Then there arose in this one mind a desire, and the desire grew
+till it created a disturbance, and it kept increasing and growing more
+powerful till it burst into a storm of passion, and the storm became
+furious within; for it seemed at times as if it would rend and tear me
+to pieces, and I was about to be conquered by it. I felt like saying,
+'Must I yield? Is yielding the only way out of this? Must I give way and
+let it have full sway over me?' I said, 'Must I let it die out by
+consuming its own self?' And as I was about to cry out in despair,
+'There is no other way; I will feed the fire till there is nothing left
+for it to burn;' and just as I was on the brink, on the edge of the
+precipice, as it were, the fury of the storm being at its very height,
+then all of a sudden I saw a light and the storm began to lose some of
+its fury, and the clouds appeared not so black, and the light seemed
+growing brighter. At last the storm ceased within me, and the dark
+clouds were disappearing fast, till the last one had gone and a wave of
+sunshine swept over my soul, and I felt like saying, 'How peaceful it is
+after the storm,' and while I was enjoying that sweet feeling of peace a
+change came over me, I began to be lifted, as it were out of my little
+self, and myself and the world seemed to be larger than I had ever
+imagined. I began, as it were, to rise, and great as the world had
+grown I had grown greater still. Then I entered a much larger world than
+even the great one I had lived in, and when I had outgrown that grand
+world, I went into another still more beautiful, and on I went rising
+out of one beautiful world into another far superior till I reached a
+condition that human language cannot convey the blissful state of the
+soul in me. Oh, the happiness I then realized. I shall never forget. My
+husband, in speaking of the piece Penloe played, said: 'That music was
+never composed on earth, it was born in heaven,' Mr. Herne heard my
+husband make that remark, and said, 'In order to play that kind of
+music, you have got to live in the same world as Penloe does. That is
+how it has its birth.'"
+
+It is true, as Mrs. French told her friend, that after the music had
+lost some of its power over her she realized that Penloe had left the
+room. The piano being near the door, which was open, and no one sitting
+between the door and the piano, when Penloe ceased playing he quietly
+left the room and sat in a chair on the porch. About five minutes later,
+a soft footstep was heard on the porch and the sound of a light rustle
+of a dress, for Stella had taken a seat beside Penloe. His performance
+at the piano had stirred the dear girl's nature to its greatest depths
+and also had scaled its lofty heights. On that porch, gazing at the
+grand canopy of the heavens, those two souls listened to such strains of
+music as only the purified hear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A VISIT FROM BARKER AND BROOKES.
+
+
+About ten o'clock the next morning after the party, Mr. Herne was in the
+front yard, superintending some work, when he saw a buggy coming towards
+his house and he recognized the occupants as being Mr. Herbert Barker
+and Mr. Stanley Brookes, of Roseland. When the team stopped in front of
+the house. Mr. Herne was there to receive the two gentlemen.
+
+After shaking hands and exchanging a few pleasant words, Mr. Barker
+asked: "Are Penloe and Stella here?"
+
+Mr. Herne said: "Yes, they are, come in, gentlemen," and gave them seats
+in the parlor, saying, "You had better stay to dinner, and I will have a
+man take care of your team," an invitation which they gladly accepted.
+Mr. Herne entered the sitting-room to tell Penloe and Stella that Barker
+and Brookes were in the parlor waiting to see them. Since those two
+gentlemen had become Stella's co-workers for sex reform consequently
+they had seen much of each other, and had come to a mutual understanding
+that they would lay aside all formalities and act as brother and sister;
+therefore, instead of addressing each other as Mr. or Mrs., they called
+each other by their given names.
+
+When Penloe and Stella entered the parlor, the two gentlemen rose from
+their seats and came forward to tender their congratulations to the
+newly married couple. After a lively social chat, Stanley Brookes made
+known the object of their morning call in the following words. Looking
+at Stella, he said: "Since you were with us last in Roseland, we have
+been receiving information through various channels concerning certain
+persons, in a number of towns and cities, who may be considered
+advanced enough to profit by our literature. In most cases the persons
+receiving it have written for more, to circulate among their friends.
+Since sending a second lot, we have been in receipt of a number of
+letters, like the following, and here Brookes took one from a large
+package of letters, and read it to Penloe and Stella. It was as follows:
+
+                                        "LOS ANGELES, Cal.
+    "_Stanley Brookes, Esq.,_
+               "_Roseland, Cal.:_
+
+     "DEAR SIR: The literature which you kindly sent me I
+      placed where I knew it would do the most good. It gives
+      me pleasure to inform you that the California idea is
+      gaining ground here, and interest is growing faster
+      than I anticipated. I was not aware there were so many
+      ready for the sex reform thought; but in talking with
+      some of the more advanced, they said that they had done
+      a little thinking along this line for some time, but
+      their ideas were only half formed, and this reading
+      matter was just what they needed to let the light into
+      their minds. They are all now anxious to have a
+      meeting, and want to know if you could get Penloe and
+      Stella to come here and speak. They think the largest
+      hall in this city would not hold the crowd that would
+      want to hear and see those two
+      much-talked-of-and-written-about persons. I will see
+      that all their expenses are paid, if you will see to
+      getting them here. I know if they come it will give the
+      movement a big lift. Write as soon as you know if they
+      are coming.
+
+                   "Yours for Reform,
+                                       "HAROLD CHAMBERS."
+
+At the conclusion of reading the letter Brookes said: "It seems that
+some of our literature got into the State of Colorado. The papers in
+that State called it the 'California Idea,' and as the 'C.I.' began to
+grow they called it the 'California Movement.' Some of the papers in
+this State have used the same expression, and the people in California
+seem to be pleased with the names given the new sex thought."
+
+Stella laughed, and said: "Well, Stanley, I rather like the names C.I.
+and C.M. Don't you, Penloe?"
+
+Penloe said: "Yes, the term or name 'Sex Reform Thought' I think very
+ambiguous, but C.I. and C.M. are names which convey to the mind the
+ideas they are intended to express."
+
+Brookes said: Stella, I will read you another letter I received from a
+friend of mine in Bakersfield:
+
+                                      "BAKERSFIELD, Cal.
