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diff --git a/29071.txt b/29071.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a4394b --- /dev/null +++ b/29071.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9059 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The Searchlight, by +Mathew Joseph Holt + + +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: Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The Searchlight + + +Author: Mathew Joseph Holt + + + +Release Date: June 8, 2009 [eBook #29071] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHIT-CHAT; NIRVANA; THE +SEARCHLIGHT*** + + +E-text prepared by David Garcia, Barbara Kosker, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page +images generously made available by Kentuckiana Digital Library +(http://kdl.kyvl.org/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 29071-h.htm or 29071-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29071/29071-h/29071-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29071/29071-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Kentuckiana Digital Library. See + http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=b92-222-31182254&view=toc + + + + + +CHIT-CHAT + +NIRVANA + +THE SEARCHLIGHT + +by + +MATT J. HOLT + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Winter of 1918. Mt. Adamello Sled Dogs, Veterans of the +Italian Army.] + + + +Louisville +Westerfield-Bonte Co. Inc. +1920 + +Copyrighted 1920 +by the Author + + + + +INDEX. + + CHAPTER PAGE + + CHIT-CHAT + + I. CHIT-CHAT 1 + + II. CORNWALL MEETS A MOUNTAIN MAID 11 + + III. CORNWALL LOCATES IN HARLAN 18 + + IV. A WEEK IN A MOUNTAIN HOME 27 + + V. THE SAYLORS MOVE TO THE BLUEGRASS 39 + + VI. CORNWALL BUYS A HOME 44 + + VII. MARY AND JOHN PROGRESS 60 + + VIII. DOROTHY AND BRADFORD--ROSAMOND AND CORNWALL 72 + + IX. THE SAYLOR FAMILY 87 + + X. MARY AND JOHN ARE MARRIED 103 + + XI. HOME LIFE 114 + + + _SEEING ITALY AT MRS. O'FLANNAGAN'S EXPENSE_ + + I. SEEING ITALY AT MRS. O'FLANNAGAN'S EXPENSE 127 + + II. "Y" SERVICE 139 + + III. JOHN CORNWALL TRAVELS A BIT AND RETURNS HOME 161 + + IV. TWO CANDIDATES 172 + + + NIRVANA + + NIRVANA 181 + + A CONSCIOUS MUMMY 198 + + DOCTOR BROWN OF DANVILLE 213 + + RICHARD HAWKWOOD 225 + + + THE SEARCHLIGHT + + THE SEARCHLIGHT 269 + + + + +CHIT-CHAT. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +I thought to write a book entitled: "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow." How +much is buried in the wreckage of yesterday--how uninteresting today is +and how little is to be done--our burden we shift to the strong, young +shoulders of tomorrow; tomorrow of the big heart, who in kindness hides +our sorrows and whispers only of hope. I ended by writing,--this--which +I have called "Chit-Chat," thus classifying the book, knowing that such +a book if true to name will picture the age and find a publisher. + +I have read in the Arabian Book of Knowledge that "thoughts are Tartars, +vagabonds; imprison all thou canst not slay," and have seen fit to +follow this suggestion and the advice given a Turkish author-- + + "That none may dub thee tactless dund'rhead, + Confine thy pen to light chit-chat, + And rattle on as might a letter! + For ninety-nine of every hundred + Hate learning and what's more than that, + The hundredth man likes berresh better." + +So I present to you, gentle or gallant reader, as the case may be, and +quite informally, John Cornwall. + +He was born at 702 West Chestnut Street, Louisville, Kentucky, on the +12th day of May, 1872. His mother was a widow; and before the days of H. +C. L, the two lived comfortably on her income of $1,800.00 a year. + +His boyhood was as that of other boys of the city; an era of happiness +and happiness has no history. He was considered a good boy as boys go; +and good boys have few adventures. + +Although John never attended Sunday School except when his mother made +him--as she was a Presbyterian, he wore the honor pin for an unbroken +three-year attendance. + +School to him was such a delight, that in a spirit of emulative +self-denial, he never started from home, a block away, until a minute +before the tardy bell rang. He usually made it. If late, he slipped in, +usually walking backwards, hoping either to escape observation or, if +seen, to be told to retake his seat. + +His vacations were spent on the river where he learned to handle a canoe +and skiff; and before he was fourteen could swim and dive like a +didapper. At that time his greatest ambition was to run the falls in a +canoe; his next to be a steamboat captain. + +He and two other boys built a camp on Six-Mile Island. There they +usually spent the month of August; during the preceding vacation days +working as bank runners or messenger boys to raise the money to finance +the camping party. + +He was entered in the graded school at seven, in high school at fifteen, +at which time he put on long trousers and changed from stockings to +socks. He insisted on discarding his stockings, as the boys had a way of +lifting the bottoms of trousers to see if the one appearing for his +first time in long trousers yet wore his stockings. He graduated from +the high school at nineteen; and after two years at the local law school +and in Judge Marshall's office, was given a position with the Kentucky +Title Company; and for a year had been employed at abstracting in the +Jefferson County Clerk's office. + +One day a prosperous-looking stranger asked where certain records might +be found and he graciously showed their location. The next day the +stranger asked several questions as to local real estate laws, +particularly as to leases, transfers and the rights of married women. He +introduced himself as Mr. Rogers and asked John his name. + +The following day about noon he came into the clerk's office and said; +"Mr. Cornwall, I wish you would lunch with me today." Cornwall, after +telephoning his mother that he would not be home, went with him. + +When they were nearly through eating Mr. Rogers said: + +"This morning I was at the office of Judge Barnett. He is attorney for +our company, The Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Company. I asked him the same +questions I did you and he gave similar answers. I have since made +inquiries and believe our company can use you to look after its local +law business in Bell, Harlan and Leslie counties. In these three +counties we own about fifty thousand acres of coal lands and mineral +leases on approximately two hundred thousand acres more. In addition we +own several old surveys which I do not include in this acreage. + +"We will pay you $1,800.00 a year, equip and furnish you with an office +in our new building in Harlan and will make no objection to you +attending to such local business as may come your way, provided it does +not take you away from Harlan. What we need is a man on the ground. +Think this over and let me know in the morning. I am at the Galt House, +room 247. You had better call instead of telephoning. I shall be +disappointed if you do not accept my offer." + +"I thank you and I will take it up with mother tonight, then call at +your room at 8:30 in the morning. Please excuse me now as I am due at +the office." + + * * * * * + +Mr. Rogers and John Cornwall, several days later, arrived at Pineville +on the early morning train and after lunch left on horseback, taking the +Straight Creek road to Harlan. + +It was not their intention to ride through that afternoon, but stop +overnight at Simeon Saylor's and the following morning look over the +Helton, Saylor and Brock coal properties on the south or main fork of +the creek. + +The road follows the creek and is canopied by sycamore, elm and birch +trees or grape vines and other creepers. It is screened by thickets of +pawpaw, blackberry, sumac or elderberry bushes which grow thick in the +corners of the abutting worm fences. + +It is not a lonely way. Every three or four hundred yards you pass a +small mountain farmhouse overflowing with children, calling to mind the +home of the old woman who lives in the shoe. Many squads of geese, +following their corporal, march across the road towards the creek or +back again to the barnyard. The thickets are alive with red birds and +ground robins and an occasional squirrel, who has come down the mountain +for a drink, rustles the leaves in his flight or at giddy heighth barks +defiance at passing strangers. + +Pine Mountain, without a break or scarce a deep cove, walls in the +narrow valley on the south, while on the north smaller mountains stand +at attention. The stream, with little chance to wander, bisects the +valley in its unvarying course and perforce pursues its way, true to +name. + +They arrive at the foot of Salt Trace just as the lively tinkling of +cowbells, as well as their own appetites, and the setting sun, suggests +supper time; and their chafed buttocks, more used to a swivel chair than +a saddle, pleaded for the comfort of an altered position. + +Simeon Saylor lives several hundred yards up the creek from where the +Salt Trace Trail, the bridle path to Harlan, leaves the main road. His +house is the usual stopping place for travelers. He has imposed the +labor of their entertainment upon his women folks, not so much for +profit as to hear the news and chit-chat of the outside world. + +The house is a structure of three large pens of logs with a dog trot +(hallway) between. Two front the road, the third forms an ell at the +rear and is flanked by a long porch. The whole is covered by a rough +clapboard roof. Each pen has a sandstone chimney and each room a large, +open fireplace. The ell is used as a kitchen, dining-room and storehouse +combined. On the edge of the porch, almost within reach of the well +sweep, a bench holds two tin wash basins; a cake of laundry soap reposes +in the former coffin of a family of sardines and a roller towel, +sterilized and dried by air and sunlight, hangs pendant from the eaves. + +The travelers as they rode up and stiffly dismounted noted the many +chickens going to roost and the three cows occupying the road in front +of the house. The barn was rather an imposing structure. These signs +assured eggs, milk and butter for themselves and feed and comfortable +quarters for their horses. + +After supper they sat out in the moonlight on a crooked, half uprooted +elm overhanging the creek, until the world grew worshipfully still as it +does twenty miles from a railroad; their quiet, contented thoughts +undisturbed by the call of the whippoorwills in the near thickets and +the hooting of a great owl far down the valley. + +Then they were joined by their host, a tall, rawboned, sallow, +sandy-haired man with a long, thin face on which grew a straggly beard, +which had never known shears or razor. He had come out to hear more news +than he had been able to learn at supper, where table manners demanded +that he should eat and get through with it. At the table the men ate +saying little, while the old woman and her daughters served them, and in +silence. + +His youngest boy, Caleb, came with him, an immodest little fellow; made +so by his father, who it seemed spent most of his time boasting of the +boy's accomplishments. + +"Well, rested yet? Thar's a boy what's gwinter make a lawyer. He's just +turned nine and you can't believe nothin' he says. He can argy any thing +out'er his maw and the gals and the boys nigh bout hayr haint got no +show with him; somehow he gits every thing they gits hold on. And you +oughter see him shoot with a squirrel gun! Many a time he's knocked the +bark out from under a squirrel and killed him without raising a hayr. +Last Christmas eve I fotched a jug of moonshine from the Cliff House +Still and hid it in the loft. You know that boy found out whar I hid her +and when I went after hit, hit was nigh gone. He was snoozing away on +the hay. When he come to, his head didn't hurt narry bit. That once I +shore split his pants for him with a hame strop. He's got to leave my +licker alone; that's one thing he can't put over on his paw,--no not +yit. Down the crick at the mines is a dago, a fur-reen-er and his folks +from Bolony. He's got a boy, Luigi Poggi, about fourteen but not as big +as Caleb. That boy spends all his time with Caleb. He had jest gone home +when you rid up. He talks dago to Caleb and Caleb gives him back jest +plain straight Crick talk. If he's larnin as much United States as Caleb +is dago, he'll make circit rider preacher in a few years. Caleb talk +dago to the men." + +Whereupon the boy stepped directly in front of Mr. Rogers and said; +"Buona sera, Rogers avete tabacco meliore di questo?" (Good evening, +Rogers, have you any tobacco better than this?--holding out a plug of +long green.) + +To which Mr. Rogers understanding him, replied: + +"Caro ragazzo, voi mi annoiati oltre mode, buono notte." (My dear boy, +you annoy me considerably, good night.) + +"Ma non debbo ancora." (But I am not going yet.) + +"Well you speak dago too, he's a great boy aint he, jest like his paw." + +"What mought yer bissiness be, Mr. Rogers?" + +"I am secretary of the Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Company." + +"Yaah, that's the new crowd what's come in hayr buying out the old +settlers. I hearn you bought that old Boyd Dickinson survey. Well you +didn't git much. They've been trying for nigh forty year to locate the +beginning corner. The first time Cal Hurst and them surveyor men came +prowlin' round hayr, we got two on them. How's that trial with the Davis +heirs comin' on? Old Milt Yungthank at Pineville has looked ater their +bissiniss fer nigh twenty year. He had Sim and some of the boys up thayr +with Winchesters about two year ago." + +"Young feller, what's yer name?" + +"My name is Cornwall." + +"Ever been up heyr before? I was in yer town onct. I rid down to +Livingston on the old gray mare, then took the train thar, toting my +saddle bags on my arm. When I got off the train at the dee-pot, a nigger +steps up and says ter me: 'Boss, give me yer verlisse.' He didn't get +them saddle bags, you bet. I was too sharp for that. I went to a hotel +somewheres. They stuck a big book under my nose and says, sign hayr. I +done hearn tell of them confidence and lightnin' rod men and I signed +nothin'. They sent me to a room with red carpyt on the floor and velvit +cheers with flowers kinder scotched in them; and the man behind the +counter gave the nigger a lamp and told him to cut off the gas. That +nigger tried to take them saddle bags but I hung on, when he says, all +right boss and left go. That place had a box lifter to it. After a while +I got tired of settin' in that room and thought I would go out and see +the town; so I locked the door and come down erbout forty steps to the +front door. Then that first feller what wanted me ter sign the book +says; Leave the key and saddle bags with me. I says, says I, You can +have the key but no man gits holt of them saddle bags. It's a good thing +I brung them erlong, fer I never did find that place ergin. I went +erbout a quarter, when I met a smart feller and he says ter me; Old man, +where're you gwinter show! I says right here, by gad! and I run my hand +into them saddle bags and brung out my cap and ball. That feller shore +broke the wind, he showed some speed. What moight yer bissiniss be?" + +"This is the first time I was ever up here. I'm a lawyer." + +"Yaah, one of them city lawyers; they tell me they is cute. I have had +to do some lawing lately. Down the crick erbout a mile Elhannon Howard +lives. Last winter I sold Elhannon a hawg on credit fer ten dollars like +a dang fool and he wouldn't pay fer it, so I lawed him before Squire +Ingram and got jedgment. That and the costs come ter fifteen dollars and +a quarter. The Squire writ out an execution and I got the constable to +levy on three hives of bees; the constable says that's all he's got +what's exempt. We had a hell of a time moving them bees, then we had to +move them back." + +"How was that?" + +"He got that lawyer from Pineville by the name of Marshall Bull-it and +the squire thinks the sun rises whar that feller stands. The squire +believed what that lawyer said and jedged that bees is poultry and the +statute says poultry am exempt. I made up my mind that old Elhannon had +to pay that jedgment so a couple of Sundays ago when they went to +meetin', I slipped down to his house and took a look around, counting +off what the statute said was exempt. He had jest what the law 'lowed +him. He had jest one hoss, one yoke of oxen, Tom and Jerry, two cows and +five sheep. One of them sheep was the finest Southdown ram you ever laid +yer eye on. Monday morning before day I went out where my sheep was and +there was a little crippled lamb about a day old. I picked it up and +fotched it down to Elhannon's and drapped it over the fence into his +little pasture, where his sheep were. Then I went down and got that +constable and he come and executed on that ram. Elhannon killed and et +one of his sheep, then he paid me up and took his ram back. If I had a +thousand boys I wouldn't name narry dang one of them Elhannon. I got +another little case what comes up next fall in the Bell Circit Court, +'taint much. I low ter pay a good young lawyer about twenty five bucks +to git me off. 'Bout a month ago I shot Caleb Spencer as dead as a kit +mackrel. I was going over Salt Trace to the mill on the river. When I +got on top of the divide he raised up from behind a log about a hundred +yards off and drew a bead on me. I saw him jest before he pulled and I +dodged. The ball cut out this hole in my hat. I rid right peart, till I +come to Gabe Perkins' then I hopped off my mule and, borrowing his +Winchester, I come back the cut-off footpath. There set that +cold-blooded bush-whacker on the same log, looking down the road the way +I had kited, with his gun kinder restin' on his knees. I rested on a +stump and took him square in the middle of the back. He gave a yell and +jumped erbout five feet, but it was too late to jump. 'Taint nothing to +it, a plain case of self-defense and 'parent necessity. But if you stay +up in this country, I like yer looks and will give yer first chance on +that easy money." + +"I thank you for the offer. It is worth at least five hundred dollars to +undertake your defense; as it is not a case of self-defense and apparent +necessity, as you seem to think. Much depends upon the jury in such a +case. You need a good lawyer who will be well acquainted with the panel, +else you may be sent to the penitentiary." + +"Son, you've got a lot to larn yit. Man alive! You folks have talked so +much it's nigh erbout bed-time. Why that boy is asleep. Would you like +to turn in?" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CORNWALL MEETS A MOUNTAIN MAID. + + +After breakfast, at which the men were first served, Mr. Rogers, +Cornwall, Mr. Saylor and Caleb, mounting their horses rode over Saylor's +three hundred-acre survey and examined the two coal banks on the +property; which only a short distance from the house had been opened and +worked about twenty feet into the mountain, for home consumption. One +was thirty-eight and the other fifty-two inches; the thick vein cropped +out about twenty feet above the creek level, the other was at a higher +level. + +After their examination they returned to the house and taking seats on +the wash bench near the well, talked about every thing but the land of +which Mr. Rogers and Saylor were thinking. Finally Mr. Rogers having +waited some time for Mr. Saylor to begin, said: + +"If our company can buy the Brock and Helton surveys, we will give you +thirty thousand dollars for your three hundred acres, or twenty thousand +dollars for the mineral rights with timber and right-of-way privileges +necessary to mine and remove the coal and such other minerals, oils and +gas as may be found on the property." + +"By heck! my survey is worth three times that. When your company planks +down fifty thousand in cold cash we will trade,--not before. Then I will +buy one of them blue grass farms in sight of the distant blue mountains +and an automobile and a pianny and give Caleb and little Susie a chance +to go to the University at Lexington whar Tom Asher and that Hall boy +goes. O Mandy! Mr. Rogers, hayr, just offered to gin me thirty thousand +dollars for our old mountain home which we bought two year ago from old +man Roberts for five thousand. I told him we would trade her off for +fifty thousand; not such bad intrust for a mountain yahoo and his old +woman, He! Mandy! When that trade goes through; and they are bound to +take her, you can have one of them silk dresses what shows black and +blue and red and green; and Mary all the books and pot flowers and +pictures she wants. What do you say to that, Mary?" just as Mary stepped +from the kitchen to fill the brass-hooped cedar bucket at the well. + +Caleb lolled on the steps in such a way as to make it impossible for any +one to descend. + +"Caleb, please let me pass!" + +"Oh, go round Mary, or jump down. What do yer bother a feller for?" + +"Miss Mary, let me fill your bucket?" + +"Thanks, Mr. Cornwall." (Caleb laughs.) + +Cornwall took the bucket and twice let it down and brought it up without +a quart in it, while Caleb looked on and laughed. + +Finally Mary, smiling and blushing, took hold of the pole and helped to +dip and draw up the bucket full to the brim. Then they laugh too; and +the social ice is broken between Bear Grass and Straight Creek; between +the city-bred young lawyer and Mary, the mountain girl. + +Cornwall carried the bucket into the kitchen; at which Caleb, in +surprise, called out: "Dad, look! That city feller is helping Mary get +dinner." + +After dinner, which Cornwall did not help get, rushing out of the +kitchen as soon as he could let go of the bucket handle, having heard +Caleb's remark; they rode over the Brock and Helton two hundred-acre +surveys and called at their homes. + +Mr. Rogers contracted to purchase their land at one hundred dollars an +acre, the vendors executing bonds to convey, each receiving one thousand +dollars on the purchase price; the balance to be paid after a survey and +examination of their titles. + +As they were riding home, Saylor saw a drunken man staggering down the +mountain side. When he had gotten out of sight, he dismounted and began +trailing him back up the mountain. Mr. Rogers called out, "The man went +the other way." + +"Oh, I know that! I want to find out where he came from." + +Saylor returned in a few minutes, his face beaming with a ruddy, +contented smile. + +Then, in his usually talkative mood, he expressed his opinion of his +neighbors and the transaction in reference to their land. "There are two +more dang fools, who will move down in the blue grass and buy a farm and +be as much at home as a hoot owl on a dead snag in the noon day sun with +a flock of crows cawing at him. In about two years they will sell out to +some sharper and move back to some mountain cove or crick bottom and +start all over again; or when they gits their money they will hop the +train cars for Kansas and settle on a government claim twenty miles from +a drap of water; then mosey back here in about five years with nothing +but their kids, the old woman, two bony horses, a prairie schooner and a +yaller dog." + +As they came in the door, Mary was just completing preparation for +supper. The table was made more attractive by a red figured table cloth +instead of the brown and white oil cloth one. In the center was a pot of +delicate ferns. The regular fare of corn bread, hog meat, corn field +beans, potatoes, sorghum and coffee, had been supplemented by some +nicely browned chicken, a roll of butter, biscuits and a dish of yellow +apples and red plums. + +As they came to supper, a gentle rain began falling which continued long +into the night. + +Cornwall, standing by his chair and noticing again that places were +prepared for the men only, said; "Mrs. Saylor, the rain makes it so cozy +and home-like, you, Miss Mary and Susie fix places and eat with us; I am +sure we will all have a better time." + +Saylor stopped eating long enough to add;--"Do, it will seem like a +Christmas dinner in the summertime." + +While Caleb remarked;--"He's coming along right peart." + +Mary, with a laugh and blush and an appreciative smile at Mr. Cornwall, +added a place for her mother and Susie, while she served the supper. + +Cornwall, who had paid little attention to the girl, furtively watching +her, was impressed by her competence and winsomeness. She was a healthy +sun-browned brunette of eighteen; had attended the Pineville graded +school for three years and the summer before passed the examination and +qualified as a teacher. She had been given the school at the forks of +the creek and was paid a salary of thirty-five dollars a month, most of +which went to pay her father's taxes and for books. + +The children of her school were of divers ages and sizes. There were +lank boys taller than Mary and little girls that needed to be cuddled +and mothered. The native children, mostly a tow-headed lot, were easily +distinguished from the children of the families at the mines, whose +parents were from Naples or Palermo. + +Not even the girls from Southern Italy had blacker hair or more dreamy +eyes than Mary's. Hers was a seeming nature and appearance made of a +composite of the girls of her school; natives of the hills and the +aliens of the blue Mediterranean. + +Some of the foreign boys who knew little English were carefully grounded +in mathematics and certain physical sciences. Their proficiency made it +a difficult task for their immature teacher. She was aware of her +limitations and struggled faithfully to overcome them, spending many +hours to qualify herself in mathematics and as a grammarian. + +That night, as the others were grouped about the door, talking or +listening to the rain, she sat near a table on which burned a small +unshaded oil lamp, studying out some grievous problems to her, in the +third arithmetic. + +Cornwall, noting her worried expression and how persistently she applied +a slate rag, asked Susie, who sat near the table, to change places with +him, and moving the chair near Mary's took the slate and by a few +suggestions gave just the needed assistance; and in such a concise way +that the quick though untrained mind of the girl found no further +difficulties in solving the other problems of the lesson. + +"Thanks, Mr. Cornwall, for helping me. At least tomorrow I will have the +best of those big boys. It is surprising how easy the seemingly hard +things are after you have learned to do them." + +Shortly after sunrise the following morning, Mr. Rogers and Cornwall +said good-bye to their host and his family and rode off down the creek. + +They had gone but a short distance when they overtook Mary and Susie on +their way to school. They rode slowly keeping pace with the walking +girls. + +"Mr. Cornwall and I feel we should make our excuses for the additional +labor our visit has caused you." + +"We are glad you stopped over at our home. The life is lonely at times +and the face and talk of a stranger break the monotony. Besides Mr. +Cornwall helped me with my studies. I hope when you pass this way you +will find time to stop again." + +"I doubt if I shall come, but Mr. Cornwall, who is to be our local +attorney at Harlan, must return in a week or so to supervise the Brock +and Helton surveys and will be making occasional trips to Pineville. +After he becomes a better horseman you may see him occasionally riding +on his own saddle horse, comfortably seated on a hard saddle and +carrying his clothing and papers in a pair of saddle bags. Now he finds +the trip tiresome, later he will find the ride exhilarating and your +house a convenient resting place; am I right Cornwall?" + +"I desire to express my thanks and shall be glad of any opportunity to +stop and see you again." + +"Here we are at the Salt Trace road; you follow it over the mountain to +the river, then up the river valley to Poor Fork which you cross almost +within sight of the town. Goodbye to both and good luck to Judge +Cornwall; come again." + +Their road after crossing the mountains was up the Cumberland Valley, +hemmed in on the north by the gracefully sloping spurs of Pine Mountain +and flanked on the south by the more rugged and closely encroaching +Cumberland mountains. + +The river gurgles and murmurs and surges along over a bottom of boulders +or lies restfully placid over a bottom of sand. In these pool-like +reaches many large rocks, shaken from the mountain tops in ages past, +lift their gray heads high above the water and give to the scene a touch +of rugged grandeur. + +The water is so clear that the natives climb into the overhanging elms +or sycamores, or lie peering down from a jutting rock and do their +fishing with a Winchester. + +About ten o'clock the travelers crossed the Poor Fork and fifteen +minutes later rode into Harlan Town; and to the office of the company; a +three-story red brick building fronting the court house square. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +CORNWALL LOCATES IN HARLAN. + + +With the exception of a few counties in western Kentucky, no official +survey was ever made of the state. In the unsurveyed portion grants for +land issued by the Commonwealth varied in size from a few acres to as +many as two hundred thousand; and called for natural objects as +beginning and boundary corners. + +The result of such a lax system was that often the same boundary was +covered by several grants; and the senior grant held the land. + +Many grants were so indefinite of description, the beginning corner +calling for certain timber or a large stone in a heavily timbered and, +in sections, rocky country, as to be impossible of identification or +location. Other grants were so poorly surveyed as to be void for +uncertainty and yet other boundaries were claimed by squatters who held +by adverse possession against any paper title. + +A person owning the paper title to a thousand acre boundary traceable to +the Commonwealth without break or flaw, might not be the owner in fact +of a single acre of land; as the whole boundary might be covered by +senior grants or the natural objects called for, impossible to find. + +The only way to be assured of a good title was to make a careful +abstract, following that up by an actual survey and obtaining from any +person in possession a written declaration that their possession and +claim was not adverse to the title and claim of your vendor. + +The public records were imperfectly kept and indexed; which made +Cornwall's work for the company a series of petty and tiresome +annoyances. + +Two weeks after his arrival the Harlan Circuit Court convened. He was +immediately put into harness and called upon to assist in the trial of +several important ejectment suits. + +The first week of the term was taken up with criminal business. There +were three murder cases, two of which were tried. The other cases were +petty in nature, the defendants being charged with carrying concealed +weapons, shooting on the highway and boot-legging. + +During the second week he assisted in the trial of two ejectment cases, +one of which was lost. The third and most important case was set for the +fourteenth day of the term. It involved five hundred acres of coal land +worth more than twenty-five thousand dollars; and though Judge Finch, +local counsel for the company assured him it would go over, he had the +company's witnesses on hand and carried to the court house the file, +which included the title papers and an abstract; but he had never +examined them. + +When the case was called the other side announced ready and they, not +being able to show cause for a continuance, were forced into trial. + +While the jury was being empaneled Judge Finch leaned over and +whispered:--"Go ahead and help select the jury, the panel looks pretty +good. I have to leave." He picked up his hat and hastened from the court +room, giving Cornwall no time to object. In about twenty minutes the +jury was selected; Cornwall being assisted by one of the company's +witnesses. + +Then the court called upon him to state his case to the jury. + +"Judge I know nothing of the case, Judge Finch was here a few minutes +ago and was to try it." + +"The case must go on; do the best you can. The court will take a recess +of fifteen minutes to give counsel an opportunity to examine the papers +and familiarize himself with the case. Mr. Sheriff, call Judge Finch." + +The case proceeded in the absence of Judge Finch and the next day in the +mid-afternoon was completed; the jury returning a verdict in favor of +the company. + +Cornwall ordered a horse and inquiring the road to Judge Finch's house, +who lived on Wallins Creek, rode out to see him. There he sat on his +porch, coatless, in carpet slippers, playing cinch with three farm +hands. + +"Hello John, have a cheer, do you play cinch?" + +"No, sir." + +(One of the hands) "Jedge, your corn is mighty weedy, you better let us +go back to our hoeing." + +"By gosh! You are working for me aint you; and if I want you to play +cards instead of hoe, that's my business." + +"John, how did you come out with the Asher case?" + +"The jury returned a verdict for the company. Judge you certainly left +me in a hole running off like you did." + +"By gosh! the family was out'er meal and I just had to go to mill for a +turn." + + * * * * * + +When one of the witnesses in the Asher case told Mr. Rogers of the +desertion of Cornwall and the case by Judge Finch he said; "I suppose we +must depend upon Cornwall alone or get Mr. Low or Judge Hall to help +him. This company is through with Finch. I certainly would have trembled +in my shoes, had I known Cornwall was handling it alone. He's a good +boy. I hope the verdict won't make a fool of him. I think not, since he +never mentioned Finch's desertion." + +Two days later court adjourned and the following Monday the Bell Circuit +Court convened. The first case of importance on the docket was that of +the Commonwealth against Saylor for the murder of Caleb Spencer. + +Saturday afternoon, before Mr. Rogers left for Hagan, Virginia on his +way to Pittsburgh, he said: + +"Mr. Cornwall, go to Pineville Monday and begin the abstracts of the +Brock and Helton titles to the land the company bought on Straight +Creek." + +Cornwall, a poor horseman, not yet hardened to such exercise, broke the +ride by traveling down the river, Sunday afternoon and over Salt Trace +to the Saylor home; not wholly unmindful that Mary was a good looking +girl and agreeable company. + +When he rode up, the house had a deserted appearance. Mrs. Saylor and +Susie were in the barn milking. All the rest of the family had gone to +Pineville to be present at the trial, and Susie and her mother were +leaving the next day. + +He lay awake half the night thinking of Mary and his mother and +listening to the penetrating tones of a hoot owl far up the mountain +side. The house did not seem the same as the one at which he had stopped +less than a month before. He was homesick and felt inclined to return to +Louisville. + +When he rode into Pineville at noon the next day he found the hotel +crowded with visiting lawyers and litigants. The Commonwealth's +attorney told him that the Saylor case was set for hearing the following +morning and that the prosecution was ready for trial. He also learned +that Saylor was treating the case as a joke and had employed Squire +Putman to represent him for twenty-five dollars; which he said was a big +price for the services he would or could render. "I can always depend +upon the Squire to help convict his client. It is a mystery to the bar +how he ever obtained license to practice law." + +In the evening Cornwall visited the other hotel and a large boarding +house in search of the Saylors but was unable to find any of them. + +When the court house bell rang in the morning he went over, and up the +stairway, into the court room, just as the judge called for motions. +Introduced by the commonwealth's attorney he was sworn in as a +practicing attorney of the Bell Circuit Court. + +He expected to see some of the Saylor family seated beyond the railing, +but again was disappointed; nor did he find them after a search through +the corridors and public offices. He then went into the county clerk's +office and began making an abstract of the Brock title. + +At noon when he returned to the court room they were in the trial of the +Saylor case. On the right sat Squire Putman and his client and behind +them, Mrs. Saylor, Mary and Susie. + +Saylor and his counsel had an air of easy confidence; Mrs. Saylor the +set face and look of an unhappy fatalist; Mary's expression was one of +worried interest and sadness; Susie suppressed an occasional sob. + +To Cornwall the jury seemed a rather unsatisfactory one, they looked +bored and unsympathetic. The panel was made up of business men of +Pineville and Middlesboro, who resented being kept from their +occupations at a busy season. They were new citizens who had moved into +the mountains since the development of the coal fields and had little +use or sympathy for pistol toters or feudists. + +There was one exception, Elhannon Howard, Saylor's neighbor. He sat in a +listless and inattentive attitude, probably thinking of his patch of +hillside corn or the Southdown ram. + +Summing up the situation, realizing how kindly and informally he had +been received into and entertained in the Saylor home, Cornwall +regretted that when refusing the fee of $25.00 he had not volunteered +his services in the defense. He would have done so at the time, but +supposed that Mr. Saylor would employ competent counsel to defend him. + +The trial was a short one. The Commonwealth, in addition to making out +its technical case, proved threats on the part of Saylor and that Saylor +admitted the killing. + +Saylor on the stand told the same story he had told Cornwall. The +defense then introduced two witnesses, who swore that the deceased had +threatened Saylor; Spencer sending word by them to Saylor that he +intended to kill him; the squire attempted to show by the doctor that +when Spencer was told by him that he could live but an hour or two, the +dying man had said: "I am to blame for the trouble," but the court +excluded the declaration from the jury. + +The squire in making his argument for the defense grew quite stentorian +of voice and excited in manner. He had a way of half stooping until the +long coat tails of his black frock coat touched the floor, when he would +suddenly spring upright and exclaim: "Now, gentlemen of the jury, +wouldn't you be danged fools if putting yourselves in Saylor's place you +had not done as he did." + +In one of these paroxysms his coat tail flapped to one side and hung +pendant on the handle of a six-shooter protruding from his hip pocket. +This explained to the jury why in midsummer he wore a frock coat. They +considered the pistol a silent witness and protest against Saylor's +acquittal and a clarion call to do their duty in upholding law and +order. + +Shortly before six the jury retired. They were out fifteen minutes and +brought in the following verdict: "We, the jury, agree and find the +defendant guilty and fix his punishment at three years in the State +penitentiary. Elhannon Howard, Foreman." + +When the verdict was read, the face of the squire turned red with +surprise. Saylor's face for the first time assumed a serious expression; +Mrs. Saylor burst into tears; Susie cried aloud and hung to her father's +arm; Mary grew as pale as death and her body shook as from intense cold. + +Cornwall, who had come into the court room during the squire's argument +and who, after bowing to Mary and Mrs. Saylor, had taken a seat behind +them, came forward. + +"Never mind, Mary, we shall find a way to get him off. Let me go with +you and your mother to where you are stopping. I tried to find you last +night." + +The sheriff came forward and, taking Saylor by the arm, said: "Come on, +Mr. Saylor." + +The woman kissed the condemned man a hasty farewell. He and the sheriff +went out one door toward the jail; the Saylor family and Cornwall +another, walking up the street to old Pineville, to the home of Mary's +aunt. + +In the morning Mary and her mother came by the court house and asked +Cornwall to go with them to the jail, as that afternoon they had to +return home. + +It was a sad group that gathered in the little jail parlor, while the +jailer stood at the door. + +"Well, young man, I guess you know more law than me or old Putman. I +seem to be in bad because I did not take your view and advice, instead +of hiring that cheap lawyer. We had only Mary's money; I did not want to +sell or mortgage our home, and if I had not killed Simpson, he would +have got me shore." + +"You may have a chance, Mr. Saylor, with the Court of Appeals. I do not +think the court should have excluded Simpson's dying declaration; it +seemed relevant." + +"I shorely hope so on account of the old woman and the kids. Mary will +lose her school on my account; she can't keep those big boys quiet now. +You look after my case for me and write Mr. Rogers that I will sell his +company the home place." + +"Do not sell your place to pay a fee to me. You can pay that after you +are out. Mary and I will attend to the costs of the appeal, which will +not be much, as the record is small." + +Saylor's wife and daughter bid him a rather stoical farewell, so far as +tears and talk were concerned, though their pallid faces indicated the +pain of separation was heartfelt. Mountain women have not a fluent line +of chit-chat, nor are they demonstrative in their griefs. + +They walked with Cornwall back to the court house, where, after thanking +him for what he had done and expressing a wish to see him soon, they +left, returning home in the afternoon. + +Cornwall sent Mr. Rogers the following telegram: "Saylor convicted, +three years penitentiary. Offers Straight Creek land for thirty +thousand. Hope company can afford to pay thirty-five. John Cornwall." + +He received this answer: "Land worth thirty-five thousand, company will +pay that amount if title and survey hold three hundred acres. H. M. +Rogers." + +For the next ten days Cornwall was very busy at Pineville. He found the +paper titles to the Brock and Saylor surveys perfect. The Helton +boundary necessitated a suit to clear the title to about one-half of the +survey. He filed a motion for a new trial in the Saylor case, which the +court promptly overruled; then asked and was granted an appeal to the +Court of Appeals. The court stenographer made a transcript of the +testimony; a bill of exceptions was filed and approved and within ten +days after Saylor's trial and conviction; his appeal was formally filed +at Frankfort. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A WEEK IN A MOUNTAIN HOME. + + +There are some free-thinking souls who love nature and the primitive so +well as to believe that Providence made a mistake in permitting men to +pass beyond the pastoral stage. + +There are many who, though they love art, literature and the other gifts +and comforts of civilization, would trade all to live in a primitive +mountain home; to call their time, a house of logs and a few barren +fields, "my own." + +They care not for the smoke of many chimneys, or the surging crowd or +the ceaseless din of commercial centers. They love the view from +mountain tops, where hills peep over hills and pinnacles are clothed in +clouds. They love the peace and quiet of the sheltered coves; where the +timber grows verdant and strong, fern-bordered fountains burst forth to +life, and the squirrels and other free things dwell. They love a home +site in a secluded valley near the head of a gurgling, restless, +mountain river and think to live a life of peace, dividing the glories +of mountain and plain. But wherever man would rest and hide his head and +heart, giant care comes with a club and the huntress misfortune finds +her way with a full quiver. + +Mary, who had done no wrong and expected no punishment, when she +returned home, found these two unbidden guests awaiting her. Her eyes +were opened to see sorrow; which all the world knows. + +The following morning when she walked up to the school house door the +children stood in groups talking in subdued tones. The little girls for +the first time since the early days of the term failed to rush forward +and greet her. She rang the bell; they came in slowly and rebelliously, +the big boys last of all. Several of the children, among them those of +one of the trustees, were absent. + +Tim Fields, a lanky, overgrown boy of sixteen, after having been +reproved, continued talking to his desk-mate. When Mary told him he must +behave or go home, he arose and, starting towards the door, said: "I +guess I will go anyway; pap said, last night, he didn't think a +convict's daughter oughter handle this here school and he was going to +see the trustees and the county superintendent and git ma's sister in." + +A few minutes later, Luigi Poggi, whose seat near the window overlooked +the creek, saw him on the bank throwing small boulders at a flock of +geese. + +He raised his hand, and snapping his fingers to attract attention, +asked, and was given permission, to go to the spring for a bucket of +water. When out of sight of the teacher he whistled for Tim and walked +on slowly down towards the spring, until he came to a dusty, bare spot +in the path under a tree, where the boys played keeps. + +"Tim, what did you say that to teacher for; she's good to all of us?" + +"What you got to do with it, you Dago?" + +"This," and he struck Tim in the face with the empty water bucket. + +They fought in the sand path for about five minutes; when Luigi, +throwing Tim face down, rubbed and bumped his head in the sand until Tim +could scarcely breathe through his bleeding nose and his mouth choked +with dust and sand. + +When he said, "'nuff," Luigi let him up, and returned to the school +house with a dirty, scratched face, but a full bucket of spring water. + +"Luigi, what made you so long?" + +"I fell down." + +"Are you hurt?" + +"No'm." + +"Go down to the creek and wash your face." + +"Yes'm." + +On Friday morning not more than half of the school were present. + +Saturday afternoon the county superintendent called at the Saylor home +and, telling Mary that several of the trustees objected to her keeping +the school, asked for her resignation, which she wrote out and handed +him. + + * * * * * + +The days were pleasant and busy ones for Cornwall. He looked forward +with pleasure, as to a vacation, when he should return to Straight Creek +and make the survey of the Brock, Helton and Saylor properties, and for +that purpose chose that delightful season in October; last harvest time +for man and beast, when the corn is ripe and the nuts loosened by the +early frost are showering upon the ground like manna for all. It is the +beginning of Indian summer, when nature, festive and placid of mood, +clothes the hills in shades of red and brown; and, fearful that man, who +is inclined to overlook nearby joys and pleasures for more distant and +less certain ones, might overlook the familiar hills, even though +freshly painted, hides her far-off attractions with a hazy curtain. + +As the party came down over Salt Trace into the Straight Creek valley, +in full accord with the perfect day and as gay of heart as the trees +were gayly colored, they met Caleb going down the creek road with the +old squirrel rifle, longer of barrel than the small boy. + +"Where now, hunter, just at sunset, when most hunters seek the camp?" +was Cornwall's greeting. + +"I'm going down to Elhannon Howard's. Ma told me he sent pap to jail. I +shore will fix him if this gun don't bust." + +"Wait a minute. That's a fine gun; let me have a look at it. It's mighty +heavy. I'll ride down with you and carry it until we get within sight of +the house. Has Elhannon any boys?" + +"Yes, two." + +"How old are they?" + +"John is eleven; Henry is nine." + +"John is a big, strong boy. I bet you are afraid of him. If you were +not, it would be great fun to beat him up with your fists or kick him in +the slats, or throw him in the creek and make him holler "'nuff." Why +not save Elhannon for your dad when he gets out? He might not want you +to do his fighting for him. Did he ask you to take a shot at old man +Howard?" + +"No, I ha'int thought about that." + +"You didn't say you were not afraid of John Howard." + +"No, I'm not. Why?" + +"If you were not afraid of him, you would leave your gun at home and +tomorrow beat him up at school." + +"I believe I will go back home and beat him up at school tomorrow; but +recess will be plenty long to wait." + +"Oh, we better go on; he's older and bigger than you; you are afraid of +him. You better tackle him with your gun." + +"Waste powder and ball on that chump? Not me; I'm not afraid of any of +them Howards. I'm hungry; supper's about ready; let's go home. I shore +hope he comes to school tomorrow." + +"Say, boy, are those your hogs? Why don't you feed them some corn?" + +"They shore am poor. Them's old man Lewis'. He lives down the crick +below here. This time last year he turned them out to eat the mast. +After the mast was gone he still let them run and would go out with a +basket of corn and feed them. He's dumb, he can't holler. He called them +by pounding with a rock on a dead snag. Since the woodpecker's came this +spring them fool hawgs have nigh 'bout run themselves to death." + +"Here, boy, take your gun; there's a squirrel." + +"That's right; give her here." + +"He's a nice fat one." + +"Yes, there's plenty of nuts now." + +"I don't believe I would reload her now; there's the house." + +"Mr. Cornwall, I'll loan you my gun tomorrow and you can go hunting." + +"You better let me have her all the time we are surveying the land." + +"All right." + +Cornwall was met at the gate by Mary and her mother; they both seemed +pleased to see him. Caleb took his horse to the barn and, removing the +saddle, turned him loose for a roll in the dusty lot. Then he was put in +a box stall and given three sheaves of oats. + +"Mrs. Saylor, you see I am back and have brought three others with me. +We will be here a week. I hope you will not find us too troublesome. The +two chainmen will sleep in the loft on the hay, so as not to crowd you." + +"We are glad to have you; come right in." + +"Miss Mary, you must treat us like home folks; no extra work now or we +will move down to old man Howard's. Your school and those big boys are +enough of a worry." + +"I have more time. They have another teacher at the school, Mrs. Field's +sister. They removed me because of father's conviction." + +"Who?" + +"The county superintendent and the trustees." + +"When we buy your father's land, why don't you go east to school?" + +"I have been thinking of that. What school would you suggest?" + +"Go to one of the best--Wellesley." + +The next morning at sun-up the party started surveying the Saylor +property. This they completed in two days; the boundary held three +hundred and five acres. + +Cornwall insisted on carrying Caleb's rifle; but the only squirrels they +got were those killed by Henry Saylor. He was sixteen; a good axeman, +and employed to blaze the lines and locate the corners. + +Saturday morning they started on the Brock boundary; but quit work about +four o'clock in the afternoon and had a most refreshing swim in a deep +pool of the creek before supper. + +Sunday afternoon the family went down to the school house, "to meeting." +It was the first time Mary had been in the building or seen many of her +acquaintances since the school had been taken from her. + +When she walked in accompanied by Cornwall and Duffield, the surveyor, +her face shone with happiness. Cornwall had dispelled the cloud of +misfortune that had overshadowed it by the assurance that her father +would be given a new trial and acquitted. Since her active, ambitious +mind was building glorious castles of hope on the prospects of +refinement and education, she found much joy and comfort in the company +of the young lawyer; more than she admitted even to herself; and the +young surveyor and his assistants were a source of amusement and +entertainment. + +She was so occupied with and hedged about by the two "furreeners" that +young Doctor Foley, who had come to church with the hope of taking her +home in his new buggy, had but time to greet her and pass on. + +Several of the girls, who had rejoiced at her humiliation were +disappointed when they saw how happy she seemed, saying: "She's a cool +one; she don't care if her pap is in jail, now that she is bent on +catching that city lawyer." + +The preacher, a circuit rider, who during each month tried to preach not +less than once at more than a dozen small log churches and school +houses, many miles apart, was a godly man who traveled over the hills on +an old gray mare, carrying most of his earthly possessions in his +saddle-bags. His hair was thin and his frame almost a shadow. His +deep-set eyes and strong face had an expression of righteousness and +peace. Years before he had loved a young woman, but knew that he could +not continue preaching in his district and support a wife. One day he +came to her home and in tears, holding her hands, made and told her his +choice. + +Since then, with quivering voice but calm face, he had married her to a +friend, and baptized her two children and had buried her husband. He +loved her still, but his earthly treasurers were as meager as when she +had wedded another. + +The crowd was too great for the little school house, so they came out +and sat upon the green under two great twin oaks, while God's +ambassador, standing upon a rude bench nailed between the trunks, gave +to them his message of simple words in the voice and tone of friend and +neighbor. + +Since early morning he had preached two sermons, christened a half dozen +infants, baptized three confessors, visited a bed-ridden man and a +feeble, old, blind woman, and given burial service to one of his +congregation. Far in the night, when the day's work was done and he +slept, his were dreams of peace. Two angels with forward pendant wings +formed a mercy seat above his bed and on it sat One a thousand times +brighter than the sun, who in a voice that might be heard through space, +though softer than the music of riffled waters, spoke to him. + +"Well done, good and faithful servant, continue in the labor of the +Lord." + +"But, Lord, I am lonely and weak and homeless and would rest." + +"Weary not in well-doing. My grace is sufficient for thee; My strength +is made perfect in weakness--you have a home not made with hands, +eternal in the heavens." + + * * * * * + +On Tuesday the surveying party began work on the Helton property. This +was so distant from Saylor's that they thought of moving headquarters to +Asher Brock's at the head of the creek valley; but as a couple of days +would complete the work they concluded to remain where they were, riding +forth in the morning and back in the evening. + +Mary fixed a lunch, which was placed in a grain sack and tied behind +Cornwall's saddle. Near noon they stopped to rest and eat under some +elms in the upper creek valley, when Cornwall discovered that the lunch +was gone, the sack having been pulled off while he was riding through +the dense underbrush. + +Their appetites were whetted by the smell of frying ham, wind-wafted +down the creek from Asher Brock's. They rode to the house and asked to +share the meal. The maintainer is like the Arab; he never refuses to +entertain a guest. + +The old man sat at the end of the table, with Duffield on his right and +his daughter, a girl about seventeen, and barefooted, next beyond. The +family circle was large and, with the four guests, the table was +crowded. + +In the midst of the meal they were startled by the girl who, crying +"Ouch!" jumped up from the table. + +Her father, looking at Duffield with murder in his eye, said: "What's +the matter, Cinthy?" + +"The cat scratched my foot." + +The old man looked under the table for confirmation; and there sat the +old, black cat, looking as innocent as a Madonna. And the family resumed +the meal. + +That afternoon, as they were running one of the lines, Cornwall said to +Duffield: "That cat saved your life." + +"Heck! That cat scared me to death." + +"Oh, I'm on to you; I have heard of your tricks when you were surveying +in Clay and Leslie." + +"You mean that time over on Red Bird; that is the greatest fishing +stream in Kentucky, and most appropriately named, as each papaw bush and +hazel and blackberry thicket is the home of a family of red birds. + +"From Big to Bear Creek it is a succession of riffles and smooth pools. +These pools are the favored haunts and playgrounds of bass, perch and +soft-shell turtles. A single drag with a minnow seine in one of the +feeding brooks will give you an ample supply of bait. When carefully +keeping behind the overhanging shore brush and exercising caution not to +knock brush or clod into the stream, an hour's mediocre effort is +rewarded by a dozen bass of uniform size, weighing about a pound each. +Should you make an unusual noise, break a twig or cause the sandy bank +to cave and ripple the water, you must pass on to the next pool and use +more caution. + +"We were stopping at old man White's. The house had three rooms in the +front. It was in the spring, and at night we sat in the big middle room +around the open fireplace and joined in the family conversation. This +was the bedroom of the old folks. Their grown daughter, who attended +school, sat by the table worrying over her lessons in compound interest, +the practical application of which in after years would be as needful as +a mariner's compass to steer her father's log canoe, tied to the root of +a sycamore. I went over and helped her a bit and she became quite +cordial in manner. + +"When I handed back her slate, I wrote upon it: 'By moonlight, when all +is still, I will play Romeo under your window.' I saw that she read it +when, with a half-blush, half-smile, she applied the rag with vigor to +her slate. I knew she understood. All the girls in this broad land, +though they may not know the sum of seven times eight, are familiar with +the story of Romeo and Juliet and the balcony scene in ancient Verona. + +"Coleman Reid was with me. You know he is always butting in when there +is a girl around. He came over and began drawing cartoons on the slate +and, satisfied with prospective arrangements, I gave him my seat, taking +his by the fire. + +"In a short while the girl and her sister went to their room on the +right end of the house and Reid and I to ours on the left. + +"Reid wore his hair long and roached back; mine I have always worn +short. We undressed and went to bed, both pretending to be sleepy. + +"After an hour I got up, dressed, and started out, when my friend, who +had been playing possum all the time, said: 'Where are you going?' + +"'I'm not sleepy; I think I will take a little walk.' + +"'Don't you want your hat?' + +"'No.' + +"And so I walked around to the north end of the house, where our host's +daughter sat at the open window. + +"I said something about it being a pleasant night, to which she replied: + +"'Ayr you the long-haired or the short-haired one?' + +"'The short-haired one.' + +"'Bend over so I can feel and see.' + +"So I bent over, happy to have my clipped locks caressed by her capable +hands, when she gave me a crack with a rolling pin or some other +delicate instrument. And, without a word, half staggering, I walked out +from the shadow of the house into the moonlight and sat down on the +stile blocks until I could distinguish the real from the artificial +stars. Then I went in and to bed. + +"Reid was half-dressed when I came in and, about the time I climbed into +bed, he went out the door for a walk, blaming me for waking him up. + +"In a little while he came back, looking the worse for wear. A few drops +of blood discolored his cheek near the ear. He never told me what +happened. I only know that after that night he was not so restless and +took no moonlight strolls. + +"The next night I helped the girl again with her compound interest, but +Reid talked to the old man about running logs down the river on the June +tide." + +Thursday morning, Cornwall and his party, having completed the surveys, +returned to Harlan. + +A week later Mrs. Saylor met him by appointment in Pineville. They went +to the jail with a notary, when she and her husband executed a deed to +the Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Company for the Straight Creek place, and +were given a check for the purchase price, thirty-five thousand +dollars. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE SAYLORS MOVE TO THE BLUEGRASS. + + +In November the Court of Appeals reversed the case of Saylor against the +Commonwealth and remanded it for retrial. Saylor gave bail in the sum of +three thousand dollars and was discharged from custody. + +He passed the first two or three days of his freedom at the old place on +Straight Creek; then he and his wife took the train at Pineville for +Richmond and spent more than a week driving through the country +examining farms on the market in Garrard, Madison and Clark counties. +They finally purchased one in Madison County, between Silver Creek and +Paint Lick. + +Then they returned home and, after preparations were completed for their +departure, loaded their household goods into a two-horse wagon and drove +through, nearly a hundred miles, to the new home. The women folks rode +in the wagon. The old man and the boys preceded them on horseback, +driving their small bunch of cattle and sheep. + +Before the move, Cornwall received a letter from Mary asking that he +write Wellesley, making inquiries as to the cost of the course and the +preparation necessary to matriculate. This he did and forwarded the +reply to her on Straight Creek. A few days later he received a short +note of thanks for that and the many other services he had rendered +them. She also asked that he come and see them before their removal and +gave the new home address. + +He intended riding over to Straight Creek before they moved, but court +was in session and he was very busy. When he did make the trip, he +found the house deserted. + +He saw no member of the family until the February term of the Bell +Circuit Court, which Saylor and his wife attended for his retrial. + +He received a Christmas card from Mary, mailed at Wellesley, and wrote +her a note of thanks for the remembrance, of congratulation at the +realization of her desire, and a wish that the New Year might prove one +of happiness and further realization. + +Old man Saylor, dispensing with the services of Squire Putman, insisted +that Cornwall try his case alone and fix his own fee; but not being +acquainted in the county, he asked Judge Hurst to help, particularly in +selecting the jury, and paid him $150.00 of the $500.00 fee charged +Saylor for services in the Court of Appeals and the retrial of his case. + +All new residents of the county on the panel, if not excused for cause, +were peremptorily challenged. The case was tried by a native jury that +had respect for Saylor's plea of self-defense and apparent necessity and +who understood what Simpson's threat meant. They were out about twenty +minutes and returned a verdict of "not guilty." + +Cornwall, knowing with what anxiety Mary would await news of the trial, +telegraphed her: "All court matters concluded and to your entire +satisfaction"; so wording it that she might not be embarrassed. + +Saylor and his wife after the trial exhibited no haste to return to the +Bluegrass or to re-establish social relations with their new neighbors. +They spent several days visiting up the creek and in old Pineville. + +One night they called at Cornwall's hotel. Little was said about the +trial, though Mrs. Saylor shed a few tears and called Cornwall a good +boy. As usual, the old man did most of the talking. + +"Well, young man, how are you coming on up to Harlan Town. I shore do +miss old Pine Mountain and the rocks and trees; the jingle of the bells +as the cows at evening hasten homeward from the timbered hills; the big, +open fireplace with its light and glow of burning oak and chestnut where +we huddled in happy talk and kinship; the darkness of the night where +even the moon came slowly over the mountain and peeped timidly through +the trees; the stillness of the night when all in the house might hear +Susie whispering her prayers and the whippoorwills calling in the +thickets. + +"The first thing in the morning I used ter go by the friendly, old well +and drink a gourdful of the soft, cool water, then feed Tom and Jerry +and bring in an armload of wood. As I came in the door the frosty air +was sweet with the smell of home-cured bacon which the old woman was +fixing fer breakfast and when I sat down there it was jest right, a +streak of lean and of fat showing in thin layers. And the big pones of +cornbread hot from the Dutch oven; of meal fresh from the old water mill +and sweet to the taste; a big dish of fried apples, a jug of sorghum and +a glass of milk. It was a nice place to live. I would not care to pass +the old house now. The door might be shut, the fireplace cold; I would +find no welcoming face." + +"Mr. Saylor, what about the new home?" + +"Oh, it does pretty good; the cattle are picking up, but Tray sits in +the open o' nights and howls at the moon. We have three hundred acres, +mostly pasture, with a few oak, walnut and wild cherry trees and a muddy +pond or two and a thimble spring. There's one little thicket in a draw +big enough to hide a cotton tail. The world is too big down there and I +can see too far all ways at once; too many homes and men and too few +hills and trees. The house is of brick with a porch and big pillars +three feet through that reach to the roof. We sleep upstairs; there are +ten rooms; but there is no place to sit and toast your shins. Can't see +a fire in the house and it is as hot and stuffy as hell; got one of them +hot-air things down in the cellar; she shore eats up the coal. There are +no whippoorwills and no hoot owls, but lots of crows and jay birds and +meadow larks. I like to hear that little, yaller-chested feller whistle +from the pasture gatepost. Far off to the south, when the air is keen +and the sun shines bright, you can see the blue mountains. The window of +the barn loft looks that way. When I ain't feeling right peart, I go out +to the barn and climb up to the loft. I used to keep a joint of stove +pipe up there. When I held that tight to my face I could look through +and see nothing but them hills. Last month down at Richmond town I +bought me a spy glass. It's a good one and she brings them close. + +"One day a young feller who lives on yan side of Silver Creek rid up in +a side bar buggy. I thought he was kinder expecting to git acquainted +with Mary. He tied at the gate and come in. I met him in the front yard +where we keep the calves and let the sheep run. He walked up and shook +hands and says: 'I'm Bradley Clay.' I says: 'Dang it, I can't help it.' +He kinder stiffened his back, then he laffed and says: 'Mr. Saylor, +there is a stock sale down at Paint Lick Saturday; come down; you might +get some good cattle and sheep cheap for your fine pasture lands.' I +says: 'All right, young feller, I'll be thar. Will you come in the house +and have a cheer?' He says, 'No,' and rides off. I went over and bought +some right good stock pretty cheap. + +"The men were right friendly, specially Jack Gallagher, the auctioneer, +and we passed a few jokes. There was a whole bunch of wimen folks there, +but I didn't meet none of them and they don't seem to visit round much, +at least they don't come much to our house. I sometimes think the old +woman is most as lonesome as I be. + +"Caleb went over to the Paint Lick school house after Christmas; kept it +up three days and had a fight every day, then he had the mumps. That boy +is young yet, jest ten, so we let him quit the school, 'cause the +teacher called him a mountain wildcat. He traded a feller out of a fox +hound; now he and his houn' dog hunt rabbits and 'possums nigh 'bout all +day long. + +"Mary went east to school about Thanksgiving. It cost me nine hundred +dollars, but she's a good girl and helped you git me off. She writes her +mother nearly every day. I do hope you git down to see us soon. They +tell me there are some nice-looking gals 'round our settlement. You can +have the big boy's buggy which he bought ter take Clay's terbaccy +tenant's darter buggy riding. Do you dance? So do I, but not their kind +down there. They hug each other tight and slip erlong, while we shuffle +our feet and swing. + +"Before I go back I am going up to Berry Howard's and try to buy a +hundred-weight of home-cured bacon. Well, old woman, I think you and +this here young lawyer have talked erbout enough. Let's go on up to Aunt +Mandy's and go to bed. Come down soon; good luck and, as Caleb learned +from that Dago, 'boney sarah.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CORNWALL BUYS A HOME. + + +About eight months after Cornwall settled in Harlan, an old brick house +fronting the principal residence street, with a large yard of forest +trees and behind it a garden extending back to the river, about three +acres, was offered for sale. Cornwall, who was present as a spectator, +became suddenly and irresistibly possessed with a desire to purchase it, +and did so for fifty-eight hundred dollars, paying one-third of the +purchase price down, which was all the money he had, borrowing the +remainder from the local bank. + +After a careful examination of the house and grounds, which he had not +done in advance of the purchase, he became convinced he had made a +bargain and was confirmed in that idea when, two months later, Mr. Neal, +the owner of some coal properties on Clover Fork, who had brought his +family from Louisville to Harlan, offered seventy-five hundred dollars +for it. + +This offer he declined, because he had already written his mother of the +purchase, telling her the place was to be their home, and how well +satisfied he was with his work, and of the prospect for better things +the little mountain city offered. She had answered that it was her +intention to visit him as soon as the railroad was completed, when, if +he was as well satisfied and she found the place one-half as nice as he +declared it to be, she would remain and they would try to make the old +place a comfortable home. + +He answered at once that: "Several Louisville and Lexington families +have recently moved here, quite nice people, and you will find +sufficient social entertainment for one of your quiet disposition. When +we can afford to repair and remodel the house and furnish it, using your +handsome, old furniture, we will be very comfortable. Personally, I can +conceive of no more satisfactory arrangement. The railroad from +Pineville will be completed in less than a month, which will give +connection by rail with Louisville. Then you can ship our household +effects through and find the trip a reasonably comfortable one." + +Upon the completion of the railroad the little mountain city assumed +quite a metropolitan air. Many strangers came to town. This made +business; and Cornwall had as much to do as he could comfortably handle +and retain his position with the company. + +While at breakfast on the 6th of July, he was handed a telegram +announcing his mother's arrival on the morning train. The hotel was +crowded, but he procured a comfortable room and made arrangements to +meet her with a carriage. Then he went to the office and worked until it +was time to drive to the station. + +As he came out upon the platform the train pulled in; and his mother, +whom he had not seen for a year, waved to him from the rear platform. He +caught her in his arms and lifted her down, while she shed a few happy +tears and responded to his caresses. Then taking her hand baggage in one +hand and her arm with the other, he started towards the carriage. + +"One moment, John; I beg your pardon, Dorothy. This is my son, John +Cornwall; and John, this is Miss Dorothy Durrett, a niece of Mrs. +Neal's. She is making her a visit and expects to remain during the +summer. We came all the way together. I met her just after the train +left the Louisville station; we had opposite berths last night and +breakfast in Pineville at the same table, so we are fairly well +acquainted." + +"Miss Durrett I know your uncle very well and have met your aunt. I do +not see either of them here." + +"I should have telegraphed, but am careless about such matters." + +"I have a carriage at the door and lots of room; mother and I will be +glad to drive you to your uncle's." + +"I have found your mother such agreeable company, I would like to +continue the journey with her, even to uncle's door." + +The three walked to the street together, entered the carriage and drove +first to the Neal residence, where they left Miss Durrett, then to the +hotel. + +Mrs. Cornwall liked the town. Its location on the river bank and the +sloping foothills of Pine Mountain, the murmur of the river, and the +quiet, practical lives of her neighbors, all fit into her idea of a +place to live. The yard and garden of the place her son had purchased +she found charming and in sweet concord with the river and the hills. +She was not a critical woman, but all she could say in favor of the +house was; "It is substantial and seemingly built to withstand the +incursions of time." Though it had been built before the Civil War, the +foundation of stone, the wails of red brick and the roof of steel gray +slate, were as sound as when first constructed. The arched front door, +bordered with a transom and small panes of glass, was the one artistic +thing; and she declared must not be altered. But the small iron porch, +little longer than the width of the doorway, must be supplanted by a +broad veranda, the roof of which should be supported by massive colonial +pillars, in keeping with the grounds, and curative of the barrenness of +the house. + +The interior, she said, was a desecration of architecture as an +ornamental science, a waste of room and a destruction of grace and +beauty. Though John would not concede the waste of room, since every +thing was built on a right angle plan and nothing appropriated room but +the partition walls and a narrow stairway. The interior looked as though +it were fashioned by artisans who were zealous disciples of a +carpenter's square and who carried it about for insistent and perpetual +use. She pointed out where many new windows must be cut or old ones +enlarged and considerably modified in form. + +"John, you and I must save our money for the next year, then we will +have an architect give our modifications the sanction of his approval. +We must not be too precipitate with alterations; living in the old house +as it is a year, will settle just what we desire. In the meantime we can +find plenty to do in the yard and garden. + +"I have four thousand dollars in bank which I have been saving for you. +We will use it to pay off the balance of the purchase price and to +supplement my furniture, which is not more than half enough for the +house. + +"How happy we shall be planning and changing the house and grounds to +suit our mutual fancy. It will be the second time for me. When your +father was thirty we had saved three thousand dollars, just enough to +buy a little home. Then we changed our plan and built one fresh and new. +He died before the newness wore away and the place really looked like +home. I believe your plan the better one; to buy an old home with a +large front yard of great forest trees and a garden back of the kitchen, +a house of substantial wall and foundation and living in it, as fancy +dictates or need requires or purse affords, make your alterations; then +the place grows from strangeness to sympathy and takes on individuality. + +"These old cherry and pear trees we will make room for in our plans. But +you must cut out the dead tops and spray the trees. We want even these +old trees to look comfortable and happy. Oh, they are sickle pears and +nearly ripe. Just such ones as grew on father's place near Middletown; +and I, a girl in sun bonnet and gingham apron, climbed the trees or +picked them from a ladder. I must have a sun bonnet again and some +gingham aprons. When you come home in the evening I will stand erect or +walk with a sprightly step as a young girl and the sun bonnet will hide +my gray hair and pale face and you will say; 'I wonder who that slender +country girl is out under the trees? I suppose mother has gone to the +house for something.' When I turn round you will say; 'Why, it is little +mother; the mountain air and sunshine and the garden are doing wonders +for her.' John you are a good boy and you are helping too. + +"Look, John, there's a whole row of snowball and lilac bushes, and here +are some early yellow roses, and over there a border of golden glow and +a bed of lilies of the valley, and yet further on some hardy lilies and +peonies, and beyond the walk a strawberry bed and sage, and gooseberries +and red raspberries and an arbor of grape vines and a rustic bench. + +"We are at home, John. The garden makes me young again and I see your +father's face in your own. It is as though God had given me the two in +the one body. John, brush off the bench and let us sit here and watch +the shadows lengthen and fade and the coming darkness add zest and +brilliance to the full moon. Then we'll go to the house hand in hand and +you can help with the supper. You are not too hungry to wait a bit, +John?" + +"No, mother." + +They sat for some time in silence as the twilight deepened. + +"Mrs. Neal and her niece, Dorothy Durrett, called today. You must take +me over some evening to see them. I must not forget that you are a man +and that some time you will be looking for a wife. You must go out +occasionally, else you will appear awkward in the presence of young +ladies or be considered a crank." + +"I like to go, mother, but I have not much time since I've been up here. +Everything was new and I had to work hard and, even with that, have got +many a knock I might have dodged; and lost once or twice because of +inexperience. Experience in the practice is the best professor in law, +but rather hard on the client. * * * I met one nice girl. Though her +family were homely mountain people, she was making the best of her +opportunities. Last winter she took a preliminary course at Wellesley +and this fall enters the college as a freshman. I believe you would like +Mary; I did, anyway. This is Thursday; suppose we go over to the Neals' +Sunday afternoon or Monday evening." + +"I will go with you Sunday afternoon at four o'clock." + + * * * * * + +The Neal home was within easy walking distance of the Cornwall place. +John and his mother made their visit as planned. Their reception was +cordial; Dorothy showed that she was glad of the diversion. + +She was quite popular with the boys of her set at home; and it was an +unusual experience when she was not called upon to entertain one or more +young men Sunday afternoon and evening. + +She and Cornwall sat upon the porch, joining in the general +conversation. After a time Dorothy suggested that he carry the chairs +out in the side yard, where they sat under the shade of two wide +spreading elms. + +They talked of several recently published romances; of mutual friends in +Louisville; of their amusements, coming out parties; engagements and of +the marriage of two of their friends, which had proven a disappointment +to each party. + +"Well, Miss Durrett, what about the mountains; do you like them?" + +"They are all right for the summer if you could have a big house party, +bringing your friends with you. I must confess that I have done little +but read the week I have been here." + +"Oh, make new friends; adapt yourself to your environment; I can do so +with the men. There are some fine young fellows here; though they are +usually at work, except when they are hunting, or swimming or fishing. I +believe girls are scarce; at least I know very few. I will bring +Duffield and Reid around from our office and ask young Cornett to come +with us. How will it do for Wednesday evening. If you feel unequal to +entertaining the four, your aunt might ask a couple of girls in. We'll +be very glad to go for them and take them home again. Give me their +names and I will arrange with the boys." + +"How very kind; you are just the sort of friend one needs. Let's go at +once and speak to Mrs Neal." + +"Aunt, Mr. Cornwall and I are planning a little party for Wednesday +evening. He is to be responsible for the young men and you are to ask +three of the girls who have called;--and serve some light refreshments, +else Mr. Cornwall will have to take us to the drug store. Does Wednesday +evening suit you?" + +"Yes, indeed; what girls would you suggest Mr. Cornwall?" + +"They've hardly been in my line since I have been up here. I only know +one or two. It's nice to come not knowing who you will meet;--besides I +am not as deeply interested as the other three men. I shall speak for +Miss Durrett in advance and have the pick of all possible prospects." + +They returned to their seats under the elms and completed their plans; +Mrs. Neal having announced that she would ask Bessie Hall, Mary Norwood +and Helen Creech. + +Dorothy said; "The young men suggested shall go for them while you come +ahead and make yourself generally useful. This is the penalty for being +so presumptuous as to demand me as a partner before I have seen the +other gentlemen." + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Neal and Dorothy were both experienced entertainers and the little +party was a complete success. + +From Wednesday evening the Neal home became the center of gaiety for +more than a dozen young persons. At night when Dorothy was at home each +window seat and rustic bench was the stage of a scene from the first act +of a seemingly serious love affair, had not the actors changed partners +and rehearsed the same scenes. + +By day there were picnics to the mountain tops, fishing and bathing +parties, horseback rides up Clover Fork and down the river and at night +card parties, informal dances, hay rides and suppers. + +Cornwall, who for more than a year had been very studious and unduly +sedate, went everywhere; making repeated apologies to his mother for +leaving her so much alone all the while declaring that he thought a +thousand times more of her than any girl in the world. + +She and Mrs. Neal became great friends. Mr. Neal said, when his wife was +not at home he knew she was over at the Cornwalls', and John, who heard +the remark, replied; "I am always coming over to your house hunting +mother," at which the young crowd on the porch roared with laughter. + +Dorothy was the most popular of the girls and in her bird-like way a +beautiful little creature. A blonde of the purest type, of petite and +perfect form, weighing about a hundred pounds. + +Every boy that came to the house, at one time or another, gave her a +great bouquet of roses or mountain laurel or a box of chocolates. Among +themselves, they called her Dolly Dimples Durrett. All the household and +the girls called her Dolly; even Cornwall unconsciously called her Dolly +several times; once in Mrs. Neal's presence. After he left the house +Mrs. Neal asked Dorothy when he began doing that. "Oh! He did it +unconsciously; he is around and hears it so much; I am expecting every +day to call him John and probably have. It doesn't mean anything. I'm +almost sorry to say." + +She seemed not to care in the least who of the boys was her cavalier, +making it a point rather to keep the whole company entertained and in +the best of spirits though Cornwall was most with her and they were such +good friends as to feel privileged not to weary each other with forced +conversation, taking time to think a little. + +She was as vivacious and light of heart as a feathery summer cloud; and, +I was about to say, reminding one of a butterfly; but there was nothing +of the sedate, slow, hovery movement of that beautiful insect. Her's was +an extremely animated, aggressive daintiness. She always seemed to be +hovering near or peeping into a bunch of flowers or carefully selecting +a piece of candy for her dainty little mouth. + +Her costumes were filmy creations of silk or other soft fluffy stuffs +that gave forth the iridescence and sheen of a perfect opal; a coal of +unquenchable, oscillating ruby fire in the heart of a milky diamond. She +was a gorgeous little humming bird. So John described her to his mother +and she knew he had not found the girl he wished for his wife. + +One Sunday Dorothy and Mr. and Mrs Neal came from church to dine with +them. + +After dinner, while the others sat in the cool, darkened library, +Dorothy and John wandered about the yard and garden. + +They passed a bed of flowers in full bloom, over which darted and poised +a pair of humming birds. The flowers were not attractive to the eye or +of pleasant odor; but the long corollas held a pungent, honeyed +sweetness that attracted the birds and many insects. Its technical name +was Agave Americana. The seed had been brought from Mexico by the former +owner of the place who, after making a great fortune in mining, had +first settled in Harlan, but moved away, as the place offered very +limited opportunities for spending his income. + +When Dorothy passed the flower bed she gathered a handful and held them +to her face with evident relish as they walked through the garden and +found seats on the bench under the arbor. + +They had been seated a few minutes when a messenger came from the public +telephone office calling for John to answer a call from Pittsburgh. +Knowing it was urgent, he excused himself, asking Dorothy to wait in the +arbor, expecting to be gone five minutes. He was delayed at least +twenty. When he returned she was peacefully sleeping on the bench. To +awaken her he held the bunch of flowers to her face. + +She smiled, sat up and stretching out her arms moved them up and down +more rapidly than he thought humanly possible; the vibration or arc +described, being one eighth of a complete circle. She bent forward, +placing her lips above first one corolla then another. Her actions were +unmistakable imitations of a humming bird. During the whole time she +kept up an incessant humming or a chirpy little chatter, when John, +almost in tears, taking her by the arm, awoke her. + +"Oh! Oh! While you were away I slept and had the funniest dream. Come +with me to the hammock under the oaks in the yard and I will tell it. +Tell me the name of those strangely familiar flowers? Why they are the +very ones I saw in my dream!" + + +THE DREAM. + +"I sat on a bare twig, far from the ground, feeling safer at that giddy +height than nearer earth, preening pinions, polishing beak and uttering +the while a plaintive little chatter. + +"There was a whirry buzz from above, a breeze of swift motion, a tremor +of my perch, and beside me sat a gorgeous little knight, dressed even +more brilliantly than I. + +"His general body armor was of shining golden green, duller and giving +gradual place to an opaque black underneath. He wore a crown of metallic +violet and gorget of emerald green; his tail feathers were a brassy +sheeny green and upon his breast and near his eyes were a few feathers +of snowy white, as though he had been caught for a second in a snow +storm. + +"As he moved in the sunlight those colors shifted and changed until, if +I had not been restrained by modesty, in ecstasy I must have +cried;--'What a gorgeous being you are!' and he, doubtless reading my +thoughts and more than pleased that I liked his appearance, moved yet +closer and whispered words of love to me. + +"From our perch we looked out upon the land, the foothill country. It +was loved and kissed by the sun. The scent of fragrant blossoms filled +the air and the fields were dotted with vari-colored flowers. Far above +to the north was a mountain range, the highest peaks of which were +covered with snow, and far below to the south was a lazy tropic river +hemmed to the water's edge by forests of dense shade. There we never +ventured though sometimes when the sun was hottest we flew to the very +edge of the snow fields and sipped the most delicious nectar from the +white wax-like flowers that grew on their moist border. + +"It was a life of freedom and movement. Not a moment of inactive +discontent; to dart with the speed of an arrow but pursue as variant a +course as fancy dictated; from twig top to field, feeding upon honeyed +nectar and small insects which also loved the flowers and fed upon their +sweets. Not perching in sluggish dumbness at the place of feeding but +hovering in a fragrant flowery world over the red or white or blue +corolla cloth of an ever changing dinner service, leading all the while +a life of intense movement, to pass as a bar of light, to stop and rest +and as suddenly depart. + +"There is a flash of green, red and purplish light, as the iridescence +of the purest gem. Was it the airplane of a fairy passing by that gave +forth all those gorgeous hues, or had an angel in passing from heaven to +earth dropped a jewel from his crown? I saw no wings in motion, but I +have grown to know and love the sound I heard; 'tis Sir Knight returning +from one of his excursions. + +"He alights, and preening his feathers a second, the while humming a +little love ditty comes very close and whispers; 'Love, will you be +mine?' And the answer is so low that nothing but a humming bird may +hear. + +"So we leave the twig and skimming over field and rill come into a land +of flowers; and many of them are such flowers as I had just gathered. + +"No longer alone, we mingle with the bees and butterflies and many +insects and others of our kind, all intent upon a breakfast of honey dew +freshly garnered and served each morning; and such a service! The very +air is alive with the gathering; our ears are deafened by the whistling +sounds of flight, from a plaintiff treble to a resonant bass, mingled +with cries of joy and greeting and quarrelsome chatter. It is the +chit-chat of the insect world. + +"My mate on vibrant invisible wing is immovably suspended in a near +vertical position over a large bell white corolla, while I feast from a +platter with a scarlet border and a golden center. + +"Ye men who would learn to fly, take the humming bird for instructor; +and be taught that the most powerful flight is not given to breadth of +wing but to swiftness of motion or vibration; and in watching Sir Knight +poised above a flower you may solve the mystery of a suspended flight. + +"Finally we fix upon the place to build the nest, on a limb overhanging +the eddying pool of a mountain torrent, just above the foam and spray of +a waterfall. + +"Equally careful search is made for material. The foundation is made of +moss plastered into a mass and saddled on a limb. Then it is lined with +white vegetable lint or down. + +"I now lead a more sedate life as becomes one assuming the +responsibilities of rearing a family; and, a believer in a small and +well-groomed family, lay but two snow-white eggs. + +"While I am busy on the nest, Sir Knight pugnaciously guards bride and +home and, having much leisure, becomes an exterior decorator of the +nest, dressing it in a becoming coat of gray lichens. + +"A small hawk lights in the treetop; he is scarcely settled before our +guard makes swift and vicious charge at his head and eyes with +needle-like beak. The hawk in trepidation soars away, pursued for many a +yard, too slow to strike back effectively. + +"When the little fellows are old enough to make trips alone to the +flowery feeding grounds I fly to the edge of the forest and there, +tempted to feed from the cone-shaped flowers of a pendant vine, become +enmeshed in the web of a great tropical spider. + +"The spider stealthily approaches, watching a chance to spring when I +have grown even more helpless from futile struggle. There is a whir of +wing, a dart of rainbow light, a hole torn in the net. The spider is +tossed from his footing and falls wounded to earth. There is another +welcome whir of wings and I, torn loose, half flutter, half fly to a +nearby limb. Sir Knight has rescued his lady love! + +"It was then I awoke and found you standing beside me with those flowers +in your hand." + + * * * * * + +John did not think it necessary to tell the girl what she had done +before he aroused her. This knowledge, with the dream, was to him an +uncanny thing. The girl's experience he felt was in some weird way a +call from a misty and long-forgotten past. The dream but emphasized +comparisons he himself had made. He had even told his mother the girl +reminded him of a humming bird. This conception, with the dream, blotted +out all thought of the consummation of a slowly growing love. Though he +tried to conceal this feeling, the girl in a subtle way perceived it. +They returned to the library, and the Neals shortly after returned home. + +That night the girl was depressed and could not sleep. She found herself +repeating: "Oh, why did I tell John that dream! He did not like it; I +wonder why." + +The long-distance call was a request from Mr. Rogers to come to +Pittsburgh. He left the next morning on the early train, without seeing +Dorothy, and was detained ten days. When he returned she had gone home. +He wrote an almost formal letter explaining his sudden departure and +expressing regret that upon his return he had not found her in Harlan. +She answered, acknowledging the receipt of his letter and expressing the +hope that when he came to Louisville he would call upon her. + +As a business proposition, the trip to Pittsburgh had been a complete +success. The company had contracted to purchase some valuable mining +property in West Virginia and had sent for John to make a careful +re-examination of the title and check up the abstract furnished by the +vendor. This work required more than a week and when completed the +company found it so satisfactory they paid him a bonus of $250.00 above +his expenses and salary and informed him of a raise of his salary on the +first of the month, when his first year would be completed, to two +thousand dollars. This, with his practice, assured an income of four +thousand dollars a year. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MARY AND JOHN PROGRESS. + + +The experiences of Mary on her trip East to Wellesley and the first few +months of college life were such as to try her courage and earnestness +of purpose. Her traveling experience, until the family moved to Madison +County, had been limited to trips to Pineville, Middlesboro and Harlan. +Since moving, she had been to Richmond, Winchester and Lexington. + +A week or so before she went East, she and her mother had gone to +Lexington to purchase her clothing. Her father had given her one hundred +and fifty dollars for the purpose, to which she had added fifty dollars +of her own money. + +Before she bought anything she insisted on sitting an hour in the hotel +parlor and then walking about the street for the purpose of noting the +costumes of girls her own age. She had gone to church at Paint Lick and, +sitting near the pew of the Clays, had seen Bradley Clay and his sister, +Rosamond, come in. Watching the girl, she had thought what a becoming +costume she wore. It was a dark blue dress, very simply, though +carefully, made. With this limited experience, when she began +purchasing, going to a neatly dressed clerk and asking that she show her +some costumes, and such as she herself fancied; her purchases, when +completed and fitted, were appropriate and becoming and almost +transformed the girl. + +When the time came to leave home, her resolution was near the breaking +point. She feared her father might be convicted, though she had faith in +Mr. Cornwall, which had been strengthened by his predicted reversal of +her father's case. She had never been separated any length of time from +her mother, except when at school in Pineville. Then she had lived with +her mother's sister, her aunt Mandy, and went home every Saturday. Now, +for many months, she would be away from all kindred and acquaintances, +depending for sympathy and companionship on yet unmade friends. + +Her father said: "Don't go, little girl, if you don't feel like it," +while she cried in his arms. + +"Father, I shall go; be good to mother, and when Mr. Cornwall gets you +off never touch a gun." + +"Alright, Mary." + +Her mother accompanied her to Winchester and there, with face stained by +tears and the coal dust of the local train, bade her good-bye. Mary +bought her ticket by way of New York, on the C. & O. At the advice of +the agent, who was a kindly man and had grown daughters of his own, she +purchased a Pullman ticket and was told when she arrived in New York to +go straight to the traveler's aid matron in the station. + +When the train pulled up, her cheap, little trunk was put in the baggage +car and she, with a paper shoe box of lunch under her arm and a cheap +handbag in the other hand, boarded the train and took a seat in the day +coach, where she would have remained, except that the agent, seeing her +talking through the window with her mother, pointed her out to the +conductor as a Pullman passenger. After the train started, the conductor +piloted her to her section and, as he went out, whispered to the car +conductor to shoo off the drummers. + +In New York the station matron put her aboard her train and sent a +telegram to the college, asking that some one meet her, which Mary +signed and paid for. + +She was unable to qualify for the freshman course, but was permitted to +enter on probation. Her natural ability and application were such that +in a few months she had qualified herself to continue in the class and +at the end of the spring term was ranked among the most proficient of +the freshmen. + +Upon her arrival she had been given a room with a little snob, the only +child of a newly rich couple who lived in a suburb of Boston. Her +roommate did everything she could to make Mary as miserable as possible. +She made fun of her clothes, ridiculed her local idioms and expressions +and laughed at her inexperience. She would not study and tried to keep +Mary from doing so. She rolled on Mary's bed, keeping her own tidy; +appropriated three-fourths of the closet and most of the drawers of the +dresser and washstand, leaving for Mary the bottom drawer of each and +closet hooks in the dark corner. She reported to the matron that Mary +was not neat and quarrelled all the time. But the matron, wise to the +girls of her day and generation, had her suspicions, and by a careful +and unsuspected surveillance soon became cognizant of true conditions. + +Mary was changed to share the room of a girl from Austin, Miss Litton, +whose disposition was more like her own. From then on conditions became +comfortable. + +After Dorothy returned home, Cornwall's friends said he was hard hit, +because he turned his back on social diversions. He merely reverted to +his habits preceding her visit. For a while he was invited everywhere, +but declined; finally they discontinued sending invitations and left him +to his hermithood. + +His sole recreation was the improvement of the old place, at which he +spent all the time not given up to his law business. That grew steadily, +so that in 1900, six years after he had established himself in Harlan, +he had an income in excess of $5,000.00. This, with his mother's annuity +of $1,800.00, gave them more than three thousand dollars a year in +excess of their actual needs. + +The leisure of the fall and winter of 1895 was spent in cleaning up, +trimming the trees, transplanting shrubs and vines, including border +beds of hydrangeas which were planted around the walls of the house and +out-buildings. When spring came and the garden had been plowed, rolled +and planted, the grounds were in perfect condition. + +The yard and garden, so artistically laid off and perfectly kept, +emphasized the unattractive appearance of the bare, red-brick house +until John and his mother felt forced to alter its rectangular +barrenness. Since paying for the house they had saved something over +$2,000.00 for that purpose and felt justified in commencing its +alteration. + +Duffield, the company engineer, was possessed of considerable artistic +taste and an amateur architect. It so happened a friend of his from +Pittsburgh, an architect, whose specialty was suburban homes, was +spending his summer vacation camping and fishing on the Poor Fork. +Duffield, who was with him, finally prevailed upon John to join the +party. He rode up to the camp on Friday afternoon and remained until the +following Monday. + +The visiting architect, the afternoon of his arrival in Harlan, passed +the Cornwall home with Duffield. He commented upon the artistic +arrangement of the grounds; the contrast between them and the house; and +the opportunity the house offered for easy and artistic improvement. + +John, not knowing the visitor was an architect, or that he had even seen +his home, but seeking Duffield's approval of the contemplated +modifications, disclosed his plans and asked for suggestions. + +The architect, recalling the house, began making suggestions, in the +main approving John's plans. After they had discussed them for some +time, the visitor stated that when the fishing camp broke up he would +take a look and help out a bit. It was then John learned that Mr. +Bradford was an architect and regarded as an authority on suburban +homes. + +"Unless you stay up here and fish a few days with us, Bradford and I +will not help you change the sober face and severe interior of your old, +red-brick house. A home should suggest the character of its occupant, +and your character is growing more in concord with your house each day; +your affinitive expressions in a year or two will be perfect." + +"I must go to town Monday morning; it is county court day, but will +return Wednesday evening and remain until I have persuaded Mr. Bradford +to make his home with me while I pump him dry of plans for the +improvement of the old house." + +And so Cornwall had the cheerful and gratuitous assistance of an +architect in remodeling his home, who otherwise would have charged more +than he contemplated spending for improvement. When they returned to +town the three, with Mrs. Cornwall, spent several pleasant evenings +discussing and drawing up plans for remodeling it, Mr. Bradford and +Duffield becoming almost as interested as John and his mother. + +When the time came for Mr. Bradford to return home, John and his mother +exacted a promise from him to return the following summer and pass his +vacation as their guest. + +By the first of November the improvements were completed at a cost of +$3,300.00, making the total cost of the place nearly $10,000.00. It was +conceded to be the most attractive and modern home in the county, though +not the most expensive. Mr. Neal liked it so well that he offered John +$15,000.00, which was declined. + +The little mountain city in growth kept pace with John's improved +conditions. There were many new brick business buildings. The character +and appearance of the stores were modified from a general to a +specialized stock. When you bought a saw you might have to go round the +corner to buy a sack of flour or a pair of shoes. The names of the old +merchants, such as Nolen and Ward and Middleton, disappeared and the new +signs and advertisements read: "Shoes greatly reduced because of our +fire last week; going at half price. Leo Cohen." "We cut everything half +in two to make room for our new stock. Herman Mann." "Linens at less +than cost. Jacob Straus." + +A new bank and trust company were opened and the old bank, The Harlan +National, doubled its capital stock. The ice and lighting plants were +enlarged, and the city bought a site up the river, built a dam, +installed pumping engines and constructed water mains into the city. An +opera house was built, which, though its walls never re-echoed to the +high soprano notes of a prima donna; had trembled to their foundations +at the invectives of E. T. Franks; had shed sections of blistered +plaster at the sad wailings of Gus Wilson, and had been moved by the +matchless eloquence of A. O. Stanley when telling the tale of his setter +dog. + +The company's demands upon Cornwall's time had grown so that he asked +for and received an increase of salary of $50.00 per month to be used in +the employment of a stenographer. The young woman in the main office +who had formerly done his work was now scarcely able to answer the +company mail. + +It being impossible to procure a competent unemployed local +stenographer, he inserted an advertisement in a Louisville paper. The +answers he received were varied and in some instances amusing. One or +two sent their pictures. Several desired in advance to know the age of +their prospective employer and whether he was blonde or brunette. One +even asked that he send his picture, as she did not care to travel two +hundred miles from home to face a fright. + +He finally employed a little Jewess, whose reply dwelt particularly on +the question of compensation; demanded Saturday afternoon off; and if +the place did not prove satisfactory, even after several months' trial, +that her return expenses to Louisville were to be paid. Her name was +Rachael Rothchilds. She stated she was a sister of Mrs. Mann, whose +husband had bought out the Middleton general store. She remained with +him seven years until she married, and he never once regretted the +selection. + +When she came into the office the following Monday, Duffield was +present; they were going over a survey together. After taking a good +look at her he said: "Well, she'll not waste much time in flirtations. +This office will give her the go-by." She weighed about ninety pounds, +was twenty years old and had a sallow, scabby complexion. She evidently +thought that her face called for an apology, and stated that she had +just recovered from a spell of sickness, and her father thought the +mountain air might do her good. + +Her hair, however, was of remarkably fine texture and color, of a light +chestnut, giving forth flashes of gold. She was of slight though good +figure, was quick in catching a suggestion and endowed with considerable +business sagacity. + +As her father had expected, the mountain air did her good. Within three +months her complexion cleared up and she took on several pounds in +weight; color came into her lips and a snappy expression into her +formerly dull eyes. Duffield, who had been so severe in his criticism of +her appearance, began to take notice and to extend invitations to go +driving, or to lunch, or for a walk, but she invariably answered that +she could only go out with Jewish boys. + +She must have been with Cornwall a year before he realized how she had +improved in appearance. When sitting one day where the light and angle +brought out the perfect profile of her features and the golden sheen of +her hair, he first became aware that she was a beautiful woman, with as +clear-cut and classic a face as the best cameo might exhibit. + +She was so smilingly cheerful and sweet-tempered that the boys of the +office gave her the name of "Cricket," and so competent that suggestions +and directions were superfluous in the performance of her efficient +work. + +Slowly there crept into Cornwall's heart a tender feeling for the girl +and when, several months later, Leo Cohen, the shoe merchant, began +calling upon her and playing the devoted, and he saw how she responded +to his attentions, even when walking with him, taking side steps to look +up into his face with eyes of love and happiness, Cornwall suffered many +jealous pangs. + +In a way that women have, not known to men, she found out that Cornwall +was a devoted and consistent admirer. While she was fond of him in a +companionable way, the shoe merchant was too strongly entrenched in her +heart to leave the least room for another. + +The houses of Kentucky mountaineers are usually built upon a water +course. Every native family living on Cumberland River, or its forks or +tributaries, had a flock of geese which are kept to supply feathers for +their feather beds. The geese are rarely eaten. It is bad enough to be +plucked twice a year; the sensation is not pleasant and nights in the +mountains are cool. + +Even sadder days were in store for the geese after the establishment of +the Jewish colony in Harlan; the average life of a goose is fifty years +and this for the Harlan County flock was considerably reduced. The +colony found no trouble in purchasing plucked geese at bargain prices +for food and grease. + +Leo began his regular Sunday call on Rachael Rothchilds at 11 a. m. and +continued it without break or intermission until 11 o'clock every Sunday +night. + +Rachael, during each of three winters, expended a month's salary buying +geese to feed Leo and he grew fat and slick, the sly, old fox, on +hot-baked goose for dinner and cold roast goose for supper. Every time +he sneezed she pressed upon him the gift of a jar of goose grease with +which to anoint his chest, and he blackened and sold it to his customers +for shoe oil. + +Leo was slow and careful in making proposals and suggesting a wedding +day. For three long, suspensive years he called from two to three times +weekly upon the girl and each Sunday feasted upon the fat of Gooseland, +which is at the headwaters of the Cumberland River--all the while making +the girl believe that she was to be his wife, though she was made to +understand that the date was far ahead in the dim vistal future when his +financial position justified marrying one who bore the name of that +celebrated family of bankers. The day of the girl's contemplated +happiness might have been moved forward with satisfactory celerity had +not Leo inquired of his friend Simon, of Louisville, as to old man +Rothchild's bank account, and learned that he had nothing that sounded +like real money but his name, whereas to Leo a rich Jewess by any other +name would have seemed sweeter. + +After the courtship had continued three years, the shoe merchant in +preparing for a fire sale left too many tracks in the snow. The fire +marshal reported that the fire was caused by an Israelite in the +basement and Leo, after many worries and the loss of his insurance, +sought other goose pastures. + +In the early summer Cornwall wrote Howard Bradford, reminding him of his +promise to spend his summer vacation with them, and received an answer +saying he looked forward with pleasure to the time of keeping it, which +would be about the 20th of July. + +The first week in July, John, passing the Neal home, was surprised to +see Dorothy Durrett standing on the porch. She had arrived the day +before. He was glad to learn that she expected to spend the summer with +her aunt. They had a pleasant chat, for the most part, about their +parties of the summer of two years before. Dorothy was now nearly +twenty-one and in appearance even more attractive than when he had first +known her. He told her of Howard Bradford's contemplated visit, and they +began formulating plans for the summer. + +"You have not seen our house since it was remodeled according to Mr. +Bradford's suggestion, nor have you seen my mother; come with me now. I +am thinking of giving a dance in honor of our guest. Three rooms of the +lower floor are so arranged that they can be made into one, giving us +plenty of room to dance. Will you please help me out?" + +"Certainly I will, John. You used to say we were meant to help each +other. Let me get a hat and tell Aunt Anna where I am going." + +"How the place is improved! The grounds were always delightful; now the +whole is toned and in concord; a very delightful picture. There is your +mother at the door waiting for her John. The woman who takes you off her +hands gets an armload of responsibility. A man always compares his wife +with his mother and you, John, will expect your wife to love and mother +you as she has done." + +"Oh, Dorothy! I am glad to see you! I did not know you in the start, or +John, either. I do not see so well and I did not expect to see John with +a woman. When did you come? You are even more attractive than when you +were here two years ago. John has acted like an old man since then. I +wish some nice girl would marry him." + +"Oh, John and I understand each other; we could be the best of friends, +but never lovers. I will have to find him a good wife, else in his +inexperience, with his head buried in a book, he may make a mistake. I +know the very girl--Rosamond Clay, of Madison County; she visited me +last winter. I shall have my aunt ask her to visit us while I am with +her. Then I shall assign John to her and depend on Mr. Bradford or Mr. +Duffield to entertain me. Watch what a match-maker I am, Mrs. Cornwall. +Let us go through the house and then into the garden. My aunt insisted +that I hurry back. What a delightful place for your dance! We can +decorate with hydrangeas and golden glow. John, the garden looks just +the same as it did that Sunday afternoon two years ago when we sat on +this same bench under the arbor of ripening grapes and I told you my +dream of the humming birds. For a while I regretted having done so, +knowing that you saw too deeply into my heart and was not wholly +satisfied with the vision. What you saw was, in a way, the soul of +Dorothy. Now I am glad I told it. We would never have been real happy, +John, though we were beginning to think so. I hope before I marry the +one I love will tell me even his dreams; they sometimes lift the curtain +to the inner self. I must go now." + +"Mother, I am walking home with Dorothy and shall come right back." + +"Don't say that, John; no sentiment; that day is gone, perhaps for our +mutual happiness. You are my friend, John Cornwall, and always will be. +Come over tomorrow evening and tell me about yourself and your friends. +When Mr. Bradford comes I imagine I will like him. Good-night, John." + +The following evening John called on Dorothy. He found Duffield and +Helen Creech there. Duffield, rising when he came in, resumed his seat +beside Dorothy, while he sat on the opposite side of the porch talking +with Miss Creech. He remained an hour, walking home with her. As they +were leaving, Dorothy said: "Aunt Anna wrote to Miss Clay today. +Good-night, Mr. Cornwall. Come again whenever you can, Helen." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DOROTHY AND BRADFORD--ROSAMOND AND CORNWALL. + + +Howard Bradford arrived on the 21st of July. As he and Cornwall drove +through the gateway, he had an excellent view of the Cornwall home. He +declared the house charming as modified and complimented John on his +efforts as a landscape gardener. + +They spent the afternoon loafing around home, except an hour when John +went to the office, while Bradford slept, fanned by a breeze that blew +down the river and sang in softest murmurs through the windows of his +corner room. + +When Cornwall returned, Duffield came with him and remained for dinner +and until a late hour. Bradford, when he learned that they each owned a +saddle horse and that those for hire were saddle-galled and the +free-goers nearly ridden to death, handed $250.00 to Duffield, who had +said that he knew of a horse for sale at that price and worth the money, +saying: "Though I shall be here but two weeks, the horse can be sent to +Pittsburgh, or sold again if I do not like him." + +They had intended camping on Poor Fork at the camp site of the preceding +summer; but as each would have his own horse, and the fishing was better +just at that time five miles from town than near the head of the river, +they concluded to remain at home, spending the mornings fishing and the +afternoons boating, swimming or mountain-climbing. At least this was the +agreed programme until Duffield should complete surveying the Lockard +grant in Leslie County, when his vacation commenced. + +The next morning Cornwall sent Dorothy a note, telling her of his +guest's arrival and asking permission to bring him around that evening. +She answered: "You are to come at six and dine with us, remaining for +the evening. I have a surprise for you, John. It is unnecessary to +answer unless you find my invitation impossible. Dorothy." + +At six o'clock the young men, looking fresh and comfortable in their +white flannels walked over to the Neal home. Mrs. Neal and Dorothy were +sitting on the porch and after greetings all found seats. Rosamond Clay, +Dorothy's guest, came out and joined them. + +She was a tall, athletic, strikingly handsome brunette, just eighteen +and, as the boys subsequently found out, a better shot, swimmer and +mountain-climber than either of them. In disposition and appearance she +seemed the very antithesis of Dorothy, though Dorothy enjoyed an +open-air life, and her wiry, little body was capable of withstanding +great physical strain. + +"Mr. Bradford, this is Miss Clay, and, John, this is Rosamond. She had +just gotten in when I received your note and is the surprise I +mentioned. She is to remain a month and I am counting on you helping to +entertain her." + +"May my surprises always be as agreeable. With Miss Clay's permission I +shall do all in my power to make her visit a pleasant one. If she is +fond of out-door sports, riding, fishing, boating and mountain-climbing, +which we have a right to assume since she has come to the mountains, we +can promise her a good time." + +"That is just what I adore. I have brought my own saddle, fishing tackle +and swimming suit. I wanted to bring a canoe, but Bradford said I could +easily procure a dug out and refused to express anything but the +paddles. I even thought of sending my horse, but father said that would +scare Mrs. Neal to death, as she was expecting a visitor and had not +offered to adopt me. I understand you have a fine saddle mare; I shall +ride her and you can get a mule." + +"You have mentioned just the things she loves. She constantly wants to +be doing something or going somewhere. She rides, drives, swims, shoots, +climbs cliffs and trees and is a good, all-round sportsman. I'm not +sure, but I think she keeps several fox hounds. Her brother, Bradley, +says they belong to him to save her reputation. As soon as she wrote she +would visit me, I ordered some hob-nailed shoes and a bathing-suit from +Louisville and sent to the drug store for a bottle of iodine, some +surgeon's tape and several sheets of adhesive plaster. If you gentlemen +can work in a dance in the evening after each mountain climb, her +happiness is assured. Here comes father. Mr. Bradford, you are to sit +beside me at dinner and you, John, with Rosamond." + +After dinner Duffield and Miss Creech and Mr. Cornett and Miss Hall came +in; and the time until eleven o'clock was spent in chit-chat on the +porch or, when Mrs. Neal could be prevailed upon to play the piano, in +dancing in the drawing-room. + +Before the party broke up Bradford and Cornwall made an engagement to +take Dorothy and Rosamond up the river fishing at 6:30 the next morning. + +As the boys went home they stopped by the livery stable to hire three +saddle horses. Finding this impossible, they engaged a light jersey +wagon, which Cornwall and the girls were to use, while Bradford was to +ride Cornwall's horse. + +They had an early breakfast and left on time. When near the ford of Poor +Fork, Bradley discovered that he had left his tackle at the stable. He +rode back for it while the others, crossing the river, drove up the +fork. + +When they came to the creek, where it was planned they should seine +their minnows, they waited some time for Bradford; then Cornwall tried +to seine, but the stream was too deep and the seine too large for +individual effort. + +This Rosamond, the young and enticing Diana of the party, noticed and, +gathering up the cotton lap-robe, a coffee sack and some twine, which +she found in the box under the wagon seat, retired to a clump of elder +bushes and in a few minutes came forth draped in the lap-robe and +moccasined with coffee sacking. + +Cornwall was a slave to her most fantastic command from the moment she +stepped forth from her screen of elder bushes, topped with their white, +pancake flowers, and, taking hold of one end of the seine, jerked and +floundered him around while he attempted to retain possession of the +other, dragging him barefoot over sharp pebbles and, when on a smooth +ledge of rock, sat him down in water to his shoulders. He rejoiced at +Bradford's absence and that no other man had seen her loveliness, +half-hidden, half-revealed. + +They soon had a bucket of minnows and as they drove up the river were +overtaken by Bradford, who, mistaking the road, had ridden quite a +distance down the main stream. + +Miss Clay, Dorothy and Bradford had no trouble in landing a nice catch, +but Cornwall's eyes were never on his float, which the fish converted +into a submarine when baited and after the minnow had been stolen +reposedly floated upon the surface, the resting-place of a big, +lace-winged snake doctor. + +"Mr. Cornwall, why don't you rebait your hook and try to catch +something? What was the good of my going to all that trouble in helping +you seine if you will not use the minnows? You look everywhere, except +at your float; first at me, then over the treetops as though you wished +I were at home or in Heaven." + +"That's right, I look first at you. The minnows have helped you land the +fish. I feel like a crappie on a dusty turnpike. You have caught more +than one variety today! Let's go home. And I am not going to drive those +sleepy, old plow horses unless you sit on the front seat." And so they +rode home together. + +The next afternoon they planned to climb the mountain, but when Bradford +and Cornwall came to the house, he said to Rosamond: "Let us drive up +the river to Helen Creech's; Bradford and Dorothy can find something +else to do," to which she assented. + +Driving slowly along the narrow, shaded road that bordered the river +bank, he held her hand and called her "dear," and told her the love +story that Kentucky boys tell the girls with whom they go; and she +parried and checked him as she had several times before been called upon +to do with other boys. + +Thus each day, either paddling on the river or riding horseback, or +fishing, or bathing, or mountain-climbing, the four were together or +paired off; he with Rosamond and Bradford with Dorothy; and each +repeatedly declared that they had never before had so glorious a +holiday. + +Cornwall, at the end of two weeks, made up his mind to propose; and +Rosamond, expecting it, had decided she would accept--if he would +consent to defer the marriage a couple of years. + +Strange that Cornwall and Bradford should each have decided to propose +at the same time and place; that is, the night of his dance and on the +bench in the garden. Bradford, because he expected to leave the +following Monday, his stay already having consumed more than the +intended two weeks; Cornwall, thinking that he would first like to show +Rosamond through his home. + +While they were decorating the house, in which Mrs. Neal, Dorothy and +Rosamond assisted Mrs. Cornwall, he showed her over the house and +grounds and, pointing out the bench in the arbor, said: "Tonight, +Rosamond, at eleven I shall bring you out here and ask you something. +Watch the time and save that dance for me. If you do not, I may take it +for your answer." + +When the hour came he claimed the dance. After dancing a minute or two, +they passed into the dining-room and out the side door into the moonlit +garden. + +As they drew near the arbor they heard Bradley say: "This was my dream, +Dorothy." Cornwall, thinking of Dorothy's dream of two years before, and +remembering what she had recently said to him about dreams, was slightly +startled. He let go Rosamond's arm and unconsciously turned towards the +house. Rosamond, surprised and conscious of some subtle change in his +mood, suggested that they return to the ballroom. + +Bradford, without giving Dorothy time for thought, brought her into the +garden and told his dream of the night before. + +"Last night I came directly home after I left you and went to my room. +Feeling I could not sleep, I sat in the window, looking out upon the +moonlit mountain side and the silent river, the moon seeming to make a +path of silver on the water to the base of the little trail up the +mountain where yesterday I told you that our friendship, at least to me, +grew stronger with each succeeding day. Then I said the simple prayer my +mother had taught me when a little boy and went to bed and to sleep. + +"I dreamed that mother let go of my hand and I went forth alone, a +little boy in knee trousers, walking along a narrow path that followed +down the bank of a tiny rivulet. As I walked along I grew older, my +clothing changed to suit my age, the path began to broaden and the +stream to deepen, and I passed along through the school days and other +experiences of my boyhood, still following the broadening path and +deepening stream and passing one by one the experiences I have known. +The start was at sunrise and the day perhaps a third gone when, I, a +grown man, came out into a valley and to a river over which was a +fragile bridge. I saw that thousands of trails like my own converged at +its approach and spread out fan-like from the other end. As I stood and +looked, the trails around faded out, except the one down which I had +come and another. A short way above the bridge a stream like the one I +had followed flowed into the river and along its bank was a path much +like the one I had followed. As I looked a young woman came round the +turn and saw the river and the bridge and that I stood waiting at its +approach. She hesitated for a moment and then came slowly on. When she +drew near I saw it was you and, going up, took your hand and together, +hand in hand, we crossed the bridge. Looking ahead, I saw that the many +trails at the farther end had disappeared except the small one up the +mountainside; this we took. + +"The trail gradually broadened into a bright, smooth way and the ascent, +though unbroken, was not difficult. All the time I held you by the hand. +One day your step grew slower and, looking for the cause, I noticed +that, though I still held your left hand, a small boy walked on the +right and held the other. I felt some small, warm thing take hold of my +left hand with a tender, warm pressure and, looking down to see the +cause, saw it was another Dorothy, a miniature of your own sweet self; +and would have taken her up on my arm, but you, wiser than I in such +things, said: 'She must walk the trail--all you can do is to go more +slowly and lead her by the hand.' After a time I noticed that these two +found no trouble in keeping up with us and, before we reached the top, +they occasionally restrained themselves to keep pace with us. When at +the top, the boy, unknowingly, let go your hand. He followed a trail to +the right along the comb of the ridge, which you and I could not follow, +though we tried. The girl with a cry of joy released my hand and took +that of a young man who seemed waiting for her, and they journeyed on to +the left. I, taking both your hands in mine because our idle hands +seemed lonely, looked into your face, as I had not done since first we +met by the river. Your face had grown more thoughtful and more calm, +more patient and more kind; the lovelight in your eyes spoke of the +soul. Your hair, though white, was more beautiful than when pure gold. I +knew your unspoken thoughts; and, with the lingering kiss of yesterday +and a smile for the morrow, we turned our faces and journeyed downward +into the vale of years. Dorothy, shall we make the dream come true or +must I go back to the bridge and hunt another trail?" + +"If you are quite sure you wish it above all else the world can give, we +will live the dream." + + * * * * * + +Cornwall spent the entire day after the dance at his office. He found a +note from Mary in his mail. She was at her home in Madison County. He +wondered how she might look after three years at Wellesley. She +mentioned that one of her neighbors was visiting in Harlan, Miss Clay, +whose brother, Bradley Clay, had called the evening before, and stated +his sister had written she was having a perfectly glorious time. + +The thought occurred to him that if Mary were near enough, he would go +to her. Rosamond I love when near her; I think of Mary every day--yet I +have not seen her for three long years. + +When Bradford, entering the room and all smiles, said: "Come, let's go +to the Neals,'" he answered: "No, I think I shall rest tonight; I am +moody and prefer solitude." + +"Well, I'll go for Duffield. Pleasant dreams, John, as happy as mine +shall be; so long!" + +John went into the library and read the first few pages of Machiavelli's +"History of Florence," about a king of the Zepidi and his daughter, +Rosamond, and he slept, and as he slept he dreamed. + +It seemed to him that his Rosamond, perhaps ten year older, came into +the room. She was clothed in vivid draperies and wore a circlet of old +gold upon her brow, heavy bracelets upon her upper arm and a chain-like +girdle of gold around her waist, from which hung a jeweled dagger. + +As he looked she spoke: + +"I rarely see father, except in armor. Day after day mother and her +maids work at bandages and wound dressings. The halls of the castle are +littered with arms and the courtyard and plain surrounding the walls is +the assembly ground of armed horsemen preparing to go and returning from +distant camps. It has been thus since Narses drove our kinsmen home to +Pannonia, after several years' quiet occupancy of northern Italy. + +"Now, Alboin, King of Lombardy, instigated by Narses and aided by the +Avars, following after our expelled kinsmen, has invaded our country +even to the plains of the Danube. We can see from the castle walls not +only our own, but his invading host as they make preparation for final +battle to determine the sovereignty of Pannonia. + +"With such a drama pending, I am not content to be a bandage and +salve-maker in the women's quarter. Who would, if brought up to ride and +fence and wrestle with brothers and cousins, when they had all gone to +war? I desired to go, but was not permitted. Now with Maria, my maid, I +have found a good observation point in the tower and watch the opposing +forces maneuvering for position in advance of hostilities. + +"Maria, I make out father's standard on the hillside near the grove; and +just across the small stream, not more than five hundred yards away, +that of Alboin, King of Lombardy. See! they charge each other; you may +hear the din and shouting even at this distance. + +"Maria asks: 'Mistress Rosamond, no matter what happens, will you care +for and keep me with you?' + +"Do not be afraid; father will win. Our men heretofore have fought under +other leaders not so brave, while he massed this force for the supreme +struggle. * * * They seem to have fought for hours, neither side gives +an inch. * * * See! the stream which runs through the field of battle +and flows by the castle is red with blood. * * * I fear 'tis a sad day +for Pannonia. Oh! our army gives on the north wing, * * * but father +holds firm in his position * * * Oh! the north wing has broken and flees +toward the castle! All seems lost! Father will be surrounded! See how +our men and the enemy are intermingled in their flight. They will reach +the castle gates together; it will be impossible to let them in. Maria, +run to the gatemen and tell them to close the gates and let no one in +till father comes. That cowardly mass if they entered, would be no +protection but surrender the castle. But wait; we will go together to +the gates. + +"Gatemen! Friend and foe come together. Raise the draw! Close the gates! +Let the first to flee be the first to die, and at the castle gates! Let +them make an unwilling stand in defense of their own lives and so defend +the gates! They tell me a coward fights hard when cornered. Dare disobey +at your peril! It is the command of your king. + +"The princess is right; to let this fleeing mob enter is but to +surrender the castle. Raise the draw! Drop the portcullis! + +"In a few minutes there was a struggling mass in front of the gates. Our +men, finding them closed and no way to escape their assailants, fought +with the desperation of cornered beasts. + +"The standard of Pannonia still floated where first the conflict began, +showing that my father, the king, made desperate resistance against +overwhelming odds. * * * But even as I looked I saw it swept down under +a driving charge and knew he was of the dead and the battle lost. + +"In a short while the fighting ceased around the gates. Alboin, King of +Lombardy, riding up. I ordered the bridge lowered and the gates raised, +when he rode unopposed into the court yard. + +"Those were fierce, wild days. A feast in celebration of the victory and +of Alboin's coronation as King of Pannonia was held in the castle and a +week later I was forcibly made wife of the victorious king. I was told +my father's skull had been shaped into a drinking cup and used by +Alboin at the feast of victory. + +"He was comely and commanding; demanding and receiving homage and +instant obedience from all. In time I might have loved him, except for +the drinking cup. + +"So Alboin reigned King of Pannonia and I his queen for more than two +years. + +"Then Narses, who commanded the forces of Justinian in all Italy until +the Emperor's death, was deposed by his son and successor, Justin, who, +at the instance of his Queen, had Longinus appointed in Narses' place. +In revenge he invited my husband to invade Italy. + +"Alboin consented; and was so successful in the undertaking as to gain +possession of all Italy from the northern boundary to the Tiber. He +established his capital at Pavia and his household and court were moved +from Pannonia to that city. + +"A great feast was held at Verona to celebrate his victories and the +establishment of the new kingdom. I sat across the table from him. The +ferocious and heartless man ordered the drinking cup made from the skull +of my father and filling it with red wine to the brim, passed it to me, +saying: 'It is but fitting in celebration of our great victories that +you should drink with your father.' I tossed the contents into his face, +threw the cup from the window into the Adige and fled from the banquet +hall. + +"From that night my sole purpose in life was to avenge the insult. I +determined that he should die by my procurement or at my hand. + +"The maid, Maria, who in devotion would have given her life for mine, +had a lover, Helmichis, shield-bearer of Alboin. I plotted with her that +he should become the instrument of my vengeance and so had her bring +him to my chamber. There I soon discovered he was not sufficiently in +love with the maid to assume any risk on her account or at her +solicitation. + +"Willing to take any risk or make any promise to accomplish the +assassination, I finally agreed to marry him, if he would kill my +husband. This he did. + +"The Lombards were so exasperated over their King's death we dared not +remain in Pavia or even in Lombardy; but, seizing the royal treasure and +leaving Maria behind, we fled to Ravenna, where Longinus, Narses' +successor, had his capitol. There we were royally entertained and most +kindly treated. + +"It was not long before Helmichis grew disgustingly wearisome to me. He +quarreled much about the possession and division of the royal treasure, +which was very great, but never once did he see within the chests. He +was anything but a model husband, delighting in low company, flirting +with every maid and peasant girl and by nature fiercer and much less +refined than Alboin, whom I had found endurable, except when drunk. + +"Longinus, on the other hand, was a refined and courtly man, having been +brought up in the palace of Justinian. I admired him much. He was wise, +brave, ambitious and most prepossessing in appearance. He had told me +several times that had I come to his court a widow, his disappointment +would have been great had I not remained as his Queen. + +"About this time the Emperor Justin died and was succeeded by Tiberius. +He was so occupied by his wars with the Parthians as to neglect his +Italian possessions, leaving them masterless or to be ruled by Longinus +as the real, though not the nominal, King. + +"I had become the confidential adviser of Longinus; and in discussing +matters of state and the condition of the empire, we concluded it was a +most opportune time to take possession of northern Italy to the Tiber; +and were convinced that by pooling our resources this could be +accomplished, were it not for Helmichis. The first step in the +consummation of our plan was to be rid of him. + +"Each day he took a hot bath. He always came forth thirsty and demanded +that I prepare a cool, acid drink and hand him. Longinus, knowing this, +gave me a strong poison to put in his drink, and when next I mixed and +served it I used the poison. + +"Helmichis drank more than half when, noticing the flavor, his suspicion +was aroused, and, knowing that he knew, I smiled. He snatched up his +short sword, caught me by the hair and, handing me the goblet, shouted: +'Drink or lose your head.' + +"Preferring to die from the poison than be a disfigured, headless +corpse, I drank what remained, and died within five minutes of my +despised husband." + +John awoke with a start, considerably disquieted by his dream. + +The next evening, with Bradford, he called at the Neals'. Dorothy met +them at the door and they found seats. Rosamond, tall, graceful and +queenly, came into the room. To John it seemed a shadow followed after +her; the wraith of the widow of Alboin, co-conspirator with Helmichis +and Longinus. + +It was impossible to live down this unpleasant impression for a day or +two. While doing so, Rosamond took offense at his coolness and announced +her intention of returning home the following Monday. Dorothy expressed +disappointment at this and Saturday afternoon stated that she, too, +would leave on Monday. Bradford left on the same train. The three +traveled together as far as Stanford, where Rosamond left them; then +Bradford and Dorothy rode on to Louisville. + +There Dorothy was met by her mother. Mr. Bradford was introduced and +drove with them to the Durrett home. He remained in Louisville several +days and called at the Durrett home every afternoon, remaining for +dinner and until a late hour. + +The morning of his departure, glancing through the personals--a +suspicious act, as it was rather unusual for him--he read of his +departure after a brief visit, and at the head of the column that Mr. +and Mrs. Harrison Durrett announced the engagement of their daughter, +Dorothy, to Mr. Howard Bradford, of Pittsburgh. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE SAYLOR FAMILY. + + +While Cornwall prospered financially and established an enviable +reputation as a lawyer, fortune did not overlook the Saylor family. + +Old man Saylor and his wife were thrifty souls. Though their farm, with +its fine colonial dwelling, was one of the best in their end of the +county, they had never been given the opportunity to entertain +extensively or had occasion to maintain a stylish and expensive +establishment. + +Mary's four years at Wellesley had cost about four thousand five hundred +dollars. This outlay old man Saylor would never have consented to, +looking upon it as an absolute waste of good money, except that he gave +Mary as much credit for his acquittal of the Spencer killing as he did +John. He had the money to spare, having each year cleared more than that +sum on his tobacco and speculations in the mule market. + +He was a great judge of mules. Bradley Clay said when a mule colt was +foaled Saylor could look at it and tell within five pounds of its weight +as a four-year-old. + +Caleb had been sent to Lexington to school. He remained during the fall +term and until after the spring races. Then he returned home, having +been expelled because every day he had attended the races and bet on the +horses. It was even said that he had procured a jockey to throw a stake +race. He announced that he had finally quit school, which he argued was +a waste of time, as he intended to practice law and enter politics. + +He was the owner of a fine saddle mare and a gelding that could trot a +mile on the smooth turnpike to a light side-bar buggy in 2:45. Either +riding the one or driving the other he attended all the farm auctions; +nor did he ever miss a county court day or jury trial at either Richmond +or Lancaster. At these trials he first sat back of the railing; then, +making friends with the sheriff, the clerk and the younger lawyers, he +sat within the reservation for members of the bar. The sheriff and clerk +had each offered to appoint him a deputy, but these honors he declined +with thanks. When he was twenty-one he was more than six feet tall, +weighed a hundred and seventy and, as the sheriff said, was the +hustlingest politician in the county. He had been voting for several +years. + +Though his folks were Republicans, and had been since the Civil War, he +deemed it a political mistake to vote that ticket in a Democratic +county. At an early age he began voting and working in the Democratic +primaries and soon acquired considerable influence with farm laborers +and tenant-farmers, the men who usually do the voting in country +primaries. + +One summer morning (he was not yet twenty-four) he told his father he +was going to put one over on old man Chenault and beat him for the +Legislature. Colonel Chenault was a native of the county; he had been a +lieutenant in the Confederate army, was a rich farmer and, it was +generally supposed, would have no opposition for re-election. + +Caleb began riding over the county, telling the tenant-farmers and +laborers that they should send from a farming community a representative +who was a laboring man like themselves, instead of a land-grabbing +"Colonel," a man who thought himself better than anybody else. "Has +Colonel Chenault or his wife or his daughters ever been in your house? +You see them often at the house on the hill. Did he ever speak to or +shake hands with you? Yes, when he was a candidate for the Legislature; +then he wipes his hand on the seat of his pants." + +"That's right; I never thought about that; but who'll we run?" + +"You run." + +"Oh, I ain't got no education much; I've got to harvest this crop." + +"Well, we'll find somebody, even if I have to run to beat the damn +aristocrat. You keep still about it, but be sure and come to the +convention at the court house next Saturday at two o'clock." + +"Oh, I'll do that; so long." + + * * * * * + +Colonel Chenault, with about twenty of his friends, all of whom were +good judges of horses, whiskey and tobacco, and who could tell a pair of +deuces from a full hand, came rather late to the convention, not having +the least intimation of opposition. + +They were surprised to find the court room filled with farmers and men +of the hills, from the eastern side of the county. This gathering the +Colonel appropriated as evidence of his popularity and as a spontaneous +endorsement for his renomination. Obsessed with this thought, he +strutted up the aisle like a pouter pigeon. + +The temporary chairman of the meeting, Chesley Chilton, who expected to +be nominated for sheriff the following year, and who saw that a surprise +was about to be sprung on the Colonel, called Caleb to one side and +asked the cause of the gathering. + +"Oh, you stand by us and we'll help you out next year. I know what you +want. Chenault is a dead one and don't know it. We are after his scalp. +Here he comes with his collection of fossils; time's up; call the +convention to order." + +Caleb moved that the temporary be made the permanent chairman; this was +done without opposition. Then a secretary and three tellers were +chosen--all friends of Caleb's. One of Colonel Chenault's friends +complained that all this was a waste of time, as the Colonel had no +opposition. + +Then the chairman called for nominations and Colonel Chenault was +pompously nominated by Colonel Shackelford, who closed his remarks by +moving that nominations close and the Colonel be unanimously declared +the nominee. + +At this suggestion there was a stentorian clamour of noes. In the midst +of the uproar Webster James, a candidate for county attorney, who had +the promise of Caleb's support and an understanding with him, rose and +was recognized by the chairman. + +"Mr. Chairman: I have always felt that office should come unsought; +should seek the man. I know not how many appreciate the special fitness +of the young man whose name I am about to present to the democracy of +this county, suggesting his nomination from this the Seventy-second +Legislative District. I know he will be surprised when he hears his +name, but this great gathering is in his honor and he must regard the +call as one to duty and service, which, though it comes unsought, can +not be disregarded. The office seeks the man and it is tendered by his +fellow-citizens. I have the honor to nominate Hon. Caleb Saylor, of the +Paint Lick precinct." + +At the mention of Saylor's name and the resounding cheers which greeted +it, Colonel Chenault nearly collapsed with surprise and indignation. + +He turned to Colonel Shackelford, saying: "I am beaten and by that +mountain upstart. I would not let him in my front door." + +The chairman directed that those favoring Colonel Chenault should gather +on the right side of the center aisle, while those favoring Hon. Caleb +Saylor should gather on the left, so they might be counted without +confusion by the tellers. + +This was quickly done. Though it was midsummer, the Chenault men +gathered about the court-house stove. + +In ten minutes the vote was counted and reported by the tellers. The +secretary announced the vote: + + Colonel Hamilton Chenault 23 + Hon. Caleb Saylor 217 + +Whereupon the Colonel marched out, followed by a mere squad, and, there +being no other business, the convention adjourned. + +At the following November election Caleb Saylor beat his Republican +opponent by more than three hundred majority. + +On the first day of January, several days before the Legislature was to +convene, he came to Frankfort, desiring to be on hand for all party +caucuses. He soon became a familiar figure around the hotel lobby and +the corridors of the Capitol. + +He made it a point to meet all State officials and every prominent +politician, Democrat or Republican, who visited the Capitol. When the +lower house was not in session and the Court of Appeals was, he attended +its sessions and sat within the space reserved for attorneys. He and +Judge Singer, whose judicial ear was attuned to the hum of the +gubernatorial bee, became great friends. As a member of the Judiciary +Committee he supported a pending bill allowing to each judge of the +court a stenographer, and helped through the committee other bills that +Judge Singer and the several members of the court favored. + +Having procured the necessary certificate of good character, he made +application for admission to the bar and was given an examination by +Judges Grinder, Singer and Dobson. + +Among certain questions propounded by the court and all of which he +answered--he always had an answer ready--were the following: + +"Mr. Saylor, define the difference between real and personal property." + +"If I had a hundred dollars in my pocket, that would be real property; +if I had your note for a hundred, that would be personal property." + +"When, in a criminal trial, is the defendant declared to have been +placed in jeopardy?" + +"When he acts like a jeopard." + +"Do you deem yourself qualified to render valuable and efficient +assistance to a client or to appear as amicus curiae?" + +"Yes, sir; especially in the trial of a jury case; but he's had more +experience that I have; he's now assistant city attorney of Louisville." + +"Where do you get that idea?" + +"Judge Dobson, that is what this court says in the case of Ewald Iron +Company against The Commonwealth, 140 Ky. 692: 'Clayton B. Blakey and +Amicus Curiae, attorneys for the City of Louisville.'" + +"What law books have you read?" + +"I have read Bryce's American Commonwealth, Cooley's Constitutional +Limitations and a work on Constables. I have been too busy getting +practical ideas about courts and juries to read much law; with me the +main thing is to know the judge and the jury." + +His examiners issued a license. Judge Dobson at first demurred, but +finally consented when his colleagues explained what efficient service +Saylor had rendered as a member of the Judiciary Committee, saying: "I +ought not to do it, but his neighbors will soon find out what he knows +and leave him alone; he will not have opportunity for much harm." + +After the adjournment of the Legislature Caleb moved to Richmond and +formed a partnership with Webster Jones, who was a graduate of an +eastern law school. Jones prepared their pleadings and attended to all +equity practice, while Caleb solicited business and tried their jury +cases. The firm obtained its share of the business and Caleb met with +more than average success in the handling of his jury cases. + +His vanity was tremendous. No one had ever succeeded in satisfying its +voracious appetite; it would swallow anything and hungrily plead for +more. His father, having started early and knowing what pleased his boy, +was his most satisfactory feeder. It was Caleb's practice to drive out +to the farm on Saturday afternoon and remain until Monday morning, +boasting of his successes in business and politics and listening with +satisfaction to his father's unstinted praise. + +One Sunday afternoon, about a year after he began practicing law, his +father being ill and there being no one about the house who cared to +spend the afternoon talking with him about what he had done; he decided +to drive over to Colonel Hamilton Clay's and call upon his daughter +Rosamond. + +He had tried it once or twice before. She had sent word she was not at +home, then made it a point as he drove away to show herself at a door +or window, so he might know that another call was not expected. But this +species of reception did not deter Caleb or penetrate the armor of his +conceit. It was impossible for him to believe that Miss Clay, or any +other woman, might not find his attentions desirable. + +As he drove up before the old Clay homestead, which had been the +birthplace of a General, a Governor and an Ambassador, Rosamond, reading +near an upper window, saw Mose, the stable man, take his horse. She +thought: "Here comes that conceited boor, Caleb Saylor, to see me again; +I shall send word I am not at home; * * * but it is dreadfully dull this +afternoon, no one else seems to be coming, this book is the worst ever, +he might prove entertaining; I'm twenty-nine and can't be so particular; +I'll go down and see how the clown talks." + +"Well, Mr. Saylor, it has been quite a time since you called. Take this +seat," and Rosamond sat down on the other end of a large hair-cloth +sofa, where her Aunt Margaret had sat and entertained her Sunday +afternoon visitors more than thirty years before. + +She was the same queenly, thrilling Rosamond that John Cornwall, ten +years before, had loved for a few days. Her beauty was certainly none +the less; her maturer form, more charming, was becomingly exhibited in a +closely fitting dark blue gown. + +After a few commonplace remarks, Caleb Saylor made himself the sole +topic of his own conversation. This was the subject nearest his heart +and one upon which he elaborated with minuteness and eloquence. As she +looked at and listened to him the thought at first unwelcome, entered +her mind that here was a man she might have, and without effort, for a +husband. And as she listened to his tale of "I done this" and "I done +that" and "I will do this and that" she thought how she, a woman of +tact and judgment and refinement, might take into her hands this thing +and, in a sense, make it plastic clay, and use its elements of life, and +power, and energy, and unscrupulousness, and nerve, and egotism, and +mountain courage, and almost make a man like her great grandfather. + +The experiment was a fitting opportunity for an ambitious and courageous +woman who, though she might not find full measure of happiness and love +which only comes with respect, yet would meet with adventure, would dare +fate and hazard chance with fickle fortune. The prospect to her mind was +more pleasing than to be the wife of a gentleman farmer and grow fat and +matronly--the other chance just then offered. + +For the first time she appraised his virtues and was pleased with his +appearance. She wondered if he had sense enough to keep still when +silence was golden, and could be taught at opportune times to shift the +shower of his eloquent eulogy of himself to an ambitious friend. + +Caleb and Rosamond passed two hours of the afternoon together in the +parlor of the old mansion undisturbed in their communion by the +portraits of her patrician ancestors; the living members of her family +walked softly, even when they passed the closed door. When she received +they dared not intrude, though they had never felt more curious or been +more surprised than at this protracted visit. + +As Caleb rose to leave, he took her hand and said: "I have shorely +enjoyed my call and am coming again next Sunday afternoon." + +"Do, Mr. Saylor! I shall keep the date for you. It is not becoming in +neighbors to be so unsociable or see so little of each other," and +slowly, after a lingering pressure, she withdrew her hand. + +The next Sunday afternoon Caleb called again. He came at two and when he +left the spring sun had kissed the fields goodnight. To Rosamond's great +surprise, he proposed. + +"We are scarcely acquainted, Mr. Saylor. Though we have been neighbors +for years, you have denied me the pleasure of your visits. You know a +girl can not call upon a man. How do you know that you love me as you +should? I have never thought about you as a husband, though I find your +company most agreeable. You must give me another week before you press +for an answer." + +"I will press you now and let you say 'yes' again next week." + +And they laughed and the bride-to-be blushed, and with downcast, dreamy +eyes, slowly yielding to the increasing pressure of his strong, young +arm, unexpectedly found her head nestling in contentment and happiness +upon his broad shoulder. + +That night she disturbed the peace and quiet of the family circle by +announcing that she was to be a June bride and Mr. Saylor was to be the +groom. + +Her mother rose and kissed her and in tears resumed her seat without +speaking. Her father grew red of face and swore that the upstart should +never again put foot upon the place, at which she informed him that his +remarks were uncalled for and his energy wasted. Her brother told her +she was lowering herself and disgracing the family name, but, he +supposed, taking advantage of what she must consider a last opportunity. +To which she replied: "I did not expect such remarks from you, Bradley, +as three years ago you asked Mary Saylor to be Mrs. Bradley Clay, an +honor she declined with thanks." Nothing more was said in opposition to +the marriage. + +During April and May, Rosamond and her mother were busy preparing for +the wedding, which occurred on the 5th of June and was attended by the +aristocracy of four counties. There were a few guests from even a +greater distance. Judge Singer and his wife were present, as was a +former Governor; Dorothy and her husband came on from Pittsburgh, Mrs. +Neal from Harlan, and Mary from Wellesley; but John Cornwall was not +invited. + +Two years after his marriage Caleb was made a member of the Democratic +State Central Committee and a member of the Campaign Committee from his +district in a close race for Governor. Taking the advice of his wife, +which was becoming a habit, he made a liberal contribution, sending it +directly to the candidate, and rendered very efficient and valuable +service. He made two very good speeches, which were written by his wife, +who also drilled him in preparation for their delivery. She long since +had spread the information throughout the State that his mountain idioms +and ungrammatical lapses were affectations to catch the uneducated +voter. + +The Governor, shortly after qualification, appointed Saylor as a Colonel +on his staff, and he and his wife were entertained at the mansion. His +wife was named as among those to receive at a reception given by the +Governor to the newly inducted State officials and the General Assembly. + +About this time a very wealthy man who owned a farm near Lexington died. +The State became involved in litigation, seeking to recover inheritance +and ad valorem taxes from his estate, claiming he had died a resident +of Kentucky. Similar litigation was pending in the State of New York. + +Upon the recommendation of the Attorney General that special counsel was +needed, the Governor appointed Colonel Caleb Saylor and ex-Chief Justice +Dobson to represent the State. Without a great deal of trouble they +collected eight hundred thousand dollars and were paid a fee of fifty +thousand dollars for their services, thirty-five thousand of which by +contract went to Colonel Saylor as senior counsel. + +He and his wife had spent a pleasant week in New York while he made his +investigation and compromised the State's claim. The day before they +returned home they visited Tiffany's. Mrs. Saylor's love and respect for +her husband were in no sense lessened when he invested three thousand +dollars in two rings, which, though they were flawless gems, could +scarcely be said to adorn his wife's tapering fingers and patrician +hands. + +His friends noticed that now, instead of singing his own praises, he +could never say too much in laudation of his wife; and she clung to his +arm and whispered sweet speeches into his ear as a bride of eighteen +might do. + +It was noticeable that the Colonel had grown to be adept at showering +compliments upon his superiors and always had pretty speeches for their +wives. On county court day he went out to the cattle market and shook +hands all round with the farmers. + + * * * * * + +In the spring of 1899, about seven years before Colonel Saylor's +marriage, Cornwall received an invitation to the commencement exercises +of Wellesley and noticed that Mary was named as salutatorian of her +class. + +He sent her a set of "The American Poets," gilt-edged in white leather +bindings, and received a note of thanks and an invitation to visit the +Saylor home any time he found it convenient during the summer. + +Mary came home the first of June and for a while enjoyed undisturbed the +quiet of the old farmhouse. The neighbors, including Bradley and +Rosamond Clay, were just beginning to call upon her and ask her to their +entertainments when she received and accepted an offer as assistant +teacher of mathematics at Wellesley. The first of September she returned +to the college, stopping for several days in Washington and New York. +The following summer she spent traveling with several girl graduates and +the teacher of French in England, France and Italy. She sent Cornwall a +remarkably fine photograph of herself taken at Rome. + +This he framed and kept upon his dresser. His mother, seeing and +admiring the picture, asked;--"Who is the young lady, John?" + +"I do not know, but as soon as I can discover her name and domicile, I +propose to propose." + +"It certainly is time; you are nearly thirty. I hope to see you married +before I go, John." + +"Mother, I know no argument against that ancient and hallowed +institution, and would not advise a friend against taking such a step, +even at the present and ever-increasing high cost of living. I do not +use such language. Since I first put on long trousers I have hunted high +and low for a wife, and with a persistence equalling that of a young +penniless widow, but without success. Just when it seems that within a +few days I shall be the happy recipient of the congratulations of my +friends who in their hearts feel certain I am about to fall victim to +the wiles of a designing female person, cruel fate steps in and with +peremptory halting gesture and commanding voice has always said;--thus +far, but no father. You will doubtless live to see me at fifty struggle +through a dance with the daughter of my old sweetheart while the son of +another breaks us; and I, broken of wind and mopping my bald head, shall +retire to a corner and rest while conversing with the hostess' +grandmother. Seriously, mother, I intend to marry just as soon as a girl +as good and sweet as you are will have me. I am beginning to think it +will be Mary, or my stenographer. I have not seen Mary for more than +five years; it is nearly a year since I heard from her. In some ways the +photograph of that beautiful, fashionably-gowned girl reminds me of her. +Do you suppose that's Mary? But she surely is not in Rome!--How do you +like this, mother?" And John, whanging an accompaniment on the piano, +sang this Arabian song: + + "THE MOTHER. + + "My daughter, 'tis time that thou wert wed; + Ten summers already are over thy head; + I must find you a husband, if under the sun, + The conscript catcher has left us one. + + "THE DAUGHTER. + + "Dear mother, ONE husband will never do: + I have so much love that I must have two; + And I'll find for each, as you shall see, + More love than both can bring to me. + + "One husband shall carry a lance so bright; + He shall roam the desert for spoil at night; + And when morning shines on the tall palm tree, + He shall find sweet welcome home with me. + + "The other a sailor bold shall be: + He shall fish all day in the deep blue sea; + And when evening brings his hour of rest, + He shall find repose on this faithful breast. + + "THE MOTHER. + + "There's no chance my child, of a double match, + For men are scarce and hard to catch; + So I fear you must make one husband do, + And try to love him as well as two. + +"Goodbye, I must go to the office; kiss me, mother!" + + * * * * * + +"Well, good morning, Miss Rachael, junior partner; how is the firm +business coming on? What must we take up first? You have been with me +more than five years and it's always a smile and a pleasant word. You +are twenty-five and not married. Some one of your race and faith is very +slow finding out what a fine wife you would make. My mother was after me +today, saying; 'John, you must get married; you are nearly thirty;' and +I said; 'mother, if I do, I guess it will be Mary, or Rachael.' You +don't know Mary, and I doubt if I would if I met her; I have not seen +her for five years." + +"Mr. Cornwall, there's lots of mail to answer and in an hour you are to +take depositions in the Asher case." + +"Rachael you are too practical. Why don't you let me love you. I am +convinced that with just a little encouragement I would propose. It's +time we both were married. We have never had a quarrel in all these +years. I am worth twenty-five thousand and have a good business. You can +have everything you want. Why not, Rachael?" + +"That's just why I am practical; to keep my head and my place; I like +the work.--Yes, you can hold my hand if you wish and kiss me just once. +But if you ever try it again, I must return to Louisville. Were you of +my race and faith, you would not have to ask me twice. I hope when I do +marry the man will be much like you; but he must be a Jew. We are a +scattered people, without flag or country; yet a proud nation, seeking +no alliances with other people. Your religion, founded on my faith, +holds mine in both reverence and abhorrence. We have different sacred +and fast days. I must eat other foods. We follow different customs in +rearing our children. If I should marry you I must become a stranger to +my own people and will be despised by yours. I will bring neither riches +nor position and, like Ruth of old, must turn my back upon my own +people. Thy people are not my people. For this time I will call you +John, and again say it cannot be. I am crying; Oh! please! please let's +work!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MARY AND JOHN ARE MARRIED. + + +About two weeks after Caleb Saylor and Rosamond were married, John +Cornwall left Harlan on a business trip for Boston and Pittsburgh. As he +had never gone east over the C. & O., he concluded to travel that route, +boarding the train at Winchester. + +His intention was to travel direct to Boston, where he was to make +settlement with the executors of the estate of Giusto Poggi, who had +died some months before, a resident of that city. He had left $20,000.00 +to Cornwall's client, Luigi Poggi, a miner living on Straight Creek near +the old Saylor home. + +After this settlement was made it was his intention to return home by +way of Pittsburgh, stopping there to attend a stockholders' meeting of +the Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Company, of which corporation he had been a +director for more than three years. + +As he took his seat in number 9 he saw that quite an attractive-looking +young woman occupied the opposite section. Her face seemed quite +familiar, in that she might have sat for the photograph which occupied +so conspicuous a place on his bedroom dresser. He watched her, hoping +that she might glance up from the book which claimed her whole +attention. + +On the front seat of her section, from beneath a summer wrap thrown over +the back, the end of a small leather handbag protruded and on it he +read; "M. E. S. Wellesley, Mass." + +He felt a thrill of surprise and pleasure. Taking a second and very +careful look at the lady, he was convinced that he had found the +original of the photograph and discovered the identity of the attractive +stranger, though it was more than twelve years since he had last seen +her. + +How Mary had changed! Her beauty was none the less than when he had +first seen her, a rosy-cheeked mountain girl, who looked at every +strange thing in wide-eyed, timid wonder; who blushed when she was +spoken to; and finally, when her timidity wore away, talked with him in +her crude mountain idioms and localisms. He felt sure that when this +cultured creature, who radiated poise and refinement, should feel +inclined to speak after a most formal introduction, her voice would be +soft and low, her words precise and her accent give certain identity of +Bostonian culture and residence. + +So the mountain lawyer, too snubbed by even this thought to rise and +speak, sat in confusion across the aisle and made timid inventory of the +charm and grace of his traveling companion. + +She looked up from her book at a screw head in the panel about two feet +above John's head, with a fixed thoughtful glance that saw nothing else; +and John blushed. Her dreamy brown eyes spoke of a shackled or +slumbering soul, voluntarily enduring the isolation of cultured +spinsterhood, in search for the higher life. He felt the cold, bony hand +of death reach out and crush his dream of love. After another hour of +observation, the sun came through the window and shed its bright warm +rays upon her hair and he revived a bit when he discovered there the +warmth and color and glow of the southland. She put down her book and +walked down the aisle; then he saw that her figure, though tall and +slender, possessed a freedom of movement, healthy vigor and curves that +told of a clean and vigorous life from early girlhood. When she +returned to her seat he studied her face with care and knew it as the +one he had seen in his dreams for years and each time had yearned to +kiss. + +At one of the stops a knight of the road, whose business was selling +women's ready-to-wear garments, came into the car and walked down the +aisle past several vacant sections to number 10, where, pausing, he said +complacently; + +"Miss, may I occupy the forward seat of your compartment, until the +conductor assigns me one?" + +"Certainly, the space is unoccupied." + +"You probably find it tiresome traveling alone?" + +"I usually find it more comfortable without company." + +"Are you traveling far?" + +This question the lady seemed not to hear, but rang the bell for the +porter. + +"Porter, please tell the conductor I wish to speak to him." + +"Conductor, this gentleman has expressed a wish to be assigned a seat; +he probably desires one in another section." + +"There's plenty of room; I told him as he came in to occupy number 4. +'Porter, put this gentleman's baggage in number 4.' This is number 10; +yours is the third section forward." + +Another half hour passed. John opening his handbag, took out some +papers; then, reversing the end, moved it so the bag protruded slightly +from under the arm-rest into the aisle. He took the forward seat and +read a while; then, resting his head against the window frame, pretended +to sleep. + +The young lady finished her book. She looked out her window until the +view was blotted out by the nearness of the hillside; then indolently +turned and glanced out the opposite window at the swiftly running little +river and a narrow valley hemmed about by timbered hills. Then her +glance rested for a moment on the protruding handbag, and she read; +"John Cornwall, Harlan, Ky." + +There was an exclamation of surprise; a slight blush of anticipation; a +look of joy; and she glanced up into the face of the sleeper, whose +dreams were evidently pleasant as he slightly smiled. She saw a man past +thirty, of strong and thoughtful face, whose hair was slightly thinning +over the temples. The dozen years since she last had seen him added much +to an expressive face; his shoulders had broadened and he weighed +perhaps a pound or more for each year;--but it was the same John, her +John,--and she sat and looked into his face and two tears stole down her +cheeks. He stirred, and she turned her face towards her window. + +The twilight shadows deepened into night. A waiter came through calling; +"Last call for supper." She arose and walking down the aisle towards the +diner, heard her neighbor move and come following after. When she +reached the vestibule she dropped her handkerchief and as she stooped, +he picked it up. Then the little comedy of surprise and recognition was +acted;--"Oh, John!" "Oh, Mary!" + +As they passed into the diner a wise old waiter, who knew he made no +mistake when he spoke of a handsome woman to a man as his wife, though +she might not be, said; "Will this table suit your wife, Sar?" Then John +found that Mary could blush like the mountain girl of old. + +They ate slowly, talking of the many things that had happened since last +they parted on Straight Creek at the foot of the Salt Trace trail, and +until the waiter told them; "Boss, this car is drapped at the next +station and they's blowin' fer her now." Then John paid the check and +gave him a dollar. As the waiter closed the door after them he said to +another; "There goes a sure nuff Southern gentleman." + +They took seats in Mary's section and continued their talk several +hours; about the marriage of Caleb and Rosamond; Mary's school days; her +trip abroad and her experiences of five years as a teacher; and John of +his business, of his mother, of Bradford and Dorothy and Rosamond; he +even told how near he came to proposing to Rosamond. + +"That explains why you were not invited to the wedding. I quarreled with +Caleb and Rosamond when I learned you had not been. Caleb said he +supposed you were; while Rosamond made the excuse that she intended to +but overlooked you in the rush. She calls her husband John Calhoun and +Caleb has promised to change the sign on his office door and to order +new business stationery, which is to be embossed with the name, John +Calhoun Saylor." + +The conductor passing through the car glanced at them several times as +did the drummer who occupied the seat forward. They met in the smoking +compartment and the drummer handed the conductor a cigar. + +"Well, Mr. Drummer, she seems to like the other fellow; at least she +hasn't sent for me. He must have nerve to tackle her after he saw her +squelch you. But you can never tell what a woman is going to do." + +"If you had kept off a bit I would be sitting right there now instead of +that young fellow. They seem to chatter away like old friends." + +The next morning John and Mary ate breakfast together in Washington and +that afternoon journeyed on to New York. When they went into the diner +for supper and the waiter referred to Mary as John's wife, she did not +blush, but touched his arm and looked at him with a smile of confidence +and love. As he returned the glance a close observer would have said; +"They are newly married." + + * * * * * + +The next morning Mrs. Cornwall received a telegram: "Have followed your +advice. Married Mary last night. Her picture is on my dresser. You can +wire us at The McAlpin. John." + +Mary and John also telegraphed her mother announcing the marriage and +stating that they would stop over ten days on their way home to Harlan. + + * * * * * + +John accompanied Mary to Wellesley, where she finally succeeded in +explaining why it was necessary that she should be permitted to resign +as teacher of mathematics. + +The girls at first sight of John were quite hysterical, exclaiming: +"What a handsome man Miss Saylor's brother is!" When they learned his +identity and that he came to take her away, he was condemned as a horrid +old baldheaded man. This opinion was mildly modified at the farewell +dinner the school gave to Miss Saylor, where John at his best gave the +young ladies an informal talk on,--"School Days, School Teachers and +Matrimony." More than half of the girls were so impressed by the sense +and sentiment of his talk that for a day or two they thought seriously +of becoming teachers and waiting until they were thirty, when they would +marry a nice-looking and prosperous young lawyer like Miss Saylor's +John. + +John rushed through his business engagement in Boston; then they went +down to Atlantic City for several days. + +He had written Bradford and Mr. Rogers telling of his marriage. They had +each telegraphed congratulations and insisted that John wire the time of +their arrival in Pittsburgh. This he did. + +They were met at the station by Bradford and Dorothy and Mr. Rogers and +his wife. Both families insisted that they should be their guests while +in the city. A compromise was effected by going home with Bradford and +Dorothy and accepting an invitation to be the guests of honor Thursday +evening at the Rogers home, where they were to remain for the night +after a reception and dinner, leaving the next day for Kentucky over the +Pennsylvania. + +Saturday noon they arrived at Paint Lick and were met at the station by +Mr. and Mrs. Saylor, Sr. in the family carriage drawn by two sleek black +mules; and Mr. and Mrs. Saylor, Jr. in their new Pierce Arrow. + +Rosamond had consented to come over, having forgiven John, because she +thought he had in a spirit of disappointment at her marriage, rushed to +Wellesley and married Mary. + +The more than a dozen years that had gone by since John had seen Mr. and +Mrs. Saylor had been kind to them. Mr. Saylor had the look and ways of a +prosperous farmer. He had grown stout and seemed to enjoy the good +things of life. His was a jovial, easy-going disposition. He considered +that fortune had been kind, now that Mary was married to Mr. Cornwall +and Caleb, his boy, was a big man and married to one of the Clays. He +owned a farm of more than four hundred acres and each year had saved +some money, so that now he was considered one of the rich farmers of the +county. + +He stood in dread and fear of only one person in the world and that was +Caleb's wife. The lady, disputing the family record which he had made +when she was a little tot, rechristened his Caleb, John Calhoun Saylor, +and he dared not protest. It was several months before his hard head +adjusted itself to the new name. He reached perfection by gradation; +from Caleb to John Caleb and finally mastered John Calhoun. + +Upon receipt of the telegram from New York, opening the big family Bible +to make an entry of Mary's marriage in the family record, he was +surprised to find that the entry of birth of Caleb Saylor made by him in +1885 had been changed by Mrs. Saylor, Jr., to John Calhoun Saylor, 1883 +which only left his son about two years his wife's junior. Subsequently +he discovered that his son and Rosamond were each born in 1883 when he +examined a carefully mutilated record in the Clay Bible. + +John liked Mrs. Saylor. She was a most unselfish soul, giving every +thought of mind and every movement of her body to service for her +husband and children. + +She was a slender, large-framed woman, with snow-white hair and a +wrinkled, tired, though kindly face. The face was a happier one than +when he first knew her;--then it seemed all joy had departed from it. +She never whimpered or found fault or raised her voice in anger. She was +a woman of few words and few tears. Her hands, while not those of a +lady, were those of a capable, hard-working mother and had a touch of +gentle softness for the cheek of those she loved. Only when Mary and +Susie were both home did she find time to rest. + +Caleb was even more an egotist than when a boy. When he did not talk +about himself his other subject of discussion was the charms of his +wife, yet John, and others thrown with him, discovered he was not a +fool. Under the tutelage of his wife he was gradually acquiring another +faculty or subject of conversation, and that was the power unstintedly +to praise any vain person who might prove of service to him. He had +improved in speech and knowledge, but by contact. He scarcely ever +looked into a book, except to memorize a passage. He always carried a +pocket dictionary and when an unfamiliar word was used in his presence, +surreptitiously consulted it and, familiarizing himself with the meaning +of the word, used it the first time occasion offered. If he once heard a +thing he seemed never to forget it, nor a man's name or face. If his +wife wrote out a speech and read it to him a couple of times it was his +for delivery in practically her words. He struck John as a man devoid of +conscience, yet, at first blush, of pleasant manner and appearance. + +To John it seemed the years had made Rosamond nearer the Rosamond of his +dream than the youthful Rosamond who had wandered over the hills with +him and to whom he had made love. The thought occurred that Caleb must +prove a strong and zealous contender for this world's honors to satisfy +his wife's ambition, else he might lose his handsome wife to a greater +champion. He spoke of this impression to Mary and she shared his view, +though Rosamond was in no sense flirtatious. + +"Mary, I love all your family, except John Calhoun." + +"Well, John, you married me, not the family, though I would have been +unhappy had you not liked mother, father and Susie." + +"You must make your mother visit us as soon as we are settled. I believe +she really needs the rest. I know that she and mother will be great +friends and I know your father would like to put in a month hunting up +old friends and knocking about the hills; he must come, too." + +They remained at the Saylor homestead for three days. The night before +they left for home, they were entertained by Mrs. John Calhoun Saylor, +who was really proud of these two members of her husband's family and +desired to exhibit them to the friends and relatives of the Clays. + + * * * * * + +As the train drew near Harlan, winding in and out along the river and +the foothills of Pine Mountain, Mary nestled close to John and, dreamily +watching the big mountain, whose shadow was reflected in the deep pools +of the river, said: + +"I no longer call to you through space, John, wondering if you hear. Now +we travel side by side our narrow, little way of life and read its +meaning in each other's eyes. We will soon be home, John; and I for one +am glad we are to live in the mountains. I love them more than plain, or +rolling pasture, or woodland, or the sea. One of my favorite poems is: + + "'Thou art a mountain stately and serene, + Rising majestic o'er each earthly thing, + And I a lake that 'round thy feet do cling, + Kissing thy garment's hem, unknown, unseen. + I tremble when the tempests darkly screen + Thy face from mine. I smile when sunbeams fling + Their bright arms 'round thee. When the blue heavens lean + Upon thy breast, I thrill with bliss, O king! + Thou canst not stoop--we are too far apart; + I may not climb to reach thy mighty heart; + Low at thy feet I am content to be. + But wouldst thou know how great thou art, + Bend thy proud head, my mountain love, and see + How all thy glories shine again in me.'" + +"Will your mother be glad to see me, John? Will she fear I shall steal +too much of her boy's love?" + +"Mary, mother is a little, old woman with a wonderfully big, young heart +and a grand soul filled with tenderness and grace and love. There's not +a joy in all the world she would not share with you. When she shares +your sorrows, night changes quickly to the dusk of morning and as the +day comes they flit away like shadows on the dewy grass. When she sees +you she will kiss you and cry a bit and call you 'John's wife' for a day +and then it will be 'Mary dear.' Were you a stranger, whose name had +never been mentioned, she would take you in, first for my sake, then +love you for your own. One day I said: 'Mother, your aim in life seems +to be to live for and wait on me.' 'No, John, my aim in life is to live +like Him!' She has kept some of earth's clay out of my soul." + +As the train pulled into the station, Mary surreptitiously powdered her +nose. Mrs. Cornwall, Mrs. Neal, Duffield and several other friends were +there to meet them. + +Mrs. Cornwall seemed not to see John. As she took Mary in her arms she +called her "John's wife"; they cried a wee bit and as she let her go, +John heard her say "Mary dear"; and he knew his mother's heart approved +of his wife. Then he kissed his mother and they greeted his other +friends. + +Mrs. Neal was greatly surprised at Mary's appearance. "Mrs. Cornwall, +you really mean to tell me that she was born on Straight Creek?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HOME LIFE. + + +Mrs. Cornwall, upon the receipt of the telegram notifying her of John's +marriage, went to his room and taking Mary's photograph, carried it to +the window and in the strong light of the June day studied the face. + +Even under her critical analysis, that of a mother-in-law whose love was +centered in her son and who believed that he was entitled to the world's +best, the picture met her approbation. + +She held it in her arms, as one who loved might have held the original; +and after a few tears of mingled sadness and joy--sadness for what had +gone from her life and joy for what she thought had come into her +son's--and after a prayer that God would bless the union of her son and +this woman, making their life long and true and completing their +happiness by giving them sweet children to make the union one of body +and soul, she carried it down to her parlor and placed it on the center +table beside that of her son's, wreathing and clustering them round with +deep-red, velvety roses from the garden, and each day until they came +gathered fresh ones, replacing those that withered. She telegraphed her +blessing and love to them both and wrote Mary a long letter, telling her +how happy she should be to welcome her home as John's wife and her +daughter. + +Though Mary several times had asked, John had told her very little about +their home. She knew from descriptions Rosamond and Dorothy had given +her that it was an attractive place. When they drove into the yard and +up to the porch with its colonial pillars and the old-fashioned, arched +doorway, he could see that she was artistically satisfied. + +Then as they passed through the portal into the hall and the double +parlors, she gave voice to her appreciation. + +"Mrs. Cornwall, you have made the house indeed a home. No wonder John +was so near remaining a bachelor. You made him entirely too comfortable; +he will expect too much. John, see how your mother has bordered our +photographs with roses." + +"I hope you and John will be pleased with your rooms. If they are not +just what you wish, satisfy yourselves; the house is large enough. Mary, +you know the house is yours. I have been after John for ten years to +marry and give me a chance to shift the responsibility of housekeeper to +younger shoulders." + +"You know they say comparisons are odious. I am sure if you were to +force me to assume instant charge, John would never believe I could make +a good housekeeper. Were the house inartistic or disordered, I might be +tempted to do so, but everything is so harmonious, so comfortable, so +home-like, that I must serve a long apprenticeship before you should +force the responsibility upon me. You know I have been a teacher; I must +be gradually taught housekeeping, and in the meantime am to be your +daughter as John is your boy." + +"Mother, when did you have all this done?" + +"The day after I received your telegram I sent to Louisville and had Mr. +Strassel come up; he, Mrs. Neal and I redecorated and refurnished these +rooms for Mary." + +"You have been very thoughtful. John, your mother has not given up her +rooms for us, has she? If so, we must refuse to take them." + +"No, one of them was mine; the other was a spare bedroom." + +"Please come to this window. What a happy view, the garden, the river, +the valley, the fields of grain and the distant, blue mountains! John, I +love your mother and my home most as much as I do you!" + +The neighbors and friends of the Cornwalls were very kind to Mary. She +grew to be very fond of Mrs. Neal and Mrs. Duffield. Duffield, several +years before, had married Helen Creech. + +Mary was just beginning to feel thoroughly at home, and under Mrs. +Cornwall's tutelage and diplomacy unconsciously assuming charge as +mistress of the house, which was not so hard, as she had an efficient +maid and had always helped her mother, when Dorothy and Bradford came on +from Pittsburgh. Ever since their marriage they had spent the month of +August with Mrs. Neal. + +After their arrival they, with John and Mary, began wandering about the +hills and playing the part of lovers as they had done years before, +though the Bradfords were somewhat hampered in their rambles by a little +son whom they had christened John Durrett Bradford. + +Rosamond, who knew that the Bradfords were visiting Mrs. Neal, +telegraphed Mary that she and her husband were coming to make her a +visit, leaving home on the 12th of August; they would remain ten days. +She answered, expressing her pleasure, and asked that they bring her +mother with them. + +While it was a matter of no importance to John Calhoun and, therefore, +he made no objection, his wife refused to bring her, saying: "We will +not mention that we intend going to her. She can go after we return. I +am going on a pleasure trip; not to look after an old woman." + +When they arrived, Mary was greatly disappointed that her mother had not +come. When told by Rosamond that they had not asked her mother because +she did not look well and the trip might prove too trying, she was +worried about her mother's health and immediately wrote her sister. + +In answer, her sister said: "Mother was very much disappointed when she +learned John and Rosamond had gone to visit you, as had she known, she +would have come with them. She is perfectly well and it is quite evident +to me that they did not want her with them. You need not be surprised at +anything that pair do." + +John Calhoun did not care to wander about the hills or picnic along the +river bank with his wife, saying: "I had enough of climbing hills and +basket meetings when a boy." His wife accompanied Mary and John on their +rambles, while he loafed around the hotel and the court house, making +friends and acquaintances, or rode over to the mines, cultivating the +miners and discussing politics with them. + +He had acquired the knack under his wife's tutelage of beginning an +argument with a man and gradually coming around to his antagonist's way +of thinking; complimenting his opponent upon his way of making a +difficult question clear. He would tell him: "Now I understand it for +the first time. I was wrong, you are right." Thereupon he and his +opponent usually began a sort of Alphonse and Gaston species of +concessions which ended in Saylor convincing the man to his way of +thinking. His wife said it was the Clay way of persuasion. + +Several days after Rosamond and her husband arrived, John's mother had a +slight illness which kept Mary at home. Rosamond insisted on continuing +the rambles which had been planned, and her husband refusing to +accompany her, John was forced to do so. + +Thus, in a way, the relations of more than a half-dozen years before +were re-established. When they were with Dorothy and Bradford she +insisted on going where they with their little, two-year-old boy could +not go, and in this way managed that she and John were much together. + +When they passed some place she remembered from her former rambles of +the years before, she had a way of recalling it and saying: "It was +here, John, we sat on the rock and you brought me water from the spring +in a cup of leaves; let's do it again for old-time's sake. It was here, +John, we seined the minnows; it was here you taught me the jack-knife +dive; it was here you picked me up, oh, so tenderly! and with so much +anxious solicitude, I have half a mind to fall again" until John grew +timid, and the next time begged Mary to come with them, and when she +said it was impossible, sought to keep with the other members of the +party, but Rosamond was the better manager and their solitary rambles +continued. + +A day or two before she was to return home, as they sat resting on a +moss-grown rock in a secluded cove far up the mountainside, she placed +her hand over John's and said: + +"Tell me, John, what you were going to ask the night of the dance so +many years ago, when you brought me out to the arbor and we found +Dorothy and Howard Bradford there?" + +"I thought I loved you and was going to ask you to be my wife." + +"Why didn't you, John--do; didn't you love me?" + +"I had a horrid dream about you and before I recovered from it you +became offended and returned home. I never saw you afterwards until Mary +and I were married." + +"So you let a dream shatter my dreams of love and happiness." + +"You should not say that, Rosamond. You are married and to a man of your +own choosing and I to the wife of my choice." + +"Mine was a marriage of convenience; I did it believing that I could +manage my husband and, with even the crude material at hand, make a man. +I am regretting it even now after less than four months. He either has +less sense than I thought or is harder to manage. I do not even respect +him and if you were still single and wished it, I could get a divorce. +Why did you not follow me home, John? That's what I expected you to do." + +"Don't; such talk is not right and you must not say such things to me. +Even though I loved you once, I now love only one woman in the world and +that is Mary. Were we both single, I could not marry you unless Mary was +married to some other man. There is no use talking about such things; +they are a forgotten past. I shall not go out with you again; I dare +not; you are a fascinating woman and the old love might return." + +"You coward!" + +John rose from his seat and, deathly pale, walked ahead of Rosamond down +the mountainside and she, pale and trembling with anger, followed after. +Neither spoke until they joined Dorothy and Bradford under some old +elms near the river. + +From that day until the Saylors left for home John was too busy at the +office for any more rambles. Rosamond was ill-tempered and spent most of +her time in her room. When her door was opened the quiet of the house +was occasionally disturbed by loud-voiced wrangling with her husband; +though in the presence of strangers she always greeted him in a gently +modulated voice and with a smile. + +The following spring the Pittsburgh Coal & Coke Company sold out to a +Detroit manufacturer of automobiles and John was instrumental in closing +the deal. As fee and profit on the sale of his stock in the company he +realized a little more than twenty-three thousand dollars. + +He was retained by the new company as their local counsel at a salary of +three thousand dollars and from his other business realized an income of +four thousand dollars more. This seemed to be about the limit of earning +capacity in the little, mountain city, though he and his wife never +thought of moving. They were both satisfied and loved the mountains and +their neighbors. Their mother was content where her children, John and +Mary, were. + +In the fall of 1911 he was the Democratic elector from the Eleventh +Congressional District and made a few speeches which attracted some +little attention. The following summer he was offered and declined the +Assistant United States District Attorneyship for the Eastern Kentucky +District. + +On the 12th day of May, 1910, his thirty-eighth birthday, his wife +presented him with a son. After a discussion lasting several days, in +which he and Mary had less to say than his mother or Mrs. Neal or Mrs. +Simeon Saylor, who was visiting her daughter, the boy was christened +John Saylor Cornwall; and to avoid confusion in an otherwise quiet and +well-regulated household, was called Saylor. + +His father called him "Sailor Boy" and wanted to take him down to the +river to sail toy boats before he cut his stomach teeth but the boy's +grandmothers would not permit it. + +The two grandmothers were constantly quarrelling as to who should hold +John Saylor Cornwall, while the baby was either crying to go to his +father or squirming to get down and crawl on the floor. + +His grandfather, who was now Colonel Simeon Saylor (i. e., by courtesy, +since he was quite an extensive land-owner), began to think that John +Saylor Cornwall in the years to come might grow to be almost as great as +his Uncle John Calhoun, who was now Congressman from the Eighth +District. + +He began telling the boy how great he was going to be until his mother +put a stop to it by threatening to send him home before the boy's second +birthday, the celebration of which event the grandfather and two +grandmothers looked forward to with excited expectancy, as he was the +only grandchild in either family. + +On his second birthday he was showered with presents. Everybody +remembered him, except his Aunt Rosamond. She left the Cornwall family +alone after her visit in August, following the marriage of John and +Mary. + +She was now in Washington with her husband; or, as some of her friends +put it, she was in Washington, accompanied by her husband. + +As a politician, he was not in her class. She some time since had ceased +in her attempts to gratify ambition by reflective honors from her +husband and had marched forth under the leadership of Mrs. Catt as a +most trusted lieutenant. She was head of the Woman's Suffrage +Organization of Kentucky; was in great demand as a public speaker and +heralded by an extensive following as the probable successor of Mrs. +Catt in the fight for the emancipation of women. + +Her husband, in spite of his distinguished air and faculty as a personal +press agent, was slowly losing his identity. He was not infrequently +referred to, particularly in Washington, as the husband of Mrs. Rosamond +Clay Saylor. + + * * * * * + +On the way home from his visit. Grandpa Saylor stopped off at Pineville +and spent a day or two on the head of Straight Creek with his former +neighbors. + +The old home place was occupied by Jim Helton, who, when he sold his +land to the coal company, moved into the Saylor house. He spent a day +with the Heltons; he even visited the old cliff-house still and at +twilight started down the creek for Pineville. In the valley it was very +dark, as the moon had not yet risen above the mountain. + +When opposite Elhannon Howard's, the horse he was riding stumbled over +something in the middle of the road and horse and rider were hurled over +the bank into the creek. Elhannon, hearing the noise made by the horse +floundering around in the water and old man Saylor swearing, came out +bearing a flaming pine knot, and the two old enemies faced each other. + +Saylor's horse had stumbled over one of Elhannon's cows asleep in the +road and the frightened cow, struggling to her feet, had thrown horse +and rider over the bank. The rider was unhurt, but the horse's right +foreleg was broken. + +"Damn you, Elhannon, why don't you and your wife sleep out in the middle +of the road, too. You will certainly pay for that horse and my wetting. +I am too old to fight you, but I will law you in Squire Ingram's court." + +"All right, Sim Saylor; I'll be thar." + +"And if I lose thar, I'll take it to the Circuit Court." + +"All right, Sim Saylor, I'll be thar." + +"And if I lose in the Circuit Court, I'll take it to the Court of +Appeals." + +"All right, Sim Saylor; I'll be thar." + +"And if I lose in the Court of Appeals, I'll take it to hell, the next +place." + +"All right, Sim Saylor, I won't be thar, but my lawyer will. Keep on +your shirt, Sim, and come into the house. The old woman can make you +comfortable for the night." + +They went to the house and Mr. Saylor took off his wet clothes and went +to bed. When he awoke the next morning they hung on a chair, dry and +nicely cleaned; there was even a fashionable crease down the trouser +legs. Elhannon's dude son had pressed them for him. + +As he and Elhannon sat at breakfast they talked about the bees and the +old Southdown ram which several years before had been gathered to his +fathers, leaving several noble scions behind. + +When breakfast was over Elhannon's boy, the dude, drove up in front of +the house in a buckboard, and Saylor climbed in beside him. As the boy +started off Elhannon called: "Look here, dood, don't drive that horse +over any cows in the road." + +Old man Saylor laughed and called back: "You and I are too old to law; +you settle with old man Samuels for his horse and we'll call it square. +You and the old woman come down to the fair and stop with us." + +"All right, Sim Saylor; I'll be thar; so long and good luck." + + + + +PART II. + + + + +Seeing Italy at Mrs. O'Flannagan's Expense. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Mrs. O'Flannagan lived in Limerick, the Irish colony of Louisville. Her +husband, a policeman under the Grainger administration, was "doped by a +friend" and, being found in a stupor, was fired by the Board of Public +Safety. His friend's brother inherited the beat and the Tenth-street or +side door of the saloon at ---- West Green Street, swung more loosely of +hinge on Sunday than formerly. + +Some days after his dismissal O'Flannagan, passing the cart of a +hot-tamale man at the entrance to the ball park, became involved in an +argument between the vendor, a Sicilian, and a boy and was knifed by the +vendor. He was buried three days later after a convivial wake, the +success of which was in some measure a consolation for his widow. + +His estate, besides his widow, consisted of a four-room, shot-gun +cottage, meagerly furnished, and three boys, Tim, Pat and Jerry. + +Tim was fourteen, and after school sold papers at Fourth and Broadway. +The other two boys were of sufficient years of discretion to dodge a +motorcycle if the rider gave stentorian warning. + +Mrs. O'Flannagan, a husky, rawboned dame, adopted the profession of a +washlady, and found many ladies who were anxious to procure her services +since the colored ladies had deserted their washtubs to work in the +Axton tobacco factory. + +Tim always brought home the worn outside paper of his bundle, or else +one that some customer had glanced through and thrown away, for his +mother to read. She was deeply interested in the progress of the World +War. + +After ten hours over the washtub, she would change her sud-soaked dress, +get the boys their supper, clean and dry the dishes, scrub the two +little chaps and put them to bed; then, after eight o'clock, sit down at +the window where the street light shone in and read about those +"devilish Huns," her moist, strong face, to which clung her brown hair, +stringy from sweat, working and changing expression with feelings of +sympathy and patriotism. + +After she had read all about the war and the Red Cross, but nothing +else, she got out a ball of gray yarn and needles and knitted till +10:30. She had promised to knit two pairs of socks a week for the +Limerick Red Cross Unit. Then after her prayers, which were wholly +intercessory, for her boys and their daily bread and the motherless boys +in Flanders, her day's work was done. She went to the big bed by the +window and kissed her three boys, then to her cot in the corner and +slept the sound sleep of the faithful and the true. + +She had not been to a picture show in three years; had never been in an +automobile, nor to the derby, nor the State Fair, but each Sunday +morning walked in to the Cathedral to early mass. + +She was always at home, except when she made the trip to the grocery, or +to The Puritan to deliver the wash, or to the knitting unit to exchange +the pair of well-knitted socks (on the tops of which she always made a +narrow border of red, white and blue) for more yarn. + +She gave the boys twenty cents each every Saturday night to go to the +picture show and for peanuts. They knew all the knot-holes in the ball +park fence and all the home players by name and sight. They argued and +sometimes fought over the umpire's decision. + +The Government selected and named a training camp site, out the Preston +Street car line, Camp Taylor. It was soon rumored around Limerick how +they were burning down practically new buildings to make immediate room +for barracks and were paying unheard-of prices for labor. Every one who +owned a saw, hammer and square and who could hit the hammer with the +nail, called himself a carpenter and journeyed thither. The paper boys +became water boys at three dollars per day. So Tim gave up his paper +stand and became a water boy. + +Mrs. O'Flannagan, going down to the store for a pair of shoes and taking +three dollars to pay for them, the price she had been paying for the +same shoe for ten years, was forced to return home for three dollars +more, as she was told: "Last week the price was raised to $5.98." +Everywhere she went to buy some simple necessity she was told of a +sudden similar raise. + +The husbands and sweethearts of the few remaining colored washladies +having procured jobs at the camp and the women themselves receiving +liberal offers at other occupations, deserted the washtub. The ladies of +The Puritan were forced to get Mrs. O'Flannagan or buy an electric +washer and iron or surreptitiously do the family wash in the bathtub and +dry it in the kitchenette. + +Three or four times daily a limousine or sedan drove up in front of Mrs. +O'Flannagan's and a daintily bedecked creature in a fifty-dollar hat and +a two-hundred-dollar dress, wearing twenty-dollar shoes, stepped out +exhibiting a none too slender calf encased in a five-dollar stocking, +though her father might have gotten his start as a section-hand at two +dollars per day on the L. & N. or have driven a huckster's wagon, or +tended bar, or curried horses. She tripped into the house and, after +shaking hands with the washlady (she was hard pushed), who was forced to +quit work, wipe her hands on the roller towel and entertain her visitor, +said: + +"Oh, Mrs. O'Flannagan, Mrs. Rothchilds says you are a beautiful +laundress and that you always return all the things when you promise. I +had a nigger doing my work and she was an awful nuisance. I do believe +she wore my stockings and my teddy-bears. Mrs. Rothchilds is a friend of +mine; we live in adjoining apartments. There are four in her family and +only three in mine and her son Leo has so many shirts. She tells me you +have been her laundress for three years and that she pays you a dollar +and a half a week. Now that's too cheap. You give up her washing and +take mine. I will pay you three dollars a week and send it round in the +car by Charles." + +"I have been doing Mrs. Rothchilds' wash for more than three years. When +prices went up so much she offered to pay me more, saying high prices +had cut the heart out of the dollar. I said: 'No, you furnish the soap +and starch and what you pay is enough. I want to do what I can to help +these times, and the way to put the heart back in the dollar is to put +prices down; we can all help do that. All I want is to make an honest +living and bring up my three boys to be good men.' I sometimes think +happiness consists in having few wants. I am glad to see you are doing +so well. I believe I know you. You are Rachael Reubenstein, the daughter +of Herman Reubenstein, who used to have the old-clothes store at Ninth +and Market. You and I used to play dolls together. Father went on your +father's bond when he bought all those clothes and jewelry from two +coons for twenty dollars." + +"Charles, start the car; let us leave this low neighborhood, and wash +the car when you get back to the garage." + + * * * * * + +The National War Work Council of the Y. M. C. A. and kindred +organizations, having started their work and particularly that most +important portion of soliciting funds from the general public, Mrs. +Breckenridge Crittenden Clay, of 4897 Third Avenue, was elected as head +of the women's committee. + +Fair, young girls in fluffy dresses and of just that age supposed to be +most appealing and irresistible to men, were placed in the office and +bank buildings and were directed to shower their smiles upon the +strangers in the hotel lobbies, while certain fat and willing dames past +forty were given the residence sections of the great common people and +told to make a house-to-house canvass. They were instructed, however, to +omit the factories and business houses intermittently located in such +sections, as they were to be looked after by a selected coterie who +called in state and were supposed to be specially fitted for just such +solicitations. + +Mrs. Weissinger Robinson, who was not on the best of terms with Mrs. +Clay, but who always helped in such campaigns for contributions, was +assigned to the residence section of Limerick, while Mrs. Clay's most +intimate friend, Mrs. Castleman Smith, was assigned to Third and Fourth +avenues between Kentucky and Hill streets. + +One hot afternoon, while Mrs. O'Flannagan was hanging out the wash, the +car of Mrs. Robinson drove up to her door. + +"Horace, climb out and tell whoever lives here to come to the car." + +The chauffeur knocked on the door and when Mrs. O'Flannagan opened it, +delivered his message. She came out, wiping her wet, water-wrinkled +hands upon her flour-sack apron, supposing that here was another lady +looking for a laundress. + +"I am Mrs. Weissinger Robinson and this is Mrs. Decatur Jones. We are +asking subscriptions for the Y. M. C. A. and other kindred institutions, +the money to be used for the comfort and entertainment of our soldier +boys in Europe, to furnish them with shelter huts near the front line +where they may rest, have picture shows, theatricals, innocent games, a +library and be given hot coffee, chocolate and other home-like things; +they will also be given writing materials. We have been asked to visit +each house in this section and ask contributions." + +"How nice and home-like that will be for the boys! If every mother +gives, she can be sure her boy over there will share in the giving. I +have saved up forty dollars for winter clothes for my boys, but we will +give ten of it. I am sorry I can not do more." + +At night when the canvass of that section was completed Mrs. Robinson +had collected $843.50, while Mrs. Castleman Smith, of the Third Avenue +section, had collected $327.00. + +Mrs. Decatur Jones, talking about the contributions with Mrs. Robinson, +said: "I am so glad we put it over that Mrs. Castleman Smith. My husband +gave me twenty-five dollars to contribute, but I thought that was too +much, so gave Mrs. Smith, who had our district, two dollars. I knew +there would be no trouble in collecting this city's apportionment. We +always 'go over the top.' Limerick certainly did beautifully, and I +might just as well have given all the twenty-five dollars, as I lost it +playing bridge." + + * * * * * + +The necessary fund having been raised by popular subscription, the Y. M. +C. A., K. of C. and Salvation Army began the process of preparation to +send over a corps of workers to look after the spiritual and physical +welfare of the American boys sent overseas and assigned for training or +fighting service to camp or trench in England, France, Italy, Russia and +Mesopotamia. + +In the list of recruits for International Y service there were barbers +and lawyers, truck farmers and preachers, mechanics and professors, +dentists and veterinarians, meat-eaters and vegetarians--an average lot +of Americans picked up in the hurley-burley and hasty preparation for +war. + +All were recommended by men of standing in their respective communities. +If among them there were a few black sheep, the responsibility rested +with the local Y which made the investigation, or on those respectable +local citizens who indorsed them, and not on the International Y. The +Government, when applications for passports were filed, made an +investigation by special agent of the applicant's loyalty and character. + +Thus were gathered together several thousand men whose average of age +was probably forty, nearly all starting from home with a conscientious +desire to render real patriotic service in the great war. + +There were a few young men who joined the Y to avoid more serious +military service. There were a few others who had no other object than +to see France and Italy at Mrs. O'Flannagan's expense. There were +perhaps a very few who sought sinful adventure and experience. + +The majority left home upon the receipt of a telegram ordering them to +report in New York at once, prepared to sail for Europe. They were fired +with zeal and patriotism, expecting to sail at once and upon arrival in +Europe to serve in the front line under the very muzzle of German big +Berthas. + +When they arrived in New York they reported at the Hotel St. Andrews and +were then assigned to that or some other hotel and directed to report +the following morning at 347 Madison Avenue, where the International Y +had its offices. + +Then they stood in line a day or two, usually snubbed if they asked some +one of the smaller office men a question, and when they sought +information, or to comply with certain regulations at the desk +designated in their printed instructions as the proper one, they were +referred to some one else or told by a stenographer that the gentleman +was out just at present, or that the applicant must first go to some +other desk before he could attend to him. This was the ground-floor +experience, where the utmost inexperience was slowly ground down to +competency and the green Y men were gradually knocked and buffeted +through in accordance with the regulations. In this way their patriotism +and resolutions were given a dush and first shock, from which they never +wholly recovered because of many subsequent similar experiences. + +The office building was arranged much on the order of a Chinese +restaurant; in that as you journeyed skyward conditions improved. The +ground floor was the worst, but as the elevator ascended you met with +more courtesy and consideration. By the time you passed the fourth +floor the man behind the desk had time to answer a relevant question, as +he was not riled by his own incompetency. + +After they had been in New York a day or two they learned that their +passports had not been issued and therefore there was no immediate +prospect for sailing. They were then ordered to a training conference +for ten days, which many attended for months, retaining their rooms and +eating at an expensive hotel at the expense of Mrs. O'Flannagan. + +At the conference, with the exception of lessons in the language of the +country where they were to be located and the physical training given +them, to many the time seemed wasted. They were subjected to daily +lectures on morals and patriotism by professors who talked to them as to +a group of fourth-grade boys, and sought to impress upon them that it +would be unbecoming in a Y secretary to flirt with the girls of the +street of Paris and London, or to lie around drunk in a front-line +trench. But the professors could not help it; they were fifty and their +habits were formed. They had been talking to boys from eight to sixteen +years old for thirty years. They could not understand that a lawyer or +dentist or preacher past forty might be a little set in his ways and +might know almost half as much about the girls of the street and a plain +drunk as a Boston college professor. The pupil might even have had the +experience. + +Possibly some of the men before sailing during their hundred nights on +Broadway received a few instructions first-hand about the girls of the +street and the evils of intemperance, which in a small measure prepared +their innocent souls for the shock of a short sojourn in Paris. +Certainly that experience with what the professors had told them was +sufficient to keep them from unconsciously being led astray, though I +have been told that some of them offered the new and heretofore +unheard-of excuse: "She did tempt me and I did eat." + +Then they were further trained to march and to sing; since when they +landed upon foreign shores they undoubtedly would spend most of their +time marching in bands about the streets of London and Paris and Rome +and possibly in due course Berlin, singing: "The Yanks are Coming" and +"America Done It," because the French, Italians and Germans know little +or nothing about music, and any American Y man, especially a blacksmith +from Shoulder Blade, Kentucky, could give them a few lessons. And the +British--why, they could do nothing, or would do nothing, till they got +there. They were drilled for a month or more in squads right and squads +left and taught by music masters to sing: "Here We Are, Hear the Eagle +Scream." + +The last time they marched was when they marched off the boat on the +other shore; after that when they walked they hoofed it. And the last +time they sang was just before they heard the Italians sing. The first +performance by comparison with the second sounded as a tom-tom concert +in competition with the celestial choir. Talk about carrying coals to +Newcastle; the most absurd performance of the Y was exporting American +singers to entertain the Italian army. + +Have you thought about it? Since Woodrow Wilson has been President, +America has been afflicted with what might be called the Professors' +Age. The professors in the Y certainly had the pull. If a kitchen was +opened in Flanders, a professor of chemistry was the director in charge; +a chef was no better than a kitchen scullion. If a tooth was to be +pulled, a professor of anatomy performed the operation because he knew +the root from the crown, while a dentist handled freight in a warehouse. +A professor of mathematics was put in charge of motor vehicles, while a +machinist arranged the programme for a vocal concert. A professor of +languages would be made chief accountant, while an expert accountant was +put in charge of a moving-picture machine. Professor Brown was given +charge in France; Professor Greene in England, and Professor Black in +Italy; and their regional directors were professor this and that; a +professor of penmanship in Rome, a professor of biology in Genoa, a +professor of languages in Brescia, and a professor of something else in +Naples, Milan, Venice, Trieste and Palermo. There was as much of +school-teacher dictatorship in the foreign Y as Secretary Lansing found +at the head of the State Department. When a doughboy referred to the Y +as "the damn Y," it is possible he recognized the secretary in charge as +his former professor of mathematics or languages. + +But slowly as these professors returned to America order came out of +chaos; the Y adjusted itself and became an efficient machine. We can +probably look upon it as a permanent organization in foreign lands by +the time these gifted and well-trained executives, these learned +expatriates, have all been called home. + +Because of mismanagement and disorganization in the beginning, many a Y +man who had left home with the best intentions, became disappointed and +disgusted and so unfit for service. + +He began by traveling from pillar to post and ended by seeing France and +Italy at Mrs. O'Flannagan's expense. He returned home saying unkind +things of the Y. Those who saw him traveling about, usually in an +expensive car, burning gasoline which cost more than a dollar a gallon +or traveling free on overcrowded trains, needed to transport troops or +civilians on imperative business, said unkind things of the Y. + +The men in the service of the Y had no reason for complaint at the +reception or courtesy extended them by the foreign governments where +they were placed. In Italy they had free first-class transportations and +could frank their baggage. The organization was given free freight, +express, postal and telegraph service. Certain government monopolies +were waived and customs' charges revoked in its favor. + +Nor could the men complain of the Y in the allowance for expenses and +salaries, as the organization in every instance more than lived up to +its agreement. No great criticism can be found with the organization. A +man who wanted to work and serve had the opportunity. Just criticism for +incompetence was local, and for discourtesy and dishonesty was +individual. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +"Y" SERVICE. + + +One evening in the spring of 1918 John Calhoun Saylor, ex-Congressman, +sat before the open fire in the old Clay residence, reading the +Courier-Journal. + +"Just as I expected, thirty-five, that gets me. I was born in 1885." +Then he read to his wife that the draft age would be raised to +thirty-five. + +"But, John, you are married." + +"Yes, thoroughly--but that makes no difference in my case. We have no +children; you and I have some little property, enough of an income to +live on; there's no one dependent upon me; I'm as strong as a mule, +feet, eyes, ears and teeth all right; no chance for rejection; they'll +get me sure. I guess it would have been better if I had gone to an +officer's training camp. My friends know I am no coward; I have been +shot at before, but I do not want some spindley, little dry-goods clerk +of a lieutenant telling me where to get off at; and I don't fancy living +in Washington as a dollar-a-year man. I rebel against restraint and +routine." + +"John, though I would miss you greatly, as you know a few months' +foreign service would help you politically. All the boys and younger men +in the eastern end of the State are in Europe, or preparing for foreign +service. It would be a mistake to wait and be drafted. When the women +begin voting, as they will in a year or two, they will vote for the +ex-soldier." + +"Foreign service is all right, if the war don't last too long. It is the +training camp I want to dodge. Well, this might help out--'The +International Y. M. C. A. desires several hundred men for immediate +service abroad. Kentucky is expected to furnish thirty of this number. +They must be over the present draft age and contract to serve one year +or for duration of the war. Applicants please write or call upon Mr. +Theobald Burton, Y. M. C. A. Building, Louisville, Ky.' + +"Suppose we go to Louisville tomorrow? Then I will call upon Mr. Burton +and learn what would be expected of me." + +Mr. and Mrs. Saylor went to Louisville and to see Mr. Burton. John +Calhoun made out an application for service, which was held up until he +furnished a physician's health certificate and the declarations of three +reputable citizens, including the pastor of the church he attended, as +to his moral fitness for the work. Then his application was forwarded +for approval to the general offices. + +Then he made application for a passport for service in Italy and France, +which was forwarded by the Clerk of the United States District Court to +Washington. He was then vaccinated and given the typhoid serum +treatment--precautions required under army regulations. + +Feeling assured that the Y. M. C. A. could not do without his services, +he returned home and made preparation for a year's absence. + +He so managed that the local papers gave him quite a boost. They told +how he had gone to Louisville, where he had made repeated efforts to +enlist in both the army and the navy, but had been rejected. He then +made application to enter the International Y. M. C. A. for foreign +service and had been accepted. "This Mr. Saylor had done at great +personal inconvenience and considerable business sacrifice, feeling that +it was his duty to serve his country. He expects to sail for Europe +before the end of the month." + +On the morning of the 2d of June he received a telegram from the +International Y to report in New York, prepared to sail immediately upon +arrival. He left home that afternoon and on the night of the 3d reported +at the Hotel St. Andrews, where he was assigned quarters, sharing his +room with another Y man. There he remained, his expenses paid by the Y, +until he sailed three months later. + +The morning after arrival, reporting at the main office, 347 Madison +Avenue, he was told that his passport had not been received and it was +impossible to tell when it might be. + +Speaking a little Italian, which Luigi Poggi had taught him when a boy, +he was directed to prepare for Y service with the Italian army and sent +to take the training course at the university. + +There he was taught to march and to sing "The Yanks are Coming" and +other choice vocal selections; was lectured on patriotism and cautioned +against intemperance, lewd and lascivious conduct and the great +temptations held out to innocent and inexperienced Y secretaries in the +great foreign cities. He was given lessons in Italian and at the end of +three months could speak that language more fluently than his professor. + +On the 26th of August his passport arrived and he was notified to be +prepared to sail on September 1st. From that time until he left New York +he stood in line before different clerks and officials, receiving +instructions, signing papers and procuring his outfit. He was furnished +everything except his underclothing, including a fund for incidental +expenses over actual transportation. + +Standing in line with more than a hundred others, he was surprised to +see, only a short way behind him, his brother-in-law, John Cornwall. + + * * * * * + +Cornwall, in January, 1918, had made application to enter the Officers +Training Camp at Port Benjamin Harrison, but had been rejected because +he was past forty-five. He had then tried to enlist as a private, but +had been rejected for the same reason. He had tendered his services to +the Judge Advocate General's department, but had heard nothing from his +application. As a last opportunity he offered his services to the +International Y and had been accepted. + +He arrived in New York on the night of August 27th and learned that his +passport had been received, and he and three hundred and sixteen other Y +men were to sail on September 1st. + +In the early morning of that date they boarded a train for Montreal, +where they arrived past midnight and were marched aboard the Burmah, a +British transport of seven thousand tons burden. At two a. m. they were +given a meal of tea, bread, condensed milk, boiled potatoes and a most +horrible sausage and told to turn in. As their bunks were hold hamocks, +quite a few turned out. + +About daylight the thousand-mile journey down the St. Lawrence began. +When they reached the ocean they joined a convoy of a dozen ships, +screened in a cold mist and rocked by a choppy sea. Then began the ocean +voyage of twelve days, through fog and rain and over a rough, gray sea. +At night it was early to bed, because lights were not allowed. + +The fare shows the ship's registry, and for breakfast, dinner and supper +was the same--tea, oatmeal, mutton, marmalade, condensed milk, cheese, +oleomargarin, bread and boiled potatoes. The ship was redolent with +mutton. Those whose stomachs were upset by a first voyage, more than +sixty per cent, declared they could never again look a sheep in the face +and live through it. Several gave their sheep skin coats away, believing +they added to the prevailing odor. + +Every day of the voyage they marched in the morning and held a song +service in the afternoon, followed by an address by some diplomatic +preacher or professor, who, being on a British transport, considered it +an opportune time to tell the captain and crew what the Yanks intended +doing and why the soldiers of all the other allied nations had failed in +the war. + +When they were off the Irish coast a half-dozen British destroyers +steamed out of the fog and met them and, like greyhounds at full speed, +chased one another in great circles around the more slowly moving +convoy. + +At Liverpool they marched ashore singing, "The Yanks are Coming" and +never marched again. Then they traveled by train to London and a day or +two later to Southampton, then by channel steamer to Havre, then by +train to Paris, where most of the men were assigned to service in +France. + +Those going to Italy, some thirty-five, including Saylor and Cornwall, +several days later traveled by train through Southwestern France to +Modane, then by way of Turin to Bologna. + +There they made settlement of their incidental expense accounts, which +did not include transportation charges; and though they traveled +together and stopped at the same hotels, Saylor rendered an account for +two hundred and twenty-five dollars and Cornwall one for eighty-three +dollars. + +In Bologna they were lectured and cautioned, particularly against +having anything to say about the Protestant religion in a Catholic +country, or making themselves conspicuous by attending Protestant +churches and gatherings. Then they were indiscriminately scattered from +the Austrian boundary to Syracuse. + +John Calhoun was given a high-powered car and stationed at Cento, a +place within convenient distance of Florence, Venice, Verona, Brescia +and Milan. He always left Cento on Saturday a. m. and returned Monday +p. m. He saw these and more distant cities. The cafes on the shores of +lakes Garda, Iseo, Como and Maggiore knew the resonant sound of his +Klaxon horn. + +But his weekly reports of work done, sent into Bologna, showed +magnificent accomplishments. There were but seven thousand soldiers in +his district, and only four huts or places of entertainment for the +soldiers. At night some thirty or forty soldiers gathered in each place, +their wants attended to by a sergeant of the Italian army, who called at +his rooms when supplies were needed; yet this report recited that an +average of three thousand visited the four places each night of the +week, making a weekly attendance of more than twenty thousand. He made +out his weekly report Friday night, with directions to his orderly to +mail it to Bologna on Monday morning. The report came in promptly, +though John Calhoun might be in Venice or Verona. + +How he did enjoy these week-end outings. It was a break in the monotony +of sitting quietly at ease in quarters furnished by the Italian +Government, when the only recreation was lunch and dinner at the +officers' mess, where he drank his share of the red and white wines and +learned to eat macaroni seasoned with grated cheese and red tomato +sauce, wrapping it around his fork and picking it up in great +mouthfuls. + +He was wonderfully kind to Colonel Rocca, the commanding officer, +keeping him supplied with cigarettes and tobacco from the supply +furnished for distribution among the privates. When the colonel +expressed a desire to accompany him on one of his week-end outings or +even to be carried to some neighboring city (the army only allowing a +horse and cart for his personal service), the Y Fiat was always at his +service. This courtesy resulted in John Calhoun being awarded the Croce +di Guerra, for distinguished service at the front, though Cento was +seventy-five miles from the front line and he never so much as heard the +roar of a distant gun. He did visit the battlefields, the whole front +line from the Adriatic Sea, along the Piave, Mt. Grappa and the +Trentino, westward to Tonale Pass and northward to Innsbruck, but it was +after the armistice. He made a choice collection of war relics and +photographs, which he subsequently used in his lecture: "Personal +Experiences at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, or How I Won the War +Cross." + +He had spent his boyhood on the trails of Pine Mountain, often riding to +mill straddle of a mule. When the family moved to Madison County he +drove a speedy trotter to a side-bar buggy over the turnpike, then in +his own Pierce-Arrow over excellent roads, then in Italy a Y Fiat. He +was educated by gradation to speedy locomotion and was a most competent +judge of good roads. + +He knew what he was talking about when he said that there were no other +roads in the world like the old Roman roads of the plain and no other +highways exhibited such engineering skill and perfection as those of the +mountains, north from Brescia along Lake Iseo to Tonale Pass, with its +tunnels, curves and gradual ascents. + +How he did enjoy riding over the old Roman road from Bologna to Milan +with Colonel Rocca, telling him about what he had done and had seen! One +of his lectures, descriptive of this road, was reported, and I quote a +portion of it: + +"There is no place more attractive in the ripe days of spring than the +Lombardy plain. The old Roman road as direct as the truth and a +straight, though broad, way intersects it as though a great master road +builder with the power of a czar had laid down a hundred-mile rule and, +drawing a single line at an angle of twenty degrees north of west, +declared the survey complete and the route fixed. + +"The road is built above and overlooks the plain. No pains in the +original construction of twenty-odd centuries ago, nor since in its +remodification or repair, has been spared towards making it an eternal +highway down which as a vast speedway a half-dozen cars might race +abreast. + +"The Po and its tributaries are spanned by great arched bridges of +stone, seemingly cut and placed by Titans of past ages who spent their +full days and plenteous strength and skill in placing stone on stone. + +"The whole plan seems laid off with a rule. The distant cloud-capped +Alps to the north, the Apennines of verdant foothills and snow-clad +peaks nearer to the south seem pressing down to meet and clash as two +vast armies contending for the plain--as so many times have the men of +the north with the men of the south until the Master of All, drawing a +line with His sceptre, said: 'Thus far only.' Then He made the river +which surges forward in a straight flight from Valenza to the sea and +swarthy barefooted peasants of the plain flanked it with parallel +dikes. + +"On either side of the whole way are long rows of mulberry trees for +silk culture, and vineyards for red wine, and between the grass grows +rank and green. + +"But three times yearly the geni of the garden comes forth, on moist, +moony nights, and changes the rugs of green in the aisles of the +vineyards and the groves and the carpets of the fields. + +"When the time of the singing of the birds is come and the locust and +the cherry bloom, then he spreads the rugs and carpets of promise and of +gold, embossed with yellow tulips and bordered with royal purple, Parma +violets. + +"When nature is voluptuously mature the geni spreads his rugs and +carpets of poppies. It is the season to wound and to garner; the red of +the fields is as the wounds of the slain. + +"The geni grows old, his beard and hair are white as lamb's wool. White +oxen drew great tanks on wheels into the vineyards. The grapes are +gathered and trampled into wine. The trees and vines look sad. The rugs +are faded and worn. It is the season of death; the sleep before the +resurrection. So for the last time the geni comes forth and spreads his +rugs and carpets of white--the last flowers of the year. + +"You will pass several ancient churches along the way. When the interior +walls are scraped it is not uncommon to find frescoes by some forgotten +master, generally in the nude. The father of the church, being something +of an artist himself, mixes a pot of paint and dresses the exhumed Saint +Anthony in yellow pants, his conception of how that saint should appear +in public. + +"This reminds me of the stars painted on the dome of the 'Star Chamber' +of Westminster Abbey. The Jewish money lenders of ancient London were +permitted to deposit the bonds of their Christian debtors in a chamber +of the abbey. The Hebrew word for 'bond' being 'star,' the chamber was +so named. The reason for the name in time became obscure. A subsequent +custodian, having his own conception, had stars painted on the dome and +walls of the chamber. + +"On this trip I was told by an Italian antiquarian how the names 'White' +(Bianca), 'Green' (Verdi) and 'Black' (Nero) first were given people. + +"In ancient Rome when a foundling was left upon a doorstep and parentage +could not be traced, he was given the name of some color. Some of the +most illustrious and ancient Italian families of today bear these +names." + + * * * * * + +The first of April, 1919, John Calhoun Saylor was transferred from Cento +to the general offices of the Y. M. C. A. in the Hotel Regina, Bologna. +This hotel had been requisitioned by the Italian government from its +owners and turned over to the Y at a nominal rental. + +John Calhoun, by his flatteries, ingratiated himself into most +satisfactory relations with Professor Black, general secretary of the Y. +M. C. A. in Italy and, speaking Italian almost as fluently as the +professor, who spoke it like an educated native, was frequently called +upon to transact business with the Italians. + +There was great excitement in Italy and many unfriendly demonstrations +against Americans when President Wilson's attitude on the Fiume question +became generally known. + +Bologna, politically, has always been one of the most demonstrative and +volatile of Italian cities. On the 25th of April, 1919, a great +demonstration was made by the populace in favor of the annexation of +Fiume, and word was sent by the police authorities to Professor Black +that a great crowd was preparing for a demonstration in front of the +hotel, in protest against President Wilson's attitude. Professor Black, +having important business in a distant city, left about the time the +crowd began gathering in front of the Hotel Regina; and John Calhoun, in +his absence, spoke for him to the assembled multitude on behalf of the +Y, explaining its position on the Fiume question. + +[Illustration: Demonstration against Y. M. C. A., Hotel Regina, Bologna, +April 25, 1919.] + +As he stood facing the ten thousand excited Italians, there was no +tremor of voice or limb. It was just the chance he was looking for; he +was in his element; he was having the best time he had had since leaving +America. In the uniform of an officer of the American army he spoke in +criticism of the Commander in Chief of that army, the President of the +United States. + +The Bologna paper, Il Resto del Carlino, reported the proceeding as +follows: + +"* * * E' un momento d'incertezza, Qualcuno impreca a Wilson e fischia. +Altri protestano giustamente affermandi che non se deve confondere +Wilson coi populo d'America. + +"E giustamente Ci resulta infatti che i rappresentanti a Bologna della +Y. M. C. A. hanno a pertamente disapprovato il contegno di Wilson. + +"I benemeriti dirigenti la sede Centrale di Bologna hanno publicamente +cio dichiarato e itri, nei vestibolo dell' Hotel Regina il ritratto del +Presidente e stato sostituito della prima pagina del Resto del Carlino +nella qualle erano sottolineate le frasi salienti del Messaggio di +Orlando e cancellati i punti del Messaggio di Wilson nei quali il +Presidente si arroga di parlare in nome del populo degli Stati Uniti. + +"Ma questo e ignorato dalla folla la quale continua a protestare. + +"Alle finestre si affacciano vari ufficiali e sventolano bandiere +italiane; poi il maggiore Saylor accenna a parlare. + +"Si fa un gran silenzio. + +"Il giovane ufficiale della Fratellanza americana grida: + +"Nessun Wilson potra togliere all'Italia il diritto al conseguimento del +sou diritto al diritto che i tricolore italiano sventoli per sempre +sulla Torre di Fiume. Io e i miei colleghi sentiama per Fiume lo stesso +sentimento che provate voi, o cittadini di Bologna e d'Italia. Togliervi +Fiume e una delle piu grandi barbarie del secolo. Non disperate; +lasciate che Wilson rinsavisca! Fiume sara italiana! + +"E' fra un delirio di acclamazioni conclude gridando. + +"Viva Italia! Viva Fiume! Viva Orlando! Viva Sonnino! Viva l'America! + +"Viva l'America risponde la folla in una esplosione di riconoscente +entusiasmo. + + "Altri discorsi + +"Intanto la prima parte del corteo ritorna da piazza VIII Agos to e i +dimostranti, aumentati ancora di numero ripetono le acclamazioni dinanzi +alla sede della Fratellanza Americana. + +"Piazza Garibaldi e gremita. Intorno al monumento dell'eroe si +dispongono le bandiere e le rappresentanze e vengone pronunciati altri +discorsi. + +"Parla per primo un vecchio garabaldino il quale afforma che se +continueranno le opposizione per Fiume andremo laggiu non col +grigioverde ma con la camicia rossa e conclude mandando un caldo saluto +al populo americano mentre impreca al tradimento di Wilson; poi segue +Pietro Nenni che invita i cittadini americani graditi e amati ospiti di +Bologna a far conoscere ei loro connazionali il vero sentimento del +populo d'Italia la sua fermezza nei pretendere cio che gli spetta di +diritto. In attesa che quella giustizia che ci nega Wilson--conclude--ci +venga dal popolo della libera America, noi gridiamo; Guai a chitocco i +tre colori della bandiera italiana. * * * + +"Parla di nuovo, per ultimo, il maggiore Saylor, il quale ripete il +sentimento suo e dei suoi colleghi concorde con quello dei populo +italiano. Wilson-esclama-ha lasciato il cervello in America; se non +avvera in lui un rinsavimento dovra presto fare un triste ritorno +pensando agli effetti disastrosi della sua megalomania! + +"Nuivi applausi scroscianti poi il corteo si ricompont e si avviva per +via del Mille gli uffici del Giornale del Mattino. + +"Parla, applaudito, il college Lucchesi. Indi la folla si reca in via +Galliera soffermandosi dinanzi al palazzo ove e la sede del Corpo +d'Armata." + +The mob was appeased; peace was declared; the day was saved, and several +of the Y-men fell on John Calhoun's neck and wept tears of gratitude +because he had saved their lives. + +There were quite a few Y secretaries scattered over Italy who vehemently +disclaimed that John Calhoun spoke for them or their sentiments. Among +this number was his brother-in-law, John Cornwall, and two truculent and +undiplomatic secretaries who had charge of the work with the +Twenty-seventh Army Corps at Carpi. + +They sent a communication to General Antonio Di Giorgi in command of +that corps; mailed a copy of this letter and one written Professor Black +to the American Ambassador at Rome; and, so their position might be +understood, addressed a communication to the paper Il Resto Del +Carlino, published at Bologna, which was commented upon by that paper as +follows: + +"Il signor John Smith direttore regionale della Y. M. C. A. ci scrive da +Carpi che, pur avendo le maggior simpatie per l'Italia e per il suo +glorioso esercito, non puo associarsi alle critiche fatte da alcuni +membri della Y. M. C. A. di Bologna contro l'opera di Wilson. + +"Come cittadino degli Stati Uniti indossante la divisa dell'esercito di +cui il presidente Wilson e il capo-scrive il Signor Smith--non faccio in +Italia o altrove la critica della sue espressioni; se egli parla a nome +della Nazione, io devo essere solidale con lui. + +"Alla protesta del signor Smith si assicia il senor E. R. Clarke, +insegnante di educazione fisica presso la missione americana Y. M. C. A. + +"Diamo atto volentiere ai due egregi gentiluomi delle loro +dichiarazioni, inspirate a uno scrupolo patriottico che altamente +apprezziamo. + +"Non vorremmo pero con questo togliere valore all'atteggiamento generosi +di quei membri della benemerita associazione che nei giorni scorsi si +associana spontaneamente alla protesta del popolo italiano contro la +politica di Wilson, stimando che ogni libero cittadino possa, in ogni +circostanza, apportamente esprimere un giudizio sullopera del proprio +Governo senza rendersi colpevole d'indisciplina ne dar luogo a malevoli +interpretazioni." + +The letter written to General Di Giorgi was as follows: + + "Carpi, Italy, April 26, 1919. + + "His Excellency, + General Antonio Di Giorgi: + +"I have been in the Y. M. C. A. service in Italy since September 28, +1918. I am fond of the people of Italy and at all times have been +justly and fairly treated by them; and the officers and soldiers +constituting her great army have been especially kind to me. + +"I have just had read to me from the journal Il Resto del Carlino La +Patria, addresses said to have been made by certain representatives of +the Y. M. C. A. at Bologna. If they are correctly quoted, they do not +express my views. + +"As a citizen of the United States, with President Wilson the head of +the nation, I do not in Italy or elsewhere criticize his expressions. If +he speaks for the nation, I am controlled by and concur in those +statements. + +"Most respectfully and with sincere regret, I am, + + "John Smith. + +"N. B.--I concur in the sentiment expressed by Mr. Smith. + + "Edw. R. Clarke." + +On April 26th in an interview, after the delivery of his letter, Mr. +Smith asked General Di Giorgi: "What would be the punishment of a +soldier who criticized his king as John Calhoun had President Wilson." + +"Mr. Smith, you must excuse me from answering; I am not a politician, +but a soldier." (The general is considered one of the most astute +politicians in Italy.) + +A major who was present said: "We would turn his face to the wall and +shoot him in the back." + +On April 28th Professor Black sailed for America on a three-months' +vacation, a very inopportune time, as the Y work was in a chaotic state +and his more than two hundred subalternate secretaries exposed to +personal danger. + +General Treat, Commander of the American forces in Italy, after an +investigation, ordered Saylor stripped of his uniform, and he was sent +home. Before he left Italy he was made a Cavaliere. His friends among +the Italian officers, who had repeatedly enjoyed the hospitality of his +Fiat, dubbed him "Sir Knight of the Highway." + +He returned by way of France and attended the first convention of the +American Legion in Paris. He returned on an American transport with +several thousand soldiers. As he looked at these boys he thought of the +vast horde returning and how in less than ten years they would rule the +nation, and the idea of pushing prominently into the organization of the +Legion took deeper root in his brain. + +Aboard the transport he did not recount his adventures on the +battlefields of Italy. He was fearful some officer having knowledge that +his uniform had been taken from him, or having private instructions from +General Treat, might question the value of his services in the +determination of the World War. But when he reached Kentucky it would be +a different proposition; he would be a rooster on his own dunghill. + +He remained a few days in New York and so managed as to make himself +conspicuous as one of the founders of the Legion. + +When he reached home he was a zealous advocate against the League of +Nations, and declared himself a political maverick until that issue was +settled. + +It seemed to have been settled when he arrived at the conclusion that +Morrow, the Republican candidate, would be elected Governor. + +Then he found time to discontinue his series of lectures on "Italy in +the War" and stumped the Eighth District for Morrow--all the while +having his eye on John Calhoun's tomorrow. + +One of his most interesting lectures was "Personal Experiences at the +Battle of Vittorio Veneto," an extract from which follows: + +"* * * I have heard and seen enough to know that it is to be the final +great effort and to commence on October 24th, commemorative of the +anniversary, and to wipe out the stain, of the Italian defeat at +Caparetto. + +"For more than a month I have heard the monotonous, familiar, easily +distinguished, never-to-be-forgotten sound of preparation--of the tramp +of the feet of thousands of men and mules; of the rumble of the wheels +of countless moving vans, guns and wagons going back and forth in +apparent utter confusion from Tonale and Aprica passes down the valley +from Edelo to new assignments, necessary in the organization of the +attacking army of nearly a million men. + +"The front line extends from Stelvio Pass in the Ortler Alps along the +then Italian-Austrian boundary to Tonale Pass to Lake Garda, thence a +little south of Altissimo, Asiago, to Mt. Grappa, Corduna and along the +Piave to the sea. + +"The initial plan of battle decided upon is to separate the Austrian +forces in the Trentino from those on the Piave by a breach at the +junction of the Fifth and Sixth Austrian armies. + +"In conformity with this plan the action was instituted as scheduled by +attacks by the Fourth army in the Grappa area, by the Tenth army on the +Piave south of Vittorio, supplemented by attacks instituted by the +Eighth and Twelfth armies and diversion raids by the Sixth army. The +primary offensive covered the whole front from Asiago on the west to a +point east on the Piave, a little east of south of Vittorio. + +"Opposite the Tenth Austrian army were the Seventh and First Italian +armies; opposite the Eleventh Austrian army was the Sixth and part of +the Fourth Italian army. The Fourth and Twelfth Italian armies faced the +Belluno Group, and the Eighth, Tenth and Third Italian armies were +confronted by the Sixth and Fifth Austrian armies. + +"The Austrian force consisted of sixty-three divisions; thirty-nine on +the front line, thirteen in the second and eleven in reserve. A total of +1,070,000 men and 7,500 guns and mortars. + +"The Italians had opposing this force fifty-one Italian, three British, +two French, one Czecho-Slovak divisions and the 332d American infantry +regiment--a total of 912,000 men and 8,900 guns and mortars. + +"The forty-eighth British and the forty-second French divisions were +with the Sixth army. General Earl of Cavan, commanding the British +forces in Italy, was given the command of the Tenth army, which included +the seventh and twenty-third British divisions, the twenty-third, +thirty-third, thirty-seventh and fifty-sixth Italian divisions, the Como +brigade and the 332d American regiment, all of whom rendered very +distinguished service. + +"By October 29th it was apparent, by reasons of breaches made in the +Austrian lines and advances effected, that a great victory by an +aggressive policy was assured. + +"Beginning the night of the 30th, the enemy commenced retiring under the +protection of rear guard actions. On the 31st the enemy's forces had +collapsed on the Grappa front. The Eighth army had driven the enemy back +into the Belluno valley and the way was open for advances to the Cadore, +the Agordino and the Val Cismon. Opportunity was presented for a +complete destruction of the Austrian forces in the Trentino. Whereupon +the whole Italian army by general orders issued on November 1st was +directed to press down upon the Austrian army as a great, solid wave of +men from the Ortler Alps to the sea. + +"The order was followed by the recapture of the Asiago Plateau, the +occupation of Trent on November 2d, the advance of the Tenth army to +Livenza, of the Eighth army to Belluno and of the Seventh and First +armies to Riva. + +"Although the armistice between the Italians and the Austrians was +signed in Trieste on the evening of November 3d, the advance continued +into the afternoon of the 4th. + +"When the fighting ceased there had been an advance occupation of +territory by the Italians of approximately 3,500 square miles. More than +450,000 prisoners and 5,000 guns and mortars had been taken. + +"On November 3d an Italian force landed in Trieste, which city was +occupied without opposition. + +"It was essentially an Italian victory won by Italian troops. + +"The result was the destruction of the great army of Austria-Hungary, +the armistice and surrender of Austria of November 3d and the hastening +by weeks of the armistice of November 11th. + +"I have always felt that the British and French appropriated for +themselves too much of this victory, won by the united efforts of a +million men, mostly Italians. + +"An army or division engaged in one sector of a great battle is prone to +take to itself more than its quota of the success from the united +efforts of many divisions. A division may be so placed as to bear the +brunt of an offensive and by a stubborn, bloody stand stop a disastrous +defeat; but it takes many combined divisions fighting with equal valor +and success under a great staff to put over a great offensive, such as +was the battle of Vittorio Veneto; in result, at least, the greatest +battle of the world. + +"After the battle the same noises and apparent confusion of the advance +was repeated; of soldiers moving north by way of Tonale Pass to the +front; now far in enemy country beyond the cities of Male, Cles and +Bolzano to Innsbruck; of prisoners, Austrian, Hungarian and German, +taken south to labor in the fields of the plain of Lombardy, or even to +the Riviera to work in the quarries and upon the roads on the foothills +of the Apennines, overlooking the blue Mediterranean. + +"Many feel that the final, fatal stroke to the Central Powers was given +by Italy when driving the Austrian army north and east, she took more +than 450,000 prisoners. More she might have had, but they were permitted +to move on, a disheveled, discouraged host, witnesses to the Austrian +and German people of a last, fatal defeat; they tramped northward +self-stripped of all equipment as a half-drowned man might throw away +his clothes, hoping to reach a distant shore. + +"After the battle, in which I took a prominent part, I followed behind +these half-starved, half-naked soldiers, first a fleeing army, then a +mighty horde of discouraged tramps, then corraled and organized and +under guard. The road was pock-marked with shell holes, which were being +filled by laboring soldiers, first with Austrian dead, then stones, then +earth. The way was strewn with weapons and clothing and blankets and +helmets and love tokens and overturned trucks and cannon and dead horses +and dead men. + +"The weak and famished died by the roadside or gorged themselves on the +dead artillery horses or those ridden to death by fleeing cavalry and +officers. Their hunger appeased, many sat in the sun, naked to the waist +ridding themselves of vermin or lay in exhausted stupor. The stench was +as revolting as the picture. + +"Such was the panorama all the way from Tonale Pass east, to Fucina, +Male, Cles, Bolzano and south to Trent and Rovereto and along the Piave +to the sea. + +"Now, if you will pardon personal allusions, I will tell you how I was +wounded and how I obtained the Croce di Guerra. I--, etc. I--, etc," (We +will omit the account.) + + * * * * * + +As John Calhoun now called himself a Republican, his residence at +Richmond in a congressional district normally Democratic, did not suit +his political ambitions; so in December, following Governor Morrow's +election, he removed to Pineville in the Eleventh Congressional +District, which was overwhelmingly Republican, and for a lawyer a better +business location than Richmond. + +He built a very handsome, brick residence on one of the foothills of +Pine Mountain overlooking the little, mountain city and the broad valley +in the bend of the Cumberland. + +He felt satisfied that after a couple of years' residence in Pineville +he could procure the nomination for Congress, which was equivalent to an +election. + +The change of residence he found perfectly satisfactory from every +standpoint, but Mrs. Rosamond Clay Saylor was not satisfied. She closed +one of their very common wrangles, and she usually closed such bouts, +by saying: "Well, John Calhoun, you have grown very arbitrary and +headstrong since your experiences in the World War. I shall acquiesce +since most of my time will be taken up on the lecture platform, +advocating woman suffrage. I suppose I can find the place bearable +during the heated term if you make yourself a little more agreeable. I +wish I had married your brother-in-law, John Cornwall, when he asked me; +he at least is a gentleman." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +JOHN CORNWALL TRAVELS A BIT AND RETURNS HOME. + + +I believe it is Victor Hugo who declares sixty the age of adventure. To +the regret of many an adventurous soul past forty-five, this view was +not shared by those organizing Uncle Sam's oversea fighting force, and +these men, regardless of physical fitness, found their opportunities +limited to camp-follower service in the capacity of Red Cross, K. C. or +Y. M. C. A. worker. + +So John Cornwall, Y. M. C. A. worker, in due course arrived at Bologna +and was assigned for service with the Seventh Italian army, located in +the head of the Val Camonica and holding the front line around Tonale +Pass and Mt. Adamello, a glacier 11,700 feet high. + +This was hardly a satisfactory winter assignment, as fuel was scarce and +the icy winds and Austrian guns kept him burrowed in the chiseled +caverns of the dolomite peaks like a prairie dog in winter quarters +until the first of November, when Tonale Pass, which had been in +possession of the Austrians for several years, was crossed and the +advance made into the Trentino, followed by the surrender of the +Austrian armies and the Italian-Austrian armistice of November 3-4th. + +Then, after following the advancing army several days towards Innsbruck, +he returned to Pontagna and a winter in the Alpine snow fields, where, +above nine thousand feet, you find the arctic ptarmigan and perpetual +snow, where the telephone lines occasionally fail to function because +under snows, and the magnificent mountain roads approaching the passes +are closed for several months by deep snows, despite a struggle to keep +open a narrow trail with snow plows on which, if you meet another +vehicle, all hands shovel snow for an hour, making room to pass. + +There nothing was to be seen except snow and scenery and soldiers and +guns and snow dogs. + +The Mt. Adamello snow or sled dogs are a cross between the Canadian and +Russian husky, big, white, woolly, impressive war veterans, snarling and +snapping at one another and their keepers, barking little, knowing that +silence is salvation. White and hard to see, they are sent between lines +into territory where nothing living and seen can live. + +These dogs are allowed half the rations of a soldier; are marked with +indelible ink on the pink skin inside the ear; and a pair, with apparent +ease, draw a sled load of three hundred pounds. + +It would be hard to picture John's loneliness that winter. Though the +officers and soldiers were most kind, he did not speak Italian and none +of the officers in the mess to which he was assigned spoke English. At +first he could not ask for a piece of bread; but the service was +excellent and his wants were anticipated. Bearing in mind their example +and kindness, he made up his mind always to be kind to any foreigner he +might meet when he returned home. + +He longed for someone to talk with; and when his work was done he would +walk out upon the mountain side in the bright winter sunlight of those +great heights and hold an imaginary conversation with his wife or little +son, and come home whistling and happy. + +There were no books to read. He was left alone with his thoughts which, +though sometimes sad and lonely, were never unhappy ones. These six +months of silence and thought changed his disposition. He grew older in +spirit. He acquired a habit of silence he never outgrew; of +introspective reflection, such as the old have who sit silently in the +chimney corner. + +In early March, he received word of the death of his mother. He was not +surprised, and, though he loved her very much, was not overly grieved by +it. She had led a useful, unselfish, happy life; she was old and for +several years had been losing her vitality without apparent pain. Her +life had been a peaceful one; she expected the peace of the righteous +after death; she believed those of her family she left behind would be +happy. John looked upon her going as a vanishing from sight merely. She +seemed in an adjoining room or near place; a little too far away to see +or hear, but near enough to feel her presence and love. + +Just when it seemed that winter was the perpetual season, when his +fingers were swollen and discolored by the cold and he had forgotten how +it felt to be warm unless in bed or shoveling snow, the valley below +took on emerald tints and the snow line crept up the mountain. + +Then John thought, "the hill country will be fine this summer;" but he +was told to come out of his dolomite burrow and dwell in a tent with the +Arabs in Tripolitania for the summer. A place so near the equator that +his shadow at noon was hid by a none too prominent stomach; where the +thermometer feels comfortable and perfectly at home at 130 in the shade +and where the snow dogs of his winter home were replaced by the camel, +the only reliable conveyance in the summer. + +The Bedouin, the Tuaregs and some of the blacks, ride the camel with +ease and dignity; but an Englishman, Italian or American on a camel +looks and feels wholly out of place, and at the end of a day's journey +is an object of pity and a subject for soothing lotions. + +The impression that John Cornwall formed of Tripoli was that it was a +vastly overcrowded city, due to a host of visiting and trading natives +and the more than ten thousand soldiers, at that time, quartered in the +city. + +The blue Mediterranean, the white beach, the brilliancy of the sun, the +palm trees and the crescent city, in the main of cement or plaster +buildings, with flat or beehive roofs, all white except an occasional +red or green tiled one, merely emphasizing by contrast the uniformity of +the building color; make an interesting picture. + +The varieties of nationality, costume and color are striking in the +extreme. Here are seen men and women, white, brown, yellow, black and +shades and combinations of two or all. Here are youthful forms, graceful +and like living bits of ebony or bronze; antiques weatherworn and +wind-dried, who when asleep upon the sidewalk, which is quite the +custom, look like recently disentombed mummies; old and wrinkled women +with hair dyed a brilliant red; Italian soldiers in the national green +uniform; native or colonial troops in khaki; some native regiments and +police in vivid blue or brown with red fez topped with a huge yellow +tassel; beggars and children with little more than a breech cloth; women +with faces covered and breasts and limbs uncovered; women wrapped as +ghosts, with just the feet showing and one eye peeping and twinkling, +encircled about the middle with many folds of cloth; the medicine or +dance man in his costume of rags, crane heads and feathers, with a +girdle of jangling tin and bones, his little drum with curved sticks, +his dance and music the convulsions and noises of a stupid beggar; and +many, very many, blind;--who seem to have no home but the sidewalk, +where you see them asleep at any time, day or night, waiting in darkness +for alms and the judgment day. + +A certain sect shave the head and grow a crown lock, Chinaman style, +except it is unplatted. The blessed dead must not be denied by the hands +of the living, so the lock is left to handle the corpse. + +The chief business is fighting. The chief export, a desert grass used in +the manufacture of a fine paper. Business is stagnant, as the war +between the Italians and the Arabs shifted barter by caravan with the +interior to the British colony on the east and the French on the west. + +Each trade or business is segregated or localized. The jewelers, an +apparently thrifty lot and mostly Turkish Jews, are bunched on a street +near one of the hotels. + +The meat market is quite interesting if you can stand the smell. The +natives eat the whole carcass. + +The milkman, morning and evening, calls at the door of his customer with +his goods in the original package. The goats are more docile and better +behaved than the children. They stand and deliver the quantity demanded. +There is neither chance for nor great economy in adulteration--water is +too scarce. It is brought to the city mule-back in porous jars. You can +have your milk from the black, white or brown nanny as desired. A goat +is a respected member of the family and his odor by comparison not +offensive. + +Never after four months in Tripolitania did John laugh at the Englishman +who carried his tub with him. He is an experienced traveler and knows +what he is about. A cold bath cost John $1.50. The Bedouins and Tuaregs +are proud, aristocratic, heroic-looking people; but they bathe in the +sand much as a mother hen dusts herself in a neighbor's flower bed. + +John Cornwall was forced to go fifty miles south of Tripoli to Azizia in +the desert, where he found the thermometer 130 in the shade. At another +time when he went to Zavia, he found six had recently died of the +bubonic plague. + +In this land of heat, of blindness, of leprosy, of flies, of fleas and +sandstorms, where the sun goes down red as the wounds of the slain, he +was required as regional director of a district seven hundred by sixty +miles to visit some thirty case del soldato, (houses of the soldier) in +any manner the gods of opportunity presented. + +It was necessary to get something that beat the coast line vessels, +which with oriental slowness and uncertainty of schedule visited the +coast hamlets. A mule would not answer; a truck was furnished by the +army but almost impossible; a camel was too hard on the backbone; +besides at certain seasons they are vicious as a Hun and unless muzzled +will snatch your arm in their strong jaws and snap it as a clap pipe +stem. + +In this land of rugs, where is the magic carpet? Why an army +Caproni--and the Italian army, until the Fiume question arose, refused +nothing to an American. So John went to the Governo della Tripolitania +Stato Maggiore and was given a general permit to make his trips from +Tripoli to Homs and Zuara in the Caproni mail plane. + +The mail to Homs is carried on Wednesday and that to Zuara on Saturday. +The planes are more than twenty meters from tip to tip and can ascend to +six thousand meters; they are 18 cylinder, 450 horsepower with three +complete engines, either of which is sufficient to operate a machine in +case of accident. Then, the cost of building such a machine was +approximately $16,000.00. They carry two thousand pounds of mail matter +or explosives or ten men. The seat John occupied was in the very bow. +When occupying this seat the pressure of the wind from the speed of +flying is quite a strain on the neck, chest and back. Your head will be +twisted as though wrenched by strong invisible hands, your back grows +tender from pressure on the back rail and must be rested by leaning +forward with your head adjusted at a certain angle with the wind. + +The distance from the aviation field near Tripoli to Homs is 110 +kilometers and is usually made in fifty minutes. It takes seven hours by +steamer. The steamer follows no schedule and may return in a few days or +sail on to Genoa or Syracuse or Bengasi. + +The plane route in general follows the shore line. The blue +Mediterranean from two thousand meters above is not blue but black. You +can see to quite a depth and where the bottom is distinct the white sand +looks blue and not the water. The colors do not blend--the inky black +deep water, the blue shallows, the brown desert, with rare patches of +white rectangular houses and the green oases of corn, alfalfa and palm +trees. The palms, almost the only trees, look like inverted green +feather dusters. + +And so, on to the aviation field near the magnificent ruins of ancient +Lebna. The extent of these ruins, great arches, portals and columns of +marble, porphyry and cut stone overlooking the sea, though half buried +by sand dunes, presents conclusive evidence of a former populous and +magnificent city. + +In the morning, when they expected to return to Tripoli, a heavy fog +drifting from the southwest rested over the sea, and though conditions +were not ideal, they started home. + +The fog, far below, covering the sea as far as vision reached, looked +like an immense broken billowy ice field, or millions of big powder +puffs jammed together in an immense plain. Following the distinguishable +shore line they came within fifteen miles of Tripoli where the fog, with +dangerous perverseness, extended far into the desert. Earth passed out +of sight and they were in a private world of much space and no +substance, as might have been before land and sea were formed. Far below +on the cloud-like surface of the fog a circular rainbow preceded them +and when the operators, thinking the camp near, descending, drew near +the fog, in the white center of the rainbow-circle, ghost-like, appeared +a perfect silhouette of their airplane. + +Then through the fog, as cold as a winter mist, they came in sight of +earth; much too close for comfort, where a little dip or swerve might +land them in the palm tops, and the edge of the landing field a quarter +of a mile to the right, then up into the fog again and to a safe +landing. + +On a day in July, they started for Zuara at six o'clock in the morning; +and the higher up they went the hotter it grew. The operators, returning +to camp, refused to make the trip as the thermometer registered 60 +centigrade at five hundred meters, stating a ghibli was raging at a +higher altitude. Five hours later Tripoli and the whole desert country +south, suddenly and without warning, became a blast furnace of heat and +a place of dust and torture. + +Those familiar with the hot winds which at times devastate the crops and +make life miserable southwest of the one hundredth meridian in Oklahoma +and Texas would consider them the cool breeze of a summer twilight in +comparison with the ghibli or Sahara sandstorm. + +Some writer tells that "a geologist has estimated that a single +windstorm across the Sahara once carried nearly 2,000,000 tons of dust +from Africa and deposited it over Italy, Austria, France and Germany." + +At the end of four months spent in Tripolitania, John Cornwall's +contract for a year's service with the Y expired and he asked for +transportation to America. He made the trip across the sea from Tripoli +to Syracuse, from Syracuse to Bologna by rail except across the strait +of Messina, and then in a day or so to Genoa, where he took passage on +the Giuseppe Verdi for America. + +As he journeyed second-class, which was the way the Y men were sent +home, his fellow-passengers were in the main Italians on their way to +labor in the vineyards and orchards of California. While he spoke +Italian, it was too laborious and incomplete for general conversation. +He had much time to study the ways of the sea, and the infrequent ships +they passed were cause for reflection. + +He thought how trite from use and yet how true, truer than any of us +even dream, is the comparison that life is a great sea and we who +journey through, as ships, that at distant intervals dot the surface. + +A ship at sea, as life to many, appears a lonely and desolate thing. How +much room there is for ships, more ships, bigger ships, for great +convoys of ships, yet ships as a rule travel alone and not in convoys. + +What of the ships? + +Just now, there is passing a corporation-owned oil tanker, greasy and +uninteresting. Yesterday we passed several scheduled freighters, +carrying fixed cargoes to fixed ports; the day before a passenger +liner, sailing by the clock, in Naples or New York on Friday, pouring +out its never-ending tide of those going and returning. + +But let us not waste time or thought on commercial or mercenary craft. +Here is not interest or adventure or much real return on the investment, +unless your aim in life is to die merely a sea captain or a ship owner. +Let us cruise where the currents are strong, where the rocks are +dangerous: in the frozen North or in sight of coral island or low beach +and palm trees, where there is an uncertainty of return in gold, but a +wealth of interest and adventure and experience. + +The coral islands and the palm groves in this great sea are not in the +South Pacific; nor the ice floes north or south of a certain degree; nor +the swift currents and dangerous rocks near some inhospitable shore, but +at home; and the ships that pass are our companions. + +And the ships of interest are the barks that sail as fancy whispers in +the chart room or the tramp trader, at Sidney today, tomorrow at Malta, +or the derelict. And who would not rather hear and know the story of +such a vessel and voyage than smell the oil of the tanker or hear from +daybreak to midnight the victrola, the piano and the chit-chat of the +passenger liner. + +And, strange to tell, most of us when on a most wonderful cruise with +everything within reach, though out of sight, because we jab our eyes +sightless wiping the tears away, bewail our luck, saying: + + "See I a dog? There's ne'er a stone to throw! + Or stone? Tere's ne'er a dog to hit I trow! + Or if at once both stone and dog I view, + It is the King's dog! Damn! What can I do?" + +Home again! John finds the boy two inches taller and Mary as fair to +look upon as when first he married her. The house is just the same, +except Mary has taken down the framed needle-work done by his mother +which hung over the living-room door. He asks that it be replaced. + +When John and you were boys, back in the eighties, on the wall of the +living-room of many a Kentucky home, was found mother's handwriting on +the wall, done in colored worsted or silk: "God Bless Our Home"; this +her work went to the attic or the ash heap. These mothers are no longer +of this earth. + +After many months in "a far country," John understands as never before, +the sort of home that mother made and what that sentence meant to her. + +We have dug out the old brass candlesticks and the old tester bed; would +we might find the old, framed needle-work and see again mother's +handwriting on the wall. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TWO CANDIDATES. + + +At the close of the April term, 1923, Judge Finch, member of the Court +of Appeals from the Seventh District, resigned. + +John Cornwall, though the district was overwhelmingly Republican, was +persuaded by the State organization to make the race as the Democratic +candidate. Not that he was expected to win, but, being a strong man, it +was thought his name on the ticket would cut down the Republican +majority of the district and thus help the Democratic candidate for +Governor and the rest of the State ticket. + +Mrs. Rosamond Clay Saylor, at home for the summer, read his announcement +in the Pineville Messenger. When her husband came home she met him on +the porch. + +"I see John Cornwall is a candidate for Judge of the Court of Appeals." + +"Yes, I knew that several days ago. He would make a good judge, but has +no chance in this district. I'll have to vote for him and speak and work +for the Republican ticket in some other section of the State." + +"You will do nothing of the sort. You will make the race against him. +Think what an opportunity you would have while on the bench at Frankfort +to electioneer as a candidate for Governor in 1927. That is the way +Judge Singer worked it when he was nominated and elected. Besides, the +woman's suffrage organization wants a judge they can trust, and as long +as you are married to me they can trust you." + +"But I want to run for Congress next year in this district." + +"Can't you see further than the end of your nose. You have been in +Congress; there's nothing in that for you. You better let that drop. If +you listen to me you will be elected Governor in 1927 if the Republicans +win." + +"But John is my brother-in-law; he's a much better lawyer and would make +a good judge." + +"When did they begin electing good lawyers as Judges of the Court of +Appeals? You are standard judicial timber. And when did you develop such +a sentimental family streak? You have not been to see your mother since +you returned from Italy in 1919." + +"Well, I will go down to Louisville and see what Searcy Chilton has to +say about it. Let's have dinner." + +Several days later he called on Searcy Chilton. After waiting a short +while he was admitted to his private office. "Well! Hello Saylor! When +did you get in? What do you want? How are things going in the Eleventh +this fall? We must have thirty-five thousand in that district." + +"I want the nomination for Judge of the Court of Appeals in the Seventh +District." + +"Against your brother-in-law?" + +"Yes, he didn't consult me before he announced." + +"You are too late. We have promised that to Judge Kash; though from the +way he's shelling out, he had better change his name to Judge Tight Wad. +Your nomination would hold some votes which otherwise Cornwall would +swing for the State ticket. How do you stand with the miners? If I give +you the nomination what will you do for the State ticket?" + +"I will give five thousand dollars and finance my own campaign. I'm all +right with the miners, if I do say so myself." + +"Well, I will think about it and if my answer is favorable your +announcement will be in the Sunday Post. If you see the announcement +bring me down that five thousand in cash next week. I want no checks. No +one need know what is spent this year. Goodbye. Call again when you come +to town." + +"In the Sunday Post Colonel Saylor read an excellent biography of +himself, coupled with a declaration that he was a candidate for Judge of +the Court of Appeals in the Seventh District, and was said to have the +backing of the Republican State organization. Though, when Mr. Searcy +Chilton was called up and asked, he stated; 'The organization has +adopted an unbreakable policy of hands off in the district, and local +races.'" + +In due course, Colonel Saylor and John Cornwall were each nominated and +entered upon an active campaign of the twenty-seven counties of the +district. + +In the beginning of the campaign it looked as though Colonel Saylor +would be overwhelmingly elected. While nine-tenths of the lawyers +favored Cornwall's election, Mrs. Rosamond Clay Saylor was making an +active canvass and lining up the women in her husband's behalf; Luigi +Poggi and several other miners were organizing Saylor clubs among the +miners; and a majority of the American Legion, of course, favored the +election of one of their charter members. + +Slowly sentiment began to shift in favor of Cornwall. Some of the +members of the Legion insisted that Colonel Saylor as a candidate was +using his connection with their organization too strongly. He made an +egregious blunder in an address to the Clear Creek miners and when his +speech was reported he lost many votes. + +Some of the lawyers in the face of his almost certain election, knowing +that after his qualification, he would even scores with them, charged +that he was unfit for the place; and that the politicians of the State +would no longer permit a good lawyer to be elected Judge of that court. + +Colonel Craddock, a retired lawyer of the local bar at Pineville, and +eighty-three years old, published a statement in opposition to Saylor's +candidacy. He said in part; + +"Though an old man I am not a worshiper of ancientism. I think I can +give to present-day men credit where credit is due. But when you are old +and experience has taught you that no one is infallible and that every +one at times is weak and therefore you should judge your neighbor +compassionately, it has also given you the power to discriminate between +the false and the true and to see through the shams of life with +accurate insight. + +"Exercising this faculty which comes with the loss of others, as the +sense of touch is developed in the blind, and guided by it, though a +Republican, I am forced to oppose the candidacy of J. C. Saylor as Judge +of the Court of Appeals and advocate that of his opponent John Cornwall, +a Democrat. + +"In the election of a Judge, the standard of measurement of the +conscientious voter should be one of fitness only. + +"Shall not the Judge do right? And how can he do right if he is a crook? + +"Shall not the Judge interpret the law with wisdom and understanding? +And how can he do that if he is a fool? + +"Shall not the Judge be free? And how can a coward or a tool, worn blunt +in crooked service, be free or cut straight and true? + +"What an execration when a Judge is a Jeffries and what a benediction +when he is a Marshall or a White. + +"A Judge's mind must be open to argument and he must have power to +discern between the false and the true. + +"The Lord, the First and Last Judge, alone will be able to set some +judgments straight and straighten some judges. He in majesty and power +upholds the law, which is never broken. It is man who is broken by the +law. + +"The great curse of Kentucky is that many of her Judges belong to that +very common species of Judge. Judex apiarius. Their capacity for hearing +the facts and declaring the right is blurred by the buzz of the bee of +political aspiration and self-interest. + +"A Judge who belongs to this species can usually be classed as of the +family Judex timidus,--those whose ears are so great that they can never +lift them from the ground, and when a mosquito hums in Covington their +dreams of peace are disturbed in Frankfort. + +"They are the secret enemies of the law's certainty and stability. Their +decisions shift with the tide of popular opinion. They wash their hands +like Pilate (not always to cleanliness) and permit the crucifixion. + +"A year or so ago, Chief Justice Grinder, in an address before a men's +Bible class, declared that the Court of Appeals upon an appeal to it +would have reversed the Sanhedrin. There are more than several lawyers +in this State, who, knowing the members of that court, have grave +doubts about it, had that court sat in Jerusalem and the appeal been +prosecuted A. D. 30. + +"Saylor is worse. He would make a judicial tool. Judicial tools have +generally been in politics for a number of years and, preceding their +judicial service, a member of the legislature for several terms, like +Saylor, where they are first tried out. This judge expects one day to be +Governor and is willing to do any thing to further his political +ambitions. By some hook or crook or pull he succeeded in obtaining his +license to practice law and since has appeared in court occasionally; +generally when a jury was to be influenced. + +"He is more or less a wanderer and, when he changes his residence, +changes his politics and votes with the majority. He is usually a +candidate for office and spends more time on the street than in his +office. + +"He is a mere pawn on the political chess-board and his master +occasionally has him elected to office. Then the master tells him how to +decide, not all, but certain cases. + +"His opinions are generally misstatements of the facts presented by the +record and never mention an authority cited by counsel opposing his +master's decree. His references are not complimentary to such counsel, +his purpose being to make him appear ridiculous and to forestall all +hope for modification by a petition for rehearing, because it is barely +possible that another judge may then read the record, though it is not +considered judicial etiquette to do so. + +"He being the only judge who has read the record, is careful to so state +the facts in the consultation room as to meet with no dissent from his +colleagues or to make them curious about the record. + +"All of these demerits Saylor has in full measure. He is known to all of +you. He lives in this county and the county is none the better for it. +He defends every bootlegger and crook that is indicted and they will +vote for him as they respond to his demands when they are chosen for +jury service, which is entirely too frequent for the administration of +justice. + +"Thirty years ago no man of his reputation and limited capacity would +have dared run for this high office. Now it is another thing. If elected +he will find some of his associates not much better qualified, so far as +knowledge of the law is concerned. Instead of being learned in the law +they are politicians, who know their district and how to fool the +people. + +"Conditions force comparisons. Until the Civil War, opinions rendered by +the Court of Appeals were quoted and cited with respect in every State +of the nation. The Court since in personnel has deteriorated. Its +opinions are captious, partisan, uninspired oracles, which perforce +decide the case in hand; but as an authority for future reference, so +far as the reasons given are concerned, are mere chit-chat. + +"When I was young, and began the practice of law, there were lawyers at +the bar in this State and real Judges occupied the bench. There was Clay +and Crittenden and Judge Robinson and Judge Underwood. Now who have we? +Such lawyers as John Calhoun Saylor and such judges as Saylor will make +when elected;--The Lord save us!" + + * * * * * + +At the November election Colonel Saylor was elected; but by a very small +majority. He ran more than five thousand votes behind the head of the +ticket, and in a district where little scratching is done. The State +ticket pulled him through. + +When the returns came in Searcy Chilton, commenting on the race, +concluded his remarks by saying; "Next time we must throw that Jonah +overboard." + +A day or two before he qualified, Judge Saylor came to Frankfort, and +visited the courtroom a few minutes after adjournment; he even went up +and tried the chair of the Chief Justice, and found the seat was none +too large. No one was present but Jake, the negro janitor. + +"Jake, what do the lawyers and judges have to say about my election?" + +"They don't say nothin, Boss; they jest laff." + + + + +NIRVANA. + + +We are told that at one time the British Isles were connected with the +mainland of Europe; that Italy was at least within sight of the African +coast; and that westward from Gibraltar, there was a continent which +ultimately sank beneath the waves, leaving isolated mountain peaks, now +islands and shoals, to mark its submerged position. + +The Egyptian priesthood told Solon of the greatness of the civilization +of this submerged land, Atlantis or Kami, even then, as of an ancient +past; and Homer, Horace and Plato have whispered of its greatness. + +The soul of one of its ancient inhabitants, yet wandering upon this +earth, may through transmigration have become in part your own, and you, +in reverie at odd hours and in company with it, live again a few scenes +of those old days. + + * * * * * + +Near Winchester, Kentucky, driving out the Lexington turnpike you pass +an old brick farmhouse of ante-bellum days; flanked on the one side by +an old stone springhouse under two spreading elms and on the other by a +large tobacco barn that looks extremely modern and out of place. Behind +the house is an orchard of ancient apple and pear trees, all dead at the +top, a negro cabin beside which are two black heart cherry trees, higher +than the farmhouse and more than three feet through; and yet farther +back, hemp and tobacco fields and a woodland pasture of oak and walnut +trees. At least this was a description of my home thirty years ago. + +I had just graduated from Center College, and having in mind to practice +law in Lexington, had during the summer formed the habit of going down +to the springhouse and under the shade of its eaves and the overhanging +elms, sit and read Kent's Commentaries. + +A negro family lived in the cabin, Mose Hunter, his wife and boy. Mose +was as black as they grow them in Kentucky; but his wife was the color +of my old volumes of Kent and had build and features which fixed the +country of her ancestry in northern Africa and seemed to identify her as +a desert Berber. Mose worked on the farm, his wife was cook at the +farmhouse, and the boy, who was said to be half imbecile, was as +harmless and shy as a ground robin. I do not know of his ever having +gone off the place. He was probably fourteen, had never been to school, +and wandered about like a lost turkey hen. We could depend upon him to +pick up the apples, feed the cider mill, water the stock, gather the +eggs and feed the pigs and chickens. + +The boy had the habit of coming to the springhouse and taking a nap each +day on the milk crock bench, which had been discarded since we had +bought our new refrigerator. Every warm summer afternoon about three +o'clock, he would run down the path, dodge behind a tree out of sight, +if his mother happened to step out of the kitchen door, and slipping +into the springhouse, lie down and sleep quietly in its cool moist shade +for a quarter of an hour; then, still asleep, sit up and in a startled +way, talk earnestly for some time, his features transformed by a look of +tragic intelligence, which they did not possess at other times. Then he +would lie down again and after a few minutes quiet sleep, awake and +return to the cabin. + +His speech did not disturb me; his voice was low, though tense, and his +words unintelligible. Gradually his murmurings became a familiar sound, +as the call of the lark from the pasture gatepost. + +Finally I noticed that he spoke in an apparently strange tongue and even +mentioned time and again names given in my ancient atlas. Many times he +used the words, pehu, Kami, Theni, horshesu, hik, nut, tash, hesoph, and +un. + +I wrote Professor Fales of Danville about this time, sending him a small +box of crinoids, and casually mentioned the boy and his strange habit, +writing out the above list of words, with others, that he habitually +repeated. + +He wrote back that the words were Egyptian or a kindred Hamite tongue. +Consulting the college library, he had discovered that the ancient +Egyptian name for Atlantis was Kami. That Theni was the name of a very +ancient prehistoric city, its location unknown. That pehu meant an +overflowed land; un, uncultivated land; and the word tash, tribe; the +others he was unable to translate. + +He suggested that I find out from the boy's mother where she or her +people were from; get a stenographer at Winchester to come out and make +careful notes of his murmurings; and when made send a copy to him and +one to----, a lawyer at Covington, who was an antiquarian and an +Egyptologist. + +The next day after the receipt of the letter I went to Winchester and +inquired at the court-house for the official stenographer. I learned, as +all courts in the district were adjourned for the summer, he had gone +to Atlantic City for the month. So I went to Judge Buckner's office and +borrowed his stenographer. + +The Judge said the season was dull and except on county court day he +could spare the girl for an hour or two almost any afternoon. He also +asked if my father still had on hand that half barrel of Old Mock. The +next afternoon when I went for the girl I brought the Judge a gallon jug +of Dad's Old Mock, telling the folks I was taking him some cider. + +When we returned, we found the boy asleep in the springhouse, but within +five minutes of our arrival he sat up and went through the regular +program. After he had talked for some time, he laid down and resumed his +quiet slumber. + +This program was repeated the next day except the girl brought out a +slate and succeeded in making the boy write or draw upon it characters +which were strange to us, and which he wrote from right to left with +great ease, though he could not write his name. + +The writings on the slate the stenographer carefully copied and after +transcribing her notes gave me the copies, one of which I sent to +Professor Fales, who forwarded it to his learned friend at Covington. He +not only wrote but telegraphed for more. + +Twice again the boy's words were taken down and twice he wrote again +upon the slate. We might with patience and quiet have gotten a complete +history of a generation of prehistoric people, but my mother, who still +looked upon me as a young boy incapable of caring for himself in the +company of a designing female person, and having noted our regular +visits to the springhouse, rushed down unannounced with the boy's +mother. + +The two made such a racket when they came in they awoke the boy, who +dropped the slate. He never again came to the springhouse to sleep; and +though afterwards I sat many hours by his bedside in the cabin, he never +again uttered a strange or unusual sound until just before his death, +which occurred in the fall. + +In the early fall his father and mother visited a negro family who had a +child ill with scarlet fever. Within two weeks their own boy was taken +with the same illness and a few days thereafter died. Shortly before his +death I went into the cabin and found him raving in the strange tongue. +He had been born on the place. I felt too sad to be curious or to go for +the stenographer, but I remember very distinctly the sounds of the last +few words he uttered, which were twice repeated. These I wrote down and +sent away. I found the translation of the words was; "After a brief bird +life I shall find Nirvana." + +In a talk with his mother, which occurred some time before his death, +she stated that it was a rare thing he ever talked in his sleep and then +only used the most common expressions. + +She told me her mother was born west of Timbuctu, belonged to a Berber +tribe, and had been taken prisoner and sold to slave dealers of the west +African coast. + +Several weeks after the boy's death I received from Professor Fales a +liberal translation of the boy's talk and writings, which at the +suggestion of the professor and his friend I have kept a secret, as +neither of us believed in transmigration, or desired to figure as in any +sense encouraging such an outrageously absurd belief. + +The translator and professor are both dead and I suppose their copies +have been destroyed. I give mine to the public as a spooky flight of +fancy unworthy of belief, aware that this declaration will cause a few +half-crazy people to believe the tale is true. + + +THE TRANSLATION. + +The city of Theni is the capital of Kami. The western and southern coast +of Kami and the interior country to the central range is a pleasant +land, where palm trees of many kinds grow and there is much tropical +verdure because on these coasts there is a constant current of warm +water, which comes through an untraveled sea lying west and south of us, +and in which float endless paths of sargassum. + +To the north and east beyond the central range, as also the land +northeast of us across the sea, are barren wastes of ice and snow. It +has not always been so. Our records show that centuries ago the whole +land was as the south and west coast country, but each year the fields +of ice swallow more and more of our sweet and fertile land, until now we +have but little space for our teeming population and each year less and +less to eat. + +On the top of a mountain south of our city dwell a few strange people +with a strange faith and who keep to themselves. For years they have +been building a great ship well up the mountain side. They are directed +and encouraged in this useless labor by a prophet who tells of the early +destruction of our land by ice and water. + +I visited the place recently; the great ship is nearly completed and +they are beginning to sheet the hull with copper to protect it from ice +floes. + +For three nights past my sleep has been disturbed by strange, wild +dreams. I see the warm ocean currents which wash our shores, shifted +westward by some strange freak of nature, and a land far north of us, +now ice and snow, turned into greenland; while our whole land is +enshrouded in death dealing cold and ice and snow and preceding this, +the waters creep up and engulf our city. The mountain on which the great +ship rests sinks down to meet the rising waters and the ship sails off +to the southeast, leaving us helpless victims to be engulfed by the +rising waters or frozen by the creeping, numbing cold, or smothered +under mountains of ice and snow. How long before this shall be I do not +know. + +I have told my dream to Nefert, the best beloved of my wives, and we +have agreed to prepare against the portent of such catastrophes. + +We have too many idle, too many to feed; it were better were our +population reduced one-half. + +We will gather all the provisions of the land into great warehouses, and +only those shall eat who labor to build our great pyramid, within which +the chosen shall find refuge from the rising waters and the destructive +cold. + +When the pyramid is completed, we shall store it with great quantities +of grain and fuel and textiles to last for years; and as the waters +rise, if they shall cover the eminence on which we shall built it, which +seems impossible, we shall ascend from the lower to the upper chambers. + +On the morrow we will begin our preparations, which will not be wasted, +though the flood and cold come not, as it will make for us a most +pretentious tomb. + +I shall send a great force to gather grain and other foodstuffs, another +to collect fuel, others still shall be put to work to weave heavy woolen +textiles. Five thousand shall quarry stone for the pyramid of Theni, +which shall be built upon the highest mountain near our city. Thirty +thousand shall drag and carry great stones from the quarries to the site +and fifteen thousand more shall shape and place the stones. Twelve +thousand shall act as guards and task masters, to see that the work is +done and speedily. + +I shall tell the pyramid is for my tomb and until my death to be used as +a great storage warehouse; else the people may grow frightened and +desperate. They have not yet learned to fear storage plants. Those of +the people who are too old or too young to labor shall die. + +Dimly discernible from the city is the central high mountain range, +extending from the eastern coast far to the northwest and there ending +in a rugged promontory, jutting out into a frozen sea. + +The country across these mountains, and even to their snow-capped, +fog-bannered peaks, is a land of ice and snow, destitute of all life, +except a few wild and hardy white-clothed birds and beasts. Even from +the mountain peaks you may see the spires and walls of an ice-encased, +long dead city. + +Near the city is a lesser range, upon which to their very tops grow +dense groves of palm and other fern-like trees. In the shelter of these +groves are many villas of the rich. + +Upon the highest of this range and near our granite quarries I have +decided to build the pyramid. The task of building, beginning today, +will be pushed with the utmost speed. + +The road leading from the city to the top and from the quarries we +broadened and regraded. The site was cleared and leveled and the basal +walls, six hundred and eighty feet square, started. The height is to be +three hundred and fifty feet and the wall angle is approximately +forty-seven degrees. + +During the building there was much sickness and many deaths from +starvation and hardship, for all of which I was held responsible, and +until the laboring-people swore at and called me Santa, The Terrible. + +Each day the pyramid grew in size; and each night seemed slightly colder +than the one preceding it. It was reported that the snow on the distant +mountain peaks was deeper than ever before. + +We now used the lower stories of the pyramid as a storeroom for fuel and +grain and were forced constantly to maintain a heavy guard to keep the +half-starved populace from stealing our supplies. I had executed more +than a dozen who were caught attempting to steal food stored for their +betters. + +The warm ocean current shifted to the west. The sun was overcast by +clouds. The earth trembled. The snow line crept down the mountain range. +The land seemed slowly sinking into the sea. The people shook from fear +and cold. + +It was necessary to push the work, and, in their terror and to satisfy +their hunger, the whole population labored on the pyramid. + +One night, when the pyramid was three hundred feet high, a light snow, +the first, covered pyramid mountain. A few weeks later there was another +and the next morning there was thin ice. + +A swift-running mountain river separated pyramid mountain and the city +of Theni from the foothills of the distant range. Gradually the current +disappeared. The river became a salt lake, then a bay of the great +western sea. + +One night there was an earthquake, in which we feared for the +destruction of the pyramid, and in which a number of the houses of the +city toppled over on their occupants. + +In the morning it was observed that the mountain on which the prophet's +people lived had settled until the place where the ship rested was but a +few feet above the level of our new sea. The mountain on which our +pyramid had been constructed and the adjacent plain on which the city +was built had risen materially in altitude; at least such seemed to be +the case. + +Within ten days the ship rode at anchor. Then I knew that my gods had +been good to me and had truly warned so I might make preparation. I +determined on the morrow to seize the ship and retain it for my own use. +All owners of boats had long since fled the land. The next morning when +I awoke the ship was a distant speck upon the growing ocean. It seemed +the gods of some few others were caring for them also. + +The pyramid now was about completed and not having provisions for all, +though we of the palace stinted not ourselves, having plenty for years, +I directed the guards to issue only half rations to the people. They +died by hundreds and were cast from the cliffs into the cold waters of +the sea. + +Noticing that great crowds gathered in the city and that they wept and +swore and encouraged one another to assault the palace and tear their +ruler to pieces, I thought it best to desert the palace and take +possession of the pyramid, which was full of provisions, and had a guard +of several thousand soldiers. + +So we of the palace, some hundred persons, with a guard of more than +three hundred, moved into the pyramid; and, with the stones prepared for +that purpose, closed the entrance hall with fifty feet of solid +masonry, telling the soldiers outside that we would feed them from our +supplies, which we had no intention of doing, except as they might be of +use. How easy it is to fool the common people. + +That night it stormed and sleet and snow made the outer pyramid a thing +of milky glass. + +The half-naked, half-starved people came by thousands, and holding out +their hands in supplication, begged for bread. But we, sheltered and fed +and clothed and sitting by our fires, had no thought for and took no +risk for others. + +The pyramid in the winter sunlight, with its coating of milk-white ice, +seemed an immense half-buried diamond; and we within its heart were not +more considerate of the starving, surging mass at its base. + +Through the narrow slit-like ventilators, we heard in the afternoon the +sound of strife; and, climbing to the flat top, where there was a +walled-in area about twenty feet square, looked down upon the soldiers +struggling with and slaughtering the half-armed, starving, shivering +populace. + +For sport, not caring whether they killed soldiers or subjects, I had +some of our guard bring a quantity of unused granite blocks about two +feet square and slide them down the ice-smooth surface into the seething +mass below. + +After watching for some time, though clothed in a heavy woolen gown, I +grew cold and tired of the sport and went below to the feast, the music +and the dance. There I sat with Nefert and two other queens, not less +beautiful. + +One of the guards from the pinnacle came down and reported that the +soldiers had ceased fighting the populace and, joining cause with them, +were attempting to scale the pyramid by cutting steps in the icy +surface. So again I went above and Nefert went with me. + +Our guards collected small stone blocks and with them bowled off our +desperate, slowly-climbing assailants. The boulders slid over the glazed +surface with the speed of a swift-winged water fowl and when they found +a victim precipitated him, a death-dealing catapultic charge upon the +heads of his comrades. The effort to reach us was utterly futile. + +For several days we found it great sport to shoot loaves of bread and a +few tempting morsels of food down to the starving mass and watch them +fight and struggle for possession. + +At my suggestion, to make the game of greater interest, we took the +bread from the crusts and stuffed the loaves with stones. Occasionally, +one snatching for the bread lost his life from the stone loaf. So the +days passed, not wholly without amusement. + +The whole land was now white with snow and ice. Great white bears came +out of the mountains of the north and feasted on the dead at the base of +the pyramid. Nowhere in the land could we see a living man. + +In our company was a beautiful young maid; and, thinking she might +furnish amusement for a dull afternoon, I gave orders that she be +brought to my quarters. + +She was carried thence, struggling and in tears. With her came one of +our captains, who said she was to be his wife, and asked me to spare her +discourtesy for his sake. He had many times been of service, but no more +so than a subject should be. I directed that he be thrown from the top +platform, and took the girl with me, so she might see the spectacle. + +The guards lifted him over the wall and gave a shove. He started slowly, +bracing and resisting with hands and feet, but was soon speeding +meteor-like down the icy incline. He disappeared, in the snow and debris +at the base, but in a few minutes reappeared, with right arm swinging +useless at his side. + +The girl, giving a cry, leaped over the wall and skimming along the +incline as a swallow might the face of a white slanting cliff, sped +towards her lover. The man leaped to the edge to break her fall and she +struck him with destructive force. They were thrown some distance and +lay still in the snow, which was crimsoned by their bleeding wounds. + +Two great white bears, smelling the blood, came forth from behind the +cliffs and feasted upon the pair. + +In a few more days the icy waters of a polar sea covered the city of +Theni; and in tears we witnessed the great dome of the temple of our +gods sink beneath its surface. The next week great icebergs were +floating across the plain and above the site of Theni. It grew intensely +cold and the inner walls of our great upper hall were coated with frost +crystals. + +The wind shrieked; great waves striking the mountain side shook our +pyramid. The sight was blotted out by a blizzard of snow and ice. + + * * * * * + +The guards are kept busy with spears and spades trying to keep the +ventilators and the pinnacle area free of snow and ice so we can have +air. Several have been blown from the top. + +We made a mistake in the construction of our refuge. We should have +shielded our ventilators to keep off the snow. It is a hard struggle for +air. Tomorrow we must start work opening the passageway for light and +air. Nefert says I should have built a ship and sailed away, as did the +prophet and his people. + + * * * * * + +Nefert awake. It is dark and cold. The air is foul. I hear rushing +waters. It comes in the ventilators above our heads. It is salty. We are +being swallowed by the icy sea. I have found you! O! How cold! How cold! + + * * * * * + +I know not how long it has been, nor how many different habitations my +soul has tenanted since our pyramid sank beneath the icy sea and, +holding Nefert in my arms, I lost consciousness. + +I am now in India, near the city of Bombay. A city presenting a +magnificent front, but reeking with filth and disease, where, through +the year, cholera daily claims its victims. It is the year 1790. + +On the top of a high hill in a beautiful garden are three Dakhmas or +Parsee towers of silence. These towers, built like a windowless +colosseum, are massive cylinders of hard black granite, open to the +heavens. + +The parapet supports a coping of motionless living vultures, waiting in +patience to be fed. Here the death rate is high and there are many to +die, so they do not suffer from hunger. + +The vultures grow restless; they see a funeral cortege of black men in +spotless white robes; they bear a black corpse in a white shroud. The +body is hastily deposited within the area on its bed of stone and +mattress of charcoal. The vultures swoop down to the feast. In a short +while, satiated, they rise on heavy wing and lazily resettle upon the +parapet. + + * * * * * + +All day long, my soul struggling for freedom or forgetfulness, is caged +within the body of one of these vultures. I do not see the sun except +through vulture eyes. I do not feed except upon the dead. My companions +are vultures. I am never beyond the smell of the dead. I have no +friendships, no hopes. + +There are times at night when my vulture body sleeps. Then the soul +seems to break forth; but it does not go out in freedom as of old. I may +go into the hovels of Bombay in the form of an old black beggar. + +Then it is my overwhelming desire to do some act of kindness, but my +clothes are in rags; my face is a horrid mask, and I smell of the dead +and am driven away. + +I found a man dying by the wayside, too weak to move, too blind to see. +When he asked for water, I thought now is my chance. I shuffled to the +fountain and when I would dip up a cupful, it became as solid glass. + +At a time of famine I found a child crying for bread without the city +walls. At great strain upon my feeble limbs, I climbed a wall and stole +from the kitchen of the enclosed villa a roasted fowl and carried it to +the child. The child took it, but when he raised it to eat, it was the +hand of a putrid corpse. + +When I lift the head of the sick, they shudder and gasp and grow cold. + +So I return to my vulture body, to my perch on the parapet, to breakfast +on the dead and to my vulture consort. + +(End of translation.) + + * * * * * + +I spent the next winter at law school, returning to the old farmhouse +the middle of May. + +The first time I went down to the springhouse, I saw a vividly-colored +golden robin or hangnest restlessly flitting about the old elm trees and +occasionally bursting into loud-noted song. + +A few days later I heard and saw him again. He was not so restless, and +his song was low-toned and had a rich and more pleasant refrain. His +notes were of endless and individual variety. + +When he ceased singing I heard an incessant warble of sweet, though +feeble, notes and, looking above my head, saw the composer, his bride, +dressed in olive and gold, weaving on the pendulous nest of moss and +horse hair, near the tips of the overhanging limb. I then knew why his +song had changed and understood the happy warble of the busy weaver. + +They were so gaily colored, so happily situated, their home so far from +harm, they were so exclusive, that I called the pair the little king and +queen. + +Bright pair of boundless wing and sweet song, did you first meet here? +You did not come together. How did the king mark the way for his queen? +Have you searched all the way from Panama, your winter home, for this +old elm, to celebrate your bird marriage, pass your honeymoon and find +much joy in nest-building and rearing a family? Do you know tears and +night and nothingness? Or have you found and eaten of the fruit of the +trees of life and eternal love? + +In about three weeks all song ceased. They made incessant trips to the +old orchard and returned with caterpillars to feed five cavernous +yellow-throated mouths. + +One warm sultry afternoon in June I sat in my old place by the +springhouse, reading Story's Equity Jurisprudence and, closing the +book, enjoyed the ease and peace of the lazy, if not the righteous. + +I slept; and my mind jumbling the springhouse, the orioles, the dead boy +and his strange tale, whispered that my little king and queen of the +hanging nest were Santa and Nefert. Thereafter I called them as the +dream had said. + +The little nestlings grew apace and the nest made tight quarters. One, +seeking room and adventure, climbed out and perched upon a twig. Growing +careless or sleepy, or caught by a squall, he half flew, half fell from +his perch. + +The big black cat, who every week ate his weight in young birds, pounced +upon the unfortunate one, who let out a squawk of terror. + +Santa darted into the face of the cat with such fierce force as to +rescue the baby bird, but lost his own life by his brave rashness. + +Before the plumage of white, black and old gold had been marred I drove +the cat away and picked up the little dead king. + +In the corner of the old orchard, hedged about by a stone fence overhung +with myrtle and honeysuckle, under three ancient cedar trees, were four +graves; three of slaves long dead and the other of the half-witted boy. + +Under the fresh green sod of the newer grave I buried the dead bird, and +marked the spot with little cedar grave boards, on which I carved the +name, "Santa." What a place to bury a king who had built a great pyramid +for his sepulchre! + + + + +A CONSCIOUS MUMMY. + + +I sat under the old elm trees reading a work on Early Egyptian +Civilization, which declared that the recorded history of that ancient +people began when Menes was king, about 4300 B. C. + +Placing the book, back up on the ground, I thought of their strange +faith; the reverent care with which they embalmed the body to be again +occupied by the soul, when, after many transmigrations from one animal +to another, having expiated all sins done in the body, it should return +purified to the old body. Assuming their belief true, where now might be +those ancient believers in Osiris, Ra, Horus, Isis, Set and other nature +gods, having ages before bowed in submission to Bes, the god of death? + +How limited is sense; how weak intellect; how short bodily life. Yet the +very frailty and uncertainty of life establishes the immortality of the +soul and the soul, in turn, gives spontaneous testimony to God and of a +life within which the body does not own. + +Nature was enjoying her afternoon siesta. Over the hills so far away as +to make it a picture, a threshing machine was eating wheat shocks and +blowing forth a golden dust-like breath of straw. The incessant sawing +of harvest flies, a heavy country dinner and the afternoon glow and heat +conspired to drive me into the springhouse, where the coolness and peace +of the place brought a bodily laziness, and, lying down on the old stone +shelf, I slept. + +Three walls of the springhouse grew as the palace walls of Aladdin; the +front rolled up as the curtain for a drama; and between great columns of +red granite and porphyry, chiseled with hieroglyphics and decorated +with the symbols of Amun and Osiris, I looked out upon a grove of date +palms, the pyramid of Sneferru, an island sea of yellow flood water, and +yet beyond, the low hills of Arabia. A view seemingly as familiar as the +one from my bedroom window. + +It was the Nile valley at Meidoom; Aur-Aa was at flood stage, then +nearly fifty feet above the normal level, Now, after centuries, the +valley has been filled by river silt and the tide is much shallower. + +The beauty and changefulness of that narrow valley by comparison with +the monotonous lands which flank it gave promise of a happy people. +Hemmed in on the west by the sand hills of Libya and on the east by the +equally bare, dry, never-changing hills of Arabia; teeming with people +as the channels of an ant hill with ants; intensively cultivated, some +of the crops like the dhourra or millet, the principal food of the poor, +returning to the sower two hundred and fifty times its seed; shaded by +date palms which yield abundant and delicious fruit; a land with a +delightful climate seasonably watered, fertilized by yearly tides and +protected from invasion by wide deserts of soft sand; why should we not +have been a happy people? + +Because no one is free. We are enslaved by caste, a most merciless +master, by the priesthood, by our king. We work continually, but for +others. Happy he, who when life is done, after contributing to the +priesthood and the king, after sacrificing to a hundred gods, leaves +sufficient estate to pay for the embalming of and a safe resting place +for his body. + +This is the best of a short life, with the sad hope that after you have +been many times a lower form of life, you may return to your old body +if, perchance, it may be found. Far better off the unclean fish, which, +when the flood recedes, gasp themselves to death in shallow pools, +choked by the sand. + +I rose from my couch and walked out where a better view might be had of +the river and the valley. + +Near a small eminence more than sixty feet above the flood tide was a +great fleet of barges and rafts of logs, which had borne heavy blocks of +cut stone from far to the southward down on the tide to construct our +tombs and temples. + +Upon the rafts and barges low caste humanity, driven by the lash to +tortured effort, swarmed and sweated and groaned that some high priest +or royal personage might in mummied grandeur await his soul's return to +its foul, flinty, wrinkled and desolate home. Near, floating northward +with the tide, was a great obelisk of granite weighing more than forty +tons, held upon the surface by parallel rafts of buoyant logs and +inflated skins. + +I was head embalmer, one of the priesthood and, therefore, considered +one of the fortunate ones. + +The city of Meidoom was called the City of the Dead, because at that +time, 3750 B. C., it was the place of burial of the royalty and +priesthood of Men-nefu, which name means secure and beautiful, and which +centuries later was changed to Memphis. + +Meidoom's population, near forty thousand, consisted of more than two +thousand priests with their families and retainers and twenty thousand +laborers and overseers. The majority are engaged in the construction of +temples and sarcophagi. + +The people are firm believers in a future state and therefore very +religious. The priests act as intercessors between the people and their +many gods, look after the sacred animals of the temples, are +professional embalmers, architects and custodians of the tombs. + +The priesthood hold high social rank, are exempt from taxes, but do not +practice celibacy or asceticism. Their ranks are recruited by heredity +or from the nobility; and it is not uncommon for a prince to surrender +his claim of succession to assume the office of high priest. + +Had there been occasion for a test of power between the government and +the priesthood, the priestly orders would have been found the real +rulers. + +Amun is the chief or spiritual god of the Egyptians. The name means The +Hidden One; and he controls the conscience and the soul. + +Rahotep is chief priest of Amun and the keeper of the Book of Death. He +and all the priesthood of Amun wear a costume of white linen decorated +with the blue figure of a man having the head of a ram and carrying in +his hand a sharsh, the symbols of Amun. The chief priest in addition +wears the royal symbol with two long feathers as a head dress. + +Osiris is the god of good, in contradistinction to Set, the god of evil. +He is the god of the Nile and the guardian and preserver of the human +body after death. His symbol is a mummy wearing a royal crown and +ostrich plumes. The god of the sun is the soul of Osiris. The white +linen gowns of the priests of Osiris have a figured border of mummies in +black, wearing crowns and ostrich plumes. Nefermat, chief priest, in +addition wears the royal insignia. + +At this time, besides many shrines, there are three temples at Meidoom, +the temple of Amun, the temple of Osiris and the temple of The Dead. The +two orders of the priesthood are presided over by Rahotep and Nefermat, +the two sons of Sneferru, who, occupying their priestly positions at +his demise, the succession passed to Khufa, a brother, who married +Neferma, the widow of Sneferru. + +As chief embalmer I had charge of the temple of the Dead, where both +orders of the priesthood officiated, since the one god, Amun, having +charge of the soul, and the other, Osiris, of the body, perforce met +officially, though usually holding little communication with each other. + +As I stood at the portal two processions of priests drew near, the one +led by Rahotep, the other by Nefermat. These two, leaving their +attendants, entered the temple. + +As they passed I bowed low to earth and followed into the corridor, +there they found seats, and I stood before them awaiting their commands. + +Rahotep said, "Our mother, the queen, has just died; after her body is +partly embalmed they will bring it here from Men-nefer, when you, +because of your skill, are to prepare it to rest in the vault of the +great pyramid beside our father Sneferru, in care of Osiris, until Amun +shall see fit to surrender her soul again to her body." + +(Nefermat) "You mean, until Osiris shall deem her soul sufficiently +purified to re-enter her body." + +"No, as Amun is the superior of Osiris, so is the soul master of its +tenement, the body, though it is by the grace of Osiris that the body is +preserved until Amun has purified the soul for another human existence." + +"You are wrong; in all sacred animals human souls dwell; it is only when +those souls are made pure that Osiris permits them to occupy a human +form. * * * Tepti, priest of Osiris, embalmer of and dweller with the +dead and custodian of the temple of the Dead, what say you as to the +body and the soul?" + +"Pardon, Most Exalted of Osiris, am I to look upon your question as a +command?" + +"Yes." + +"My belief, of which I am not master, I have kept unto myself and if put +into words is but spoken ignorance. To become an expert embalmer I +experimented on the bodies of many animals not sacred to our gods and +discovered that they were as easily preserved as the bodies of men. This +forced the conclusion that if man was specially favored of the gods, it +was not in bodily composition; therefore, it would seem, the body is not +sacred and is unworthy of the great expenditure of time and wealth which +we give it as priests of Osiris. The body after death is as the husk of +a nut from which the kernel has been extracted and our people would be +better off were it burned as the refuse of earth. We of Osiris, who say +the body must not perish, know better than anyone else that it does +perish. If there is a difference between the body of a man and an +animal's, that distinction departs at death; therefore, the distinction +is life or a part of life and the questions presented are: What is life? +What is there in man besides matter? When an animate being dies, the +body, the mortal, is left; life departs. I do not see it go; I know not +where it goes. If it is a man who dies, we say the soul has left the +body, because we are men; if it is an animal, we say life has left the +body. What is the difference between life and the soul? All I know is +that I have a body which perishes and that, distinct from the body, I +have the power to think, which power troubles me more than my body, and +which power I may lose when life leaves the body. My power to think is +so limited that its indulgence is like pulling one's self up to the +stars by one's toes. I know I cannot answer the following questions: + +"'What is truth?' Though I once heard a child of five answer that truth +is the right. + +"'What is life?' Though I am told it is the principle of animate +corporeal existence. + +"'What is death?' This I do not know, since I cannot define life, as +death is the cessation of life or the beginning of a higher life. + +"Since animals think, some more than some men (the feeble-minded), do +they have souls? If so, where do their souls go? + +"Is the source of new life in the soul? + +"It seems we believe souls have existed from the beginning, since they +never die but are transmigrated. Is immortality a divine gift or an +inherent property of the soul? + +"And of you, Chief Priest of Osiris, head of our order, I would +respectfully ask: + +"'Does the soul assume a body akin to its own nature? + +"'Should I live to be very old, dwarfed in limb and blind, when my soul +returns to its preserved mummy, which you maintain it does, will I rise +again, old and blind and weak? If not why preserve the body? + +"'Will I know the friends of my former life if they return to their +bodies in the same period? + +"'Your still-born brother, whose body I embalmed, had he yet a soul, and +when his soul returns to his body, will it have life? + +"'There is a mummy in one of the old tombs with two heads and on one +body; has that body one or two souls? And if two souls, will they be +purified and return together to the body, though one be good and the +other bad?' + +"I believe not in Osiris; nor that my soul after many transmigrations +shall find and reanimate its rejected tenement. Yet I know no other god +or even if I have a soul. Can I by searching find out truth or the true +God? Will there be a time when the truth shall be made clear? I know +that error is spread over all things; that the race is not to the swift, +neither the battle to the strong. That he who disdains ease and comfort, +though poverty is a disgrace and misfortune a crime, recognizes that +wealth consists not in great possessions but in few wants; looking upon +ownership as a trusteeship and therefore a responsibility; content with +what life gives; thinking himself and conceding to others the right to +think; living and letting others live; believing there is nothing after +death and death is nothing; is as well off as he who struggles to be a +blind leader of the blind. Would I could believe that we shall live many +lives and each a preparation for a higher one. Our religion, like our +government, as it grows old grows complex and rotten. What we need is a +simple government, a simple faith and one God." + +(Nefermat) "What you say is the vilest sacrilege. Your belief, if +general, would lead to chaos; to the destruction of our holy order. You +shall find there is a hell for the unbeliever; your mortal life shall +end and your immortal begin as soon as our mother's body is prepared for +Osiris. You shall know the difference between soul and body and have +your doubts as to a future state