+    "_Stanley Brookes, Esq.,_
+              "_Roseland, Cal.:_
+
+     "DEAR FRIEND BROOKES: Yes, it is just as you say,
+      Bakersfield may be a very fast town, but there are some
+      people here who are ripe for the 'C. Movement.' My
+      experience and what I see here about me every day have
+      made me so sick of the old ideas concerning sex that it
+      does me good to see the interest people are taking in
+      the literature you sent me. One woman told me that the
+      pamphlet I gave her had been read by nine persons. Say,
+      old boy, don't you think you could get Penloe and
+      Stella to come here and wake us up a little more. My,
+      they would be a drawing-card! I will see that they are
+      not out anything by coming. Now, do your level best to
+      get them here, for they would start the ball a-rolling
+      in fine shape.
+
+                    "Yours for the 'C.I.,'
+                                        "ARTHUR PAINE."
+
+Holding up the package of letters, Brookes said: "Here are letters from
+Ventura, San Jose, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Oakland,
+Sacramento, and a number of other places, all asking the same question,
+'Could I get you both to come to their places to speak.' They all seem
+so anxious to see and hear the leaders of the great C.M., and that is
+why Herbert and I are here this morning to see if you both will accept
+these pressing invitations to speak in a cause which is so dear to you."
+
+Stella said: "I appreciate your kind thoughtfulness in coming out here
+to see us, and thus give us an opportunity of talking the matter over
+together." Then she was silent, and Barker and Brookes both said
+afterwards they never saw Stella look so serious and sober since they
+knew her as she looked then. It seemed as if a struggle was going on
+within her. After a few minutes' silence, there seemed to be a feeling
+in Stella's voice as she spoke. Looking straight at the two young men
+before her, she said: "To you I can speak in confidence. My aunt (Mrs.
+Marston) has known for a year or two that I had a great desire to travel
+and see the world. Since I first met Penloe that desire has grown much
+stronger. On my wedding day, aunt gave me a bank book with ten thousand
+dollars placed to my credit, saying it was to be used for the purpose of
+enjoying our honeymoon on a long journey around the world. I can hardly
+tell you how delighted I was when I thought what had been only a dream
+to me was about to be realized. Next week we were going to Roseland to
+visit aunt, then we were going abroad. Yes, Penloe and I have had such
+delightful talks about the countries we were going to visit. We talked
+much about some of the places and people in India we expected to see.
+Penloe has told me about the Sannyasins and the great Yogis of India,
+saying he could arrange matters so that we could live with some of them
+for a while. The thought of seeing and talking with those wonderful
+spiritual giants has kept me awake at night, my mind filled with joyous
+thoughts. He said, 'The great Yogi Kattakhan has conquered all nature,
+and at any time he could put himself in a mental condition so that he
+could give the contents of any book in any part of the world.'
+
+"I remember the last time I was with you in Roseland, both of you were
+telling me you had read Burnette's book on 'The Freedom of the Women of
+Tiestan,' also Wharburton's 'The Land of Surprises.' Well, we had
+decided to visit the city of Semhee, in Tiestan, and see those
+remarkable people. Till now I had not thought of there being anything to
+prevent our going."
+
+Barker said: "Well, Stella, all we had heard was that you were married,
+and we did not know anything about your contemplated tour."
+
+Stella said: "It was quite right for you to come and see us, and I am
+very glad you have. Of course, we intended calling on you both before we
+left for the Orient. Now, what I have told you is that you may see and
+know exactly how we are situated in regard to accepting the invitation
+to speak in the various places. The C.M. is dear to me, yes, very dear.
+I rejoice in the progress the movement is making through the efforts of
+you both, and before giving you an answer I must go and think it over,
+so you will please excuse me."
+
+As her graceful figure was leaving the room, she said: "Penloe, come to
+our room about fifteen minutes before dinner. Clara told me that they
+were going to have dinner at one o'clock to-day."
+
+After Stella had left the room, Penloe chatted with the young men about
+the C.M., and then said: "Would you like to take a walk about the
+place?" and they both said, "Yes, this is our first visit to Treelawn."
+
+This was the first time Barker and Brookes had met Penloe. They had
+heard him deliver his address in Roseland, and were now pleased to have
+the opportunity of enjoying his company. Penloe was about their age, and
+the three became interested in relating some of their college
+experiences. Barker and Brookes were eager to have Penloe tell them all
+about the Hindu students, and what kind of men the Hindu professors are.
+They had many a laugh while Penloe was relating some experiences which
+seemed very peculiar to them. Penloe's interesting conversation had made
+time pass very rapidly with them, and it was near the dinner hour before
+they were aware of it.
+
+Penloe said: "Please excuse me, I hear Stella calling." Taking out his
+watch he said: "It is about time I was in the room; I did not think it
+was so late."
+
+After Penloe had left them, Barker said to Brookes: "Did you hear Stella
+calling Penloe?"
+
+"No," said Brookes, "did you?"
+
+"No, I never heard her voice," said Barker, "but what did he mean by
+saying she called him?"
+
+"He meant she called him by what they call mental telegraphy," said
+Brookes.
+
+When Stella left the parlor and went to her room and had taken a seat,
+her mind was filled with many conflicting thoughts and emotions. She
+said to herself: "I was so unprepared for this; it was only last night I
+remarked to Penloe, in about two weeks we would be on the ocean going to
+Japan." "And, why can you not go?" said a powerful voice within her.
+"You surely are not going to disappoint your aunt, are you, by not
+going, after she has shown such love towards you as to give you ten
+thousand dollars to travel on?" A little voice spoke within her and
+said: "Are you and Penloe not the leaders of the C.M., and would it be
+right for you to leave just as an interest is being awakened?" The
+powerful voice said: "Stella, this is your wedding tour, and you have
+accepted the money given you to go and you would not be doing yourself
+justice to stay at home now." The little voice said: "Stella, what
+effect do you think your influence would have on Barker and Brookes and
+other young workers, if they see you indifferent to the calls? You have
+always talked as if you would be willing to sacrifice everything for the
+cause which is so dear to you." The strong voice said: "Yes, but if you
+put off going now you will have to return the money to your aunt, and
+when you are ready to go you may not have the money to go with." The
+little voice said: "Stella, can you not give up the pleasure of a
+wedding tour for the sake of helping others out of bondage into freedom,
+thus making their lives happier and brighter?" The powerful voice said:
+"It is only idle curiosity on the part of the people wanting to see you.
+Do not be influenced by them; just think how it will help you in your
+future labors to have visited the Oriental countries and sat at the feet
+of those great Spiritual luminaries of India. If you go now, you have
+got the money and you have got Penloe, who is the most interesting
+traveling companion you could have. He knows many languages and can
+master the Japanese and Chinese in a month or two. If you don't go now,
+but postpone it till you think you can go, then perhaps Penloe might be
+dead and how could you enjoy traveling without him?" That suggestion
+touched Stella very deeply. After awhile the little voice said: "Stella,
+dear, have the people of Japan, of China, of Persia, or of India sent an
+invitation to come and speak to them? Are the great Sannyasins and Yogis
+looking forward to receiving a visit from you? If the people of the
+Orient had given you a special call, it would be right for you to go
+now. They have not called you at all; but the people of California have.
+They want you to follow up the grand noble work you so heroically
+commenced, a work so dear to you that you were willing to make every
+sacrifice in order to be true to yourself and thus free others from
+bondage. Go into the silence, Stella, ask the Blessed Spirit for light
+and knowledge and he will show you which path to choose."
+
+And that is just what Stella did. When she came out of the silence her
+face was radiant and her mind settled and clear.
+
+When Penloe entered the room Stella spoke in a serious tone and said: "I
+have half a mind to be just a wee bit put out with you, because you have
+acted so indifferently in regard to our wedding tour. Why, it does not
+seem to concern you whether we go or stay here." With a half twinkle in
+her eye she said: "I must say, you don't act like most men would who had
+just married a young lady with ten thousand dollars to spend on a
+wedding tour."
+
+Penloe said: "I will answer you, Stella, dear, as if you spoke in
+earnest."
+
+Stella said: "That is just what I want you to do, Penloe."
+
+He said: "Stella, why should I care whether I am here or going on a
+wedding tour through the Orient with you? All I have to do is to realize
+and manifest the Divine. Stella, I have learned this one lesson, _that I
+am not in it_, for it is He that is doing it all. It was He that placed
+me in certain environments in India for my spiritual unfoldment. It was
+He that brought me to Orangeville. It was He that caused you and me to
+come together as co-workers in a cause which is so dear to us. It was He
+that made us man and wife. It was He that caused you to pass through
+this struggle which you have just had with yourself and brought you out
+victorious. It was He that caused you just now to cut the last cord of
+attachment and made you free."
+
+Penloe had been standing while he talked and just here Stella rose from
+her seat and, going up to him, put her arms round his neck and said:
+"Yes, dear, it is He, it is He. He hath done it all and He has given me
+you as my husband and spiritual teacher." She kissed him and said:
+"Bless you, dear."
+
+Continuing, she said: "Do you know that the fight I have just had has
+been the most trying and severe I ever experienced?"
+
+"Yes, dear," said Penloe, "I know all about it, and when a youth I
+thought I was free from all attachment, till I passed through the most
+trying experience in my life, which showed me I was not free from all
+desire and attachment. In coming out of that struggle I cut the last
+cord which bound me to the external, and since then I have been free,
+and illumination followed, and that is why I have received light, and
+knew before I rose the next morning after our wedding we would not go
+now on a wedding tour, but would speak all through the State of
+California. I knew what a struggle you were going to have, and I knew it
+was necessary in order that you might be free from all attachment, for
+the love of traveling through the Orient owned you just a little, and
+now that you have become truly free illumination will be yours." He
+ceased speaking and kissed her.
+
+Stella said: "I must take care and let nothing own me, for I see that as
+soon as I allow myself to be owned I become its slave, and you know,
+dear, that freedom from everything is my goal."
+
+Penloe and Stella entered the dining-room just as Mrs. Herne had seated
+Barker and Brookes at the table. As Stella took her seat the two young
+men thought they had never seen her face so beautiful, with its sweet
+smile and calm expression. Her vivacity brought out the wit and humor of
+the two guests, who were always considered good company at any one's
+table. Penloe said little, because he saw how the two young men were
+enjoying Stella's bright conversation. After dinner the company
+adjourned to the parlor.
+
+Stella seated herself between her two friends, and looking at Barker she
+said: "I must tell you and Stanley that we have given up going on our
+wedding tour through the Oriental countries. We both feel we are wanted
+here and we will stay where our work calls us."
+
+Barker replied saying: "Your decision is grand and we will feel much
+encouraged in having you with us."
+
+Stella said: "We will spend a week with aunt before starting out to
+speak. During our stay in Roseland we will see much of each other and
+have opportunities for perfecting our plans."
+
+Two days later Penloe and Stella became the guests of Mrs. Marston,
+arriving at that lady's house about four in the afternoon, which was an
+hour before Stella's aunt dined. Mrs. Marston was delighted to receive
+her niece and her husband, for she was at her best when she had company.
+After dinner, as it was a little chilly, a fire was lit in the open
+grate and the three sat round to enjoy a social time.
+
+Mrs. Marston said: "Stella, I suppose you and Penloe have all your plans
+made for your wedding tour."
+
+Stella said: "Well, Aunt, we had made many plans and I had built several
+castles which I expected to occupy during our journey, but we received a
+visit from Herbert and Stanley while we were at Charles' and Clara's
+and they brought with them a number of letters containing invitations
+for us to speak on the 'California Idea,' as it is now called, and we
+think it best to give up our wedding tour and do what we can to help
+forward the California movement; and, Aunt, the money which you so very
+kindly gave me to use for a wedding tour, I feel I ought to return to
+you, as we are not going; and so here is a check for the full amount of
+your gift made payable to your order."
+
+Mrs. Marston received the check from Stella and said: "I had hoped you
+would have gone on your tour."
+
+And added in a laughing tone: "You two are the strangest persons I have
+ever met. The idea of giving up ten thousand dollars and losing the
+opportunity of seeing the most interesting countries in the world, for
+the sake of talking to persons who are curious to see how you both look
+because they have read about you in the papers."
+
+"I appreciate your gift just the same, Aunt, as if we had used the
+money," said Stella.
+
+Mrs. Marston said: "Of course, I want you both to do whatever you think
+best." As they continued their conversation the door-bell rang and four
+of Stella's friends called to see her. They were Dr. Lacey's two
+daughters and two young gentlemen. They spent the evening in games and
+music, and when they left it was late. Mrs. Marston, Penloe and Stella
+sat in front of the fire a few minutes before retiring, and just before
+Stella rose from her seat to wish her aunt good-night, Mrs. Marston
+said: "Stella, dear, I thought I would have a little fun with you so I
+accepted the check, but I had no intention of taking the money back. No,
+dear, I want you to keep it and use it as you think best"; and taking
+the check off the mantel with a laugh she threw it into the fire.