tested and dissolved." + +(Rahotep) "I would not be too hasty with the death sentence. What +matters it what Tepti may think! He is a good embalmer, reticent of +speech and his belief in death and nothingness if expressed would +neither find believers nor corrupt our faith. The thought of +non-existence is not acceptable to the Egyptians; it lacks enthusiasm, +it lacks certainty, it lacks hope; there is no appeal to pride or +power." + +(Nefermat) "I cannot overlook such utterances from a priest of Osiris; +he must die." + +(Rahotep) "He is one of your priesthood; you are sole arbiter of his +life or death, but were he one of Amun's and I demanding his opinion had +been so answered, and it was delivered as to stone ears, as his was to +us, I would pass it by. However, if you are bent on his death, which I +regret, I would ask his body, hoping by my intercession, Amun may +convince him he has a soul." + +(Nefermat) "As you like. I am through with the sacrilegious beast as +soon as he is dead. I would not give his body tomb room in the temple of +the dead." + +Whereupon the two high priests departed, leaving me with very sober +thoughts. + +Within an hour, three priests of our order, the death watch, took up +their abode in my chambers, which I was not permitted to leave, and this +watch was continued to the end. + +On the next day the body of the queen arrived from Men-nefer and I was +directed to complete the embalming already begun. This occupied a +fortnight. + +The day the embalming was completed Rahotep came to my chamber and, +sending the guards from the room, said: + +"On the morrow at sunrise you will be strangled to death, after which +your body will be delivered to me for disposition. When it is carefully +embalmed I shall place it in a new tomb in the temple of Amun and it +shall become sacred to him. The tomb is so constructed that light and +air penetrates through slits in the portal and it may be entered from +the temple by members of our order. Amun will permit your soul to occupy +and grow in your mummied body. You have said you are not afraid of +death. Neither you nor any other man knows what lies beyond. It is not +the end of things as you declare but the beginning of the thought life. +Living through the ages in your old shell you shall learn that the +infinite is the author of all things and from the order and harmony of +nature you shall deduce the existence of God and the immortality of the +soul. You shall learn that the soul is an immaterial being which can go +where the body can not and can live where the body cannot live and is so +sometimes punished. That its controlling force is not the body nor even +the mind but a power which pervades all space, which has existed from +the beginning, looking after the universe and each creature therein. +This is the infinite, the beginning, the end of all things, which, +lacking a better name and light to discern, I call Amun, The Great, The +Only One. The wind has not a body, yet you know the wind blows; light +has not substance, yet you feel and see it and know it comes from the +worlds in the skies. Your soul has existed from the beginning as a part +of the infinite. It came into existence as the angels of light and +darkness. It is of the size of the faith that is in you and yours is +quite small. Yours shall grow during the ages, as Amun is about to begin +its experience, which each soul is to have, though the experience given +each is different, being judged and punished or rewarded according to +the light given, which in every case is dim. You are first to be turned +over to Phtha, the great father of beginnings. Your little seed of a +soul, assuming the form of a beetle, shall remain in your mummified +body. Your embalming robes shall be decorated with his sign, the +scarabeus. Your body will be carefully watched by our priesthood to +observe the growth of your soul and know that you finally believe in its +existence and the infinite power of God. You shall pass through the +valley of humiliation, living as the Chelas live upon your own soul. +Your suffering shall bring improvement and growth until your soul shall +prove sufficient unto itself, since it shall know God and itself. +Finally it shall part company with your mummied body and become a part +of the light of the world." + +I arose at daylight the next morning and, after carefully bathing, +rubbed my whole body with a preparation for closing the pores; then, +retiring to a couch, drank a vial of most precious and potent embalming +fluid, which, knowing death to be near, I had secreted when preparing +the mummy of the queen. + +I felt a contraction of my stomach, an icy chill, a gradual though rapid +cessation of consciousness and being. For what period I know not I slept +the sleep of death. + +Sluggishly in my dead frame fluttered a something. For days or years, I +know not, there was a mere sense of spiritual life or being and a +fluttering of body as of a small numbed insect; was it a scarabeus? This +was succeeded in time by an acuter consciousness, when I saw my puny +soul in its bare weakness. + +Then began the journey through the valley of humiliation and suffering, +when soul lived upon and thought only of self and its escape. Through +ages of suffering and loneliness and blackness, my only thought was a +constant prayer for absolute non-existence. Within the heart of my tiny +soul there began to grow a germ-like conception and reverence for God. +With this thought the soul seemed to take unto itself strength to make +feeble efforts to tear a way through its coffin of flinty skin and in +feeble flight bounded and pounded incessantly on its case of parchment, +as a drummer on his drum, with a ceaseless, monotonous, drum, drum, +drum. + +Finally, through the mummy eyes, there seemed to come dim rays of light. +Then the feeble soul stationed itself immediately behind them and prayed +only for light. And, after a thousand years, enough light was given to +see crevices in the tomb and shifting grains of sand drift through. Life +before had been so bare that the mere seeing of the flight of a grain of +sand into that place of utter calm and monotony was as an angel visit to +the disconsolate of earth. + +Now the all-absorbing desire was for more light; for freedom to break +through the prison walls of flinty skin and have one peep at earth and +sun. Then, remembering how I had stolen our most potent embalming fluid +and used it on my own body, I attributed continued imprisonment to its +preservative properties and looked upon myself as my own jailer. + +As the soul grew, reason discarded this thought and fixed upon my +imprisonment as punishment for disbelief. Seemingly, ages went by; the +soul passed through a period of great remorse; remorse grew to +repentance, and repentance to hope and faith. + +Then my soul seemed to fill the whole mummied frame and gained strength +until it acquired the power of motion. I could shift position and look +out upon the valley of Aur-Aa, now called Nilus, where, as time passed, +I saw the maturity and wane of Egyptian power and the iron hand of Rome +reach out in conquest. + +The vandal hand of a conquering Roman tore loose the stone portal of the +tomb, and mummy and imprisoned soul were carried across the great sea +and with other husks of former life exhibited in the triumph of +Octavius; then placed in a museum to be gazed upon by the curious of +Rome. + +One night robbers broke into the room, thinking the dead carried their +treasures with them, and unwound our grave cloths. My soul pounded and +tore at its case, hoping pantingly that they might break the parchment +shell; but all they did was to remove a string of turquoise and porphyry +beetle-shaped beads. When morning came the mummies were rewrapped and +returned to the exhibit slab. + +As the crowds passed by, if one, perchance, looked into my sunken eyes, +the soul, watching hungrily beneath, looked out with an intensity and +read his very inmost mind and most secret thought; and some there were +who seemed to know the meaning of my look. + +When I read thoughts of doubt, such as I had known in life, I sought +with utmost soul strength to convey to them some warning and some hope; +and as I struggled thus, there came rifts of light into my prison as +from a higher life. + +One day a noble Roman youth came strolling by with a companion and, +stooping, gazed upon my form. + +"See, Marcus! How much better preserved this man of ancient Egypt is +than the others. Look! In his sunken eyes you may discern a glimmer as +of intense life; of consciousness; I feel his look, as though he read me +through and through and would speak in advice or warning." + +"Oh! Come on! You have eaten too heavily or else departed from your +stoical way and conscience has made you uneasy; else you could not +attribute life to this foul shell, dead these three thousand years." + +"I shall return alone tomorrow when the light is better and have a good +look." + +At noon the next day, when the sunlight rested on my slab, the youth +returned and, bending over my black parchment face, peered into the +hollow eye holes; and in some weird way I held communion with him. When +he left, my soul seemed to go along, a companion of his own. + +Lost in thought, he walked a long way into the poorer quarter of the +city, where there was much squalor and suffering. He was aroused by the +cries of women and children driven from their squalid homes by a band of +Nero's condottieri, who then set fire to their deserted hovels. + +He rushed to their rescue, remonstrating with the soldiers. They refused +to desist, telling him that the people were of the new sect, the +Christians; and their orders were to burn them out. He was assaulted by +them, resisted, killed two and was himself slain. + +His soul as a great white bird, with a brilliancy as of the sun, left +his body and flew heavenward. My own returned to its mummied chamber. +But the chamber had been reformed; it was of many hued crystal, of +expansive wall and gave forth a light all its own. I settled upon a +couch and drifted into a restful peace. + +My own soul became as the tabernacle of God. All tears were wiped away +by the conqueror of sorrow and pain and death. I had found the Father; +the Father a son; and I entered into the place where God is the Light. + +In the meantime Rome burned. The fire, started by Nero's soldiers near +the Palatine Hill, spread from house to house and quarter to quarter +until it reached my couch. The old shell parted and burned as tinder. +Then the mortal put on immortality and the shackled darkness of the old +soul gave place to light and liberty. + +I awoke. It was near twilight; the world seemed new and fresh, but it +was the old home place. + +I bent over and examined my couch; it was the old slab shelf of the +springhouse. Looking along its raised edge, which I had used as a +pillow, I noticed for the first time crude strange characters or letters +cut in the stone. + +That night I asked my father the history of the slab. He said he had +brought it from the Stoner Creek farm near Wade's Mill, where it had +been plowed up in cultivating over a small Indian mound. + +I came to the conclusion the slab possessed weird properties, making it +a restless and unsatisfactory couch, and thereafter I called it the +dream bench. + + + + +DOCTOR BROWN OF DANVILLE. + + +Incidentally I took up stenography, its usefulness having been impressed +upon me by my inability to transcribe the narrative of the feeble-minded +black boy. + +The winter following his death, attending law school at the University +of Virginia, I continued its study and practice and found it quite an +aid in jotting down the lectures. By the following summer I had grown to +be quite an efficient stenographer. + +That summer, shortly after I had my disturbing dream as a priest of +Osiris, the Kentucky synod of the Southern Presbyterian Church met at +Winchester. My mother, a member of the First Presbyterian Church, +entertained two of the visiting preachers, both of whom were personal +friends of Doctor Chisholm. One was from the western portion of the +State, I believe Owensboro, the other, Doctor Brown, of Danville. + +Doctor Brown rarely smiled; his poise was indicative of the utmost +self-control, his form lank, his hair heavy and graying at the temples, +his general appearance giving evidence of a clean, active ascetic life +and a strong moral and physical make-up. He was inclined to keep the +light of his conversational powers under a bushel, and at times spoke +only when aroused from apparent self-centered thought. His voice was +deep and pleasant, his diction and expression perfect, his thoughts, +clothed in finished sentences, were entertainingly expressed and at +times exhibited a rich vein of the choicest humor. He was the leading +member of the conference--certainly the brainiest--and it fell to his +lot to deliver the most important address of the gathering. + +He seemed to fancy the old springhouse, its quiet coolness and the +spreading elms. Except at mealtime he did all his drinking from its cool +fountain and out of the old gourd dipper, though mother insisted on +sending a glass down for his service. + +Several times I found him sitting in the rustic chair by the door +jotting down notes for some address or sermon, but never seated on the +old stone bench. + +On Monday at breakfast, following a busy Sunday, on which he had +preached two exceptionally good sermons, and, following the noonday +service, greeted lengthily and cordially seemingly every member of the +large congregation, I noticed his usually active manner had given place +to a languorous calm. + +So I went down to the springhouse, carried the rustic chair into the +open beyond the shade and carefully loosened and removed one of the +legs, placing the chair in such a position as to show it was +unserviceable and undergoing repairs; then I returned to the house. + +In about an hour Doctor Brown left the library for the springhouse, +carrying a couple of books and a scratch pad under his arm. + +When he saw the condition of the chair he walked within and found a seat +on the old stone bench. After resting for some time he stretched his +form on the cool smooth slab and was soon fast asleep. + +Then I slipped in and preparing for business, sat down upon the floor +with note book and pencils handy, heading the page with the name of our +distinguished guest. + +He began in a conversational tone what was apparently an introductory +address to a gathering of primitive Christians. It was in Greek, which I +was able to transcribe. + +The translation undoubtedly is faulty, robbed of the thought and beauty +of his smooth diction, and gives but imperfect meaning and +interpretation to many idiomatic expressions. + + * * * * * + +"Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, servant of Jesus Christ, on the road to +Damascus ordained of God and called to the apostleship; having been +taken a prisoner at Jerusalem, charged with sedition; appealed to Caesar +and now traveling to Rome for trial, is in Syracuse and will preach to +us tonight. + +"He took ship at Adramyttium, touched at Sidon, Cyprus and Myra. There a +ship of Alexandria was found sailing into Italy. This he boarded and, +sailing many days, passed near Chidus, Crete, Salmone and Fair Havens, +near the city of Lascea. From whence he sailed, when the south wind blew +softly, close to Crete. There a tempest arose. The ship was forced from +her course and driven by wind until, days after, she was wrecked on the +island of Malta. + +"After an enforced stay of three months, he sailed away in the good ship +Castor and Pollux and arrived in Syracusa this morning. He will remain +with us for three days. + +"The church knows his service. He has faced every crisis and danger with +an iron will and with unfailing resolution has kept the faith. He is a +most faithful worker in the cause of Christ and his field of service is, +messenger unto the Gentiles. + +"In his present troubles he has our prayers. We will now hear him." + + * * * * * + +"Brethren of the Church of Syracusa; grace be to you and peace from God +the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. + +"First, I thank God that your faith is spoken of and an example to all +the Christian churches. + +"I came first after landing to Sergius Publius of your church, to whom I +bore a letter from his cousin Publius, the Roman ruler at Malta. + +"We were at Malta three months waiting for a ship. During that time by +prayer and the laying on of hands, the father of Publius was healed. For +this and other things, the people honored us with many honors and when +we departed they laded us with such things as were necessary, we having +lost all by shipwreck on our journey from Caesarea to Rome. + +"Not unwillingly am I sent to Rome for trial as fitting one born free +and a Roman citizen, since Rome is mistress of the world and to Rome the +Christian faith must be carried to be spread over the Gentile world. + +"Being ordained an apostle to the Gentiles, it is but meet that I should +assume the risks of the journey and take as personal the command to +preach the Gospel in Rome or elsewhere and to every Gentile nation. A +gospel of universal faith granting to Jew and Gentile alike repentance +unto life and grace through the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. + +"This work has been most successful and many strong Gentile churches +have been established; but God forbid that I should glory save in the +cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +"After the establishment of a number of these churches, when I returned +to Jerusalem I was falsely accused of teaching all the Jews which are +among the Gentiles to forsake the law of Moses; and of having brought +Greeks into the temple and polluted the holy place. And after this +charge I was cast from the temple and the doors closed; then set upon +and beaten with staves and stones until Roman soldiers came to quiet the +disturbance; and by them bound with chains was led towards the castle. +When asking and receiving permission to speak unto the people, I did so +in the Hebrew tongue saying: + +"'Men, brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense, now made unto you, I am +verily a man, a Jew born in Tarsus, in Cilicia, yet brought up in this +city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect manner of +the law of the fathers and was zealous towards God, as ye all are this +day. + +"'And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into +prison both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, +and all the estate of the elders; from whom also I received letters unto +the brethren and went to Damascus, to bring them which were bound unto +Jerusalem for to be punished. + +"'And it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto +Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light +round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and hearing a voice saying +unto me, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" + +"'And I answered, "Who art thou Lord?" And he said unto me, "I am Jesus +of Nazareth, whom thou persecuteth." + +"'And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but +they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. + +"'And I said, "What shall I do Lord?" And the Lord said unto me, "Arise +and go unto Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things +which are appointed for thee to do." + +"'And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the +hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. + +"'And one, Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good +report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and +said unto me, "Brother Saul receive thy sight." And the same hour I +looked up upon him. + +"'And he said, "The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou +shouldst know his will and see that Just One, and should hear the voice +of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou +hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized +and wash away thy sins," calling on the name of the Lord. + +"'And it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even +while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw him saying unto +me, "Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; for they will not +receive thy testimony concerning me." + +"'And I said, "Lord they know that I imprisoned and beat in every +synagogue them that believed in thee; and when the blood of thy martyr +Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consented unto his death +and kept the raiment of them that slew him." + +"'And he said unto me, "Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto the +Gentiles."' + +"When I had spoken thus far, the multitude would not hear me further. + +"At the castle, the chief captain ordered that I be scourged, when, +hearing the order, I said to the centurion standing by, 'Is it lawful to +scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?' Thereafter no further +indignity was offered me. + +"Then the Lord appeared unto me saying. 'Be of good cheer, Paul, for as +thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also +in Rome.' Then I was sent to Caesarea, unto Felix. + +"Before Felix, I was accused by Tertullus, speaking for the priesthood, +as a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews and a +leader of the sect of the Nazarenes. + +"To which I answered, 'They can charge me with nothing unlawful though I +confess that after the way which they call heresy so worship I the God +of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the +prophets, and have hope towards God that there shall be a resurrection +of the dead both of the just and the unjust. And herein do I exercise +myself, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and +men.' + +"After a period of two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix and willing +to favor the Jews, asked, If I would go to Jerusalem to be judged, to +which I answered; 'I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be +judged.' + +"Then Festus after conference said, 'Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? +Unto Caesar shalt thou go.' + +"Shortly thereafter I was delivered to Julius, a centurion of Augustus' +band, and we set sail at Adramyttium for Rome to be delivered for trial +as a Roman citizen. + +"What a privilege it is to be a Roman citizen; to have the protection of +a strong and capable government; whose laws are stable and enforceable; +a bulwark against petty strife and sect jealousies. Christ our Master +declares the divine origin of government and the obligation of his +followers to obey human law when not in conflict with the commandments +of God. + +"This, it seems, is the greatest obligation, next to our faith. + +"What is faith? What are the teachings of our faith? + +"Faith in God is more than the exercise of the understanding. + +"Faith changed me from a persecutor, until now, I preach the faith I +sought to destroy; hoping thereby you may rejoice the more in Christ +because of my coming; while I rejoice at your patience and faith under +all the tribulations which you now endure. + +"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not +seen. And Christ our Lord, is its author and finisher. + +"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves +your servants for Jesus' sake. + +"For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in +our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the +face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that +the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. + +"We are troubled on every side yet not distressed; perplexed but not in +despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed; +always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the +life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. + +"For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake that +the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So +then death worketh in us but life in you. + +"We have the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I believe +and therefore have I spoken; we also believe and therefore speak; +knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by +Jesus and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes +that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many rebound +to the glory of God. + +"For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish yet the +inward is renewed day by day. + +"For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a +far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the +things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the +things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen +are eternal. + +"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved +we have a building of God, an house not made with hands eternal in the +heavens. + +"I am told that some among you who live according to the law, say, +'There is no resurrection of the dead.' + +"First of all--Christ died for our sins and was buried and rose again +the third day. + +"If the dead rise not then is Christ not raised; and if Christ be not +raised your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also +which are fallen asleep in Christ and rest in these caverns are +perished. + +"But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of +them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the +resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ +shall all be made alive--But some men will say, 'How are the dead raised +up? And with what body do they come?' + +"Fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die; and that +which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be--but bare +grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain. But God giveth it +a body and to every seed his own body. + +"The glory of the resurrection of man is, that his body sown in +corruption is raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor is raised in +glory; sown in weakness it is raised in strength; sown in the natural it +is raised the spiritual body. + +"So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal +shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that +is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy +sting? O grave, where is thy victory! The sting of death is sin, the +strength of sin is the law. But thanks to God who giveth us the victory +through Our Lord Jesus Christ. + +"Do you seek strength in the Lord and the power of his might? Put on the +whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the +devil. + +"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, +against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, +against spiritual wickedness in high places. + +"Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to +withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand, +therefore, having your loin girt about with truth and having on the +breast plate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation +of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith wherewith +ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take +the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word +of God, praying always with all power and supplication in the spirit. + +"Let us not be dismayed or overwhelmed by persecution, nor weary in well +doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Learning +wheresoever God places us therewith to be content; seeking by prayer and +supplication to know his will. + +"The Father hath said; 'My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is +made perfect in weakness.' Therefore may we glory in our infirmities +that the power of Christ may rest upon us. Thanks be unto God for his +unspeakable gifts. + +"As we grow in strength, we may expect persecution to grow. Now Rome +looks upon our faith as a Jewish sect. When it is understood that it is +a religion distinct from Judaism, then persecution will begin in +earnest. Then you will be blamed for pestilence, famine and other +national calamities and be offered as martyrs for your faith. Then must +we glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience and +patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed +because the love of God is shed about in your hearts. + +"I speak to you but as an ambassador in bonds. + +"Brethren, pray constantly for one another and for me, remembering that +the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. And the peace of God which +passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Jesus +Christ, Amen." + + * * * * * + +Doctor Brown, growing restless, and I conscience-stricken, I thought it +best to make a hasty departure for the house. + +That night at supper I managed to turn the conversation to dreams, +hoping to hear from him. + +He finally said; "It is remarkable the way we fit familiar scenes or +even places we have visited but once into our dream thoughts. Thus +dressed they become quite realistic until we almost persuade ourselves +that we have lived the experience. + +"Some years ago I visited the city of Syracuse and was deeply interested +by the catacombs on the island of Ortzgia, just a short way from the +modern city, particularly as they had been used as a place of worship, +of refuge from persecution and of burial by the early Christians. + +"Among other things of interest therein are the frescoes, in which +drawings of fish as religious symbols predominate, the Greek word for +which furnished the initial letters for the Saviour's name and office; +the tombs and an altar from which Paul is said to have preached, when +sent by Festus from Caesarea to Rome. + +"I rarely sleep in the daytime; but today the cool subdued light and +quiet of the springhouse was responsible for a lapse. + +"Having in mind to prepare a sermon on faith and the resurrection, and +thinking of certain of Paul's letters in connection therewith, my dream +thoughts were so assembled that while I slept I seemed to hear Paul +preaching from the altar in the catacombs on that identical subject." + + + + +RICHARD HAWKWOOD. + + +I am home from the University of Virginia, having completed the law +course. The restful peace of the old farmhouse is most enjoyable; but +there is another blemish upon the landscape; my father is building a +second tobacco barn, and the foreman in charge, a union carpenter, or +nine-hour man, as we then called him, is a disturbing element, spending +his time, when not at work, chewing tobacco and aggressively talking +about the rights of labor and the danger to the world of concentrated +wealth. + +When thus engaged he is a typical nail-keg philosopher; just emerging +from ignorance and materialism into the realm of reflective experience. + +He has at his tongue's end all the platitudes of the socialist and +possesses the knack of picking platitude and imperfect statistic to fit +his theories, whenever he finds a victim. + +He does not look upon our government as a government of the people; but +a government of the few, who fool all the people all the time. + +He is a firm believer in organized labor and the disorganization of +everything else, particularly capital. He believes in the equal +distribution of property every few years and that the masses should +throw off the yoke, but can neither identify nor define the yoke. + +Until I heard him talk, in my inexperience, I thought that the world was +a reasonably comfortable place in which to live, in fact, I knew no +better. We were getting ten cents for tobacco, eighty cents for wheat, +fifty cents for corn, five cents for hogs and ten cents a pound for +turkeys. We heard no talk of hard times except just before a +presidential election. + +We paid fifteen dollars per month for farm hands, three dollars a week +to the cook; we bought sugar for six cents and flour for five fifty a +barrel. We were paying the boss carpenter and chief representative of +organized labor three dollars a day, and fifteen dollars per thousand +for clear heart yellow pine lumber. + +Hawkwood, the carpenter, spoke of the ideals of labor and how he would +fight for them through this and other lives until his words, to my +conservative and immature mind, seemed threats against organized +society. + +My views, in the main, he called old-fashioned. I believed a laborer who +was thrifty, efficient and industrious did not need a union to help him, +arguing the union only helped the inefficient, lazy and profligate. + +I tried several times to get him to rest on the springhouse slab or +dream couch, but his mind and temperament were too nervously active. + +On Sunday he expected to go to Lexington for the day, but at train time +a heavy shower caused him to abandon the trip. I asked him to go to Pine +Grove church, but he very emphatically declined. + +At dinner, with malice aforethought, I kept his plate heaped up and +repeatedly filled his goblet with ice-cooled buttermilk. After dinner as +it was a very warm day, I suggested we go to the springhouse and read, +and from the library got for him Fox's "Lives of The Martyrs." + +I took the lead and appropriated the rustic chair under the elms, +forcing him to occupy the stone bench in the springhouse. + +He made several efforts to start an argument on the labor question, +which I carefully avoided. After awhile a sonorous snore announced that +he had fallen victim to my plot. + +His snoring was broken by a jumble of words in English and Italian, +though his English, being of a very old form, was harder than the +Italian to understand and transcribe. The first words I caught were; +"Very well, Sir John, avanti!" + +I took down his statement and give to the reader a liberal transcription +of my notes. + + * * * * * + +"I was born in Essex, near Hedingham, on October 20, 1332. My father was +a younger brother of Sir John Hawkwood, who was knighted for bravery by +the Black Prince two days after the battle of Poitiers, where an English +army of eight thousand men defeated a French army of sixty thousand and +took King John prisoner. + +"My uncle, commanding several companies and rendering most efficient +service, was rewarded by being knighted by the King. I was present at +the service and officiated as his squire. + +"When the successful army returned to England, several hundred of us +from Essex and Suffolk remained in France and organized 'The White +Company,' which, with Sir John as commander, became famous as +condottieri, or soldiers of fortune, and from 1360 to 1390 sold our +services to various Italian powers. + +"We served under the standard of Gregory XI, the Marquis of Montferrat, +certain legates, the republic of Pisa, and, finally, the signory and +council of Florence, from 1378 until the death of Sir John on March 17, +1394. At his death he was entombed with great ceremony in the Duomo. For +years prior he had held the office of Captain General with the +Florentines. + +"From 1374 till 1378 I was captain of one of his companies. In 1378 I +was made his aid, in which capacity I served until 1389, when, having +been seriously wounded and the possessor of considerable wealth, I +retired from service. + +"For more than a year Sir John had been in the service of the Marquis of +Montferrat at Casale, and as the season was dull and the pay light for +our business, it was with pleasure he received word from the Pope to +come to Avignon. + +"Gregory occupied the papal chair from 1370 to 1378 and, like his +immediate predecessors, resided at Avignon until 1376, when he +terminated the Babylonian captivity by returning to Rome. + +"During this period of exile the church government of Italy was +conducted by proud and avaricious legates, who lived as dukes or +provincial kings, and in the name of the church assumed to dictate the +policy of government to many small potentates, maintaining a standing +array of condottieri made up of English, Dutch and Breton recruits. + +"Sir John, reasonably satisfied that he would be employed in Italy at +some point east of Casale, left his soldiers behind, except thirty +troopers, and set out for Avignon. Ten days later he came down the Rhone +valley, into the 'City of Bells,' just as the sixth hour, or vesper +bells, were ringing. + +"We fed our horses, washed away the stains of travel, and, supper ready, +took our places at a long table, Sir John at the head, I at the foot and +fifteen troopers on either side. We refreshed ourselves, a very hungry +and thirsty company, with red Rhone wine, macaroni, cheese, fish, +mutton, brown bread and a salad. + +"Sir John and I were assigned quite sumptuous quarters in the palace, +while our soldiers remained at the inn. + +"That night Sir John saw the Pope and was recommissioned in his service. +His orders were that half of his company should report to the legate at +Pisa, while I in command of the other half, about three hundred +horsemen, should report to the legate at Bologna. An invasion of Tuscany +was contemplated under the direction of these two legates, having in +view the humiliation of the Florentines. + +"The reason assigned for the campaign was that the Ricci faction had +entered into a league with Barnabo of Milan against the church and the +Albizzi party. + +"The Pope thus expressed himself to Sir John; 'These plebeians are too +ambitious. Let the nobility, not the populace, form a federation, living +like brothers with the church at its head, an all-wise and benign +father. Thus, by a combination of miter and helmet the church, first in +Italy and then throughout the world, shall become not alone the +spiritual but the temporal head of government. Instituting this plan, we +intend to subdue the plebeian faction now in power at Florence.' + +"Sir John, at the close of the audience, said to me; 'If it were not for +the interference of the church, the republic of Florence and certain +other Italian states might hope for the accomplishment of great things. +What the Pope wants is the peace of decay and temporal and spiritual +supremacy for the church throughout the land. Experience has taught me +that adversity is a great teacher. It tolerates no compromises and +rewards only patience and strength. Therefore a state is most fortunate +that occupies a position of bare supremacy in arms, where it is punished +for mistakes and grows strong from reverses. + +"'On the other hand, if a government is too strong, the peace of +strength brings repose, repose decay, and decay dishonor. + +"'Florence, more than any other Italian city, is embarrassed by the +natural enmities between the populace and the nobility. The nobility +wish to command. The populace, aware of their numerical supremacy, are +disinclined to obey, and insist upon ruling the city. Clashes between +the two keep the city in a constant uproar and will eventually +extinguish its greatness. The populace when in power drive the nobility +from the city. When they lose out the banished nobles return and the +populace are oppressed. Associated with the people, who are the usual +conquerors, are certain adaptable nobles, who, styling themselves +reformers, assume to live and think as the common people until they have +acquired a sufficient following to control the city, then they assume +the government and the nobles are recalled.' + + * * * * * + +"A member of the Connechi family was legate at Bologna. In the fall of +1374 I reported to him with my three hundred horsemen. + +"The preceding summer had been extremely dry, causing a failure of crops +through all of central Italy. The people suffered and many died of +privation. The legate, aware of this, looked upon the time as auspicious +for his invasion and instituted his campaign by seizing provisions in +transit, purchased by the Florentines from the northern countries. The +following spring he invaded Tuscany. + +"The hungry inhabitants, seeing no hope for even the future harvest, +offered but feeble opposition. Quite a few castles and small towns were +taken and pillaged. + +"Our army moved slowly, and despite the legate's commands, never +followed up a victory. It mattered little to us that his enemies lived +to fight another day; our business was to line our pockets with plunder. +It was no serious affair to defeat our opponents whenever we met. They +were untrained in war and were usually officered by mercenaries, who +cared little whether they won or lost. + +"One night a messenger from Sir John Hawkwood brought word that I should +confer with the captains of the Dutch and Breton troops, and if they +agreed, we were to mutiny and desert the legate's standard, when I +should proceed with my men to Florence, where he would await us. + +"At the conference I learned from the other captains that their +commanders had made peace with the Florentines, having been paid one +hundred and thirty thousand florins; and that Sir John, having quarreled +with the legate at Pisa about our pay had referred the matter to the +Pope, who responded; 'The affair is wholly within the discretion of the +legate.' Whereupon he sent back word; 'Henceforth I am an opponent of +temporal church rule in Italy and quit your service.' He then made a +contract with the Florentines to assist them in repelling the legate's +armies. + +"On the next day, when the condottieri were ordered to attack a small +town southwest of our camp, the inhabitants of which had treated us +decently, knowing that we bore them no ill-will, we disregarded the +order. By prearrangement, each captain at the head of his men assembled +in front of the legate's quarters, when as spokesman I asked an +audience. + +"In a short while he came forth in his regalia, surrounded by a group of +carpet knights and peremptorily demanded: + +"'What do you want and why have not you and your comrades begun the +assault as ordered?' + +"'As spokesman for the English, Dutch and Breton condottieri, I am +directed to inform you that we have concluded to sever our connection +with your army and seek more satisfactory employment. Our sympathies are +with the Florentines rather than the church.' + +"'Those of you who refuse to execute my commands shall be put to death.' + +"'Who will execute your order? Surely not your three thousand carpet +knights, who can scarcely sit their horses and are coached by their +squires. They know nothing of warfare; they but wear their swords as +ornaments. Why, my three hundred horsemen alone are more than a match +for your knights. They and you do your fighting by proxy. It takes +something more than a jeweled sword, bright armor and a coat of arms to +make a soldier, and something more than a miter, a string of beads and a +colossal capacity for deception, torture and persecution, to make a +commander whom men trust and obey.' + +"'So it is your intention to quit my service?' + +"'Yes, and immediately, we shall leave your camp today.' + +"Whereupon I returned to my men. After a brief conference we raided the +general stores and appropriated a week's supplies; then, loading our +pack horses, mounted and by easy stages rode to Florence. + +"The legate, finding himself deserted by his mercenaries, his forces +reduced to less than three thousand undisciplined troops, with no one +competent to command, hastily retreated to Bologna and sought to make +peace with the Florentines. + +"But they, justly resentful of his avaricious and unprovoked invasion, +refused to make peace, and until his death, nearly three years +thereafter, having entered into a league with Barnabo of Milan and +certain cities hostile to the church, conducted a successful war against +him. + +"Three days thereafter we crossed through the pass and camped on the +south mountain slope within sight of Florence. The city from the +foothills as you look out upon it seems an island forest of tall towers, +surrounded by a verdant plain. + +"A wall 9350 meters in length, protected by a deep moat, surrounds the +city. Every one hundred and sixty meters there is a tower forty meters +high and fourteen meters broad. The twelve gates, six on the left bank +of the river and six on the right, are strengthened by barbicans. + +"No other city presents such striking contrasts or combinations of +antitheses, adding much to its picturesque life and appearance. Within +arms length of each other you see the noble in his brilliant attire and +the laborer in rags; the prelate gorgeously arrayed and the monk in +sober gown; almost next door to a cathedral or monastery and which has +taken a century to build, and beneath its very shadow, is the hovel of +some poor beggar. It is a city of violence, where dominion is maintained +by force; yet the pilgrim, with thoughts on God and atonement, may pass +in peace. Some are given over to lives of the vilest licentiousness, +while their neighbors lead lives of frugality and sanctity. + +"We came in by the gate north of the church of San Lorenzo and I found +quarters at an inn on Via Por. S. Marcia, near the Ponte Vecchio. I +spent several months at this inn, reporting each day to Sir John for +orders. + +"Sir John was the guest of Silvestro de Medici, the head of one of the +noblest of the popular families. In this way I became acquainted with +Marcella, the sister of Silvestro, and after a courtship of several +months we were married. + +"My savings amounted to more than eight thousand florins. The florin is +a small gold coin with a lily on one side and the word 'Florentina' on +the other. + +"For sixty-five hundred florins I purchased a small but substantial +house on Via Calimara, near the Arte della Lana, the guildhouse of the +wool weavers. The armorial design of the art, embossed above the portal, +is a lamb bearing a cross. + +"Two of my friends, who lived on a side street in the neighborhood, were +Michael di Lando, a wool-comber who had considerable influence with his +guild, and Ser Nuto, a bailiff of the Signory. + +"I had been in Florence six months and married more than a month when +Sir John disposed of our services to the eight commissioners of war; +when, with great unwillingness, I was forced to leave wife and home and +resume command of my three hundred horsemen. + +"After having been thus engaged for more than four months, I procured a +furlough, expecting to have ten days of quiet at home. It was the month +of May and the city at its loveliest. On the third night after my +return, my wife and I were eating a late lunch, after a visit to her +brother's palace, when the servant announced that a man was at the door +with a message from Sir John, asking that I come at once to the inn of +the Golden Hat on the Via de Bardi. + +"Buckling on armor and sword, and telling the good wife not to wait up +for me, I accompanied the messenger. + +"When crossing the Ponte Vecchio in the darkness of its many butcher +stalls, the messenger, walking behind, leaped upon my back, seeking to +throw me to the floor. He was almost instantly aided by a half-dozen men +wearing black robes and cowls covering the head, having eyeholes only; +in other words, dressed as friars of the order of Misericordia. One of +these struck me on the head with a heavy short sword, and when I +regained consciousness I learned I was a prisoner in a dungeon under the +cloisters of the monastery of Agnoli. My friend, Ser Nuto, had +engineered the capture, which had been ordered by the Bologna legate for +my gross insults to him and consequently to the church. My captors, who +belonged to the Guelph faction, had cheerfully executed the commission +because of my relationship by marriage with the Medici family. + +"My dungeon was simply a cistern of huge stones beneath the floor of the +cell of a friar of the order and the same size as his cell. The only +aperture was in the floor of the cell above and closed by a heavy +grating, the key to which, kept by the head of the order, was never +entrusted to the friar, who was as powerless to open the grating as I. + +"The walls of immense stone were made the more impervious by iron bars, +which prevented contact with them, and made my prison an iron cage +encased in a stone dungeon. Food was let down by a cord through the +grating by a narrow copper bucket, and in the same manner each day the +refuse of the cell was removed. The friar who occupied the cell above +and who was my jailer was the only person I ever saw except when +tortured. + +"At the end of a week Ser Nuto came into the cell and, calling down +through the grating, said; 'Climb up; you are to go before the holy +tribunal.' The grating was opened, a ladder let down and I climbed up +and was led across the open court through a long hall into a large room, +where twelve men, laymen and ecclesiastics, sat, the prelate acting as +presiding officer. It must have been near midnight. I remember when I +crossed the court how brilliantly the stars shone. + +"When I came into the room, the prelate said; 'You are charged with the +heinous sin of sacrilegious utterances against the holy church, which +you will confess and for which you will be tortured even after +confession. Your torturing, because of your insults to the church and +its high officials, will be a compound of duty and pleasure to us. Until +you confess your sins, express sorrow for same and consent to serve the +church with loyal and unselfish devotion in whatever tasks shall be +assigned you, one of which will be to assist Ser Nuto in decoying Sir +John Hawkwood to this monastery you will be tortured the limit of your +bodily endurance once a week.' + +"From the four corners of the room near the ceiling and extending to the +center, were suspended four ropes rigged with pulleys. My hands and feet +were tied to these, when they were drawn tight and I was suspended in +midair; then I was repeatedly hoisted back and forth from the floor to +near the lofty ceiling until my joints were dislocated from the strain +and I lost consciousness from pain, though I am glad to say, not once +did I utter a cry, give forth a groan or ask mercy of my tormentors. + +"When consciousness returned I was on the pallet in my cell and lay +there for several days suffering as from severe sprains. + +"My jailer was not unkind. His life I felt was not a happy one. He +seemed to enjoy conversing with me, though he was forced to lie on the +floor and call through the grating. + +"This encouraged the hope that in sympathy or for reward I might +persuade him to carry word to my wife of my place of imprisonment, when +she, through the influence of Sir John or her brother, would be able to +procure my release. + +"I knew how she must suffer and search for traces of me, fearing I had +been murdered and my body thrown into the river or buried in some secret +place. + +"That night the friar lay down upon the floor and called; + +"'Edward Hawkwood are you awake?