+
+Stella rose from her seat to wish her aunt good-night, and thanked her
+again for her handsome gift.
+
+Mrs. Marston's guests spent a very pleasant time in Roseland. As they
+were very popular, they received many invitations to dinner. They saw
+Barker and Brookes every day and had chats about the C.M. After several
+consultations in regard to making arrangements for the work, they at
+last reached the conclusion that it would be best for Penloe and Stella
+to go to Southern California and commence their labors there. At
+Penloe's request the two young men agreed to accompany them, as Penloe
+said there was a kind of work to be done that they were adapted for and
+their services would be really needed. And as Charles and Clara Herne
+wished to be actively engaged in the C.M., it was decided to transfer
+the head office from Roseland to Orangeville, where the Hernes would see
+to the sending out of literature and do all the correspondence, and so
+that would relieve Barker and Brookes, and they could travel with Penloe
+and Stella, and Mr. Herne could do their work and see to his ranch.
+Barker said: "Brookes and I will pay all our own expenses connected with
+the work," and Penloe said: "For the present we will do likewise, as we
+do not wish to accept money from any one for our services; for by so
+doing our influence will be much greater."
+
+Brookes said: "Why, Penloe, the people who have invited you and Stella
+to speak have expressed a wish to pay all expenses and remunerate you
+both for your services as well. When I think how hard you worked to get
+what few dollars you may have saved from your earnings, I hardly think
+you are called upon to use your hard earnings when there are so many
+more financially able to pay your expenses."
+
+"I thank you, Stanley," said Penloe, "for your interest in my financial
+welfare, but I see you are under the same impression that many others
+are, in thinking that I worked out for the money there was in it. If it
+had been money I wanted, I could have accepted a very fine offer from a
+university to fill the Chair of Oriental Languages; but instead of being
+Professor of Sanskrit and drawing a fine salary, I took the position as
+dishwasher in a restaurant in San Francisco for awhile. Then I worked
+with pick and shovel on the Pacific Coast Road. Next I worked on the
+streets in the City of Chicago. I returned to Orangeville and took a
+position as cowboy on a great cattle ranch near Orangeville. Then I
+worked out as a ranch hand. I did all this hard, disagreeable work for
+my spiritual unfoldment. I did it to bring myself in touch with the hard
+lot of the masses. I did it also to show that if a man is upright in his
+purpose he can live the Divine life anywhere. Again, I did it that I
+might minister to the needs and necessities of that class of men who see
+and hear so little in their lives to touch their Divine nature. That was
+excellent for me; it helped to broaden and fit me for other work."
+
+Brookes said: "It must have been exceedingly disagreeable to a man of
+your tastes, culture and refinement, to perform such hard muscular work
+in such rough surroundings, among coarse animal men."
+
+Penloe said: "It would have been all that you have just expressed had it
+not been for the fact that neither my work, my rough, tough companions,
+nor my disagreeable environments were my world. No, they were not my
+world. I built a wall around me and allowed none of these things to
+enter my inner thought. My life was one of bliss, for I was all the time
+drinking deep at the fountain of Divine love, and by His help I trained
+and disciplined myself so that I saw Him in my hard manual toil. I saw
+Him in all my uninviting environments, and, above all, I saw Him in my
+animal companions."
+
+Barker and Brookes saw such a glow of spiritual fire in Penloe's face as
+he finished his last remark as they had never seen there before. They
+realized they were in the presence of a divine man, and their natures
+had been touched by his discourse.
+
+After a pause Penloe said: "My father left me property which brings me
+an income sufficient to make me independent of receiving financial
+support from those we intend to address."
+
+After further talk in regard to perfecting arrangements, it was decided
+that Barker and Brookes should go to Los Angeles and arrange for Penloe
+and Stella to speak on Thursday evening of the following week. The
+committee of arrangements in Los Angeles saw the need of securing the
+largest hall in the city, for the city dailies had taken up the matter
+of their coming and dwelt upon it, so that interest in the subject
+combined with curiosity to see and hear two such remarkable personages
+caused the committee to do their best to provide accommodations for the
+large crowd they expected. Before the time for opening the meeting every
+seat in the large hall had been taken and standing room was all that was
+left, and that even was taken by the time the meeting was opened.
+
+The Mayor of Los Angeles opened the meeting in the following language:
+
+"It gives me great pleasure this evening to see before me this large and
+intelligent audience. I am proud to think that this audience before me
+to-night has demonstrated the wisdom and good sense of the leaders of
+the C.I. in selecting this city, above all others in this State, to open
+the campaign for the C.M. In order that you may feel better acquainted
+with the persons who will address you to-night, I will let you into a
+little secret which came to me in a very indirect way. It seems that the
+gentleman and lady who are on the platform were about to start on their
+wedding tour through the Oriental countries, and they had received the
+gift of a handsome sum of money to defray their traveling expenses; but
+when Los Angeles and other places sent pressing invitations to them to
+speak they gave up their wedding tour and returned the money to the
+giver in order that they might be able to accept the call which you and
+other cities have given them. I must say, in justice to the giver, it
+was subsequently returned. They are here at their own expense, they
+receive no remuneration whatever. I tell you this so you may appreciate
+their nobility and fidelity of character, their honesty of purpose in so
+grand a cause. Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the honor of
+introducing to you Penloe and Stella, the leaders of the C.I., who will
+address you this evening."
+
+When Penloe and Stella came forward the whole audience rose and saluted
+them.
+
+In regard to the meeting, we will quote a few extracts from one of the
+Los Angeles dailies: "However various the views on the C.I. the audience
+may have which heard Penloe and Stella last night, there can be but one
+thought in regard to the speakers themselves, and that is they are the
+two most remarkable and distinguished personalities that ever appeared
+before a Los Angeles audience. As speakers, they are brilliant, logical
+and impressive, and soon inspire you with their sincerity of purpose and
+with confidence in themselves. It seems there _is tacked on to the C.I.
+'Woman's Suffrage'_, for it is claimed that a woman is still in bondage
+till she stands equal before the law, and has all the rights and
+privileges that a man has.
+
+"Penloe's remarks were addressed more particularly to men, looking at
+the C.I. from the standpoint of a man, while Stella presented the
+woman's view.
+
+"Penloe put these questions to the men of the audience: 'Is there a man
+here to-night who does not think that the average woman is as
+intelligent as the average man? Is there a man here to-night who does
+not think that woman has a divine nature the same as man? I would like
+to see the man rise in this audience who thinks he has a divine nature,
+but does not wish another being who has a divine nature to enjoy the
+same privileges as he himself enjoys?'... Stella portrayed in a telling
+manner the sufferings and misery which have been woman's lot through
+being in bondage to her material form.... We here give a few notes from
+Stella's address:
+
+"A woman who is in bondage to her material form can never rise above the
+idea that she is just a woman and nothing more."
+
+"A woman to be free must have a higher idea of herself than that she is
+only a woman."
+
+"A woman can only advance as her thought concerning herself advances."
+
+"When woman looks upon herself as an intellectual and spiritual being,
+and not as just being a woman only, and her whole thought is to adorn
+her mind and manifest the qualities of her soul, then will man look upon
+her with the same eyes as she looks upon herself."
+
+"It is not man that keeps woman in bondage, but woman keeps herself in
+bondage through the thought she has concerning herself."... "Stella
+said we are not here on a flying visit, we have decided to remain in
+Southern California till two-thirds of its inhabitants are not only
+talking of _but living_ the C.I., and we will stay here till we get a
+vote of two-thirds from all males over twenty-one, and all women over
+eighteen, in favor of woman's suffrage. It does not matter how pressing
+the calls to speak elsewhere may be, we shall not accept them till the
+work is completely done in Southern California."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+OUT OF BONDAGE.
+
+
+The next day after the meeting Barker and Brookes were busy with the
+C.I. Committee of Los Angeles in dividing the work up and organizing, so
+that each ward of the city had its committee, whose business it was to
+do all it could in enlightening the people of the ward in which the
+committee lived.
+
+Penloe and Stella devoted one afternoon and evening to informal talks in
+each ward in the city, those present having the privilege of asking
+questions. After Penloe and Stella had worked in every ward, they went
+with Barker and Brookes to San Diego and spent a week there; then they
+worked all the other towns in Southern California, and then returned to
+Los Angeles. On their return they were more than satisfied with the
+progress of the C.M. What helped the movement very much was the
+character which Penloe and Stella gave it. When some of the more
+conservative element suggested the impropriety or immodesty of the C.I.,
+they were met with the answer: "Look at Penloe and Stella, who live the
+idea every day of their lives. Are there any purer-minded persons than
+they are? Do not the best people of the city open their houses to
+welcome them? Did they not tell how living the life helped them
+intellectually and spiritually?" Those replies quieted all opposition
+and gave courage to those who were a little timid and fearful, also to
+those in doubt whether it was right or not. As the movement was gaining
+ground rapidly, persons began to think how very foolish it was to
+entertain such thoughts as they had been accustomed to concerning the
+sexes. The movement in Southern California showed how the movement would
+work elsewhere in this way. It was one of those movements that needed a
+few intelligent, courageous spirits in a locality to start it, and when
+once it got a going, most of the other members of the community fell in
+line, and when it was about universally adopted in one locality, the
+people living in the next county soon joined the movement. After three
+months' labor in Los Angeles a vote was taken. For Woman's Suffrage,
+eighty-five per cent. voted "Yes," and by a very careful estimate
+seventy-five per cent. had put in practice in one form or another the
+C.I. Soon San Diego followed Los Angeles, then Pasadena and Riverside,
+and soon after all the other towns in Southern California fell in line.
+The result was wired all over the State and nation.
+
+During the progress of the movement in Southern California, Mr. and Mrs.
+Herne were not idle. They put their hands in their pockets freely, and
+paid for much of the printed matter they circulated.
+
+Now that Southern California had gone overwhelmingly for the C.I. Penloe
+and Stella, Barker and Brookes, felt at liberty to accept some of the
+many urgent calls from other parts of the State. They were continually
+receiving calls from other States, but would accept none till the same
+condition prevailed throughout the whole State as now existed in
+Southern California and the State Legislature had granted to woman the
+same legal standing in the eyes of the law that man had.
+
+The next places visited by the workers were Bakersfield, Hanford,
+Tulare, Visalia, Fresno, Oakland, and San Francisco. In all these places
+they found the work in a more or less advanced state. The fact that
+Southern California had gone for the C.I. was a great help in forwarding
+the movement in other places, so that after about eight months' work in
+these cities just named, and some other places, it was found that the
+entire State had been carried for the C.M. and Woman's Suffrage, except
+one county. The Legislature was about to meet in a month's time, and
+would give to woman the suffrage, and place her, in other respects, on
+an equality with man in the eyes of the law.
+
+Great work was being done in the last county, so that it joined the rest
+of California for progressive thought, and the whole State was carried
+for the C.I. just as the Legislature passed the necessary acts for
+woman's legal freedom. The news was wired to every State in the Union,
+and California was one scene of rejoicing throughout the entire State.
+It was a great day for California when her men and women threw off the
+yoke of superstition and ignorance and thus cut some of the bonds which
+had held them in ignorance. They had taken one great stride toward the
+goal of freedom. California now took her true place among the States in
+the Union, for she led the way toward freedom in its highest sense.
+
+The leaders of advanced thought in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho
+were very active in working for the C.I. All these States having granted
+woman the suffrage before the C.M. was started, the workers found it
+easy to get them to follow California in the grand procession for
+freedom.
+
+Wyoming, which was the first to grant the suffrage to woman, was the
+next to join California; then came Colorado, then Utah, and then Idaho
+wheeled into line.
+
+Penloe and Stella were receiving calls to labor from other States, and
+finally decided to go to Illinois. Kansas wired the following message to
+the Central Committee of California: "Kansas is all ablaze with the C.M.
+from its center to its circumference, and its fires have leaped the
+borders into Nebraska, Iowa, and reached Minnesota."
+
+After the C.I. had been practised in Southern California a few months,
+if a young gentleman had just returned to the East from Los Angeles, his
+friends wanted to know immediately how the C.I. worked.
+
+Mr. Franklin Hart, of New York, a young gentleman who had just returned
+from Los Angeles, was sitting in a parlor with some young friends, and
+they all wanted him to relate his impressions of the C.I. in Los
+Angeles. When he was describing its workings, two or three young ladies
+put their hands to their faces and laughed, one saying, "How strange and
+funny it must have seemed." Another young lady remarked, "There has been
+too much foolishness about such things." Mr. Franklin Hart said: "After
+you have been there about a week the old idea seems stranger than the
+new. You wonder to yourself however such thoughts could have fastened
+themselves on us for generations and generations."