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'Has the swelling and soreness left your joints?' + +"'Yes, I feel about well.' + +"'In a day or two they will torture you again and continue doing so each +week until you confess, express repentance and do what they ask. This I +advise you to do, else in the end they will torture you to death, or +leave you forgotten to die in your dungeon.' + +"'I at least have this to be thankful for that you are not unkind.' + +"'If it were suspected that I treated you other than a caged beast your +jailer would be changed and severely punished.' + +"'Discovery is impossible, since you only talk with me at night.' + +"'I am not so sure; there are always spies in our brotherhood and all, +from the scullion to the prelate, are under surveillance.' + +"'I am sorry to learn that, as I hoped to prevail upon you to deliver a +message to my wife, telling her where I am confined.' + +"'Were I caught in the effort, I should be tortured to death, or +confined indefinitely in a dungeon. Should your friends attempt your +rescue or ask your release you would be murdered and dropped into come +deep secret pit to destroy all evidence, when all would deny that you +had been held a prisoner.' + +"'My wife will give you a hundred florins if you will but give her a +note telling my place of confinement. I have been but a few months +married; she loves me dearly and is no doubt crazed by my +disappearance.' + +"'I wear this cowl and robe and beg as a mendicant on the street yet +have always wished to be a soldier fighting to free Tuscany from +tyranny; the tyranny not only of the oppressing noble families, chief of +whom at this time are the Albizzi, but of the church with whom they are +allied. I have suffered too much in mind from disappointment to care for +the physical discomforts of others; and had you not been a soldier of +renown, fighting against those influences which I condemn, I would have +looked upon your imprisonment as incidental and your suffering without +sympathy. I know how little I can do and that little at great personal +risk, which, if discovered, will be not only your death warrant but my +own. I will not carry a written message to your wife, but will stand +near your home, pretending to solicit alms, and if she should pass, will +tell her your message, but not disclose your place of imprisonment. She +will know you are alive and have a friend who at rare intervals will +give her news of you and bring back messages from her which you must +give me to destroy. That is all that can be done. As my reward, you +shall teach me to use the sword so when the opportunity is presented I +may do my part as a patriot to rid Tuscany of her oppressors.' + +"'You will at least hand this ring to my wife when you deliver my +message and await her answer?' + +"'Yes, I will risk that much.' + +"That night I slept in peace and had rapturous dreams of freedom. + +"On the next day in the afternoon, when my wife left our home to go to +her brother's seeking news of me, she was addressed by a mendicant +friar, who had even to touch her arm before she took notice, as she +walked as a woman asleep--mind lost in sorrow. + +"'Do not start; pretend to give me alms and take this ring which your +husband sends. He is alive and well but a prisoner. I am his friend and +will take a written message to him. Should his friends seek to find his +place of confinement he will be murdered. On each Tuesday at this hour, +if you pass, I will bring you news of him. I must not be followed on his +account.' + +"'Oh! Where is he.' + +"'I have told you all I dare. Return home and write him a brief message +for which I shall wait; fold it closely and hand me as though it were a +small coin.' + +"Turning away the friar solicited alms of a passing merchant. + +"In a few minutes my wife returned and when he again asked alms she +dropped in his hand two florins and between them a note for me. + +"That night at a late hour the friar called through the grating and when +I answered told me of the meeting and dropped the two florins into my +hand, stating he would read the note to me, which he did. + +"'You cannot know how much I have suffered believing you dead. I hope +and live again since you sent the message and the ring. + +"'What shall we do to find or rescue you? If you are not permitted to +write send me a piece of your clothing so I may know the messenger comes +from you. + +"'Use every effort to come home to me as life is worthless with you +away. I dare not write more. Can I send you anything?' + +"'Let me have the note so I may see my wife's handwriting.' + +"'I will if you return it so it may be destroyed; your cell may be +searched.' + +"He dropped it down, then let down a cord to which I tied the note after +having read it many times and held it to my lips. + +"The succeeding night Ser Nuto came to the cell and I was again brought +before the holy tribunal, where an officer stood to take down my +confession and a surgeon to feel my pulse and estimate the amount of +torture I could bear. + +"As I came in a poor man was being tortured and I stood and looked on, a +horrified witness, until he died upon the rack. + +"Then I was called before the prelate and asked: + +"'Will you confess your many sins, declare your repentance and help the +Holy Church to secretly take and imprison Sir John Hawkwood?' + +"Remembering Sir John's many kindnesses to me, my duty as a soldier to +his commander, and thinking of my dear wife, I unhesitatingly answered; +'I will not.' + +"'It is then my duty to subject you to torture. Reflect that what is +done to your body is for the good of your soul and in doing this we are +the servants of God. Have you anything to confess in mitigation of our +severest torture?' + +"'I have not.' + +"I was seized and bound to the ropes and suspended in midair; eight +husky friars repeatedly pulled with all their might upon ropes; they +swung and jerked me back and forth from floor to ceiling until it seemed +arms and legs must be torn from my trunk. I would have lost +consciousness long before I did, except I thought of my poor wife rather +than myself. Finally the relief of unconsciousness came and hers was the +last face I saw. + +"It was hours before I regained consciousness and more than a week +before I was able to stand. + +"A week after the second torture Ser Nuto came for me to be again +tortured, but was forced to return and report that I was unable to +stand, much less respond to torture. + +"While I was on my pallet unable to move, the friar asked for my message +to my wife. I told him to cut off the corner of my coat and give her, +saying I was well and making every effort for release so I might soon be +with her. + +"He brought back a note full of hope and tender messages, some money and +underclothing. We hid the money under the floor bars of my cell. + +"About the time I was able to walk again the prelate of the order died +and on the night which had heretofore been selected for my weekly +torture the members of the holy tribunal were busy with the reception +and entertainment of his successor. + +"In some way Ser Nuto's message of my condition was misunderstood and +entry was made in the register opposite my name that I had died from the +torture, the friar having told Ser Nuto that I was near death. Thus I +became and remained a forgotten prisoner in a dungeon without chance of +escape, but for the time free from the dread of torture. + +"Until I had been registered as dead frugal meals had been furnished +from the kitchen. Now the supply from that source was cut off, except +that the friar, by giving the cook a florin each week and telling him +that he desired a lunch before retiring, had been able to procure +something. + +"This was cold and rather a short ration for a man whose appetite was +always keen and who had boasted and demonstrated that he could eat a +quarter of lamb or a hen at a single meal. + +"The friar supplemented this by purchases of fruit and cakes, which he +brought to the cell in deep pockets stitched on the lining of his robe, +so while I was always hungry, I did not suffer or lose strength. + +"He explained the situation to my wife and she filled his pockets with +packages of bread, meat, cheese and sweets, so that on each Tuesday +night I counted on quite a feast. She also kept him supplied with money +to make such purchases as he could carry through the portal without +detection by the watchful gatemen. + +"We tried all sorts of keys in our effort to unlock the grating, but +were unsuccessful. We even had a locksmith make a key from a defective +wax impression, but this failed of purpose. The bars might have been cut +out with hammer and chisel except the noise would have brought the +watchman. + +"The friar made a sword of heavy wood and at night when the others slept +I would climb up the ladder to the grating and instruct him in its use. + +"Could one of the order have seen him, in the brass lamp's flickering +light, making passes and warding off imaginary thrusts with his wooden +sword, prancing and jumping back and forth in his narrow cell, clothed +only in his under garments, and heard a hollow voice as from a tomb, +calling out orders and directing his movements, he would have been +convinced that the ancient cloisters were tenanted by ghosts or evil +spirits. + +"I cannot understand how the swordsman, who for years had worn cowl and +habit, could have developed the muscular strength he possessed; which, +with his quickness of movement, eye and thought, at the very start of +his training made him a dangerous antagonist. He seemed to have the +combined strength of several men. It must have been the reward of a +clean and regular life, or else a legacy handed down with his fiery +spirit from some former churchman or crusader who had greater regard for +the helmet than the miter or from a gladiator or soldier ancestry. + +"He was always absent during the day and I, having nothing to do to +occupy my time, and knowing the importance not only because of my +calling but for my health of retaining my muscular flexibility and +strength, spent several hours each day climbing around upon and swinging +from the bars of the iron cage until finally the rust was worn away and +they grew polished from contact with my hands and feet. + +"After several months of this I grew so expert and tireless that in +giving lessons to my soldier pupil I no longer found it necessary to use +the ladder, but swung from the grating, easing first one arm and then +the other through the long lesson. One night after he had gone through +his sword manual without hesitancy, much less mistake, I said: + +"'It is time to throw away that toy and practice with a real weapon, to +accustom your arm and hand to the weight and feel of a real sword. When +my wife passes you on Tuesday tell her to procure a heavy short sword +for you from her brother and to send mine with body armor and helmets +for both of us, piece by piece as you can bring it. After we are armed, +if I can only get through this grating, we need have no fear of the gate +guards.' + +"If I am taken or caught you will starve in your dungeon. + +"I have thought of that. We must procure the key from the prelate by +some subterfuge. Let us first possess our swords and armor, then we will +get the key and both escape. + +"Within the week the friar made two visits to my house and each time +when he left, beneath his outer robe, he wore a corselet and carried a +heavy short sword and helmet. We discovered my wife had converted each +helmet into a store room which I robbed for a substantial meal. + +"The fear that my kind jailer might be removed or not appear from some +casualty had caused me to store away a small supply of food and water in +a corner of my cell. + +"My sword and helmet the friar passed through the grating and when I +placed the one upon my head and grasped the familiar handle of the +other, new hope kindled in my heart. The corselets were concealed under +the couch of my jailer, as mine could not be passed through the grating. + +"When he returned that night I called to my companion of the upper story +saying; 'Why not go to the custodian of the dungeon and ask for the key +to my cell, stating it smells badly and you desire to clean it? He +supposes it empty and will readily loan you the key.' + +"Your suggestion is a good one and the odor of your cell will certainly +confirm the declaration. I will do it; but will wear the corselet and +buckle on my sword. If he refuses he is liable to lose both the key and +his head. + +"A few minutes later I heard him go out and in less than half an hour he +returned with the key, which he had no trouble in procuring. + +"He fitted it into the lock, I heard the bolts turn and a minute later I +stood in the upper cell embracing this morbid, strong-armed friar, who +had proven himself my most loyal friend. + +"An hour later he returned the key the locksmith had made for us. I had +the key to the grating in my pocket and felt in the humor to say; +'Friend, come to my home and dine tomorrow night,' though no one knew +better than I that thick, high and well-guarded walls opposed our +freedom. I felt satisfied, however, if not discovered, that within a few +days opportunity would present itself for escape. + +"Each night the friar and I, closing fast the outer door, donned our +corselets and helmets, and descending into the noise-deadening dungeon, +practiced at cutting, thrusting and slashing at each other with our +heavy short swords. + +"I was surprised at the natural aptitude of the man and his marvelous +quickness and strength of wrist. He was a worthy opponent for me though +for more than fifteen years I had been ranked the best swordsman of Sir +John's army. + +"One night we lost ourselves in the interest of our close contest and +made such a noise that it reached the ear of a spy passing the outer +door. He tried to effect an entrance but could not; then knocking, and +so loudly that finally the sound reached us, and doubtless our +neighbors. + +"My friend, climbing out, closed the grating, put on his robe and +opening the door admitted the spy. Looking around he discovered the key +in the grating lock and stooping opened the door and peeped down. He saw +nothing in the darkness but the top of a ladder; this he started down, +calling for a light. + +"I caught him by the ankles, jerked him to the floor and called to my +friend to close and bolt the grating, which he did. Whereupon I turned +to the spying friar and said; 'Hand me your robe and cowl.' With these +and my sword and helmet I mounted the ladder to the upper cell. + +"My friend said, 'What shall we do now?' + +"'We will have to keep the spy a prisoner until we escape.' + +"'But they will search for him in the morning and in doing so will visit +this cell in my absence.' + +"'I will don his cowl and habit over my armor and we will escape +tonight.' + +"'That is impossible, all portals are closed and guarded by watchmen +stationed in the barbicans over each gateway. Nor can we scale the walls +because the watchmen do not sleep, being put to the torture if found +asleep. No one is permitted to leave after night.' + +"'Then in the morning as you leave I will go wearing the garment of our +prisoner.' + +"'It is not possible; each face is scrutinized and no one leaves without +a permit. I will leave at the regular time, procure from Sir John +Hawkwood two horses, which his servant will hold for us outside the +gate. When the horses are ready I will return; then we will leave +together.' + +"Our plans settled, I returned to my dungeon and, locked in with our +prisoner, in a few minutes was asleep. The prisoner sat in one corner +on the floor and, from his appearance the next morning, evidently passed +an uncomfortable night. + +"Before my friend left he passed down my sword, helmet, and the key to +the grating. He also cautioned the prisoner not to call out if any one +entered the upper cell. + +"I set out a supply of food on which the prisoner and I breakfasted. +Then, expecting that the upper cell would be visited by a searching +party, I made the prisoner lie face down on my pallet, placing the edge +of my sword across the back of his neck and telling him if he made the +slightest sound I would cut off his head, I stood quietly waiting. + +"These preparations were scarcely finished before two men entered the +upper cell and looking around a bit and trying the grating, which of +course was locked, they went on. + +"About an hour later the friar returned and I climbed up the ladder, +locking the door after me. + +"We put on our metal corselets and swords and over them slipping cowl +and habit, went out into the corridor and to the main portal. At the +gate were three guards wearing metal helmets, leather jackets and each +armed with sword and lance. + +"My friend told the guard I was a visiting friar of the order and was to +leave in his company. This statement satisfied two of the guards, but +the third, more careful,--said; 'You must procure a permit from the +prelate before I will open the gate.' + +"While arguing with him we edged towards the gate and turning quickly +started to open it, whereupon he thrust at me with his lance, but my +corselet turned it aside. + +"Quickly drawing my sword and throwing off the cowl and robe, I made a +vicious thrust at him, piercing his leather jacket. He sank at my feet +helplessly wounded. + +"My companion and I then rushed the other two who turning fled, uttering +loud cries of alarm. We ran and opened the small gate, when one of my +men rode forward leading two horses, and mounting, the three of us rode +rapidly away through a near gate of the city into the open country and +by nightfall reached the camp of my horsemen. + +"I immediately dispatched a special messenger with a note to my wife +telling of my escape and promising within the week to come to her. + +"These men were anxious to hear an account of our adventures, believing +we had been to England or some distant country on important service; but +I had to remain silent to hide the identity of my faithful friend. To +their inquiries I answered; 'You must be satisfied with the little we +have told; I will say further my experiences have not increased my love +for the church, or the Pope.' + +"At the monastery they were unable to learn who had escaped with the +friar or what became of either of us. Their records showing me dead, +made their investigation the more difficult. Of course, in time they +learned that was a mistake and doubtless concluded that I accompanied +the friar. + +"On the following morning I resumed formal command and in a day or two +things were moving along as though I had never been absent. The only +persons to whom I ever disclosed the place of my imprisonment, were my +wife, her brother and Sir John. + +"On the third day after I resumed command we were ordered to take an old +castle which the owner, though a Tuscan, more churchman than patriot, +had voluntarily turned over to the Bologna legate. + +"It was situated on the mountain side and made admirable headquarters +for several companies of soldiers who acted as a guard for the mountain +pass less than a mile distant, through which the legate's army procured +supplies and beyond which we had, as yet, been unable to penetrate. + +"To our force of horsemen were added one hundred English bowmen and more +than that number of hardy native mountaineers, whom it was thought might +render valiant service in scaling or undermining the walls of the castle +if we were forced to take it by assault. These additional men made our +forces about equal numerically to those occupying the castle. The +ex-friar and several mountaineers were the only ones of our force who +had ever been within its walls or had knowledge of its interior +arrangements. These I sent for, seeking information which might he of +value in perfecting our plans for its assault. + +"Their description of the stronghold was such as to convince one that +its taking was no easy matter. + +"The structure was built on a spur which jutted out from the mountain +side and which on three sides was too precipitate to be scaled. The +overtopping main peaks were too distant to be used by our bowmen. The +only approach was across a narrow neck of land which was intersected by +a deep moat, crossed only by a narrow drawbridge and against which +abutted the perpendicular walls of great height and thickness. + +"The ex-friar said; 'A guard of six is always kept at the gate and +several watchmen are stationed on the walls. I know of no way by which +we can gain admission except, by deception or strategy, we first gain +possession of the drawbridge and the gate.' + +"'And how might that be done?' + +"'This evening three of us dressed in the habit of the monastery of +Agnoli, but wearing armor under our vesture, might approach the gate and +ask leave to spend the night, stating we are traveling as messengers to +Bologna and have gotten separated from two companions for whom we must +wait. During the night you will bring your men to the chestnut wood that +lies along the road as you approach the castle and place a dozen of your +best archers in the trees nearest the walls. On the morrow just at six +we will come to the gate as though leaving the castle and stop there +talking with the watchmen. When you are ready our two companions will +approach the drawbridge and join us. Then we will assault the six guards +and your archers at the same time must kill the watchmen on the wall. +While we hold the gate you with your men must cross the drawbridge and +get to us. You know we can hold out but a few moments; there must be no +delay.' + +"'If we adopt this plan I want you and your companions to understand +that the danger is great and you will probably be killed by the time we +cross. I will force no man to assume the risk. It will be impossible for +me to go as I must lead the assault. You will choose the two who go with +you and I from volunteers will select two of my best men to meet you at +the gate. You shall command the squad and, if successful, Sir John and +your companions shall know to whom the credit is due.' + +"That afternoon at four, three stalwart Italians left the camp, walking +up the mountain. They were equipped in full armor and each carried a +bundle under his arm. + +"They crossed a rapid mountain stream near the headwaters of the Arno +and were seen no more. Shortly thereafter three peaceful-looking friars +came forth and took the trail leading to the castle and the pass, as +they walked along chanting in a subdued tone the vesper service of their +monastery. + +"At twilight, dusty and sweat-stained from apparent long travel, they +crossed the drawbridge just before it was raised for the night and the +gates closed. When challenged by the guards they asked food and shelter +for the night. The corporal of the guard interrogated them as to their +business in the mountains. + +"'We are three of five messengers sent by our order to Bologna. One of +the other two was taken sick and forced to remain in the village +overnight and a companion stayed with him; they will meet us here or in +the pass on the morrow.' + +"Reporting to the officer of the day, he was directed to let them in and +to provide them with food and a bed of straw in the barracks. + +"In the morning, just before six, they came to the gate and stood +waiting. They were civilly greeted by the corporal who had let them in +the night before, but who was being relieved by another corporal and +guard. + +"The new squad let down the drawbridge and opened the gate as was the +custom when no danger threatened. + +"The corporal in charge, who had little love for monks and friars, +turning to them said: 'You are three big strapping fellows to be +supported by charity. You should be working in the fields or else +helping us fight for the church. Why they pay us to do their fighting +instead of training you for that purpose I will never understand. +Either one of you looks as strong as a bull and with that habit in the +ditch, a helmet on your head, wearing corselet and sword you might pass +as a soldier. Here come two more of your order; not only the cities but +the mountains are full of you. No wonder there is so much poverty in +Bologna and Florence.' + +"'I have always wished to be a soldier. I would like to try on your +helmet and sword and see how my companions and I look dressed as your +squad.' + +"'Let's see how the three beggars look in helmets, and you might just as +well buckle on our swords. Let the other two across, they can join in +the comedy.' + +"So we found ourselves within the gates with the swords of the guards in +our hands. + +"'Remove your habits and stand forth as men.' + +"And so we did and, giving the defenseless, surprised and chagrined +corporal a shove, I threw him into the moat and my men forced the others +to follow him, where, standing in water and mud to their arm pits and +facing an unscalable wall, they yelled an alarm and hoarsely bawled for +help. + +"In the meantime, the castle and the neighboring wood were in commotion. +The watchmen on the walls had been shot down by the archers as had also +several soldiers who rushed to see what had caused the uproar. I had a +glimpse across the draw of Captain Hawkwood and his soldiers within a +hundred yards of the gate, when turning, I saw more than a hundred of +the castle guard running towards and within a few feet of our archway. + +"They took us for the gate guards and yelled to draw the bridge and +close the gate, but instead, sword in hand, we stood at the entrance +waiting for them. Then, seeing they faced foes, they came on, but too +closely placed for free sword play. + +"So the five of us held the gate; then four, then three, then but two, +and then I stood alone and as I pitched forward wounded and bleeding in +many places, you stepped over me, followed by your men and the battle +raged in the court of the castle. + +"(The above account was given me by the friar when he recovered. I have +told it in his own words.) + +"In a few minutes we were masters of the wall and court and our foes +masters of the castle proper. + +"I had reason to be thankful for our bowmen, who, ranged around and +protected by the coping of the wall, made death certain for anyone +daring to approach a window or port hole of the castle, else our +quarters might have been most uncomfortable. + +"Of our five masqueraders three were dead and the other two were sorely +wounded in many places. I staunched and dressed the wounds of the +ex-friar. In about an hour he opened his eyes and looking at me smiled +then sank into semi-conciousness. + +"Placing the bowmen on the walls so as to command every aperture of the +castle I determined upon an assault of the main portal. The corporal and +gate guards having been lifted from the moat were placed in the front +line to shield us and we advanced against the great doors of the castle, +using a heavy bridge timber as a ram, and in a few minutes effected an +entrance, but found each foot of space which we gained a bloody +conquest. + +"Within an hour after effecting our entrance we were in possession of +the ground floor, but our enemy held the upper stories and were too +strong and well fortified to be ousted by assault. + +"We felt certain they were without food and water, since our assault had +been a surprise, and we had captured their storerooms, which were on the +ground floor. + +"That night we rested, having placed a heavy guard at the gate and on +the wall and barricaded ourselves against the upper story. The next +morning I sent off fifty men to guard the pass and a messenger to report +our progress to Sir John. + +"We saw nothing of our foes until afternoon, when we heard them +carefully removing their barricades of the door; then it was suddenly +thrown open and they stood ready for an assault, facing our barricade, +which they had not expected to find. + +"Our bowmen, brought in for the purpose, let fly a shower of arrows into +their faces at close range, which wounded many. They quickly closed the +door and replaced their barricades. More than a dozen of them had been +killed or severely wounded by the archers. + +"Shortly before sundown the barricade was again removed, the door opened +a few inches and a conference asked. I consented that their commander +with two aids might be admitted to our quarters. + +"To see if they were hungry, a table was prepared with food and drink, +at which I asked them to be seated, stating; 'I am about to dine, and +after the meal we will discuss any matter you see fit to call up.' + +"While the commander ate and drank quite sparingly, I was convinced by +the way the two aids responded that they were without provisions. + +"We finally agreed upon the terms of their surrender. All were to be +liberated and their arms and horses returned, but not until they had +retired from the castle and crossed through the pass into the valley +towards Bologna. + +"Our work, in less than two days, thanks to the ex-friar and his brave +companions, was completed. We were the masters of the castle and the +pass, which for two years had been held against repeated assaults. + +"Shortly afterward we received word that the legate was dead and that +his entire force had retired from Tuscany. + +"The ex-friar, who now called himself Lorenzo di Puccio was not so +seriously wounded as at first appeared. His armor and remarkable +expertness as a swordsman had rendered such protection that of his more +than thirty wounds only two were rated as serious; and even these, with +a month's careful nursing, in my opinion, would be healed. + +"He was placed in the living quarters of the owner of the castle and +orders were issued that he should be cared for as a member of the +family. In fact, dire punishment was promised the thoroughly frightened +owner if he was not given the most careful treatment and nursing. He was +even told that the lives of the inmates and the release of the castle +depended upon the complete recovery of his patient. + +"The result was that Lorenzo received the most solicitous attention from +the wife and daughter of the owner. Throughout the day one sat +constantly by his bedside and in time both grew quite fond of their +patient, regarding him as a most important personage, since such +particular orders had been issued for his care. Lorenzo and his fair +nurse, the daughter, became lovers, and several months later were +married. + +"Everything having turned out to the complete satisfaction of Sir +John--there being no longer an enemy to fight and the campaign +practically ended--I made application for and was given leave to return +home. + + * * * * * + +"Upon arrival in Florence I found the city torn asunder by jealousy and +dissention. Such government as existed was one of gabble. All recognized +and appreciated that a fiercer contest than the one just happily closed +was impending. + +"Criticism of the conduct of the war and the nature of the peace to be +made appeared the principal issues but the real issue was factional +rule. Though the five war commissioners, with the assistance of Sir +John, had carried through the war without the loss of a single battle +and had driven the Pope's legate from Tuscan territory, the campaign had +not been conducted in accordance with the great courage and generalship +of the stay-at-homes of the other faction. + +"All this I perceived with great sadness, since I now claimed to be a +citizen of Florence, and upon the enforcement of law and order depended +the safety of my wife and property. + +"During my imprisonment and absence, I had, reflectively at least, +become a personage of importance; as my brother-in-law, Silvestro de +Medici, was the head of the Ricci, or anti-Guelph faction, now in power. +It was, therefore, incumbent upon me, when I moved about the city, to be +attended by a squire and even a small guard of troopers. Next to Sir +John, I was considered the most important military officer in the city. + +"The Ricci faction was in control of the city. They had the support of +the populace and the Alberti and Medici families. + +"The faction opposing them was known as the Guelphs and, while not +directing the government, had the power to admonish. They controlled +the captains of the parts, and had the support of the church, the +nobility and the Albizzi family. + +"On St. John's day, when the gathering of their followers would go +unnoticed in the vast holiday crowd, they had determined upon seizing +the government. + +"In the meantime, the government, or Ricci faction, learned of their +purpose, and, over their opposition, elected my brother-in-law, +Silvestro, Gonfalonier, or chief magistrate of the city. + +"He was thoroughly familiar with their schemes for oppressing the people +and, as steps towards diminishing their influence, resolved that laws +should be enacted retrenching their powers. + +"To do this he had first to obtain the consent of the colleague and the +council and called together the two bodies the same morning for that +purpose. + +"When he presented his proposition to the colleagues he was surprised at +the opposition encountered and, concluding that his purpose might be +defeated upon a vote, excused himself from the colleagues and went +before the council, to which body he tendered his resignation, declaring +that since he could neither help the government nor the people he felt +in duty bound to resign as chief magistrate. + +"At this, his friends in the council gave voice to strenuous protest. +They raised such a commotion that the colleagues and council, assembling +together, demanded that he remain in office and the colleagues, in the +midst of the greatest confusion, passed his proposed laws. + +"Lorenzo, the ex-friar, now married and living in Florence, was present +as a spectator. He became greatly incensed at the remarks of Carlo +Strozzi and, seizing him by the throat, would have strangled him had +not several of us torn his half-conscious victim away. + +"The excitement increased until the whole city was aroused and in arms. + +"The plebs, led by Benedetto degli Alberti and Lorenzo, who some time +before had joined the wool-combers' union, and was an intimate friend +and trusted lieutenant of Michael di Lando, the head of the strongest +trade union or order in the city, were soon so wrought up as to be past +restraint and were ready for any acts of violence. + +"The merchants closed their doors, the nobles fortified themselves in +their homes and many hid their valuables in the churches, the monastery +of Agnoli, and the convent of S. Spirito. + +"The captains of the parts, and the other forces of the Guelph faction, +gathered to organize their deferred revolution and defend themselves; +but learning of the action of the colleagues and the council and +perceiving the opposition too great and dangerous, separated, each +hunting safety for himself. + +"A part of the trade unions, particularly the members of the +wool-combers, joined the mob to avenge themselves upon the Guelphs. Led +by Michael di Lando, Lorenzo and myself, they broke into, looted and +burned the house of Lapo, but he escaped, disguised as a monk, into the +Casentino. Piero and Carlo, two other of their leaders, hid themselves +and so well we could not find them. + +"Then we looted and burned the houses of other Guelphs and wound up our +orgy by sacking and thoroughly looting the monastery of Agnoli, at which +place we found great treasure in gold and jewels, knowing just where to +look for it. + +"Visiting my old cell in the cloisters we found in one corner of the +dungeon a humped up skeleton, which led us to believe that the prison of +the captive spy had never been discovered. + +"The next day the trade unions appointed each a syndic and these, with +the colleagues, sought to quiet the city, but without success. + +"On the following day the unions appeared in force bearing the ensigns +of their trades and, fully armed, took possession of the palace of the +signory. + +"Upon this the council in terror created a balia, giving general power +to the Signory, the colleagues, the eight commissioners of war, the +captains of the parts and the trade unions to reorganize the government +of the city. + +"The balia restored all privileges to the admonished, annulled all +unpopular laws passed by the Guelphs, declared Lopo, Carlo and Piero +traitors and outlaws, elected a new signory and appointed Luigi Guiccia, +Gonfalonier. + +"Still the disorders continued unabated. No business was done, the shops +remained closed and the populace, no better satisfied, paraded the +streets in armed bands and in a dangerous humor. + +"The heads of the trade unions were called before the Signory, when +Luigi, the Gonfalonier, speaking for the signory, asked; 'What do you +yet want? At your request we have taken all power from the opposition; +we have restored to the admonished the power to hold office. You +demanded that those participating in the riots and guilty of robbery and +arson be pardoned; even this to our shame, we have granted. Yet +continuously you appear before us making new demands, continue rioting +and by numbers and threats seek to intimidate our body. You have so +terrorized the people that no business is transacted. Where will it all +end? What more do you want? How will business be restored and peace +brought about? What is to become of the city? Your vandalism destroys +the very property which furnishes your unions with employment; your +employers are powerless to continue in business or give the people work. +Why do you not disband and return to work? Your requests, reasonable and +unreasonable, have been granted. What better government can you expect +than the one you enjoy? It is of your own choosing and based upon the +fundamental principle that the supreme authority of the state is in the +majority of the people.' + +"His suggestions, which were fair and conciliatory, might have +prevailed, except that I wanted greater concessions for our particular +union; and for that purpose frightened the weakening and consenting ones +who had participated in the riots to further violence by telling them +that to save themselves they must burn and loot yet more; must commit +other and greater wrongs and incite others to join them, saying: + +"'If many commit wrongs few or none are punished; the petty criminal is +chastised, but the great one is rewarded. When the whole people suffer, +few seek vengeance. The government stands great and public wrongs with +more patience and resignation than private and little ones. If we +hesitate, or lose, or give ground, we will be punished; if we carry our +rebellion through to the extent of forcing a reorganization of the +government, we conquer and are glorious. Great power is acquired by +force and great wealth by fraud; the faithful in service remain in +service; and the reward of honesty is poverty; men, like fishes, feed +upon one another. To save yourselves you must continue to destroy and +excite the opposition to such fear for themselves and their property +that they will pardon your offences and look upon you as saviors when +you cease to oppress them. Shape your conduct by your desires; if you +wish to be masters, continue to oppress; if you wish to be banished and +punished as criminals, submit. What I suggest, though dangerous, is +under the circumstances not only expedient, but your only course, your +only salvation.' + +"This reasoning, coupled with similar arguments from Lorenzo, seemed so +conclusive that our auditors agreed to our suggestions, and Michael di +Lando was chosen to command our organization. He was already head of the +wool-combers union, the largest and most powerful in the city, +supporting the plebs and the low class people. + +"The second night thereafter was fixed upon to put our plans into +execution. We bound ourselves in mutual defense and to undertake to gain +possession of the republic. + +"One of our men named, Simone, was arrested and, when put to the +torture, disclosed the plot. While he was being tortured, Nicolo Friano, +who was repairing the palace clock, saw it and heard a part of his +confession. He fled to our meeting place and reported what he had seen +and heard. + +"Immediately we armed ourselves and, more than a thousand strong, +gathered in the square of S. Spirito, and so the revolution began. + +"The signory issued orders that the gonfaloniers of the people and their +companies should assemble in the public square at daylight the next +morning, but less than a hundred men appeared under arms in support of +the government, while our forces had grown to more than three thousand. + +"A body of the plebeians first assembled at San Pietro, but there was no +force to oppose them. Then other trade unions gathered in various +squares and market places, including the palace, or public square. + +"They demanded from the signory that all prisoners be released, which +was done, and these immediately joined our ranks. + +"We took the gonfalon of Justice from its bearer and under the authority +of that banner burned and looted many houses and killed many of our +enemies. Any member of our companies who desired to punish any private +enemy or satisfy his revenge had but to call out; 'Let us burn the house +of Luigi Poggi; he is an enemy of the people and unfriendly to our +order.' When leading the way he was followed by and had the assistance +of the whole assemblage. + +"Many a plebeian in rags was knighted during this period, and many a +patrician was satisfied to lose all if he and his family but escaped +with their lives. + +"By night of that first day our numbers had increased to more than six +thousand, and before the following morning we were in possession of all +the trade ensigns, were using their headquarters as barracks, and +practically controlled the city. + +"The signory, assembling, asked our wishes. We named a committee of four +to confer with them. They demanded new judges, and three new companies +of the arts who should have representation in the signory, one for the +wool combers and dyers; one for the barbers and tailors, and a third for +the lowest class of the people, that is, the unskilled laborers. We +demanded a cancellation of all debts and that our enemies be banished or +punished. These demands we forced the signory to grant, and gave our +promise that disorders should cease. + +"The next morning, while the council was still considering the +proposition, a tremendous mob of the trades entered the square carrying +their ensigns and so intimidated the council and signory that the +members fled with the exception of Alemanno and Niccolo. They were +finally driven away by threats that if they did not leave their houses +would be burned and their families murdered. + +"Then we entered the palace, led by Michael di Lando, who bore the +standard of the gonfalonier of justice. The most of our crowd were in +rags. + +"He took possession of the dias of the presiding officer of the Signory +and, turning to his followers, said; 'You are now in possession of the +palace and the council hall, in control of the city and in a position to +constitute yourselves the governing authority in place of those who have +deserted their posts; what is your pleasure?' + +"'We wish you for our gonfalonier and that you govern the city as the +representative of the trade unions and the people.' + +"'I accept your command and shall proceed to restore peace and order in +the city.' + +"Though meanly clad, he was possessed of much good sense and was not +without dignity and courage. With capacity and self-possession, he +proceeded at once to exercise the authority he had assumed. + +"Lorenzo and I, who all the time had acted as his lieutenants and +advisers, to hold the mob in check and at the same time settle an old +score dating back to my imprisonment in the monastery, suggested that +Ser Nuto, then sheriff, be arrested and delivered to the mob. He had +made himself very officious in oppressing the trades and the plebeians. + +"While those deputized to find him were searching the city, others built +a gallows in the palace square for his execution; we having determined +that his execution should be the first to strike terror into those who +had opposed our wishes. + +"He was soon found and hung by the mob from the gallows by one foot. In +less than five minutes he was torn to pieces, nothing remaining but the +foot by which he had been suspended. + +"The first order issued by Michael di Lando was that any one who burned +or looted a house should be punished as Ser Nuto had been. + +"He removed the members of the signory and the colleagues and deposed +the syndics of the trades. The eight war commissioners who had assumed +to set up a new signory were ordered to resign, which they did. + +"He then assembled the newly-elected syndics of the trades and in +conjunction with them created a new signory, composed of four members +from the plebeians, two from the major and two from the minor trades. +One of the four members of the plebeians was the ex-friar, appointed +under his assumed name of Lorenzo di Puccio. No one ever suspicioned his +former connection with the monastery of Agnoli. + +"My brother-in-law was awarded the rentals from the butcher stalls of +Ponte Vecchio; Michael di Lando retained for himself the provostry of +Empoli; Sir John Hawkwood was made Captain General, and I was made his +aid, knighted and placed in command of all mercenaries. + +"No sooner had order been restored than certain of the trade unions, +much incensed at the prospect of work, and a majority of the plebeians +who seemed better satisfied with disorder, sought to incite violence by +charging that Michael di Lando in reformation of the government had +favored the higher or richer class citizens and neglected his +associates, who had placed him in power; a charge which was not true. +Whereupon many of them took up arms and started fresh disorders. + +"They came before him a riotous multitude, demanding many changes. He +ordered them to lay down their arms, stating that no concessions would +be made to a show of intimidation. + +"His answer but enraged them the more. They withdrew and, assembling at +Santa Maria Novella, appointed eight leaders and prepared to storm the +palace and make good their demands. They then sent a delegation to the +signory, directing that they grant their demands. + +"This delegation was so arrogant and threatening that Michael di Lando, +losing his temper, drew his sword and, after wounding several, had them +cast into prison. + +"When this was reported, their organization marched towards the palace. +Michael, in the meantime gathering his forces, started for their place +of assemblage. The opposing forces, traveling different streets, passed +on the way; the mob arriving at the palace about the time that his +forces reached their place of assemblage. + +"With his force, in which was the remnant of The White Company, he +returned to the palace, where a fierce contest waged for its possession. +Our opponents were vanquished and driven beyond the city walls or found +safety by hiding within the city. + +"Order was restored and for the first time in many months the city was +quiet. Michael gave to the city a just and, for the time, a peaceful +administration of three years. While he rescued the city from the lowest +plebeians, his administration was artisan-controlled and governed. The +signory was made up of nine members, of which the superior trades +furnished four and the inferior trades five members. + +"Shortly after restoration of order and reorganization new factions were +organized between the artificers on the one side, called the plebeians, +and the nobles and church on the other, called the popular party. + +"It was discovered that certain members of the popular party were in +conspiracy with Gianozzo da Salerno of Bologna, who had been prevailed +upon to undertake the conquest of the city. + +"Piero and Carlo were accused of connection with this conspiracy and Sir +John Hawkwood, Tomasso Strozzi and Benedetto Alberti, with a strong +force, prepared to resist this invasion. + +"Piero was executed. Subsequently Giorgio Scali and Tomasso Strozzi made +themselves offensive to the government. Tomasso fled, but Giorgio was +made prisoner and beheaded. + +"Beginning with this, one disorder followed another in the political +struggles between the plebeians and the popular party and the major and +minor trades. + +"After many balias had been appointed for the reformation of the +government and there had been two general assemblies of the people, a +new government was formed, controlled by the opposition. They recalled +all people banished by Sylvestro. All who had acquired office by the +balia of 1378 were deposed. The Guelphs were restored to power and the +plebeians and trades deposed. Michael di Lando and Lorenzo di Puccio +were banished. The good they had done and the services they had rendered +were quickly forgotten." + + * * * * * + +The boss carpenter, after more than an hour's steady talking, stirred +and groaned; he opened his eyes and sat up saying; + +"I have been dreaming of labor unions and fighting. I believe I will +walk to Winchester, as I am expected to talk to some friends at a +meeting tonight." + +[Illustration: A Chiseled Cavern and Italian Battery, Front Line 7th +Army; Dolomite Peaks, Italian Alps, Altitude 8,000 Feet.] + + + + +THE SEARCHLIGHT. + + +In the summer of 1918, I visited an Italian army hospital at Edelo. On +one of the small white beds was a young soldier, horribly mangled by a +bomb dropped from an Austrian airplane. + +I learned that he had lived seven years in New York, having been carried +there by his father when a boy of fourteen. When Italy entered the war, +he returned to his native land and volunteered his services. At the time +he was wounded he was operating a portable searchlight. + +He was near death and, in unconscious monotone, spoke in English: + +"A year ago it looked mighty blue; we were on the run at Caparetto. Now +it looks as though we might win the war within the year. Things are +mighty quiet with the enemy. I have not seen an Austrian plane for more +than a week. + +"I do love this old searchlight. How it makes the ice and snow of the +mountain tops shine out in the night. When things are quiet like tonight +I turn the light way down into the valley upon the house in the olive +grove where Marcella lives. + +"She has said her prayers and lies asleep; and I, ten kilometers +distant, flash the light upon her shutters. It seems I might walk upon +the beam as upon a bridge of silver to her very door. + +"My God! Is the war to last forever? Is she to live on macaroni and +chestnuts and break rock upon the road in sun and rain and snow, summer +and winter, until she dies? Am I to stay up here within sight of her +house but never within reach of her arms? When can we ever marry? On my +pay it would take a thousand years to save a decent fee for the priest. +Mother of God, be good to her! + +"Let's take a look at those poor devils up there in that hell of ice. No +wonder our great poet pictures a section of hell as such a place. They +can have no fire and must sleep with the dogs to keep warm. It looks +grand in the light; but it is the grandeur of eternal winter, and +eternal winter is death. It is a lonely beautiful region ten thousand +feet above the sea. God and those boys alone will ever know the +heart-bursting strain of placing their big guns, which were raised a few +feet, day by day. What a land to live and fight and die in. The chasms, +the sliding snow and the Austrians each demand and receive toll. Are the +dug-outs and trenches and tunnels, in solid ice and rock, lonely places +for those boys from Naples and Palermo? When they look at the dolomite +peaks which, too pointed to give the snow bedding, stick out from under +the white spread of the mountain tops like big black horns, do they long +for the azure sea and lemon groves? No wonder they call the peaks the +'Horns of The Old One'; or that when my light falls upon them I think of +ebon fangs protruding from white guns, and call the place 'The Mouth of +Hell.' If those boys but show their heads above the crest the awful +silence is broken by the roar of guns. What a life! Always under +potential fire and for three years within range of the deadly machine +gun and hand-grenade. + +"There seems little use for this searchlight tonight. The Austrians, if +it be possible, are even more weary of the war, more discouraged and +worse off than we. There's nothing doing; no airplane hovers above like +a great hawk to be plucked out of the darkness and clothed in lucent +raiment for destruction by my arrows of light. + +"I will turn it down into the valley again. May it be a precursor of +where I shall soon go. There's the house and her shutters and to the +right on the spur of the Cima della Granite in the chestnut grove, the +old church. How the gold cross on the spire stands out! + +"Sometimes at night the light catches the spire so I see only the cross +of gold. Then the thought comes that all there is in life for the poor, +or me, or any one, is the cross; and that my lot may not be so bad, even +though I die here, the death of a man for men. + +"Since Christ had none to comfort him upon the cross, why should I have +so much comfort here? Is it not enough to have the bar of light and the +cross of gold! Can not I reach out along the bar towards the cross and +say; 'Into thy hands, Father, I commend my spirit?' + +"When the night is dark and still I flash the bar of light from this +high point down the valley and I say; 'It is the eye of God, the +shepherd, searching for a lost lamb.' And, in order that the sheep may +know the way into the fold, I flash the light upon the door of the +church and then slowly let it climb the spire until its rests upon the +cross. + +"Alone in the night, I have learned that the one great thing is light. +With the light you may find the way. I have learned that all things +bright and fair are from the Father; and understand why God first said; +'Let there be light!' I can partly measure his infinite love and +compassion in offering to all, even those as poor as I, who cannot buy a +postage stamp, light and the cross and the resurrection. In the light of +this thought may I not in faith and peace, await the life eternal?" + + + + + +-------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent spelling in the original | + | document has been preserved. | + | | + | Typographical errors corrected in the text: | + | | + | Page 5 occuping changed to occupying | + | Page 11 automobil changed to automobile | + | Page 21 Pittsburg changed to Pittsburgh | + | Page 23 Cornwell changed to Cornwall | + | Page 25 palid changed to pallid | + | Page 52 unconciously changed to unconsciously | + | Page 55 ecstacy changed to ecstasy | + | Page 58 wierd changed to weird | + | Page 63 hydrangias changed to hydrangeas | + | Page 70 hydrangias changed to hydrangeas | + | Page 73 suprise changed to surprise | + | Page 79 arn changed to arm | + | Page 80 Machavelli's changed to Machiavelli's | + | Page 84 courtley changed to courtly | + | Page 85 Loginus changed to Longinus | + | Page 101 Rachel changed to Rachael | + | Page 107 knew changed to new | + | Page 141 sign changed to sing | + | Page 143 Southhampton changed to Southampton | + | Page 144 Claxon changed to Klaxon | + | Page 145 Isco changed to Iseo | + | Page 145 Innsbruk changed to Innsbruck | + | Page 149 imprtca changed to impreca | + | Page 149 benimeriti changed to benemiriti | + | Page 149 Missaggio changed to Messaggio | + | Page 149 perlare changed to parlare | + | Page 150 acclamezioni changed to acclamazioni | + | Page 150 silenzo changed to silenzio | + | Page 150 banddiere changed to bandiere | + | Page 152 Georgi changed to Giorgi | + | Page 152 directore changed to direttore | + | Page 153 Gorgi changed to Giorgi | + | Page 163 domolite changed to dolomite | + | Page 164 vareties chanaged to varieties | + | Page 169 Saharah changed to Sahara | + | Page 169 Giuseppi changed to Giuseppe | + | Page 175 Excercising changed to Exercising | + | Page 202 Naferma changed to Neferma | + | Page 205 Egpytians changed to Egyptians | + | Page 211 wierd changed to weird | + | Page 212 wierd changed to weird | + | Page 214 ever changed to every | + | Page 216 Brethern changed to Brethren | + | Page 217 brethern changed to brethren | + | Page 222 firey changed to fiery | + | Page 227 Duoma changed to Duomo | + | Page 229 pebleian changed to plebeian | + | Page 233 Veccio changed to Vecchio | + | Page 234 Veccio changed to Vecchio | + | Page 235 Misercordia changed to Misericordia | + | Page 235 hugh changed to huge | + | Page 236 Hawkwod changed to Hawkwood | + | Page 237 tortue changed to torture | + | Page 254 severly changed to severely | + | Page 257 Strossi changed to Strozzi | + | Page 264 Veccio changed to Vecchio | + | Page 266 Strossi changed to Strozzi | + | Page 266 Georgio changed to Giorgio | + | Page 270 graudeur changed to grandeur | + | Page 271 percursor changed to precursor | + +-------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHIT-CHAT; NIRVANA; THE +SEARCHLIGHT*** + + +******* This file should be named 29071.txt or 29071.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/9/0/7/29071 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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