+
+Prof. Dawson, of Boston, visited Los Angeles two years after the C.I.
+had been in operation, and wrote a letter to the leading Boston daily,
+as follows:
+
+     "DEAR SIR: Being naturally of a conservative turn of
+      mind, I came to Los Angeles with ideas unfavorable to
+      the C.M. I had not taken the least stock in what the
+      papers said or the people of California wrote in regard
+      to the practical workings of the C.I. I expected the
+      defenses of morality and modesty had been swept away by
+      such ideas, and that the communities of Southern
+      California had sunk into licentiousness. I had spent
+      two years in California about eight years ago, and I
+      considered at that time that the morals of the people
+      were not of a high order. So I expected to find society
+      in a still worse moral condition now. I have been here
+      six months, and, in justice to truth, I must state the
+      facts even if they show that my previous opinions were
+      incorrect. To those who study the people closely in
+      regard to sex matters, I can say truthfully that sexual
+      excitement has fallen fifty per cent., and that obscene
+      pictures and stories have no attraction for the people.
+      The low places of amusement, that used to be run under
+      the name of 'Variety Theaters,' and other such names,
+      are closed up, for the reason, as a former proprietor
+      of one of these resorts expressed it, 'A leg and bosom
+      show has no attraction for the people since the C.I.
+      has been in operation.' Houses of prostitution are
+      less in number by forty per cent., so the chief of
+      police informed me, and I saw a large number of them
+      closed. The low dives are closed, and places where
+      girls made exhibitions of themselves for the sole
+      purpose of exciting passion in man are no more. They
+      died for want of patronage. The forms of each sex are
+      looked at now with eyes which see purity and beauty.
+
+     "I notice, also, the conversation among young people
+      has improved greatly, being of a higher and purer kind.
+      Now I practised the C.I. myself, and came in contact
+      with many of both sexes. After very careful observation
+      in Los Angeles, and other towns in Southern California,
+      I feel I am in a position to know and I can state that
+      I now consider the C.I. is the greatest reform movement
+      that the world has ever seen.
+
+                   "Yours truly,
+                                       "ROBERT DAWSON."
+
+In about a year later the four progressive States known as Kansas,
+Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa, had removed all barriers from woman's
+political freedom and placed her, in the eyes of the law, where
+California had. The C.I. having become the predominant thought, it was
+lived throughout these four States. The C.M. received a great impetus
+when they fell into line with the other advanced States.
+
+Penloe and Stella, with Barker and Brookes and other workers, had worked
+for over a year in Illinois, and now they were concentrating all their
+forces in Chicago, the other part of the State being all right. It was
+in that city that a great battle for reform had to be fought. The
+opposition was strong. It consisted of society ladies and gentlemen, who
+thought woman's position was above politics; that is, to their minds it
+was far higher for a woman to be prettily and daintily dressed, and to
+be a petted slave, than to use her God-given intellect for the benefit
+of herself and the nation in which she lived. The other wing of the
+opposition consisted of those who were making money in the saloon
+business and running low places of amusement. They did not want woman to
+vote in making laws which might be detrimental to their business
+interests. As the opposition became strong in its concerted action to
+overthrow the influence of the reform forces, the two great
+figure-heads, the two grand leaders of the C.M. seemed to acquire
+increased energy and power. Listen to what Barker and Brookes said,
+after having attended a meeting in the great Auditorium of the Lake
+City, when over a thousand had to be turned away for want of room:
+
+"Though I have been so much with Penloe and Stella like yourself, and
+one would naturally think that the influence of their personality had
+become common, yet such is not my experience," said Brookes.
+
+Barker replied: "Is not that strange, where we see them almost every
+day, as we have done for about two years? Instead of their influence
+becoming tame and commonplace, it seems to take a renewed force and
+power with each day, and they appear to carry a newness and freshness
+with them continually. Their efforts to-night were the greatest of their
+lives."
+
+Brookes said: "I saw the power of the Yogi to-night as I never had
+witnessed it, to such a degree, before. Did you notice, Barker, that at
+the close of the meeting, instead of having some prominent person
+speaking against the C.M., there was not one dissenting voice when
+opportunity was given, but the short speeches which were made by
+prominent members of the audience were all in favor of the movement.
+Just think of the number of invitations that poured in upon them to
+deliver the same address in other parts of the city. The battle is won,
+Barker, for no opposition can withstand that power which was manifested
+to-night."
+
+It was as Brookes said, the opposing forces had to yield, for there was
+a seen and an unseen power sent out which swept and overcame all
+opposition, and a month later Illinois was counted in with the
+procession which California was leading. A year later the great States
+of Ohio and Pennsylvania had joined the ranks, followed by the old Bay
+State with its conservative element, and Boston became the scene of
+illumination and rejoicing. The influence of these great States was felt
+in many smaller ones, and they also helped to swell the wave of the C.M.
+by joining the ranks. Quite a large percentage of that element in the
+big cities, who profited by pandering and catering to the depraved
+tastes of human nature, had left the city in which they carried on their
+places of business now that the C.I. was practised, and they had gone to
+the City of New York, thinking the element to which they belonged was
+too powerful in Gotham ever to be driven out by the C.M., and it was in
+this city where the greatest of all battles for reform thought was
+fought.
+
+When Penloe and Stella with Barker and Brookes left Chicago, they went
+to the City of New York, staying in Boston a week on their way. They had
+now been in this city for over a year and had called together picked
+workers from many other States who were in the procession for reform.
+The opposition was the same as that encountered in Chicago, only ten
+times as strong.
+
+When they had been in the city eighteen months, some few of the churches
+had helped forward the work, just as some churches did in other cities.
+Penloe decided that every church and every society of every kind that
+had for its basis of organization love and justice, should receive a
+special invitation to join in this great moral reform movement, and
+special work should be allotted them. Penloe and Stella made a personal
+visit to the leaders of the various sects, denominations and societies,
+and ably presented the case for their consideration, showing that the
+life of their organization depended upon their members being active
+living workers for truth, purity and justice. He put each society on
+record as to where they stood, whether its organization was merely that
+of a social club, or whether it was ready to stand and work for the
+principles it claimed to have for its foundation. Be it said to the
+credit of each society, sect and organization, they all responded
+heartily and co-operated with Penloe and Stella in helping forward the
+grand reform; for they saw it was useless to prate about love, purity,
+justice and freedom, with woman debarred by law from her legal and
+political rights and tolerating a social custom which excited the worst
+passions and bred prurient curiosity. It was a grand and glorious sight,
+such as the world had not witnessed before, to see Catholics,
+Unitarians, Methodists, Universalists, Baptists, Episcopalians,
+Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Theosophists, members of the Jewish
+Synagogue, representatives of the Vedanta, together with the Y.M.C.A.
+and Y.W.C.A., Christian Union, Christian Science and Socialists
+Societies, and all other such societies join in the work. The members of
+these various bodies coming in contact with those two great spiritual
+luminaries, seemed to receive such an influx of the Divine as purified
+their own organizations and made them what they should always be, a
+_great power for good_. With such concentrated efforts by such an army
+of workers, the enemy gave way and New York City became the beacon light
+to travelers from other nations; not as it had been a city of greed and
+lust, but a city where woman stood before the law the same as man, and
+where its citizens were beginning to walk a little more in the line of
+purity and freedom.
+
+Just before the battle was won in the State of New York, the agitation
+which had been going on in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland for over
+two years culminated in a victory for the reform forces. Two years after
+the State of New York was won, the C.M. had carried every State in the
+Union, and also Canada. Australia and New Zealand not wishing to be
+behind in all that stood for advanced thought and freedom, fell in line
+with the other English-speaking countries.
+
+Penloe and Stella did not consider the work finished yet, and they
+called for a congress of representative workers to meet in the
+Auditorium in Chicago at a suitable date, which would give all time to
+be present. Each State and country were to send two delegates, one man
+and one woman. Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales,
+Ireland, Canada, and every State in the Union were all represented at
+the Congress.
+
+When the Congress assembled, it was unanimously agreed that Stella
+should preside.
+
+After the meeting had been opened and some preliminaries had been gone
+through, Penloe said: "In the call for this congress it was stated that
+its purpose was to consider how best to carry on this great work in
+foreign countries, but before doing so I think it would be best to
+change the name of the work. It seems necessary that some names, as well
+as races, should pass through the period of evolution. The reason why I
+will briefly state, as follows: In some countries where it is necessary
+to carry on this work, they are not in bondage, and the name C.I. would
+not convey the meaning of the full scope of our work; for while it is
+true they do not discriminate between the sexes, yet they are in bondage
+in many other different ways, and while the work originally started with
+the idea of freeing men and women from the shackles of sexual bondage
+with the name of 'Sex Reform Movement,' yet afterwards it was called the
+'California Idea,' and the name included Woman's Suffrage, so as to make
+her free before the law, before man, and before the whole world. And as
+it grew its name changed to 'California Movement.' But now that the work
+has grown to such gigantic proportions, having about taken in all the
+English speaking countries, the work has also grown in its scope of
+usefulness and its object now is not only to free the mind from sexual
+bondage, not only to see that woman holds the same place as man in the
+eyes of the law of the land that she lives in, but still more, to FREE
+HUMANITY FROM ALL BONDAGES OF EVERY KIND OR CHARACTER. Therefore, I
+propose that the name to be given to the movement shall be '_Reform
+Forces_,' for under this name and banner all can work."
+
+After a little discussion the name given by Penloe was adopted
+unanimously.
+
+The next business was to hear from some of the delegates in regard to
+plans for carrying on the work in foreign countries. After hearing many
+different plans proposed, and listening to various suggestions from many
+of the delegates, the plan mapped out by Penloe was finally carried
+unanimously.
+
+It was something like this: That each country or State should have its
+special work. Europe was portioned off to England, Wales, Scotland,
+Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. They were to divide the
+work among themselves. New York took Southern India, Pennsylvania took
+Northern India. The northern half of China was allotted to Illinois, the
+southern half, to Ohio. Mexico was given to Texas. The islands of the
+Pacific to California. South America was portioned off to other States.
+Massachusetts was given Japan, Egypt was given to Michigan. Persia to
+Indiana. Every State had a certain work of its own in some foreign
+country separate from that which was done by other States and countries.
+Each State or country was to send just four teachers to the country they
+had taken to enlighten. The teachers must be all round characters, with
+high intellectual attainments, and possessing at the same time rich
+spiritual gifts and free from family ties.
+
+The line of work marked out for the teachers was as follows: First, to
+locate themselves in the largest city in the country to which they are
+sent.
+
+To make themselves thoroughly familiar with the writings and teachings
+of the founders of the predominant religion of the country to which they
+are sent.
+
+To find out all that is known of the leading saints and sages who have
+lived in their lives the prevailing religion of the country in which
+they lived.
+
+To study thoroughly the habits, customs and bondages of the people of
+the country to which they are sent. Then to cultivate the acquaintance
+of the most intellectual and spiritually inclined native men and women
+and get them interested in the work of the Reform Forces. To appeal to
+them, and reach them through the teachings of the founders of their own
+religion, as well as by what has been written and said by their own
+saints and sages. Get the intelligent natives of both sexes to become
+the leaders and teachers to their people. Get the native teachers to
+work to strike at some of the bondages which they think the people are
+ready to free themselves from first, and when the people have thrown off
+one bondage then to work to get them to be free from other bondages.
+
+After the teachers have got a group of intelligent native workers in the
+line of the Reform Forces in one city, they are to go to another city
+and do the same till the whole country has native workers in every part
+working along the line of the Reform Forces.
+
+From Penloe's remarks before the Congress, concerning the religions of
+other nations, we will copy the following extract. "If any one will
+study the teachings of the saints and sages of other religions, he will
+find that the essence of spiritual thought contained in them all is
+about the same as that contained in Christianity. The mistake which has
+been made by missionaries and others lie in thinking that the ritual and
+practices of the masses represent the thoughts of the great spiritual
+luminaries of those religions. The masses of the Oriental countries no
+more represent the real thoughts of the great spiritual teachers of
+those countries than the commercial cannibalism of the West represents
+the teachings of Christ. In fact, the masses of the Oriental countries
+are in ignorance of the real spiritual thought of their own religion, as
+much as the masses of the Western World are of theirs, and the teachers
+who are sent out by the West would help forward the work of the Reform
+Forces by showing the natives that the ideas of the reform forces are
+in the line of thought of their own great saints and sages. There is not
+a delegate present who is not able to show that the work of the Reform
+Forces is in accordance with the teachings of Christianity. I can also
+clearly show to you from the teachings of the Zendavesta, of the Koran,
+of Buddha, of Krishna, of Lord Gauranga, of Seyed, Mohammed Ali, and of
+Rama Krishna, that the spiritual thought of the Reform Forces is in
+accordance with those teachings. Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Gauranga, and
+Rama Krishna, were all the manifestation of God in the flesh. They
+towered head and shoulders above all others in the manifestation of the
+Divine.
+
+"Supposing I was a true follower of Buddha and a person who was a true
+follower of Jesus spoke to me about the grand life and teachings of
+Jesus, what would his opinion of me be if he saw that I was jealous
+because he said nothing about Buddha, or because I thought the more
+beauty and glory he saw in Jesus it lessened and belittled the character
+of Buddha. Would he not be right in thinking I was ignorantly and
+foolishly jealous, and that that feeling ought not to exist in a true
+follower of Buddha? What then when you speak to a follower of Jesus
+about the divine life of Buddha or Krishna, if he should become incensed
+in manner and speech and manifest a feeling of jealousy, acting as it
+were that in seeing the Divine in Buddha or Krishna made you think less
+of Jesus. And yet that is a common experience which one meets with among
+very many of the followers of Jesus. No, for in proportion as you live
+the true Buddha life or Krishna life, so do you live the true Christ
+life, and if I have imbibed the spiritual thought of Jesus, I have also
+imbibed the true spiritual thought of Buddha and Krishna. Thinking that
+the Divine was manifested in Buddha or Krishna, does not lessen the
+exalted conception which one may have of the Divine manifested in Jesus.
+_The Divine is in all_, but is manifested in some persons to a much
+greater degree than in others."
+
+Just before the Congress closed Mr. Rattenbury, one of the delegates
+from California, rose to make a statement. He said: "Since the Congress
+had assembled he and the lady delegate from California had been in the
+receipt of numerous telegrams from persons living in different parts of
+the State they represented, to the effect that California did not wish
+to take the Philippine Islands, but they would take the other islands of
+the Pacific, and also they would send Penloe and Stella to make a tour
+through the Oriental countries to help forward the work of the Reform
+Forces as they saw best. The delegation from California has made
+arrangements with the delegation from New Zealand and Australia, so that
+the latter take the Philippine Islands as their field of labor, as those
+islands are near to them. Therefore the delegation from England and the
+other countries who have taken Europe as their field of work, have
+kindly consented to release Australia and New Zealand from helping them,
+so that they might take the Philippine Islands. It might be well for me
+to state that the delegation from California has waited on Penloe and
+Stella, to ask them if they would go East, and I am pleased to say that
+they have consented."
+
+He added, further: "It is with mingled feelings of pride and pleasure
+that I stand to-day as one of the delegates from California. I am proud
+to represent that grand State, with its past achievements. Her boast
+before has always been of her fertility and marvelous resources, such as
+her rich mines, her large wheat fields, her prolific orchards, bearing
+fruits belonging to many climes, her fine vineyards, with clusters of
+luscious grapes, superior to those of Eschol, her grand floral display,
+her great forests, and her oil wells. But now we can boast that in its
+genial climate, surrounded by its grand scenery and its lofty peaks,
+which lift their heads to heaven, that Stella, the pearl of womanhood,
+should be born. It was under these influences, surrounded by advanced
+liberal thought that she grew up. On the soil that she was born did she
+consecrate herself and all that was dear to her to liberating humanity
+from its many bondages. Starting out with the idea of helping those of
+her own sex to throw off a bondage which has held them in superstition
+and ignorance, and which also has been the cause of untold suffering and
+misery as well as millions of deaths, she labored heroically under
+social persecution and ostracism. But when the purity and nobility of
+her grand character was fully known, those obstacles to her work
+disappeared as snow does before the heat of the sun, for her whole
+nature being of intense love, its heat melted all prejudices before it.
+All of you are familiar with the grand work in her own State. I need not
+touch on her work in other States, for you all know it so well. I am
+glad to state that California which has always been so proud of her
+material resources is now far prouder of the fact that on its soil was
+born '_The Coming Woman_,' '_The Ideal Woman_,' '_The Glory of
+California_,' and that her shores attracted the great Yogi Penloe.
+California having already given Penloe and Stella to the Nation, now
+bestows them to the World. When they travel through many countries
+scattering light and knowledge wherever they go, they will always know
+that wherever they are, even in the furthest corner of the earth, that
+back of them, in all their travels, are the wealth and great hearts of
+the people of the Golden State."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two days before Penloe and Stella left San Francisco for Japan, I was
+seated in the parlor of Treelawn, in front of the large bay window. On
+my right was Penloe and on my left was Stella. The windows were raised
+and a gentle breeze wafted the fragrant odors from the flower beds into
+the room, filling the parlor with perfume. At times the muslin curtains
+puffed out gracefully by the gentle breeze, and the external atmosphere
+was like the internal of my companions' sweetness and harmony. The other
+members of the company were Mr. and Mrs. Wheelwright and Mr. and Mrs.
+Herne. Many reminiscences were gone over. Penloe in a very nice way
+spoke of the influence on owners of ranches, through Mr. Herne's noble
+example of the treatment of his men, and there was a great improvement
+in the treatment that ranchers gave to their hired help, and the ranches
+became more profitable accordingly.
+
+Clara Herne expressed her thoughts and feelings in regard to how
+different the world and herself looked to her now, to what it did when
+she first entered her home as a bride. She added: "The world within me
+has become so beautiful, so bright, and so very large. How lovely life
+has become, what a pleasure it is _to live_."
+
+It did me good to look into the faces of Stella's parents. That grand
+old couple who had lived a life of purity under marriage, and who gave
+to the world, Stella, "The Pride of California."
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+
+I must now part with two very dear friends, two whom I have known so
+well, two whom I have loved with all the warmth of an intense nature,
+two who have been an inspiration to my life.
+
+The consoling thought I have in taking leave of them is, that though
+visibly they are not with me, yet they are always with me in proportion
+as I manifest the same spiritual life which has made them so dear to me.
+May they both be to you, dear reader, what they are to me.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE END]
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
+
+Quotation marks are used inconsistently through the book; these have
+been left as printed.
+
+Inconsistent and unorthodox spelling (Lanair/Lenair, wont/won't,
+Vivekanada/Vivekananda, bethrothed) has been retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A California Girl, by Edward Eldridge
+
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